Since We Packed Up The Computer... (Pt. 2)

I just went out to our van to grab my little raspberry log book from our trip. Yes, I'd probably be voted "Most Likely To Document That" in my family, (remember my devastation to discover my camera had been packed up by the movers?). And yes, I did in fact make note of every stop, what time (and in what time zone), what exit or town, for how long, if we took any photos there, etc. I knew with the sleep deprivation of driving straight through (other than the half-night in the hotel after the accident), we'd likely forget what exactly happened when on our trip, or when and where a photo was really taken. So my handy-dandy raspberry colored log is my lifesaver in giving you accurate details of our journey to Texas! Or Oklahoma! (That's a tidbit for those of you who don't know the current details of story yet!)   

So, picking up where I left off in Part 1... 

The accident was just after midnight on Sunday evening (okay, technically Monday morning, for my friends who prefer preciseness!), about 30 miles west of Butte, Montana. To spare you the boring details of my log book, we FINALLY arrived in Denver, Colorado around noon on Tuesday!! This stop was the highlight of our trip. We were blessed to be able to meet for the first time our friends, Jonathan and Jessica, whom we've been in ministry with online for the past couple of years! We shared a joyous, delicious lunch with them (except for the child of ours who asked if we could ask the waiter for a puke bucket!) and enjoyed an impromptu "homeschool field trip" at a major outdoor sporting goods store together! (I wish I could post pics of our trip, but I don't know how to pull pictures off of our new camera's memory card without completely emptying it onto this borrowed computer.) We parted ways around sundown, wishing we could have spent a week together instead of just a few hours. 

To continue to make a long story short-er (because I don't think I was created to make a long story just plain short), we finally rolled into Rick's parents' driveway in NE Oklahoma on Wednesday afternoon (Dec. 21st), ready for a long winter's nap! The next day I was able to get in to see a chiropractor in Oklahoma and he agreed with the diagnosis from the chiropractor I'd been to during the week prior to our trip. What I hadn't known previously was that one of my hips was significantly lower than the other, thus all the excruciating back pain during the moving process. With a few strategic adjustments, the majority of my pain decreased significantly. Even more so than with the adjustment back home. What a relief!! (I've been continuing the adjustments as needed since then.) We enjoyed spending the next few days over Christmas weekend with Rick's extended family before Rick had to return to work in Texas. 

Early on Monday, December 26th, Rick and I hit the road for our new hometown in Texas (without the children) to finalize details for securing a home for our family. We had papers all drawn up and signed, ready to submit for a house there. When we arrived Monday evening and met the agent so Rick could see the home for the 2nd time and show the home to me, we discovered things that really concerned us. We both felt a strong caution in our spirits against signing papers on that home. But that left us in a real predicament as his corporate housing had expired the weekend he arrived in the Northwest to begin our trip. So he had no place to stay, and the children and I had no place to finish moving to. I had planned on "dropping him off" in Texas, and making the return trip to Oklahoma the following morning when he resumed work. Suddenly being without any housing plans for our family, arrangements were made for extended family to care for our children (and pets), and with little more than my toothbrush, I stayed in our new hometown in Texas with Rick for the remainder of the week to search for a home while he was at work each day. Thankfully, one of his new co-workers took pity on us and loaned us their temporarily spare bedroom for a few nights before their new roommates moved in. We looked high and low, and every home was a "no-go", either due to details that would not accommodate our family needs (and we'd lowered our "standards" significantly already), or potential landlords with major attitudes against larger families. And there were precious few homes to check out to begin with. We literally scanned the online ads all day long, and jumped at a moment's notice to view them because homes that did become available were usually gone before the end of the day. There were days we (the co-worker's wife and I) just drove block after block after block looking for homes that had signs or just looked empty from the street. We thought for sure we'd be able to find a home before I returned to Oklahoma to retrieve children. No such luck.

The final night I was to be in Texas (since I needed to release relatives from caring for the children), we went out for dinner, and the restaurant owner told us of a home for sale or rent by one of his regular customers. We drove straight there and loved the place! We called that night, and again the next morning (New Year's Eve) until we finally found a realtor who was willing to show us the home on a holiday, and before I needed to hit the road. We submitted an application to rent (temporarily, until we could familiarize ourselves with the idiosyncrasies of the home and decide whether to purchase it in the future). And I headed back to Oklahoma pretty certain that we had a home to go to. Like Rick said "I felt like part of me was amputated." in having to part ways again, knowing that there was no certainty as to how long we'd be apart again. We hadn't realized how much he and I really needed that alone time together (not that it was exactly a romantic getaway or anything).

We waited nearly a week for an answer from the homeowner on whether our application to rent would be accepted. And then we were told they decided not to rent, but to sell instead. We put in a full price offer on the home to purchase it. And still we were "out-offered". So they chose the higher offer, and we were once again at the beginning of a search for a place to call home. Sigh. 

Do you know how much I hate being shown back to first base again and again? It stinks. For once, I just wanted to finally make it to home plate! 

Why wasn't God letting the puzzle pieces fall into place so we could be together as a family again? 

Why wasn't He providing a home for us? 

What purpose is there for all this delay and frustration in securing a home? 

If YOU brought us here, why aren't YOU working things out for us?

There are many times in this journey that Satan began to whisper, planting those seeds of doubt on whether we were even where we were supposed to be or doing what we were supposed to be doing. There were times (even now sometimes) that it was easy to feel like we just wanted to double check with God for that reassurance that we were still on the same path. That we had heard Him right. Wanting to know that we remained in His will as we understood it. As Rick muttered at one point, "God, can we buy a vowel?" 

It gets discouraging when you begin to decrease placing all your trust in God's plan and attempt to walk in your own plans, even with the best intentions to let Him be in control. If we had known what the details were behind the scenes when it came to housing, it would've been easy to just wait on God's timing and not stress about finding a home. 

I'll leave you with this thought, and then I'll end for tonight:

"God's strategic delay is for your greater good!"

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I'll try to post the continuation of our update in a "Part 3" tomorrow. Until then...

~ Michelle