Moving Journey #3: Loseamucca in Winnamucca

 A few years ago, maybe as many as 6, my Iowan parents traveled out to California by automobile to visit us. They got to Winnamucca, Nevada, about 6 hours away, and they broke down.  They spent several days trying to get their mini- van fixed before they decided to just rent a different vehicle to travel the rest of the way.  We had a fabulous time together and after at least a week’s time they took their rental and headed back. One would think that after that amount of time the van would be fixed and they could head on their way back home; that was not the case. They had to wait another day. Their version of the story is very humorous. Since that time I have told myself that if we ever traveled that way, we would not stay in Winnamucca.

Fast forward to our moving day…we left our home in California a little later than planned. We stopped for gas and dinner someplace in Nevada, but again, stayed a little longer than planned so my husband could make sure that his “cool” car was going to be okay on the trailer. I told my husband sometime that afternoon that I did not want to stay the night in Winnamucca. If you have ever driven in that part of the country, towns are few and far between. When the day started to wear on us and Kirk’s voice announced over the radio that we were going to stay in Winnamucca I actually was okay with it. How bad could it be?

It was late, but since September is not in peak traveling season I thought we would surely find a hotel room. We stopped at a nice hotel. I was looking forward to the bed and relaxing after a long emotion- filled day. It was not to be. There was no room in the inn, as was the case for the next half a dozen hotels Kirk called. He finally located an econo-something or other and I sighed with relief that we found someplace to rest. Unfortunately, it was not a restful sleep. Our dog was even restless. Kirk was busy worrying about the car, I was trying to figure out a more organized way to travel, and the room was not up to par.  I was not looking forward to another day of traveling. In the morning, after a breakfast of champions (convenient store doughnuts) we were ready to hit the road.

The hotel was in a narrow U-shape. Kirk couldn’t come into the parking lot with the trailer and moving truck so the night before he had to park outside on the street.  There was another exit to the parking lot that had low clearance. Warning of the low clearance was a big sign informing how only certain vehicles could go through.  As we were preparing to leave, I figured it would be quicker to go through the exit with low clearance because it was easier than backing up and trying to exit where I had entered. I was terribly wrong! You see, I happened to forget that 2 of our bicycles didn’t fit in the moving van and Kirk had strapped them to the top of my van. I hadn’t gone very far before I heard a crunch and a crash. What?! I called over our radio, “Kirk, I just did something real stupid.” That man deserves a pat on the back. He didn’t get mad. He was calm and went to report the mess his wife made to the manager. You see, I ran the 2 bikes right into the $345 sign. In fact, he even remained calm when the owner had him drive to the sign shop a few blocks away and order a new one. (Quite honestly I think that was ridiculous. There was a tiny piece broken off of the sign, otherwise it appeared unharmed. It could have been bolted right back up there.) While that was happening our dog broke the GPS adapter and we had to locate a Wal-Mart to buy a new one. The stop in Winnamucca cost us around $450. We “lost” -a-mucca in Winnamucca! I am sure many people have had great experiences in Winnamucca and I don’t mean to give the town a bad name. I do want this experience to remind me of the lessons that I learned throughout this moving journey……. no matter what: be thankful that my family is together, to remember the true price of things, and that there really are times when my husband is patient with me! I am thankful for the safe trip, for my California church family and friends, a new church family and many, many other blessings!  I hope that my life lessons reminded you of your own blessings in your life no matter what else is going wrong around you. God bless you!

Moving Journey #2: Home is Where the Heart is

Many of you know the saying "Home is where the heart is." In theory that is true, but it is truly hard to live it when you don't know where you might be living or as you are following the moving truck that has all your belongings in the world located inside of it.

This summer we traveled to Iowa from California so that my husband could try out for a position at a church. He was to preach and then the next Sunday the congregation would vote on whether they wanted him as their pastor. That is how it works in a non-denominational church. We were unsure if he would be accepted, or if we would accept the position. It seemed weird to start looking for houses, yet we needed to because we had no plans of coming back to house hunt. We drove all over town looking for houses to rent or buy.

We fell in love with a house that hadn't been updated since the 70's. I loved the layout and everything in the house had been well taken care of. One of the bathrooms had shag carpet going up the sides of the wall. I call the house, "The Shaggy House." It was out of our price range however because of it's indoor swimming pool. Most of the houses were out of our range and if they were in the range, they needed too much work. House hunting was exhausting. One of the times we were driving around looking at houses and we ended up in a cul-de-sac, looking at a big house with a "for sale" sign in the yard. My daughter looked at the house and exclaimed,"That is the one." I told her, "In your dreams." We never could quite find a house before we left. As you probably have figured out, my husband was voted to come and be the pastor at the church and we accepted. The pressure to find a house to live in grew.

We had a hard time finding rentals, so we turned to trying to buy a home. It is a crazy feeling trying to buy a home that we had never walked through but just had seen on the internet. The buying a house option fell through for reasons I will not go into. What were we going to do? There was a family with ties to the church who had moved to work in a ministry organization. They wanted to sell their home but it hadn't sold. They asked us if we wanted to rent it. It sounded like a plan. It sounded like it could be God's plan. We would help them out and they would help us out. Several weeks before our move, plans changed. They got an offer on their home and there was no contract between us yet. How could we say "no" to them? They needed to sell their home and they got an offer to buy it. We felt God's hand in it and we felt that it was going to be okay. As the days went by, however, it didn't seem okay and we started to worry. There were some places to rent. Mostly the options were slim. We were looking for a 2 car garage (for Kirk's special car and project truck) and a place that would allow our dog. We just didn't feel comfortable with the options. Two weeks before our move we got a call from a member of the church that told us  about another option. Someone they knew could help us out....they actually cut us a deal. It was just what we wanted: a house with a 2-car garage, big living space, and they would let us have our dog.

On faith, we packed up our house, our extra car, dog, and children and traveled through 5 states. As we were driving through town trying to locate this home that we get to live in until we find something else, we drove down into a cul-de-sac and end in front of the house that my daughter had originally claimed as "the one".... and yet it was the one. How crazy is that? I thank God that we have a place to lay our heads and thank Him for the laugh. We may move again in the next year into a smaller home or we may get to stay, but it is true that home is where the heart is...as long as I have my family that is all that matters.

*****
10/27/12
I want to amend my last paragraph. Instead of "as long as I have my family that is all that matters" I want to say that Jesus is my true home and I am thankful for the blessing of my family that He has given me -it shouldn't matter what house we live in. I just want to keep my perspective and my family shouldn't be as important to me than Jesus.

Moving Journey #1: The Wedding Ring

I do not wear much jewelery. When I do it is for a short time. I have grown accustomed to wearing my wedding ring for longer periods of time, but there are times when I don't like to wear it. Those times would include, but not limited to....1) when I sleep 2) when I exercise 3) when I am getting ready/showering and 4) when I am cleaning. I admit that I have been careless with it and in my old age, absentminded. That leads me to sadly say that I had misplaced it. I have no memory of when I misplaced it. All of a sudden it was gone and I had no idea where it could be. There are 3 places that I place it when I am not wearing it and it was not in any of those places.

When I realized that it was missing, I didn't worry. I knew it would turn up. Besides, I was busy getting ready to move, working, and being a mom. However, after a week went by I started to get worried. I checked everywhere. It occurred to me that I have been throwing so much stuff away, perhaps I accidentally tossed it out? Unfortunately the garbage collector came the day before and it was too late to dig in the garbage. That is when I got sick to my stomach. I didn't have time to search for my ring. So I did what I always do when I realize that something is too big for me to do myself.....I pray. I prayed and then I prayed some more. My husband was not angry with me, he was wonderful. He probably knew that I was giving myself a hard time. He simply said that it was only a ring and that if I wanted a bigger one I should have just told him.

I WAS berating myself for being so careless. As I was packing I ran across some things that I had forgotten about, but instantly thought of what I would give if I had only found my ring instead. I think that God was using this time to teach me the value of things. I started out telling God that I would rather have my ring than ........ However I realized that really to God my ring is worthless. Instead I should say that I would rather have a girl be saved from sexual slavery than for me to find my ring. Or, I would rather someone accepts Jesus as their personal Savior than for me to find my ring or that just one child would be saved from abortion than for me to find my ring. There are so many other things that are more precious than my ring. At that time, I felt a peace within me. I still wanted my ring, I still wondered if I threw it away, I still prayed about finding it, but I also knew I had a task at hand - the task of moving - my ring had to be left in God's hands. I only had a week to pack up my house, finish work, and say good-bye to friends.

This story jumps to 2 weeks later- we had packed up our house in a moving truck,  traveled through 5 states, arrived at our new house, and unpacked. Friday night I had a dream that I opened up a box and there was my ring. All day Saturday as I was unpacking I was expecting to find it, but sadly I didn't. I told myself that I was just getting my hopes up.  Sunday we traveled to my brother's church to listen to him preach. I had grabbed my Bible that I had just recently unpacked. As I was opening up my Bible in church I knew that I needed a pen. I dug in the pocket of my Bible cover to find one. Instead I found my ring. (I had packed the Bible with my other books and I had been using my pocket Bible - I am not sure how long that Bible was packed.) I am amazed at my own response. Crying is not my usual immediate response, and yet that is what I did - I cried. I was amazed and thankful. I still have no memory of how it got there.

I am not saying that God magically put it in my Bible.....He could, but I don't think that is what happened. I do think I carelessly put it in there. I can't tell you what God's role was in me finding my ring, but I can tell you a few things for sure: that God does care about His people-  He wants you to come to Him with anything that might be bothering you and He does give you peace even if your situation seems small. In reality, the losing of my wedding ring is very small.

Moving has been not just a journey through 5 states, but an emotional journey as well. We have had many blessings along the way. Finding my ring was just one of them. I am thankful for all those who have prayed us along this journey. We couldn't have done it without those prayers!

You may have a Parker too

My youngest son didn't start talking until  he was three. He would just grunt. When he did start talking, even his own mother couldn't always understand him and I, his mother, understood him better than most. After several years of speech therapy, I am so pleased at how well he is doing and the big words he is using.

A year ago Parker wasn't even potty-trained, he was 5. (Trust me, we tried everything.) I didn't even think I would send him to Kindergarten because of it....somehow Parker was pee-trained before school started. We sent him to school without being completely poop-trained on a wing and a prayer. Somehow..somehow...it worked out with very little accidents.

Over a year ago, we gave him his brother's old bike with training wheels. He was not interested in it at all, preferring  his trike. This spring, his dad taught him how to ride that bike without training wheels. I am still amazed when I see him riding past like a professional.

A year ago, I was going to teach him how to swim. My other 2 children learned to swim at a young age and I was ready to not have to worry about him around water, however he would not put his face in the water. Last Sunday, my husband took the kids over to a friend's house, and as Kirk and our friend were sitting down conversing, Parker stepped into the pool and just started swimming with no floaties!

Yesterday he graduated from Kindergarten. He got 100% on his math benchmark for Kindergarteners and he got the "Avid Math-er Award". I am overwhelmed at the changes in him in just a year. I can't help but remember how frustrated he has made us these past few years. Yet, why did we worry? 

You may have a "Parker" too. He may not be doing what the average child his age is suppose to be doing. You may be getting lots of advice on how to correct his behavior. Take heart, even though he may require more patience, he is an individual. He may need individualized parenting, a little extra prayer, but it will be okay. If you have a "Parker", I feel your pain. Let me know because we may need to set up a support group! God bless the "Parkers" of the world!