Our Great Adventure
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For those of you who haven't noticed, Dave and I are no longer living in Elk Grove. This has been a great adventure and inspiring change for us. Here is our story.
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It all started on a Sunday night in August. I had made a big batch of belgium waffles and was waiting for Dave to come home from church. He called and asked if he could bring a family home for dinner and to see our house.
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Dave mentioned that they were looking to buy a house in the ward and as they described what they wanted he said "you just described our house!" They asked if he wanted to sell it and he invited them over for dinner. I laughed at the thought that they would want to buy our house. We knew we wanted to move in a couple of years but we weren't looking to get out quite yet.
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So, the Sanchezs came over and had dinner with us. They were delightful. We walked them through the house and they seemed impressed with it. We discusssed selling the house. But I didn't think they actually wanted to buy ours.
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Monday morning Eva called and asked for a price - they wanted to buy our house! We started checking prices on the internet. They came over for a BBQ and we settled on a price. Tuesday morning was tough - I really loved my home - was I ready to leave? Where would we go? Where would my kids come to visit? They came over that night, brought dinner and the purchase agreement. Things were really moving fast. Were they sure? Did we really want to sell?
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To my utter amazement we signed the papers. At the end it says that we can take several days to make sure we want to sell. Eva looked at me -she could tell I was struggling with this - and asked how much time I needed to make sure. She didn't want to rush me and was happy to give me as long as I needed. She said I should take a couple of days. I told her I only wanted one day. Just give me one day and I will know. It was all happening so quickly and I just needed one day to think it through.
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Wednesday both Dave and I worked. We had talked about it the night before and decided that we would spend the day fasting and praying. We would go to work and meet at lunch time with a list of pro.'s and con's to selling the house. I knew that Dave was always up for an adventure and was ready to move on selling the house and that it would really be my decision. It weighed heavy on my mind. I had Dave give me a blessing.
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When I work I have a portable CD player that I listen to, to help me pass the time. Today I decide to devote my listening to conference talks. I thought it would help me to feel the spirit and know what to do. I sat there, working and listening when it suddenly hit me, like lightening. I know that I don't get that kind of inspiration very often. Only a few times in my life has the spirit hit me so strongly that I have no doubts. I know what I am suppose to do and although I don't know the entire outcome, I know it is right and that the Lord has a hand in it. The inspiration was that if we really want to go on a mission and serve the Lord - this is the right step -we should sell the house. Tears came to my eyes - joy filled my heart -I knew exactly what the Lord wanted us to do -I never looked back. Dave met me at my work for lunch with his pro's and con's list in hand. He began explaining both especially the con's I had brought up the night before. I just shook my head. He paused and I said simply "we are selling the house." That was it. I knew we needed to. We agreed to go forward with the sell. That afernoon we met at the title company and made everything official. In 30 days, we were going to be without a home.
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We spent the next couple of weeks going through every thing we owned. We knew that from here on out we were going to be downsizing. As we worked through our house we realized how much "stuff" we had accumulated over the years. We began to realize that we needed to really separate what was important to us and what we would need in he future. Especially as we wanted to serve both Church and humantarian missions.
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It took a lot of work but after several weeks we finally got everything separrated into what we wanted to save and what we wanted to give away. We decided to store what was important at my parents house. Thank you Mom and Dad for your garage space!
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We chose a special night and invited all of our children over to our house to go through the items that we were going to give away. We even had Tony on the phone because he was in Arizona.
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Luckily Dave had planned a head of time. He typed up a list of all the major things we were going to give away, the items were both sentimental and practical. We sent it out to all the kids a week ahead of time and told them to mark their favorites on a rating system of 1, 2 or 3. They e-mailed us back before hand and we were able to devide up who would get what, as far as the important items went.
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What happened that night was something to remember! It was very loud, especially at the beginning but once things settled in, it was a dull roar. It was nice to see what things the kids felt were important, what they remembered from childhood and such. Some items they wanted surprised us and some didn't. We didn't even give them the option of the gumball machine because that item was too hot!
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By the end of the LONG evening, our house was considerably more empty and the kids cars, considerably more full. I think that night really symbolized the ending of an era and the start of our new adventure. It is time for us to rid ourselves of all our extra baggage and focus on our priorities.
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Deciding where to go quickly became the million dollar question. We knew we were ready to move, but to where. We started looking into all our options. We looked at condos, apartments and duplexes to purchase. We looked into getting a trailer and parking it in Marcy's driveway (she has a very deep and long driveway). We talked to my brother Russ about using his trailer for a couple of months, before we decided on any major purchases. He was not anxious to have his trailer moved off of his property to Marcys, but was happy to have us come up and live in it on his property. It was currently empty, because my son Davey had just moved out of it into an apartment.
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After much prayer and talking we decided to move into Russ' trailer on his property. For those who are unaware, he lives on 5 beautiful acres in Auburn. Living in his trailer has been very enjoyable. We were concerned because Dave's commute went from a 10 minute walk to a 40 minute drive but now that we have been here for a couple of months, it works. I have enjoyed getting to know my nieces and nephews, who also live on the property or nearby. I really like our new ward. It is really a small world. My Aunt June is in our new ward and several of the people living in the ward either know, or are related to people I know. It has made us feel comfortable very quickly.
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We are grateful for the blessings in our lives. We know that the Lord has directed us to be at this place, at this time, for a reason and we are happy to be here. We don't know, yet, where our steps will lead us but we are looking forward to the adventure!
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This is a picture of our new home!
This is me, on the computer in our family room/kitchen!
This is the pavillion that is about 10 yards from our house. It has a fire pit, a fridge, a BBQ and lots of seating. It even has a screen that comes down so you can watch movies (although I have yet to figure out how that works!). This patio makes it possible for us to "entertain" if we so desire.
Here is some of the beautiful scenery that we get to enjoy every day around our home.
We are also next to the barn, which sounds bad, but isn't. It is a 2 story barn that they have converted into a game room/exercise gym. There are all kinds of fun things to do in there. Our current favorite is ping pong! There is also a tennis/basketball court.
Here is a shot of us right outside the theatre. They don't let you take pictures inside the theatre but I wish you could have seen it. It was a beautiful building and fit perfect for this musical. It just enhanced the whole feeling of the night.
This is a shot of Marcy and I with the "scarecrow". He was the main love interest. He was a very nice guy and chatted us up for a little while, not minding at all how giddy we were!
Here is a shot of me entering the hotel. The hotel we stayed at was litterally 1 block away from the theatre. It was so easy to get our stuff all settled at the hotel and then walk down to the theatre. I am so glad we decided to stay the night, it took a lot of stress off of trying to find parking and having to drive late at night. Plus it gave us some good visiting time.
Here is a shot of Marcy showing us the scenery. It might not look like much but it was actually very pretty, especially at night with all the lights.
It looks like everyone is enjoying the meal!
Christmas is such a special time of year and I am so thankful for the time we get to spend together. The gifts are nice but it is being able to visit with friends and family that you don't get to see on a regular basis and seeing their smiling faces that makes it all worthwhile. I am thankful for all the wonderful gifts that were shared and for all the hard work that went into making this Christmas Eve so delightful. Merry Christmas!
