Happy 2023! I feel like the Tucci’s are so happy to see a new year. 2022 was long and started out so hard, but the second half of 2022 proved to be happy and we were so blessed in many ways.
We bought our first house! This has been a dream of mine and Shelby for a looooong time. We have tried so many times but it never worked out, doors were always closed. We let go of it all when we were making the move to TN, and it’s pretty amazing how it all fell into our lap. We live in a great neighborhood and the kids have friends to play with. It’s literally 5 minutes from school. Perfect in so many ways! I am SO excited to get started on some house projects and to make this feel like OUR HOME. We’ve never been able to do that in any place we’ve lived, so it’s actually been weird getting into the mindset of we CAN change things if we want to! Look out world, here we come. haha
The kids started a new school this school year, and we all absolutely love it. Schools in our area of Florida were not good, and we struggled with that. But the city we live in here in Tennessee has a wonderful school district and the kids are in (what we feel like) the best school. This year Tristan and Kate are both attending the same school. This school runs 5th grade through 8th grade, and that was really nice for them since they were the new kids in town. This Fall Harper starts Kindergarten (!!!!) and all three kids will be in different schools. The Elementary, Middle, and High Schools are all within a stones throw of one another, so it’s super convenient! I still can’t believe Tristan will be in High School. They’ll all ride the bus together as well. We couldn’t ask for a better set up! Tristan joined the band and has taken up the trumpet. I know that makes Shelby proud! Tristan is LOVING band and has picked it up a lot quicker than we thought he would. Kate will be able to join band next year in 6th grade, and she’s informed us she wants to play in the percussion section. A NEW thing for all of us..haha. She wants to be a female snare drummer in the marching band. Sounds fun to me!
We found a church we really enjoy, and I am so thankful. We LOVED our church in Jacksonville and hated to leave. We still watch the sermons online sometimes. The pastor there is just SO good. The church we attend right now has been great and everyone has been super kind. We are hoping to be more involved this year and make some friends we can “do life” with.
Shelby’s working as the Head Golf Pro at the Country Club in Jackson. This job is 100x less stressful than his HP position in Jacksonville. We are so happy to be in TN. The members here just seem kind and enjoyable to be around. They’re respectful to Shelby. They have been so kind to kids and myself as well. Being the new guy isn’t always easy, and you have to earn that trust from everyone, but Shelby’s doing a great job of that. I am really excited to see what 2023 brings for him here. We are really enjoying being in Tennessee, and we would like to continue our adventures here for many years to come.
As for myself, I’m savoring my last handful of months as a stay at home mom with Harper. I LOVE being home with my kids, and I know how lucky we are to be able to make this work. That wasn’t always the case for us. Some of you may be surprised to hear of the hardships we’ve lived through. But that’s a story for another day. God has been good to us, that’s for sure. I’m trying to figure out what I want to do once they’re all in school. Shelby thinks I should take some time to just BE.. and just ENJOY doing whatever I want to do. I think I’m going to take him up on that offer. haha. I’m hoping to be able to do some house projects, work on some creative ventures, get into a good health routine, maybe join some mom groups or something around here. I’ve been thinking about trying to find another job in procurement or grants + contracts, but I’ll pray about it and see what comes up. I’ve even thought about trying to find something just part time, so I can get out of the house and make some “work friends”. We will see. Most of all, I want to enjoy life.. whatever it is I’m doing.
I did start an Etsy shop this year and it’s slow going but I really hope to have a profitable and FUN space to call my own by the end of 2023. Right now I have digital art prints and planning pages, but my DREAM is to be able to actually ship things I’ve made.. someday. I have lots of plans for this little shop in the coming months!
I hope everyone is having a wonderful 2023 so far. It feels so good to have a fresh start sometimes!