For the past three months now our little family has been uprooted from our darling home pictured above and thrown, it seems, into a whirlwind of life. "Life" is just the easiest and most accurate way to describe it!
It all started on September 1st when Stephen was scheduled to go 4 hours away and work for about two weeks. We had just returned on August 30 from a road trip to Texas. Yep, that's the way it went! Got home late, then had a day off, then Stephen was back at it first thing Monday morning. We'd handled him away before but only for a week at a time so this would be a little different. Besides, the Lord had blessed us financially so that I could make the trip and stay with him at some point during his trip. What began as a two-week job quickly phased into three weeks, then four, then five weeks, then....! His supervisors asked if we were interested in making Greenville, NC our new home.
We were excited at the prospect of moving but sad that all my husband's family would remain behind. But there was so much in Greenville that we loved- especially the fact that we would be within two hours of any beach, and the Outer Banks. ;-) Besides, this would give us a chance to look for a larger home since ours seemed to be getting too small for us.
At approximately 1,000 square feet with two bedrooms and one bathroom, the tiny cottage-like house where Stephen carried me over the threshold (he really did!) just didn't seem to capture our love anymore. Oh, sure, it had a very spacious, half-an-acre yard and the neighborhood was quiet and we were no ways from the local Dollar General store. :-) So why would we need to have anything bigger? It wasn't as if Gabby was taking up too much room. But it would be so nice to have some space for entertaining guests; a second bathroom would be splendid when my family of 8 visited from Texas; and what if we had any more children?! Of course, I loved our little home and the sweet memories we had made there in the first two years of marriage, but I inwardly wondered why God hadn't blessed us with another, bigger, place to live...
Now, the company was asking us to relocate. Here was our chance to find something a little bit bigger, but still in a good price range. I started searching, hot and heavy, for the perfect rental - apartments, townhouses, single wides, double wides, houses. There were some nice options... but for a bigger price.
Every once in a while, we'd travel back home to visit family and check on the house. The first time we did so in about a month, I walked in and my jaw dropped. The house was so beautiful! In fact, it was a MANSION compared to the tiny 200+ sq. ft hotel room we'd been staying in! I couldn't believe my change of heart. (Of course, it looked exceptionally wonderful because my sweet sister-in-law had just cleaned and organized it for me! ;-) Everything was in such beautiful order. There were dishes drying on a towel. The bed was beautifully made. Our pictures were framed and displayed. There was my desk with letters to be written. Everything about the house warmed my heart! It was a home - an actual home.
However, we did still want to move. And no matter how much we loved our home, we were still under the impression that we had to move. So when we got back to Greenville, I continued my search. God seemed to put just the right people in our path and we found a small house out in the country for the same price we'd been paying rent back in Troutman - a huge blessing. Plus, the landlords were cousins of mutual friends of some people we went to church with back home. How wild!
The day before we were scheduled to sign a lease on the new house, Stephen got a call from his boss. He was told that they were trying to get him back to the Charlotte area - so hold off on any permanent housing options. What? My heart sank and my heart leaped all at once. (Is that even possible?!) How long would this last? This game of "yes, you're moving" and "no, you're going back home"? I was beginning to feel very hopeless. It was hard. I felt so useless here! Sure, I was occupied with many things - but this was not our home.
The company asked Stephen to stay at least until the New Year. It was hard to hear that we wouldn't be home for Thanksgiving or Christmas and possibly New Year's. But what about our living situation? I prayed that surely we would not have to stay in that tiny room for another month. And thankfully, my sweet Stephen was able to 'pull a few strings' with his boss so that we could move into a 525 sq ft hotel suite. It isn't as big as our home but it is big enough for now and we love it so much better than the other place. :-) (I have never set up a Christmas tree in a hotel room before but it's actually kind of nice! And we had to have one. :-P )
These days, I look forward to going back home and using it to its full capacity. I enjoy dreaming of changing this or that, moving this or that... and praising God for the lovely little home we have. And instead of praying for what we could have in a home, I thank God for what we do have. Yes, we could use another bathroom and maybe another bedroom but it isn't necessary right now and I should never have complained about not having those things. Besides, the Lord knows exactly what we need and exactly what we don't need. All I have to do is trust Him - which, if you haven't figured it out, is easier said than done.....
(P.S. There is more adventurous stories to come! Stay tuned.)
