I have a very good reason for getting so behind on my blog this time. 

WE MOVED!  WE WENT ON A 3 WEEK ROADTRIP 2 WEEKS LATER!

Here is how it went.  Last September, we had a friend of Jessi’s, who is the real estate agent who helped her find her home, come out to our house so we could talk about when and IF we wanted to list our house this coming summer.  She gave us her appraisal and some pointers on what to do to prepare our house for selling when the time came.   We told her thanks and we would get back to her when we were ready, most likely by May or June.  Well, we took off on our trip to LA for Gabe’s birthday in February.  The day we arrived back home she called and said that she had a buyer that was having trouble finding what they wanted.  She still had the photos from when she had talked with us and had shown them to them.  They had even driven by!  They really wanted to see our place.  She said we did not even have to list the place, just allow them to look at it for themselves.  We had not done anything to get the house ready to sell yet.  John said OK, but we wanted $30 thousand more than the appraisal she had given us. She was doubtful that they would want it for that much but went ahead and brought them out.   We left while she showed them the place.  She said it usually was only a half hour.  We gave them an hour and went home…they were still there, we drove around and came back…still there…THREE more times!  Finally they we gone.  The next day she called and said they wanted it!!  Of course they offered less, but we came back saying that we were not changing the price.  They said OK!!!  But then we had the inspections to hurdle, every inspection passed, including the well which had not passed many years ago when we tried to sell. The most important of the hurdles was that the bank had to appraise it for our price, which she felt probably would not make it.  IT DID!!!  How could any of this have been anything but God’s plan? 

Now if you have been to my house, you know it is an OK house, but the view is what makes it.  The location was excellent.  I really had a hard time saying goodbye.  We had 24 years there.  We had memories.  I knew that memories were exactly that…memories…you take them with you.  But how was I going to ever match that view, the surroundings, the quiet, the peace I had there?  I had hummingbirds feeding there all winter.  The wisteria I planted right after we moved in was fully budded ready to burst.  The berries I had caned and tied last winter were beginning to leaf out. How was I ever going to match it?  I didn’t want to go, but I knew that I had to listen to what God was saying.

Especially in a RENTAL house!  Yes, we had decided to rent a place for a couple of years, take time to find the right piece of land and eventually build a home that would have a kitchen and living room better suited for when the kids all come home, not really a bigger house, but one with a better design.  I could see the big picture, but it was the short term that was bothering me.

So there I was, looking at rental homes.  Just to get an idea of what was out there, we had gone looking right after we signed the offer papers.   I had found 4 that would be OK, not great, but OK.  Then a couple of weeks later, when it was final, we went back in hopes that they were still on the rental market.  None of them were.  I hit the Internet again.  I found a few more…we drove by them…they were awful.  In desperation, I looked at the new apartments in Happy Valley.  John was actually excited about them.  Me?  well, I was about to burst into tears. Well, I went home and tried Craig's List and found TWO more houses. We drove by…wow!  The first one was awesome.  The second was OK too.  We ended up deciding on the first one. 

We packed up and moved in less than a week!  It was much easier packing it into those boxes than unpacking.  The unpacking took me two weeks.  I am not one to keep things I don’t use, but as I unpacked each box, I found I had more unused things than I thought I did.  I ended up getting rid of a lot of things and it feels so good to have the place completely sorted and in order.  

As I said, it was hard to leave the house.  I had so many ‘lasts’.  Last dinner, last time sleeping there, last drink of that well water, last time cleaning each room, last time mopping that kitchen floor, last time standing on my deck looking at MY mountain, last time to photograph ‘my view’, last sunset, last sunrise (so thankful for that unusually sunny weather back in April) and so on and so on.  You would have thought I was headed to my grave. It would have been a little easier, but all three kids were also going through their own farewells.  Each in their own way let me know it was a hard thing for them to let go too, which made it even harder, even though I was happy to know that they too had happy memories of our life in that home.

As I stood alone on my deck that last day, a few tears, a little prayer, a whispered goodbye to my house, my home of 24 years…I looked down and there were some of the buds that had burst a little early of my beautiful fragrant wisteria waiting for me to notice them.  I took their picture, bent down to smell them and started to walk away…and then I went back over to them and took a handful of them with me and put them in a vase at the new place.  The place I am now calling home.

I walked out the door, but left a pretty plant at the front door with a ‘WELCOME HOME’ sign to greet the new family that now calls it home. I pray that God will bless them as He blessed me while I lived there.   It was time to move on.

I like this house a lot.  We have neighbors. I didn’t think I would like that.  Yes, we had neighbors before, but not so close. They are so nice, they have all come by and welcomed us.  One even came and mowed our yard while we were away on vacation (vacation news coming up).  It is quiet here, which seems unreal when you are closer into town, but it is quieter than my other place.  I didn’t expect that.  The Columbia River is an easy walk, Blue Lake is an easy walk.  There are birds at my bird feeders and one day there were 3 squirrels.  Last week, a hummingbird found the feeder.

God has replaced ‘the view’ with another ‘view’.  Almost every day we walk to the lake, circle the lake, watch the Canadian geese with 5 little babies.  Already they have tripled in size.  Ducks are there, and squirrels and rabbits.  If we go after hours, we get to see skunks come out in hopes of left behind food from the picnickers.  And a huge surprise for me…there is a beaver dam and we have even seen the beaver there!  The park ranger said there is a baby one, but I have not seen it yet.  And I still have the mountain.  Not only is it in view, but it is reflected in the lake! And the lake is in full bloom right now with pink and white water lilies. So many gifts from God to welcome me to my new home.

 God is here, and that is what makes all the difference.  He made the sale of the house happen.  As I panicked about where I was going to live, He brought me to this one.   He helped me say goodbye, He gave me the final gift of an early wisteria bloom and moved me on to a whole lake of lilies. 

I have a little sign that was in my old home…and it is even more true now.

Home is Where You Hang Your Heart. I think I will ‘hang’ with GOD!  That is where my final home will be, I can not even imagine what He has in store for me there!