10 out of 12 for last year, isn't TOO bad. (for those who don't know, I had set a goal of posting at least once every month, last year. I almost made it)
Life started to get just a little crazy in November. Lon and I decided (with some nudging from On High) that it might be time to start looking toward moving up to Tennessee to be a bit closer to Lon's work. So, for our anniversary this year, we went up and stayed in a little town, called Woodbury, not far out of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. It is an area that has intrigued us because it is very pretty, and reminded us of our experiences growing up in the Willamette Valley (though it is decidedly missing the snowy peaks in the distance, but you can't have it ALL!) There is even a little town not far from Woodbury that is named McMinnville - story goes that the man who founded McMinnville, Oregon came there from McMinnville, Tennessee, and it seemed so similar that he named it the same. We can see why.
Anyway, we went back up in January, twice, and eventually found a place that will work quite well for us. But, I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. Many of you know that we have had, for quite some time, a long-term goal of running a small Christian retreat center as a family business. 6-8 small cabins and a small lodge, where groups can come away and have some 'down time' together. We also hoped to be able to offer it as a wedding venue location, possibly... So, we were not 'just' looking to be closer to Lon's work, we were also wanting to choose a location where we might start that business. Or, at the very least, hopefully be in or near that community now, so that we could start getting familiar with things, and be in a better position to be ready to buy, if the right piece of property came available.
Lon has this thing, where he believes God talks directly to him. I'm still a little unsure what to think about it all, but let's just say that God told Lon a specific area where we should focus our attention when it came to looking for land to purchase. We were open to just getting near to there, for now, with the goal of eventually getting a larger piece of property in that specific area.
We went up twice in January, as I mentioned, and eventually found the place we have made an offer on. There were several others that had great potential, but this one HAS it, and it's not potential, it's in very good shape and needs very little work. We didn't sit down and write a list of things we were looking for, though we did have a pretty good idea because of other such lists, in our not-too-distant-past. But the more I think about the things that WOULD have been on that list, this place has every one of them (there is ONE small exception, but we think we are going to be able to do a work-around on that).
We wanted enough property to start doing more gardening... check. Maybe put in a small orchard... check (some fruit trees are already there!). Space to put up a green house maybe... check. And berry bushes... check. Room for goats, maybe a llama or two, and of course our chickens, check, check and check. Annie may even want to get a horse, so there needs to be a place for that, too... check. Space for Lon to do his woodworking and also a place for him to set up an office so that when he does work from home, he is more remote from the rest of the family so he gets fewer interruptions... check and check. Space for me to do my various forms of artwork more easily, which means room for a kiln, a wheel, a loom, stained glass work supplies and tools, and, of course the obligatory 'crafting' and 'sewing' space also... check, check, check... you get the picture... A house with smaller bedrooms than the enormous ones we have now, and larger living spaces than the TINY ones we have now... check and check (YEAH!). Hardwood floors would be nice, (I'm really liking carpet less and less as time goes by, particularly with cats in the house now)... check. A kitchen floor that doesn't show every little thing you drop on it... check! The girls were all hoping for their own rooms... check, check, and check. Emma wanted woods and a creek... check, and check (times two, on the creek!) She also wanted a SMALL room (she likes small, cozy spaces)... check. I wanted a quiet street... check. The boys want a place to put up a tree fort and a tire swing... check and check. A willow tree would be lovely... check. Some sort of storm shelter or basement... check. I wanted a church community where home schoolers were not looked askance at, because we were not supporting the little Adventist school that the community was working so hard to keep alive... HUGE CHECK! - (more on this miracle later) A screened porch would be nice... (this one will take a little bit of work, but VERY do-able) check. Maybe even room to start practicing with some cob construction techniques so that we are ready to start building when the time comes for the retreat center... check! (the only thing we really WANT that it doesn't have is a good-sized utility room with a utility sink. We are thinking we'll be able to add that to a little lean-to that is on the side of the garage, we'll see.)
So, you can see that the house/land seem pretty perfect (there are almost 5 acres, by the way, because I know some of you are numbers. people, and the house has about 3300 sf) AND our payments will be several hundred dollars less than our rent is now.
There is also a time-line issue that you should be aware of. I was hoping to make a trip out to the west coast this year, to be at Oregon Campmeeting in July. Then, it turns out there is a good reason for Lon to be a Walla Walla Alumni weekend this year, in late April. So, we were thinking we would go out, for that, and then the kids and I would just stay, through till July for campmeeting... just visit various family and friends, and hunker down here and there, and do some school wherever we are... etc... I was REALLY hoping that we could work it out so that we ended our lease here, just before we left, and then, didn't start our payments up there, till we got back... how perfect would THAT be? No house payment for three months, while we were essentially RVing it. So I was wanting to move a bit more slowly, and not rush things.
So, I was not excited, when it worked out best for us to make two trips in quick succession right after the first of the year, to look at things... and then we FOUND it. But Lon asked me to pray that I would be open to God's timing on things.
When we went up in November, we had taken time to go to the little school there, and meet the teacher. I was (am) so impressed!! First of all, when we walked in, she was sitting at her table, 'checking their folders' which looks very much like what we do, to end our school day. Then she spent an hour and a half chatting with us! On a Friday afternoon!! We will work very well together!! There are several families that do and/or have homeschooled. They transition easily in and out of the school and it's never a problem. I think she will have an easy time understanding some of the issues we have with the younger kids, (she even has some 'foster' kids living with her right now!) and I can see that even if my kids are all at home, she and I will be very good friends. But several things she said, on that first meeting made me think that maybe it would be better for at least some of the younger kids to be with her. AND she is willing to take Ricky on, and see if that works too. So we were planning, right away, to at least put Ricky with her, and get him out of the public schools (though we had also met with the public school teacher, while we were there in November, and felt it was a pretty good option for him too) anyway, the more I thought about it, the more I thought that perhaps Tommy should be there too, and maybe even Mayahna also. Then I started thinking about what I could do with my time, if the three of them were in school. The idea of focusing on Emma for a while sounded pretty nice. I was envisioning she and I doing animal care, and gardening as part of her school, and really getting her strong in her scholastics, so that she places well in the SAT/ACT's and gets national merit scholarship money to help pay for college, since she wants to be a vet. I REALLY started liking that idea. PLUS, since putting Ricky in school, he and I have started having a much better time together. So, I'm kind of hoping that will be the case with Mayahna too. If I get some 'respite' every day, then when she is home in the evenings I will be able to be more of the kind of mom she needs me to be.
So, as I started thinking about transitions to school, and the trip and all of that, God really did bring my heart around, and we have changed the plans for the trip. We won't be doing campmeeting this year, just alumni weekend. And not all of us, just some. And that opened the door for the move to happen sooner, and so then we started thinking why not put the kids in school this spring, rather than waiting for next fall... etc. And suddenly, rather than dragging my feet, and trying to slow things down, I'm ready for it to happen FASTER. And when we made the offer we put in a closing date of Feb 28. We thought they would probably bump it out a month, as we happen to know that they have a vacation planned for two weeks of February, but they did not... so it looks like we are going to be moving in about 5 weeks time. And when I called the teacher, to make sure that it would work for the kids to start right away, she said it was PERFECT, they will start the day after spring break is over, which is the first day of the last week before a new grading period. They will spend that last week of the old grading period, sort of in 'orientation' and then they will be 'on record' at the beginning of a new term.
It's all happened so fast, but I can definitely see God's hand in it. I'm still a little nervous about the funding on the loan. Lon IS in a contract position, after all, and that can complicate things. The mortgage broker didn't seem to think so, but we won't know for sure till we get funded by the underwriters. That should happen within the next two weeks.
So, if you are the praying type, please keep that funding situation in mind, and ask that God's hand work in the way that will bring glory to Him. Already there have been so many miracles that have happened in relation to this property, and how perfect it is of a fit for us, and how well the timing has worked out, etc... WE feel it's the one He wants us to have, we know He wants to give us good gifts (today's text at church was even I John 1:9!) but it won't be clear completely until we have the loan in hand. Also, please help me to relax into the knowledge that if this one doesn't work, that He has something better in mind for us. (we even found another 'perfect' house, as we were looking, before we saw this one, that had an offer on it already, so it was not available - so as disappointed as we were that we couldn't get that one... we knew then, that God had something better for us... this one seems to be it, but if the funding doesn't work, then there must be something even BETTER that he has in mind!)
Oh, did I mention that the house is IN the area Lon felt God leading him to look in, and that there are three different large pieces of land behind us, that we may be able to purchase in the future? Two of them are even uninhabited land, so that means that they SHOULD be easier to purchase, when/if we reach that point. God is SO good. As I look at the list, that we never wrote, and how He saw to it that all of the little details are tended to and provided for abundantly, and when I think about the time-line, of when we went up to look, and when the kids will start school, now that the move date is set when it is, and the fact that the owners have another person in line, now, that will buy it if we don't - if we had waited even another week or two, we may not have gotten it... God is CLEARLY in control. What a blessing it is to be a child of God, and have His hand in our lives, working all things to the good on our behalf!!
I guess, when we move, I'll have to change the name of the blog to 'Our Tennessee Adventure'!
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