As we go into this holiday season, blessing is an understatement! Unlike last year when I had a 7 month old baby and foot surgery, I find myself having more Christmas spirit than I've had in a really long time. Most holidays we fight about what we're doing and there's opposition if one side of the family gets gypped on visits. This year is somewhat different. After 5 yrs, we actually planned Thanksgiving like we were deciding what color sheets to buy. But everything changed when I got laryngitis for 4 days before Thanksgiving, then the full out flu, and lastly a stomach bug. Of course the sickness didn't stop there. Poor Jack had an ear infection and stomach flu and Jason had the latter. It seems like only a blur today, but it was hard on everyone! We planned to go down south for the day (Thanksgiving) but that didn't happen. We also missed out on seeing Jason's side. I felt decent enough to see my family in Plymouth the Saturday after Thanksgiving though. It was so great to see Amy and Bill and their kids whom I've never met. It's been 18 yrs! Thankfully w/ email and facebook we've connected awhile back. Eighteen years is definitely too long to go without seeing your family! I don't know what we would've done had Jason not been on vacation. We missed so many Sundays and even small groups due to illness or inclement weather.
However, I'm semi glad we missed this years small group Christmas party as our realtor called with great news. I ran in the other room and all I heard Jason say was, "Good news or bad news? Ok, ok ok..let us know." He came into Jack's room and told me God came through for us because we got the house in Kokomo that we'd been waiting to hear back on for 3 months! How ironic that we were having a discussion about how mad we'd be if they came back and asked for more money and blah blah blah...then seconds later we get the call. God definitely has a sense of humor! I called everyone and their brother to tell them our good news and was absolutely giddy! Our closing date is Jan 24th. Now that we've gone through the month of Dec, the 24th is coming VERY quickly! It's somewhat of a blessing that our house hasn't sold so we can move in slowly. The house inspection went extremely well and we were very impressed w/ the man who did it. He'd previously inspected the property and even thought about purchasing it. So glad he didn't!! He had plenty of history to share w/ us and that put us at ease. Turns out the property used to flood really badly before they did construction on Hwy 26 years ago. When they completed that, the people who owned it did major construction in the basement by adding french drains. They also did other major house renovations. So glad it was them and not us! They ran new wiring, installed new plumbing, and added a 1400 sq ft addition...that's that size of our current house! It helps me sleep at night knowing someone who knew what they were doing completed these tasks. We are anxious to move into the property as it is vacant and with each passing day there's potential for another break in.
It's no coincidence we waited 3 months to see if our bid was accepted. There was another bidder who didn't want to wait. We also had 3 months to practice living on a budget. God has made himself very visible in my life as well as Jason's through this experience. We're very excited to be closer to the church we've attended for 3 years and actually be able to get involved w/o worrying about the 30+ minute drive PLUS adding Jack to the mix. I'm so proud of Jason for pursuing an opportunity to help with the church's network. I'm excited to have more living space, increased feasibility of getting together with my small group outside of our Monday night groups, and more opportunities overall. We want to seek God's direction and pray that He gives us guidance through these transitions. All in all God has always been faithful to us and brought us through very tough times.
As I continue reflecting, I'm reminded that neglecting to read my bible on a semi regular basis and having time to critically think isn't healthy for me. Reading and journaling opened up a door I thought was sealed and never to be opened between Jason and I. I've reached others through my blogging and that's awesome! Life just got complicated and sickness got in my way. I'm looking forward to working it back into my routine as I remember my goal for doing it in the first place...by learning more about God,Jesus, the Holy Spirit etc, I'm able to be a better wife and mother...well that and reading books by Shauna Neiquist.
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