1 Month in Los Angeles
It’s August 30, 2021
It’s a Monday, and I’m sitting here in my 1-bedroom apartment in Los Angeles while searching on Amazon for a journal…
Then I realized that I could just type instead… I do feel like physically writing in a journal is so special, but sometimes I just need to get thoughts OUT of my head and into some type of document so I can process how I’m feeling… can anyone relate? LOL are you more pro-writing or pro-typing?
Evan started his new job today!
It’s been (almost) a month since living in Los Angeles. The plan has been to do the business (Those Hendys) full-time and have Evan help me with the website design and branding side of the business. However, I’m so far behind on social media things (because we picked up our entire lives, sold our first home, moved across the country, and have been living in a whole new city)… that I haven’t really had time to properly train him on website design stuff. PLUS, it’s not really his passion. His passion is videography. So I’m VERY excited that he applied & got this job as a video editor for a production company here!
At first I was sad because I absolutely LOVE being home with him every single day. This is probably because I finally feel like I can be with him for the first time in all of 2021! He was gone at Army training for 4 months (January-May) and then he came home, went straight back to work every single day, then worked up until the very last day of June… which is when he left for ANOTHER month for training for the entire month of July. July was also the month we put our house on the market (which sold in 24 hours) and I had to pack/downsize 1700sqft on my own! That was fun.
So now it’s August… we finally moved to Los Angeles on August 4th and these past few weeks have been a DREAM. I feel like I’ve finally be able to catch up with Evan and get work done. It started to feel normal again! So when Evan was applying for jobs and actually got offered a job, I think part of me was SUPER excited, but part of me was also sad because I didn’t want to be away from him again. However, I know this is exactly what he’s supposed to be doing and I think it’s truly perfect timing! He’s going to be able to learn and grow so much more in his craft, while also connecting with new people here! That makes me super happy.
There’s Currently a Hurricane in Louisiana
Seriously 1 month after we move one of the biggest hurricanes pounds where we used to live… I’m truly GRATEFUL we moved when we did. And I’m grateful for the amazing people who moved into our old home because they were previously living in New Orleans, which got hit way harder than 40 minutes north of there (where they live now). So it was a blessing for us both! But it still feels so weird that all of that is going on there. My heart is heavy for NOLA! I know I only lived there for 7 years, but it was once my home. I also have so many friends that I love that are still there. It’s just hard knowing that I’m sitting here, drinking clean water, on my iMac, looking outside my huge windows out at the beautiful blue sky and see the Downtown Los Angeles skyline… while so many people are suffering without food, water, electricity, or even a home anymore. It’s just so crazy how “irrelevant” this huge disaster can seem to someone who isn’t going through it, but also crazy how “life-changing/impactful” this huge disaster actually is to so many who ARE going through this.
I guess that’s the way of life. That’s how the world is everywhere right now. I’m experiencing things in LA that most aren’t anywhere else. I mean not to mention the heartbreaking things going on in Afghanistan right now…
Chaos is EVERYWHERE, but so is Jesus..
I’m not trying to put anyone off, and I truly am not trying to shut anyone out who isn’t a believer. I am just wanting to communicate that yes, there is craziness going on… all the time… This world is definitely broken and not perfect. I think we all know that. I think some of us have a more balanced life than others (there are ups and there are downs). But I also know my personality is to always see the good. I can’t help it, it’s just what comes natural to me. I’m aware of the bad and the possibilities, but I don’t dwell on those. I think that’s why me and Evan are where we are in life right now. We both have this mindset and it’s brought us to where we are…
We Had Very Little When We Got Married
It’s a lot to process, but it’s remarkable how blessed Evan and I have been over the past couple years. When we got married, we had basically nothing. Some old furniture that was given to us, full-time jobs in ministry (so not a lot of money, ya know?), and I had a little Fiat and he had an OLD Mazda. So we did have some, which we were so grateful for. We never felt less-than or not taken care of. We were just… grateful. And we stewarded our finances well. Even without getting a raise, we randomly decided (August 2019) to try to buy a house. We got approved & ended up finding one and bought it in November of 2019. God did a true miracle for us… and we were grateful. Always trying, never being afraid to try, and going for it. I went to Ethiopia in October 2019, then came back to the US as an almost home-owner.
Bought A House November 2019
At the time, it really didn’t make sense as to why we bought a house, but now it does. We bought it & did some renovations and moved in by January 2020. By this time, we were still working full-time in ministry. I remember feeling so overwhelmed with work and then I got SUPER sick (this was before covid hit the US, but I still think I had it)… I was so sick at home for 2+ weeks. As soon as I was able to come back, the whole country went on lockdown. I had NO IDEA what 2020 was going to be like. But here’s where my mindset comes in…… so many blessings came out of it.
2020 Was Life-Changing
The start of 2020 looked like lots of renovations (more like upgrades, the house was only 3 years old, but I wanted different tile floors and stuff)… it also was consumed with work work work. Which I’m so grateful for because now I have a successful marketing business because of all that I learned. After we finally moved into our house in January 2020, we got a puppy (Oliver) the very next day. So it was work, dog owner, new commute, work, and more work… & that’s when I got sick. But that’s also when I discovered SO MUCH about myself. It was a true year of self-development. I got to be HOME with Evan every single day for months, and that was the best. We went on walks every day with our dog, really got to connect, AND I lost 40lbs. Crazyyyy!
Another crazy thing was we started our marketing business. I had been doing things on the side for people for YEARS, especially once covid hit, but realized I needed to start charging people money for my marketing services because it was taking away so much of my time away from our little family. So we started our business together!
Another SUPER crazy thing is Evan randomly decided he wanted to join the Army… it was so random, but it felt so right. I was honestly at peace when he mentioned it. And he just did it! He signed up for the Army Reserve and was set to leave January 2021. It was perfect timing. I was now healthy, loving my business (but also working my full-time ministry job, so I was working until about 2am every single night)… and just living life!
2021 Was MORE Life-Changing
Once Evan left for training in January, it wasn’t easy. After 1 week I decided to put my notice in at work and do the business full-time. I knew I needed to focus on my mental health while Evan was gone (especially because we couldn’t even TALK)… so I took the leap of faith without knowing what would happen. It was like as soon as I took that leap, God opened doors. SO many doors. It was beautiful! It was also hard choosing what door to walk through because my eyes were opened to so many opportunities. I worked a TON and traveled a lot while Evan was gone. He finally came home, and that leads us back to the start of this blog. Except… when he came home, we didn’t know we would be living in Los Angeles 3 months later…
So Much Can Happen in 3 Months
Evan came home in May (finally) and he worked some before we went on little vacation. I almost surprised him with Colorado, but he hadn’t seen my brother & sister in a long time, so we came to LA. I had no idea that Evan would’ve loved it so much, but I’m so glad he did. I was honestly SHOCKED because he’s such a family man and his entire family was now in Nashville (his parents moved while he was at training), but now I know we’re supposed to be here. We got home, he went to work, then we talked about selling or renting our house. We decided to sell & are so GRATEFUL we did because it’s such a sellers market. It was worth it to us. We had it less than 2 years, but we knew it was what we needed to do. So we sold the house, packed up my car, and moved to LA. With just me, Evan, Ollie, and a car full of whatever we could fit.
We Found an Apartment Last-Minute
When we sold our house, we hadn’t signed a lease anywhere in LA yet. We just knew we were coming here. At first it was going to be for 1-month, then that changed to 3-months. But 1 week after being here, Evan said he wanted to stay longer. He felt like this was home, and SO DID I! I hadn’t felt this feeling in SOOO long, so it felt so nice to feel that way again. We also really love this apartment. It’s brand-new and super safe/secure. It’s 1000sqft less than what we had, but it has everything we need! We slowly started furnishing our place with things we would find on Facebook Marketplace, and it’s finally coming together. We still have lots of stuff in Texas at my mom’s, but we will eventually go get those (like clothes, kitchen stuff, spices, a TV, etc.)
For now, we’re making it work :) we don’t know how long we’ll be in the apartment, but we will definitely be in LA for the rest of the year. Many even 5 years, who knows… I moved to Louisiana for just the SUMMER back in 2014 and ended up staying 7 years, so anything is possible!
