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SheIn -Your Online Fashion Vintage Dress




Hello Again


The beautiful city we are moving to!  Photo courtesy of Chris Litherland Photography (he's amazing!)

Hi. :)  It's been some time huh?  I had not anticipated that it would be this long before writing a post on Simply Lulu, but honestly it was a much needed break.  A lot of people think that blogging is just taking a few snaps and posting it.  But many hours go into each post.  It's a lot of time, effort, thinking, considering, researching, editing, and well a lot of love.  If you read my last post, (here), you also know that the blog had become very different from how I started.  I'm hoping to get back to regular posts.  Although not every day, you'll see me here, each week.

So with all that said, I'm going to follow up on my last post on where I've been and what I've been up to.  WARNING!  This is a long post, feel free to skim if you like!  Haha.  In my last post I had listed 10 things that I was going to focus on during my break.  Today I'm really going to share just one of those today.

Family first.  Wow has it been a stressful 4 months.  When I wrote that last blog post I had no idea how difficult it would become.  Things with my husband's job got so stressful for him that he lost 25 pounds!  He wasn't sleeping, he wasn't eating.  I had never seen this man I love so dearly so beaten down.  It broke my heart.  Through it all though, God was with us.  Simultaneously to this happening to my husband was a deep down, all out desire, to move back to my hometown of Pittsburgh.  It was a crazy thought because I love Philadelphia.  I love the area, the great restaurants, and shopping (of course).  Not to mention that I had just started plans on building a new business here!  So to move now was well, the only thing I could figure is that this desire had come from the Lord.  I always miss my family, but I literally could not stop crying wishing to be near them.  My husband and I talked and decided together that he would start looking for a job in Pittsburgh.

My husband's work is not a job where there are a lot of opportunities around, let alone in the smaller city of Pittsburgh.  He's very specialized and so I wasn't too optimistic that he would find anything in the next year or even the next two years (NEVER doubt the will of God).   He applied to one job in the Pittsburgh area that had been open for quite some time, but we were not hopeful.  As his job here was going completely south, every day it was more and more stressful on him.  He decided to call a company in Pittsburgh that he had interviewed with last year when he was just looking around.  It hadn't worked out at the time, but had hit it off with one of the interviewers.  He called in and spoke with the Admin who told him she didn't know of any positions, but would forward his resume to her boss.  Ten minutes later she called back saying that her boss would like to talk to him.  As it turns out they were looking for 2 people to add to their team.  The position hadn't been posted yet, the job description hadn't even been created yet!  Nonetheless they wanted to talk to him.  Fast forward 3 months.  My husband had spoke to them on the phone, interviewed with them in person, they offered the job to him, and he's starting a week from today!  Friends when I tell you that God was with us through it all - GOD was with us through it all.  The perfect timing of everything was amazing.  I have seen God's hands at work through us trying and eventually getting pregnant.  But during that time I was the one going through the tremendous stress.  I was taking the drugs, going through tests/procedures, feeling the pressure, so I couldn't really 'be' and see God's handiwork.  I felt God through it all, but I was sort of in a fog, going through all the motions.  Being on the outside of this time I could actually see God working.  I could feel Him talking to me, giving me peace.  I can't get into all the details here it's just too long, but friends, God is awesome!

During the months where my husband was in his stress, I decided to get our house ready to sell.  I didn't know of course that he would find a job so quickly, but I needed something to distract me and well my house needed a good decluttering!  As it became more clear that they were very interested in my husband my list to get the house on the market became longer and more focused.  This drives my husband crazy.  Once I get started on a project I'm like a woman on a mission - nothing will stop me!  I seriously can't do anything else until the job is finished.  Because he was so stressed I didn't want to ask his help with anything.  When I tell  you I lived in yoga pants for over a month, I literally did.  Decluttering, moving furniture, painting, cleaning, staining the deck, more painting, cleaning the carpets, the list was on and on.  And I was exhausted, but I knew it would be worth it.

My plan was to be ready!  Ready so when the offer came in, we could put the house on the market.  I had sold our first house myself, no realtor, so I was pretty confident I knew what I was doing.  The tricky part was pricing it right because there was so many variables for our house, neighborhood, and location.  My hope was that our house would sell by the time my kiddos were finished with school (about the middle of June).  We had made plans months ago to go to Pittsburgh for 2 weeks after school, then away for another week in July for our annual trip to Martha's Vineyard.  So if the house could sell before that would be wonderful.  I wasn't sure how I would "show" the house if I wasn't here!

My husband got his official offer letter on a Friday, we celebrated Saturday, he gave his notice the next Wednesday, I put the house on the market that Friday, and we got an offer the following Monday!  That might be a little confusing, but everything closed in 10 days!!  Talk about a whirlwind :)  I knew we had a great house, but the location is pretty far from the city (think horse country), so I didn't know if it would sell that quickly.  I never imagined it would sell in 3 days.  God was and is in it all friends.

God is good that's all I can say.  A note to some of you who might be going through some difficult things.  If you're in the struggle, of course it's hard.  Through this experience, it's made me stronger and it will make you stronger too IF you let it.  I love my Jesus, but through this, I'm IN love with my Jesus.  Take time to be with Him.  Every day I make it my priority to read through the Bible.  The YouVersion app is great for this.  They have devotions you can read and I've highlighted countless verses that have spoken to me.  These verses given me a peace and hope, so that I can go back to them when my mind wanders.  As soon as my mind would go to those dark places of doubt, worry and fear, I would pull them up on my phone and read through them.  Focus your eyes on the Lord and let everything else fade away.  Prayer walk, take time to breath, rejoice and be thankful for His goodness.  Believe in the power of prayer and know that Jesus is your advocate.  Who could be a better advocate?!  He died on the cross for you, He loves you that much!  These are the things that kept me going and gave me strength.

Ok, I think I've gone off a little and I'm going to get back and finish up!  So we're moving!  The end of June is when we're closing, but we're going to be packed up by the middle of June so as not to disrupt our summer plans.  I'm excited, nervous, not sure where exactly we're going to live??  Not to mention I'm starting my new business in Pittsburgh...  Yikes!....  Breath...  Take one day, one moment, at a time.

I'll be doing my best to post some fun outfit inspiration and sharing what's going on here.  But you can find more on Instagram: @simplylulustyle and Snapchat: simplylulustyle

Thank you so much for reading!  My husband and I truly have an adventurous marriage.  From getting married in a snowstorm, to waiting and praying for our little nuggets and now moving to a new city, we're in it together.   Together, with God.  What could be better?  :)

xo Lulu
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Lulu Soler
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6 comments:

  1. I was so happy to see you were going to update on insta! Much luck moving forward on your journey. Change can be such a blessing and you have plenty of blessings. God is good. Looking forward to following your amazing journey!

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  2. Congratulations and best wishes during your upcoming life changes. Enjoyed reading this! Good to see you back on the blog :)

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  3. It was so good to hear from you!!

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  4. So glad to hear you are back. It sounds like your time off was meant to be. What a blessing for your family to have everything work out as God planned. I just moved from Pittsburgh. We lived in a lovely town called Sewickley. It is twenty minutes from downtown and has wonderful shops, restaurants and a real hometown feel. It also has a wonderful award winning school district! We loved it and our children loved it too! Everyone walks in to town after school for an ice cream or coffee and there are always different festivals going on! Best of luck on your move. Change is always hard but we have made lifelong friends everywhere we have gone.

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  5. So glad to see you back! Life is such an adventure and in some ways I'm glad I'm not the one in charge ;) We are in State College, PA so you're basically hopping right over us! Best of luck with the move and look forward to following along!

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  6. Yay! You're back! I missed reading your posts even though we've texted each other over the past few months! I knew of everything that was going on from your texts but it's nice to be able to read it in more detail :) God is good! I'm so happy for you and your family!

    https://elementsofellis.com/

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Thank you so much for all your comments. I love to read them and visit fellow blogger sites! XO

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