Sunday, August 31, 2008

On the move . . .

We were supposed to meet at a friend's house for dinner this past Thursday before our big move from Connecticut to Tennessee. When we arrived a few minutes late on Thursday, we were welcomed by a group of neighbor friends at a surprise party for us! We were so thrilled! What a happy ending to a wonderful two years in Connecticut! Thanks to all of our neighbor friends for going out of your way to make this such a special evening.

Moving day arrived yesterday, August 30th. We flew out of Hartford to our new home destination in Tennessee. I must say that the hotel room has been rather cramped with three kids, a dog, two guinea pigs and Brad and me. Not a way that I would desire to live on a day to day basis. However, I am grateful for the fact that we will only be here for about a week while we wait on our house closing date to arrive this coming Friday.

We could definitely be in worse circumstances. There are a ton of evacuees from Hurricane Gustav in the Memphis area right now. People have been checking in to hotels around here all day today and I really feel for them. I would much rather be in our situation than in this terrible situation. Not knowing whether you would even have a home tomorrow would be very disconcerting.

Today was not a wasted day as we visited Bellevue Baptist Church, which we have been told is the largest Southern Baptist Church in the nation. The kids really enjoyed it and it was not quite as overwhelming as we thought it would be. We may be going back for another visit in the future.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Moving Fun!

It's amazing to me how fast the days fly by when you are in the midst of moving chaos! It seems like just yesterday when I found out we'd be relocating again. Here's how we've been spending our time lately.

I had my last Uppercase Living open house this past Thursday. I'm hoping that since we will be in a bigger city, I won't be driving an hour to two hours to do home shows. I'm now trying to get two shows closed before it really gets hectic.

Brad and I flew down to Memphis to go househunting this past weekend. We left the kids with two different sitters. Of course, we always joke that we have to move around every few years because it's the only time we get a weekend away! Ya know, most couples go to Bermuda or to an exotic destination. We, on the other hand, go to look for a house! Anyway, we successfully located a home and made an offer in one weekend. Seems like everything will go smoothly. Now, we are hoping that our own house will sell in a short amount of time.

When we got back from our trip, we had to schedule our new carpet to be put in the upstairs of our house. I felt that I was already moving. Furniture was taken apart and moved to different areas, bookshelves were cleared, etc. Then I had to spend the next day (yesterday) putting the entire upstairs back together. Today will be spent recleaning the entire house so that it will be "show worthy" and getting our house contract sent to the kids' new schools. Our moving date has been arranged, our flights have been booked and now the time is ticking. I hope that I have served God's purpose while being here for such a short time in Connecticut. I know that I've made several friends who I will hate to leave. But I'm really looking forward to going "home" to Tennessee!

Check out my favorite moving site at www.justmoved.org.

Friday, August 1, 2008

How God works . . .

I haven't posted a lot lately because our family has been in a "transitional thinking phase". Brad has accepted a position at a different hospital in Tennessee. Of course, we are so excited to be going back "home" but now the chaos starts. We have just a few weeks to plan our move, find a place to live, register the kids for school, etc. I've had a very sleepless night. I'm not usually up so early, but I haven't been able to fall back to sleep since 4:30 this morning. My mind keeps going over and over everything there is to do.

We know that this is definitely a God thing. I have been praying for some time that we would be able to move back down south -- and closer to family. Nothing against the northeast, but it's . . . different. Back in January/February when I was praying about this, I kept having the very definite thought of "July". I told Brad about it and that I strongly felt that God was trying to tell me that Brad would have a new job in July. Of course, we never know where that will lead but God has always blessed us through our moves in the past so although the human side of us is scared of the "new", we trust that God will always provide and place us where he wants us to be during that period of our life. So . . . even back in May, I reminded Brad that I felt with certainty that he would find a job in July. Around the same time, Brad was coming home from work one evening and was thinking about the stress of selling our home in a bad economy if a job should come along. He had the thought, "Don't worry about your house. It is taken care of." He later told me how that it was so strong of a thought, he knew it must be a God thing.

So all this to say . . . Brad accepted this job in July and our house will be taken care of by the company if it is not sold within six months. I'm overwhelmed with the feeling of graciousness. I can't say that I always feel that God is speaking to me but once again, His goodness never fails! I feel so unworthy and undeserving of such love, but I'm reminded once again of God's grace, His presence and His unfailing faithfulness.