Erin Akin Carroll

Today was a pretty exciting day for us.

Hayes met with his speech therapist and early interventionist this morning at our house. He is such a ham during these sessions. I think some of it is because Hudson isn’t around and he has the full, undivided attention from his new friends.

I’m absolutely thrilled with the way it’s all going, and I’m just so thankful that South Carolina has this available to us. Hayes played with Sarah, our therapist, and she helped me understand some of the reasons that he may be having delays with some of his sounds. Now that we’ve met and worked with Sarah, I’m remembering so many other cues that let me know that he wasn’t ready to make the “b” sound or the “p” sound. It’s all so interesting! And I’m excited to learn.

Our real estate agent took us to see a few houses today. We actually saw a lot of houses. We aren’t much closer to making a decision, but we keep telling ourselves there’s no reason to be in a hurry. We close in just over a month on our house, but we do have family in town that we can live with until we’ve made our decision.

We had a Holiday Market decorations meeting tonight, and a big Holiday Market meeting. I can’t believe Holiday Market is less than two months away. The decorations are going to be so cute, if I do say so myself. I can’t wait!

I leave on Thursday morning to go up to the Influence Conference- and see my parents and Nina. It’s always a challenge to prepare to leave the boys for any amount of time. Just lots of packing and lots of list-making. I’m just hoping for safe travels and an easy weekend for my boys.

I’m totally humming a little bit of Philip Phillips in my head right now. Because I’m thinking about home.

We have a contract on our house. This has been a long eight months. There were days when selling our house was all I could think about. Then there were days when I didn’t think about it at all.

There were days when I questioned whether or not we should keep trying to sell it because I do love it here. And then there were days when I felt like the walls were closing in.

But in a month, we’re scheduled to close on our first home. And I have a lump in my throat just thinking about it.

I’m thinking about the week after we moved in and our neighbor stopped by and said, “Wow. Y’all really don’t have any furniture. You’re just rattling around in here.”

I’m thinking about the stork in the front yard when we brought Hudson home from the hospital.

I’m thinking about Fiona’s little smushed face waiting for us in the front windows when we pull into the driveway.

I’ve lived in Columbia since the spring of 2004. I’ve lived here for eight years. That is the longest I have ever lived in one place. And these years have flown by.

When I moved here, it was just to attend grad school at the University of South Carolina. And I had “grand plans” to move to a huge city and be a big time event planner when I finished school.

But when I graduated and was offered a job at a law firm, I decided that I wasn’t ready to leave this great city that sometimes feels like a small town. And two months later I met my husband.

And eight years later, I’m still here. And I love it.

We love our church community. We love the local “flavor.” We love the boys’ preschool and we love our friends.

And in the next few months, we’ll be looking to settle down into a home that will take us to the next place in our lives. I know that God has a great sense of humor, so I can’t say for certain that we will “permanent Columbians.” (Although we’d love nothing more than that.)

I know that as long as Todd, Hudson, and Hayes are with me, I can go anywhere He sends us. Whether it’s down the road, across town, or across the world on a mission.

We’re very excited, and a little bit nervous, as we move forward and make plans for the years to come.

*My friend, Ellen, is writing a great 31 Days series called Abide: 31 Days to Love Where You Live. And her posts inspired me to write this today.

*This is the 8th day in my 31 Days of Back to Basics Blogging.

I missed Day 7.

I spent the afternoon in Charlotte yesterday with one of my best friends, Christina. It had been too long since we’d had a day to just catch up. We literally spent all of our time together just walking and talking. Christina is a big “two birds, one stone” person, so it was only fitting that we could catch up for two hours while getting some exercise.

Yesterday morning, I was extremely sad to hear the news that my sweet blog friend, Julee, lost her beloved husband Matt. You can read more about it here.

Most of my day was spent in prayer. I had a lot of time in the car, and was just covering Julee and her precious baby girl, Preslee in prayer. I know they are surrounded by family and friends, and I believe that this is when the Body of Christ is most powerful.

Please join me in praying for them. My heart is broken for this beautiful woman and her sweet baby girl.