I have many, many boxes to unpack this evening, but my right foot is giving me a good deal of pain, so I'll do this long awaited update while I sit a while.
As you know from my previous post, we are in our new house. And before I go into my story of the weekend any further, let me assure you right here that we did indeed sell our Lititz house.
As planned, we left for Lancaster County Thursday evening after Dick was finished working at 8:30. We were very eager to get to the house and see what condition it was in after the water damage. We had heard from no one as to the extent of the damage or what was done about it. We only knew that an insurance adjuster had been there at 5 PM that day, but he did not return my calls as we drove home. Servicemaster, the company that was doing the immediate drying out, etc. had never once called us.
So we were not in the least prepared for what we found when we walked into the house at 11 PM. All the big air-moving machines and dehumidifiers were still running, our AC was set at 70 degrees and running non-stop, AND all the livingroom carpet was ripped out, half of the livingroom floor was ripped out right down to the beams, the entire guest bathroom was ripped out except for the shower stall, and a small portion of the floors of Destiny's bedroom and the guest room were ripped out.
There are no words to describe the horror that totally enveloped me. WE WERE HAVING CLOSING ON THE HOUSE AT 9 AM THE NEXT MORNING AT THE HOUSE!!!!!! I'm sorry to have to say that at that point I did not allow myself to experience the peace of God. I did not rejoice in trial. I did not feel like God was in control, unless He thought it was really funny to pull the rug right out from under us at the last minute. Who were we to call at that hour of the night?
We eventually went to bed, but I don't think I slept more than 2 hours. All I could think of was having to show this mess to our friends who were buying the house. I felt sure that if they didn't back out, surely their finance person would. I tried to think of verses from Psalms that I knew by memory, especially Psalm 86, which I had been memorizing this spring as I walked Austin.
I had underestimated the graciousness of our buyers. Not only did they go through with the closing the next morning, they stayed and helped us to line up workers to get the repair work done. And I can honestly say that we had a fun day together. Our friendship goes back over 40 years. Our hearts have often beat to the same drummer on many issues. There is no way I can ever adequately express my love and appreciation for them now, and for the way they turned one of the biggest crises of our lives into something we will probably laugh about in years to come. In fact, we already did. She took a picture of the living room and threatened to post it on FB with the caption, "Look at the house we bought from Dick and Jeanie Stauffer!"
On Saturday we had just the right amount of help to move our things onto a moving truck - Dick's two nephews, Greg and Josh Stauffer, Dick's parents, my sister Doris and her husband Dale, our friend Dave Cox from church, my brother Dick, my sister Mary Ellen, our son Sam and his friend Jen, and our sister-in-law Deb Stauffer. (I hope I didn't forget anyone!) Here are pictures of some of them, first of all moving, then eating.
We spent the afternoon cleaning the house. I was last to leave and I admit I had tears as I made my rounds throughout the house and said goodbye as I locked the house for the last time. I LOVED living in that house.
Dick and I and Destiny spent the night at Dick's parents' house. On Sunday the prospective worship leader led worship at our church and I finally had the chance to meet him. We will have much more to talk about and share together if things move ahead for him to take the position. After church Destiny and I went to a restaurant for a special meal in honor of my good friend friend Kati who will be getting married this coming Saturday. It was a lot of fun. But I forgot my camera.
After taking naps we took Destiny home to Reading and once again spent the night at Dick's parents. I was way too excited to sleep much. I woke up at 12 midnight hoping it was morning!! Dick's stepmother cooked a great breakfast of sausage and scrambled eggs, the four of us sat down and ate together, and then we were off before 7 AM.
Here are his parents, followed by a picture of the moving truck and the pickup truck, each loaded completely full!
At 10 AM we had settlement on our new home after which we immediately began unloading boxes. I even made good progress at putting things in the kitchen cabinets. But that's the last time I felt like I'd made good progress.
At 5:30 we had pizza at Anthony and Lori's house with Anthony's friends who were helping us to move our stuff. It was amazing how much we had in that little basement apartment. We then came back to the new house and unloaded EVERYTHING. I have felt pretty much overwhelmed ever since. While this house is similar in size to our Lititz house, it seems to have much less storage space. I just can't seem to figure out where to put anything. We both are working every day too, so the time to work at organizing and unpacking is limited. I'm sure we eventually will figure it all out.
Everyone is begging for pictures. I was hoping to post pictures when I tell the entire story of finding buyers for our Lititz house and then finding this house. But I'll post a few pictures, because I don't know when I'll have time to write that whole story. The house is again a double-wide mobile home, almost new. The exterior looks naked with no landscaping, deck, etc. But we'll add those things in time. The inside is spacious and beautiful. And it's just six miles from Anthony and Lori's house.
As you can see, I can literally lift my eyes up to the mountains where my help comes from. The side porch with this view will be my new holy spot.
