The Joy of Being "Known"

 Yesterday, I received a cheesy gold frame in the mail. It was in an Amazon box, but there was no packing slip or information as to who may have sent it. In the frame was a picture of an All American Family. Still wasn't ringing any bells for me. Oh well. I just set it aside in my pile of, "I'll figure this out later," stuff.

Last night the doorbell rang. It was our kids. They don't normally come visiting unannounced, but here they were. Jimmy, my son-in-love, seemed very excited to be here. I didn't notice it at first, because they brought my ever-excited grand pups with them. As soon as everyone was settled, Jimmy asked me if I received anything in the mail today. What? Someone knew about my weird delivery???

"Yes, yes I did." I exclaimed. "How did you know?"

"Here, this goes with it." He said as he handed me a large envelope.

It would serve you well, at this point, to tell you that Jimmy carries the most unusual sense of humor in our family. Just to give you an example, we recently took a family photo while in California. Jimmy wasn't with us, but that didn't prevent him from photo-shopping himself into our shenanigans:  

Back to the living room... I went ahead an opened the envelope Jimmy handed me. Inside was an 8x10 glossy of Tom Jones. Jimmy knew that I had been requesting a Tom Jones playlist when the four of us traveled together (much to my daughter's dismay, because she isn't a fan). You see, I was having a very emotional time this holiday season. I had recently lost my father to leukemia. In fact, the above picture was taken when I traveled to California to bury him. My Mom had already made the transition to heaven a few years before my Dad. During this season, I was really missing them both. One of my favorite memories was coming home after school and seeing Mom sitting on the couch watching This is Tom Jones on T.V. while folding laundry. Jimmy had heard this story several times and decided to take it to the next level as comic relief this season. 

Today, Ol' Tom sits on a forgotten shelf in our living room where everyone can see him. I wonder if he has any way of knowing the joy he brings to people like us during the Christmas season? I wonder if Jimmy knows the joy he brings to our family each and every day? 

Our New Home

 

Well here we are. Ready to move into our new home. What a journey!

How do you know when something's right for you? Let me share the circumstances surrounding our new home...

We began our search by asking God if we could/should move to the Mount Dora area. Our "tribe" was going to open a brewery in that area and our personal company already had members living near there. All the pieces in our life seemed to line up in that direction, so we followed the flow. We still weren't convinced that we had heard correctly, but there was joy and excitement in the momentum, so we headed in that direction.

We began the search for a place to call home. My husband and I often have differing ideas and preferences when it comes to... pretty much anything! This is what gives us such extension and diversity in business, but it makes it hard to agree upon a living space. We finally decided to make a list of the 10 most important things we were personally hoping for in a new home (later I found out that Jeff went on to 30 or so items). We were surprised to see how many of our items were identical to each other. This would give us direction and answered the question as to "what" we would be looking for. Now to address the "why" question...

We've been very busy in the six years since we left California. We've had various jobs, homes and even started a new company in the process. We realized we were looking for a place to land and rest. A place to put down a few roots. Our search took us through many "fixer-uppers" and sketchy neighborhoods. We were unfamiliar with the area, so we were feeling quite vulnerable. I began to pray, "What do you think of this place, Lord? Can we have it? If it's not your best for us, make it impossible for us to screw up your plan." This became the place God showed me that life was not coming to a close with retirement, but that He would be restoring all we had lost in years past. Every time I thought we found the right home (and would put an offer on it), it would be sold to someone else. It was hard not to lose heart, but I also believed He was hearing my prayer. A friend of mine reminded me to, "Follow the peace." It's one of the fruits of the spirit (His and mine). This helps me know when I'm on the right course. This gave us safety rails for the process.

Home hunting had become so intense, as we waited for our own property to sell and close. Jeff finally asked if we could stop looking all together until the day we actually had a check in hand for a down payment. 

On the day our home closed, we saw that this house had become available online. It was central to the homes all of our tribe had found. It was also near all the main stores and restaurants in the area. The home, itself, was quiet and the neighborhood peaceful and on a lake. There was land for me to plant and a garage for Jeff to work in. It did, in fact, check every box of our Top Ten items we felt we needed (it checked about 27 of Jeff's 30 item list too). The home seemed perfect for us.

It's a crazy season to buy a home right now. Nothing goes for asking price any more. Everyone is putting in bids way over and beyond what seems reasonable. We prayed about an amount to offer. We happened to be away from home when we received a call that all bids on this house would have to be turned in immediately. We were able to place our bid  just in time. Now we would just wait and remain in the peace we were following.

Long story short, our bid was accepted. We met the sellers for drinks a week ago and they let us know that our bid was not the best they had received by far, but they both felt right about selling to us. We let them know that the home was not only everything we were looking for, but we later discovered that it had so many things we had not even thought to hope for. Items we had desired from childhood and others we had given up when we left California. The sellers shared that they weren't even thinking about moving, but a property near their parents' home opened up and they couldn't resist. Their perfect timing became our perfect timing. 

Hearing God's voice and knowing direction in life isn't a method you can follow. It's as personal as having a conversation with your spouse behind closed doors. Developing a relationship/partnership with the God of the Universe is a big deal, but it's also as tender as a baby receiving a mother's kiss. How do you know when He is speaking? You know the same way you know your child's voice coming through on the telephone. You know because you've spent enough time and energy loving each other.