Welcome to The Joy In Between! I have always toyed with the idea of starting a blog and just never got around to it. We just recently sold our house (after a whirlwind two months of getting it all ready-including kitchen and bathroom remodels!) and embarked on this next adventure of living in an RV full-time while traveling across the country during a pandemic. What better time to start, right?
It’s funny to think of all the crazy things that have happened in the short time we’ve been on the road. Friends and family keep asking us if we are writing down all these crazy stories. They are reminding us that we will want to remember all of the details. And they are absolutely right! That was the catalyst for this blog. I want to be able to look back in a few years and remember all the amazing things we’ve experienced. The good, the bad, and the weird! We aren’t sure how long we will do this full-time RV thing but I know we don’t want to forget any part of it.
A little background on the name of this blog, The Joy In Between. The name came to me as we were working frantically for what seemed like 24 hours a day, getting our house ready to sell. We painted, refinished floors, purged things we no longer needed, remodeled our kitchen and master bathroom. There were days that our shoulders had so many knots in them from painting that I seriously considered holding the paintbrush in my teeth just to give my arms a break!
We had just finished moving all of the furniture out of our lower-level family room so we could get the carpet cleaned. I was sitting on the floor staring at the big open space and was overcome by the memories of the day we moved into our house 19 years earlier.
This space was one of our favorites because it’s where the kids would be able to spread out and play. It’s where we would host their birthday parties and have movie nights. And I could recall in vivid detail the hours we spent sitting on the floor playing and exploring and making all the memories.
It was the first time that I had really sat down to think about how this big change really felt. I kept thinking of the many times we’ve been reminded to appreciate the seasons we are in, even if they are hard seasons.
I knew that even though we had a tight deadline to get the house on the market, we would need to be intentional about not mentally rushing through the process in order to just get the job done. We needed to feel all the feelings and reflect on what this house meant to us. To spend time revisiting the memories of raising our kids not only in this house but in the neighborhood. To be thankful for the friends we’ve made and the relationships that have helped shape us and our family into who we are today. To find the joy in between all the chaos of packing and cleaning and painting and purging. We wouldn’t get this time back so we needed to be intentional.
That’s when the name came to me. I want to celebrate and remember the joy in between all the things that make this life the crazy adventure it is.
So what you will find here will be stories about the things that bring joy to our lives. Everything from traveling and our RV adventures, to cooking, organizing, attempts at consistently eating as cleanly as possible, and just sharing our experiences.
My hope is that it will help you see the joy in your own life…in between all the busy stuff…the crazy…the celebrations and the sorrows…all the joy that makes life beautiful.
I hope you’ll follow along!
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