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Did you miss me the past few weeks?!? I missed you all! Okay, well I wasn't really "gone". I mean, I'm the only one who hits publish on all the posts here on my blog and the main person who runs my Facebook Page and Twitter, so I was here every day posting deals and guest posts and responding to comments. And I posted some real-life peeks on Instagram. 
But I took an unannounced break from writing content pieces and the usual features here for the last few weeks. Why? Well, mostly because I just needed a break. I wanted to take a few weeks to step back and evaluate where this blog is headed, plan the next six months, re-evaluate what is and isn't working, tweak our schedule for the fall, and just take some time to be quiet and process. It's easy to fall prey to the "rat race" of producing content and not take enough time to step back, stop and evaluate, and make sure that I'm headed in the right direction. So I've been trying to be more intentional about having time to be still, to carefully and prayerfully discuss things with my husband, to fill up my soul so I can give out to others, to pray, to journal, to be creative offline, and to savor life. 
The break was good for me. I have some fresh direction and perspective, we're tweaking some things on the back-end, I'm cutting some things to allow room for new things, and I feel re-inspired and re-fueled with many new content ideas for the fall. Also, I feel really settled. About blogging. About priorities. About what's most important. And about who I am as a person and blogger. The break wasn't just all goal-setting and long talks and planning for the future, though. No ma'am. Here's a little peek into what we did on the blogging break: 
We went to Family Camp in Michigan - and I may have exercised some of my inner child on the water slides and blob in the lake.  
I attended the Storybrand Workshop, along with some other amazing people and learned so much from Donald Miller. 
We played Bean Boozled with friends. You must stop right now and go watch my friend Tam's skunk jelly bean video. It's a classic. 
Kathrynne and I traveled to Houston for me to speak at the homeschool conference there. And she was pretty stoked that we ended up getting upgraded to first class for FREE! 
We traveled back to Kansas to surprise my parents for their 40th Anniversary. Read all about the surprise we planned here. 
My sisters and I ran a 5K Color Run with two of our daughters. 
We spent almost a week at Bull Shoals Lake in Arkansas with all of my extended family. 
And last, but certainly not least, WE MADE AN OFFER TO BUY ANOTHER RENTAL HOUSE and it was ACCEPTED!! {We celebrated with a trip to Dollar Tree - pretty much our family's favorite store. Because, of course!} Investing in another single-family home to rent out is something we've been researching, investigating, praying about, talking about, and saving for for many months. So this was a pretty big deal. In fact, it was one of our biggest goals for 2015 and by far our biggest financial goal. To be honest, it's hard to know how to share this kind of news. Part of me is so thrilled and excited and I want to share our good news with you all because you've been following our journey and you're like family to us. The other part of me wants to just quietly keep it to ourselves lest it come across as gloating or is frustrating to those of you who are really, really struggling financially right now. 
Need encouragement tonight? Read the story behind this picture here. I know what it feels like to not know how you're going to pay the rent this month. I know what it feels like to wake up and wonder if you are EVER going to find a way to get ahead financially. I know how hard it is to not have an extra quarter to spare when so many around you are spending money like water. I know what it feels like to only be able to buy what's almost free with coupons at the grocery store, to not be able to pay even thrift store prices, to re-wear and re-use and re-purpose, to wonder how you're going to be able to buy diapers for your soon-to-be born child because carving out even $10 extra dollars per month is not something you can imagine figuring out how to do on your teeny-tiny budget. 10 years ago, I would never, ever in my wildest dreams have imagined we'd be in a position to have the wiggle room to save up and pay cash for even one house, let alone be in the process of buying our 3rd house to rent out. Back then, I was just trying to figure out how to stretch $17 or $20 to cover all our groceries that week and praying that our car would start when I needed it to. So yes, I share this news with a humble heart that hurts for those of you who may be in that really, really tight place. And I hope our story inspires you instead of discouraging you. Keep at it, keep making those short-term sacrifices, keep stretching your money, keep thinking outside the box, and don't give up hope. You don't know what the next 10 years may hold for you! 
By the way, for those who may be wondering: This rental house is in Kansas. We have a really great property management company we work with there. They've been managing both of our rental houses in Kansas for us. We tested the long-distance renting thing out this last year while doing a ton of research and investigation to decide where we'd invest next. We decided to stick with Kansas because we love our property management company, houses in Kansas are much less expensive than in this area in Tennessee, and the rental market is really hot in the areas we're purchasing in. So far, it's been a really, really good experience for us so we're going to continue on with it! 
Some of you have wondered why we are renting in Tennessee and not buying a house here. There are multiple reasons, but the main one is this: We've talked/looked/thought over this long and hard over the past year and the reality is that houses in the area we live in right now are about 2.5 times the cost of what they are in Kansas. We can buy almost 3 houses in KS for the price of one in TN and then rent them out at a price that is almost double what we're paying in rent now. So for the price of one house in TN, we're able to invest in rental homes that cover the cost of our rent + net us a good profit every single month - and that's including repairs to the rental homes and costs involved when tenants move out. It's unconventional, I know, and we haven't ruled out buying a house in TN someday, but for now, renting has been a great option for us. So that's what's been going on with us this past month. What about you? What have you been up to recently? I've missed you all and can't wait to get back to regular blogging and conversations here with you!
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