Back to work.

Almost 2 years ago, my husband and I made the huge leap of faith and decision to “retire” him from his 9-5 job as an assistant principal. I had been building my businesses from home with social media and Young Living essential oils for years and we found ourselves at a point where we had the option to bring him home.

Dreams of travelling and time freedom and having control of our own schedule and allowing our kids to grow up with daddy with them more than just nights and weekends had become a reality. There were so many benefits and in the past two years, we’ve done a lot of things to set up a life we love.

We retired Seebz at age 33 and dug into what our new life would look like. We sold our home and downsized to a smaller house with more land. We renovated it and also turned our garage into a studio apartment where the most rad chick lives. (One of my dear friends rents it out and it’s so cool having her right next door.) We also bought an RV and set out on an epic adventure across the country.

Along with just figuring out these new transitions in life, Seborn was also building up his real estate business. He’s been doing real estate for 10+ years but was busy establishing his business for full-time work. While helping people buy and sell homes, he was also working on renovating investment properties and flips. It was a full plate and at this point, we were both solely responsible for how our hustle reflected in our income. Which was always above and beyond what we needed because God is so faithful.

There was so much good in these past 2 years. Experiences we would never have been able to have if it weren’t for the time freedom we were given and chose to take advantage of.

There was also so much hard in these past 2 years. We re-worked everything that we had established in our marriage and flow of life from the prior 10 years together. Marriage was rough during some of this time. Parenting was tough for part of this time. There were doubts and fears and pressure swirling around when things got a little rocky. Without going into too much detail, these past 2 years stretched us in ways we would have never experienced before. And as hard as they sometimes were, they have grown us so much together.

At the end of the day, Seebz would be fine with living an ordinary suburban life. And I would be good with travelling the world with our crew. So, finding a happy medium between those two extremes is daunting. And we have both sacrificed our own views, tried different things and seek for common ground to land on with compromise. These past 2 years, Seebz has tried out a lot of my crazy ideas of how I imagined our life to be. And at the end of the day, it’s just not his jam.

He doesn’t love travelling in an RV and living the nomad life. He likes our home. And taking care of his yard.

He doesn’t love being a stay-at-home-dad 24/7. He likes having purpose and passion in his career and coming home each day to his sweet children.

With all that being said, and him taking time to figure this out for himself, he made the decision to go back to work. We’ve had many conversations about it in the past few months and we actually left our RV trip early to come back to Minnesota early for him to take a remote lead realtor position with Redfin Real Estate. But then, Corona hit hard and his position dissolved shortly after we arrived home. With that said, he took on a associate agent role with Redfin. And he also felt called to get back into education. And so, he pursued that.

We can officially announce that Seebz has accepted the position of Upper School Assistant Principal at Maranatha Christian Academy. It happens to be the same school that he previously worked in for 4 years and LOVED and thrived in. He loves the community, he loves the atmosphere and he loves the people there. He’s so excited to dive back into a career and school he loves.

Truth is, he loves real estate. The position he has with Redfin now as an associate agent allows him to still do real estate whenever his schedule allows. I don’t think he will ever not be doing business in real estate, he loves it so much and he loves helping people.

Some people may look at this like a failure. Like “Dang, ya’ll couldn’t hack it at home together?” But I choose to think of this as a wonderful learning opportunity. Seebz realized so much about himself during this time. At first, it was really hard for him to find identity for himself OUTSIDE of his career. And he worked so hard on making that happen. And now, going back to work, he’s discovered that he loves that part of who he is that is found in his work and there is a lot of life purpose rooted in what he does with his mind and hands at work.

He realized he doesn’t thrive as much when he is home all the time. I’m used to the chaos and the loud and the mess and the crazy. I’ve been doing it 12 years and I can thrive in it. God has given me a capacity to handle it. I am more spontaneous and free-spirited while Seborn appreciates more structure and schedules. Balancing work + life is a tight rope to walk.

Yes, my dream of picking up and going anywhere we want whenever we want is no longer alive. But to be totally honest, it doesn’t always work out how we imagine anyway. When I am on a road trip, I want to stop at every place i see and explore. I want no timeline. Just endless time to explore and adventure. And Seebz operates differently than that when there are 6 young kids involved. He wants to get where we are going, get in and get out and head back home. So, even our travels look a little different in this season of life when babies and toddlers play a very different role in how our travels go. We can both have grace with one another that our ideals of how travelling look like, are different.

He really loves shorter term camping type trips. We will make very good use of our trailer still during the summers, and his time off. We will find a beautiful blend of what both of us desire out of life and I’m just thankful that we’ve been able to try a lot of different things and see what works for us and what doesn’t.

At the end of the day, Seborn realized that he likes going to work and being a part of something bigger than himself. He enjoys the routine and the schedule and the purpose in his giftings God has given him. He likes interacting with other people and he likes being challenged in his work. And he finds all of that at Marantha. Although it was really hard for me to let go of the dreams i dreamed for us, I’m really excited for his next steps in his career.

We always want to be open for what God may have for us, knowing that He will walk with us no matter what paths we take and He will direct our steps. And we are so thankful for the past 2 years of time freedom we have had together and what it taught us. Knowing that we have no clue what God will have for us in the future but being open to what He will teach us and where we will lead us.

Yet another shift in our lives but i just figure, this is how we roll. Being really open to change and flexibility and trying things out. Thankful for a whole lot of grace in our situations and excited for the next step for my hubby. Cheers to being an incredible human in the lives of many kids for years to come and the difference you will make in that community!