DISCLAIMER: this post is not about marriage, or anything related to my last post—sorry for the spoiler. Moving is a strange thing. Three weeks ago, I would’ve said that moving is exciting and fun, but now that we’ve officially hit the post-move exhaustion, I kinda want to say that moving is cool, but it’s also the pits. That’s not the point of this post, I just felt the need to whine a bit before moving on.
As we’re settling into our new home, I’m getting all gooey and reminiscing of what life has been like in the past six weeks. In an earlier blog post, “A New Season,” I talked of this period of life for us, and today I want to give an update on that.
My parents put our farm on the market as an act of faith, and God was faithful. Within three days (while we were all still in DC), our house had a contract on it. After looking at too many houses to count, we were all ready to “just pick one,” even if it meant compromising on something, such as space or a backyard. Let me be honest here—house hunting is NOT as fun as it sounds, sorry y’all.
A worn-out momma and realtor went out hunting for the umpteenth time one afternoon, and landed on a beauty. Two hours later, we had all voted and my parents put an offer on it. Two hours after that, we officially had a house. God provided us with the perfect house when we were running out of steam.
That was four weeks ago, my friends. In real estate paperwork time, that’s basically the blink of an eye. Meaning: there was no way we could move into the new house the same day as we closed on the old house. But then the paperwork was filed, and all was set to happen on June 26th.
In the four-week span from then to now, life has pretty much been a hurricane. But God has provided every single step of the way, even when we were ready to throw tantrums because we were so stressed (just me?). And that’s what I want to point out. When the farm went on the market, my parents no longer were dipping their toes into the unknown, but they jumped faith-first into it. And He has provided for our needs for everything since.
We needed to find a house within two weeks: we found one. He provided.
We needed to downsize a lot of our possessions: EVERYTHING sold at a moving sale. He provided.
We needed help packing everything into the storage pods: thirty people from our church family came out to help. He provided.
We needed to sell the tractor before the move: a friend offered to let us sell it at his business. He provided.
We needed loving people to take care of our sweet horses: they were welcomed with open arms. He provided.
We were having issues with the storage pods being picked up and dropped off: they waived the fee and will have it delivered Sunday. He provided.
We needed a trailer last-minute to transport the last of our possessions: a friend offered theirs. He provided.
We were afraid we may not be able to close on the 26th: it happened later that afternoon. He provided.
We were rushing to get everything unloaded on Friday before the storm hit: we were inside when it started pouring. He provided.
By no means does this mean that the move has been a vacation. Each new issue brought nights of restless sleep, snappy remarks, heads hung in frustration, and endless searching for that one thing you packed but now need. But He provided. He provided everything, down to the last detail, while we were ready to pull out our hair in anticipation that something would make this move fail.
You know those “d’oh” moments when you’re frantically searching for something, ready to throw your hands up and declare it lost, when someone picks it up, looks at you like you’ve just grown a second head, and you feel three inches tall? That’s what I feel like about the whole moving situation. We stressed about packing, about finding a house, about everything being ready for the move, and then God took care of it, like He always does. D’OH.
Since the move, we’ve been awkwardly figuring out what our new “normal” looks like. Some days, that meant trying without success in setting up the wi-fi for the house, lugging the Christmas decorations to the third-floor attic, or chasing after our Golden Retriever, who doesn’t understand what “property line” means (our poor new neighbors).
We’ve also found ourselves saying, ‘one of the reasons why we moved..’ several times, and adding to the list each time something else is revealed to us. Mom’s favorite? The fact she can text me her lunch order as she heads to an appointment, and I’ll be in the driveway waiting for her as she drives back to work.
God is able.
