Chocolate Castles as wel

We are finally moved. It has been almost a month since I have posted anything. It is wonderful to finally be back in a house (no we weren’t living in a car) and Randy is most grateful for a garage again. It has always been such fun to move and have the adventure of exploring a new area and decorating a new house. But…I was never 70 before and I have to admit that this move was much harder than anticipated. Back in December, when we looked at this wonderful house that we now call home, I truly thought that this would be my most organized move. But here we were in February when we actually did move, and I felt that it was my most disorganized move. But I have to get to the core of this text. You will notice that the title includes the words “timing” and “thankfulness”. Let me begin about a year ago….

February, 2020, our landlord for the condo where we were living decided she was tired of being a landlord and called to tell me that she was going to put the condo on the market to sell. Well, because Covid had hit and Randy was now working from home, the condo truly was getting smaller and smaller by the day. In my mind, I just figured that because I really wanted out of there and God knew we needed a house that had 3 bedrooms for him to have a place to office, the place would sell quickly. After all, hadn’t I prayed that it would sell quickly and given God the desires of my heart? When will I ever learn to quit treating God like a Geanie? Our landlord had a tenant in another one of her rental houses that expressed his desire to move into our place. Well, my goodness, this was going to be great. He came and looked at our place and said, “yes, he wanted to move right in and would take over our lease so we could move”. I couldn’t wait for our landlord to call to tell us that indeed Tom would be moving in and we could begin to start looking for a place to move. So that night I began to box things up, just knowing that this was going to be easy and so much fun to look for a house. Well, as days turned into weeks, Tom could not get the financing he needed to “buy” the place and our landlord didn’t want to be a landlord anymore, but wanted to sell the place. So there we were, stuck in the middle of Tom wanting to move in and the landlord not allowing him to rent. Time after time, landlord would call and say, “don’t get your hopes up high, but I think Tom has worked out a deal and will be able to get financing. So I would once again, begin to pack more boxes, just knowing that we would be out of there. Summer came and went and fall was now upon us. Every once in a while, we would get a call that got our hopes up. The realtor only showed the place 3 times, but Tom was still in the picture. Only, he had given up trying to get financing. I kept thinking that maybe our landlord would give in to him leasing and let him move in, but to no avail. In November, Randy and I sat down one evening to talk about the situation. We knew our lease was not up until the end of April so we still had 5 months to go. After thinking and praying about this, we both felt that we needed a plan. Because Randy works all week, the packing would be pretty much up to me. So we decided to start looking for a place that would become available March 1st. We knew that would have us paying double rent for March and April, but we also knew that I would need time to look for a house, pack and get us out of there by the end of April. That would give us two months to do what we needed to do. And that became our plan. Well, December 4th, I was online looking, like I had begun to do the last couple of weeks. A house in a neighborhood that we had driven through many times, popped up and it was exactly what we had set our limit at. I showed it to Randy and he said, lets call our friend, Jack and ask him to call to see if it will be available March 1st. So I did. Jack called us back and said that the owner said it would be available Feb 1st and that he wouldn’t hold it until March. That if we wanted it, we would have to take it as of Feb 1st. We had counted on paying double rent for 2 months, but not 3. But we both wanted to go see it. So we did. As we stood out in the street talking to Jack about it, Randy told Jack that we would take it. I ask him if he was sure and he said, “yes, I think we need to take it, as it’s exactly what we have been looking for and it is one story and what we want to pay.” So Jack called the owner and told him we wanted it. As only God can do, on the way home that evening, we both remembered that Randy had received a bonus in the mail the day before that would almost cover February’s rent on the new place. As we continued to drive, I began to just tear up thinking about that and how God’s timing is always so perfect. But it gets better. We continue to pack up and December comes and goes. It is now the end of January and we are busy little beavers packing and getting things in order to move February 12th. Jodi, our daughter comes in from Phoenix to help with the move. We have Cameron and Jason who each came and began to move things into the new place as of February 1st. Well, and this is what amazes me. Our landlord from the condo calls to tell us that Tom wants to move into the condo and she is going to let him have a 6 month lease, if he will agree to buy it after the 6 months. And he wanted to move in March 1st. March 1st…..as I sit and type this, I can’t help but cry thinking of God’s goodness. We ended up not having to pay our out lease for March and April. Today is March 2nd and I received a call from the landlord who has become our friend. Tom was moving in today to the condo and she was typing out our deposit to sent back to us and needed our new address. Why do we ever doubt God’s timing or His goodness? Yes, it wasn’t in the time I thought it should be, but this was even better. It showed me just how amazing His timing is and how it is always perfect. We are truly so thankful for this house and for God’s provision to us. We cannot thank Him enough. When we let Him do things His way, they seem to always be so much sweeter than the plan had gone the way I expected it to. Am so very thankful for the best pantry I have ever had, a house full of windows that always is such a HUGE priority to me and Randy has his garage……God is so good and we are so thankful for the blessings He bestows upon us. I pray that we will be a lighthouse for Him and share the gospel when opportunities arise in this new place, which He has given to us.