It Has To Be Good

Around this time last year, Mr. Sexy and I were sitting in the office of our family pastor at the church we still know as Home.  Denai was about a month old.  I remember kneeling on the floor, changing her diaper while tears were stinging my eyes because I knew.  My heart knew and finally my head knew.  We were moving.  And soon.

It was a painful realization but one I was able to come to on my own time, in my own way.

We picked our first available weekend, somehow found enough money for a hotel stay and carted the kids to a town an hour and a half away to find our new house.  Every house we looked at was a dump and appeared to be party central.  This town is a small college town which meant most houses for rent were overpriced and not taken care of.  After a long weekend we were feeling down about the whole thing.  But we had one more house to look at.  It was in a town right outside where we had been looking; a town so small it doesn't have a grocery store or gas station.  We found the listing on one obscure sight and it had one picture with a description of the 78 acres the house sits on.

Our driveway.

This was the final house for us to see.  As we drove up the steep, mile long driveway we were both nervous.  Trees and brush surrounded us and it felt like we were entering a forest and would perhaps find a shack for rent.


Instead we found our home.

It was a challenge living out here in the woods.  First, the bees were extraordinary to the point we didn't go outside until evening when we would have our evening campfire with beers on the side.  There were so many bugs coming in through the broken screens that I complained daily about it.  Sometimes even by the hour.  Then winter came and that had its own long list of hurdles.  We learned how terrible the insulation is here and how much firewood we actually needed to get through a winter using a wood stove as our main source of heat.  We had vehicles get stuck in the snow many times and once it was a 6 hour adventure with all of us hiking up the driveway in a snow storm because
 there was no way to get our mini van to the house.  That was fun.

On our way home a huge snow storm hit causing
a major accident resulting in a 2 hour stand-
still while we were only 10 miles from home.

In all that time it had been snowing so hard our
van couldn't make it up the driveway.  The end
result was putting Denai in her car seat in a sled
and all of us hiking home.  It took about 45
minutes.
But what memories! 

And now spring has arrived.  We learned the ins and outs of this life in the woods and were ready to gear up for the summer of bees and another winter of snow.  It was going to be fun because we knew what to do.

As of last week, it has pretty much been decided that the owner wants to sell this property.  Our lease is up August 1 and that's our deadline to get out.

Again, we are feeling a bit hopeless.

This house, the atmosphere, the breathtaking beauty we are surrounded in has been wonderful for our family.  Michael started to actually enjoy playing outside.  Both kids can be out there for hours, exploring the creek and the woods and there is no worry about cars or strangers walking by.  I have come to a place where I enjoy the quiet stillness that I wake up to every morning.  There is no needless running around town or pressures to be out and about in the world.

Here, in this place, God speaks to my soul and I can actually hear Him.


When we moved in we were told this house would be available to us for three years at least.  Plans changed, I guess.

Mr. Sexy and I are struggling through disappointment, doubt and fear.  However we also know that there is always hope and there is a master plan in all this.  It's stressful for both of us which means we are having difficulty trusting God.

So when I feel my stomach start to get all twisty I tell myself: This was a wonderful home and it was just what we needed.  Now it's time to embark on the next chapter, another adventure, and it's going to be good.

It has to be good.  I honestly don't see how it can be good right now.  But it has to be good.

And there are some good and fun things about moving right?  Tell me all of them!