Simply Us

We are Donnie and Tori.  We've been married for 14 years and counting.  Over the years we have begun the search for simplicity.  I didn't realize just how much it had permeated our lives until recently.  We are on a whirlwind of a journey and thought we'd use this blog as an online journal to look back on what the Lord has done and an opportunity to share our story with friends and family.  You can expect no fluff and little filter.  This is Simply Us.

Overview:  In 2005 Donnie and I began our relationship on the 3 acres of land he had lived on prior to us.  Luke and I moved in with he and Jacob.  At that time he had a nice mobile home and a large shop on the lot.  There was plenty of room for our boys to roam. Some of my fondest memories are the family kickball games we played out back, the large garden that I could never keep up with, and the chicken co-op we shared.  It was where we raised our boys and we loved the land, but at night my mind would race with worst case scenarios of what I would do if something were to ever happen to Donnie.  (Not much has changed there.)  Financially we were concerned that the mobile home would depreciate and was not a good investment.  We began talking of buying an older home and updating it.

Talks went on for years until one day when Donnie declared it was time to sell!  We stuck a for sale by owner sign up by the road and began to pray.  We prayed that God would send us a buyer.  I remember praying and looking out the window only to see our sign fallen over.  I would get so frustrated being sure that no buyer would come if the sign wouldn't even stay up right!  I don't recall how long we waited but I do remember the day the gentleman came to our home to look.  He said he would be back with his family.  They came again.  They were the first ones to look.  That was sometime in December of 2013.  He offered us cash and we handled it all ourselves.  God had answered our prayers.

Next step for us was to find a home we could update and sell.  We didn't have a lot of ideas of what that would look like.  Our main goal was to pay off old debt and start fresh.  We bought our home in Benton January of 2014.  We spent 3 months living with my parents and all of our extra time working on the house.  We stripped the house of all carpet, everything got a fresh coat of paint, and many other things too much to tell here.  The house looked completely different and we loved it.  

Our lives have been completely changed by this move.  We gained a new community, we have wonderful neighbors who care for each other, we have welcomed girls from all over the world into our home and lives, and Luke found his passion in BMX at the local skate park.  Not to mention the Sunday family lunches that have been a standard for the last couple of years.  Our hearts are full.  

Even though we have been very happy and blessed in our home here in Benton we have always longed for more land and we knew when we bought this home that we wouldn't be here forever.  It was a financial move ultimately and we would need to sell in order to reap the reward.  If you know me you know that I'm a dreamer.  I can come up with all sorts of ideas and plans.  When Donnie hears me say "I've been thinking..."  he always says "you have?" and we both chuckle.  We both know where that can lead.

Now that you're all up to date I'll get to what's been going on lately.  I can't remember when I started to pray for the Lord to send someone to buy our home in His timing. If I had to guess it's been about a year off and on when I would think about it.  Months ago we had some friends over and they mentioned loving our home.  Donnie jokingly told them that it was for sale.  Fast forward to today and those friends are buying our home.  We are set to close September 6th, less than two weeks from the writing of this blog. 

Stay tuned...