Waiting, Part 2

Part 2 of "Where I've Been"

Part 1

I get a bit of a shudder inside honestly thinking back over the market months (almost a year's worth). Those were tough, tough months. I was reminded over and over of my desperate need of Jesus in those months, shown how very much I still need to grow, stretched almost beyond what I thought I was really capable of at times. 

I didn’t try to keep the house show-ready 24 hours of every day. I did try to keep it at the point where I could get it show ready in a few hours or less. What would happen though is however long I had to get ready for a showing, that’s how long it took me to get ready. Anywhere from 15 minutes to 24 hours, somehow it seemed to take right up to the last minute to get all the things put away, the kid's toilet clean and all the dishes in the dishwasher (or in a laundry basket hidden in the garage) and rush everyone out the door. I never quite had it “perfect.”

Dishes in the laundry basket to hide in the garage,
cleaning supplies, paint for touch-ups and -of course-
coffee. 

They keep wearing clothes.
Even with our house on the market.

I know I put a lot of the strain on myself to get it right. I tried to trust in the Lord’s timing and not let stress lead to an exploding temper or a weeping mess. In retrospect it’s so easy to think “Why did I not chill more about it and just trust My Heavenly Father for the house to sell in the right time and to the right owner?”

So much easier to say that in hindsight. 

I lost count of how many times the house showed, all the while trying to pack a box here and there, cull the stuff and do little improvements to help it look more attractive to buyers. Oh and just regular living too.

Meals. For some reason they keep wanting them.
Even with our house on the market.

Oatmeal. & then I get a call for a showing.

You know, “worth it” doesn’t equal “easy”. 

It was all “worth it”. It wasn’t even close to “easy”.

Around spring when everything seemed ready for a fresh start we started seriously looking for our property. We knew if anything was going to happen with the house it was sure to be in the spring or early summer when people try to get settled in a new place well before the school year begins.  

So, along with the waiting, we were now looking. Looking for a place with space for roaming kids, the garden and a house that was somewhat livable. A big part of our goal was to free up income from housing to put towards our dreams, so we knew the house wasn't going to be all that great, just something we could make livable for this season of life. We found a few possibilities, but not IT.

Then one day Josh showed me pictures of a beautiful park-like, somewhat hill-side place that was 30 minutes away!  I didn’t even want to go see it. We wanted to stay close to the community we have lived in since our move to Oklahoma 7 years ago, so I resisted even going to look at a property that would take us that far away. 

But we did go look. 

And it was beautiful.


Part 3