Tales of Moving

I have learned so much that I wanted to share from our moving experience,

that I actually wrote "keywords" to remind me of different events and thoughts

down on a white board.

Marvelous things,

Funny things,

Inspirational things.

Then, I placed that whiteboard on the fridge,

and got back to unpacking,

thinking that when I got a chance,

I would go to that whiteboard and start blogging those magnificent ideas.

I should've put a 24 hour security guard on the whiteboard,

because one of the yahoos was inspired by my notes

and then without notice

erased them all.

So I may not be able to relive and relish every moment

that our move inspired,

but the important stuff is still rollin' around my noggin

and that's what I'm gonna try to get on this page

before it too is lost to the X-files of my mind.

~~~~~

Monday, a week before the closing,

our mortgage guy calls and says

it doesn't look like we're going to get the loan

we wanted--

it had a lower interest rate that we not only wanted

but needed to make this deal work.

He called Mr. W at work 

then Mr. W called me at home.

Mr. W was feelin' blue.

He's said since, that he didn't think we'd really be able to get into a home

this year....that he thought we'd have to have alot more money to put down

to get into the kind of home we're accustomed to.

But he didn't tell me that back then.

He kept that little gem to himself.

So when he got the call from Kevin, our mortgage guy,

he said he wasn't surprised,

but felt badly for me.

Well, see the thing about this is,

I didn't know what to do except call the kids to my room,

gather them at the foot of my bed,

and pray for those that were working on this loan for us.

We prayed for the mortgage people on our end,

and the bank people,

and the home owners who were anxious to get this debt off their shoulders

as it's a Short Sale home,

and we prayed that if this wasn't going to be a blessing for our family,

then we'd gratefully pass on the opportunity

and look with hope and clarity on the horizon

for the blessings our Heavenly Father has instore for us.

Yes, we cried.

We'd already set our hopes on this little house.

We're tired of the feelings of being homeless as we've been renting for 5 years

as the Lord had directed us to do.

We wanted our own place.

So we were sad.

At first, Kevin said that if we came up with 8k more,

we could get that loan--

well, we didn't have it,

and we know of noone that we could even ask to borrow it from...

but here's the deal:

Heavenly Father already knew that.

I knew that He knew that.

So if this was going to work,

then He was going to have to make it so.

I turned to the scriptures,

I just said a little prayer that I would read something

that would comfort me 

and then I opened to

Mark 4--

where we read about Jesus and His Disciples

entering a ship and once they're out in the sea

a great tempest storm starts tossing them about--

so much so that waves are crashing on the ship

and the Disciples are so afraid 

that they wake a sleeping Jesus.

"Carest thou not that we perish?"
And he arose, and rebuked the wind,
and said to the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased,
and there was great calm.
And he said unto them,
Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?

I read that sacred story again and again.

I called the children to the dining room 

and read it to them.

I read it to Mr. W that night after dinner.

And I kept my scriptures open to that page

for the rest of the week.

I called my oldest children and my best friend 

and asked them to remember us in their prayers.

We kept packing the house up.

I had an appointment with our mortgage guy on Wednesday,

where he and I spent an hour talking about faith

and trust in God's love and plan for His children.

When I left his office,

he and I both felt uplifted by the experience.

I told him we were praying for him and the underwriters,

and the homeowners and the loan officers.

That brought tears to his eyes.

He may have known alot about Mormons' lifestyles--

but after our meeting, 

I hope he knows alot more about faith.

By Friday,

Kevin called me,

his voice was filled with electricity:

"We got it! We got the loan!"

The next Monday, as Mr. W and I were driving to the 

Title company's office for the closing,

Mr. W shared that he was surprised that we were actually 

doing this on that day in this year.

And that he felt "foolish" for not having more faith.

I said we all had our faith tested and rewarded in this experience

and that's what this life is all about.

After the closing,

Kevin smiled and said to Mr W:

"You've got a diamond right there". (pointing to me)

His compliment filled my heart--

he had done his best for us,

and our experience together blessed us all.

I can't say I've ever had that experience with a 

mortgage broker,

but there you have it.

Look, I know home ownership isn't the be-all-end-all

of life in this world--

but for my heart,

it means more than I can say.

I have always felt like a bit alone--

my parents are not in my life,

Mr. W's parents are deceased,

we do not have extended family that is involved

in our lives beyond occasional

"hey, what's up?" and Christmas cards.

So a home to me,

means security.

The Lord knows this about me.

And He knows that I am completely dependent upon Him

for every thing in my life.

If there's a moral to this story,

it might be well-said from a quote by

Neil A. Maxwell:

"Faith in God includes faith in God's timing."

The night after we started moving in,

our family gathered together in the new diningroom,

surrounded by moving boxes, 

and we knelt in a little circle and dedicated our new home

to our Heavenly Father.

We asked that our home be filled with His Spirit,

that we will make it a sacred place for all of us,

a refuge from the world,

and always a blessing in our lives.

We acknowledged our Heavenly Father's hand in our lives

and expressed our love to Him.

And then we stood, hugged, and started unpacking.

This is our home, 

through the blessed efforts of many,

this is our home.

(pics have been taken, but I can't find the usb cord thingy to transfer the pics off my camera!)