No Fear

     "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." (1 Timothy 1:7)

     So here is our house. Months after we finished the interior and put it up on the market.  Long after we were supposed to be gone.  With no furniture in the house except camp chairs and cots for the kids (we kept our master bedroom furniture).  Trying to be faithful to the Father every step of our journey.

     Purging, packing, and planning --the theme of my life since September 2010, when I felt God prompting me to prepare for moving. 

     While I stayed in Indiana enjoying a respite, my DH stayed here trying to sell the house.  We had plenty of lookers, but no buyers.

     Then Bill flew out to Indiana around the middle of August and we took our time coming back to Colorado.  I dreaded returning.  After all my hard work and effort.  All the hours poured into paring down our furniture, getting rid of everything except the bare necessities.  It all seemed wasted.

      We decided to list the house on the MLS using a flat-fee service, in which a Realtor posts our information for a flat fee.  We could afford $400 out of pocket versus $5000.  Through August, September, and now October, our house has been listed on the MLS.  With only two phone calls.  How depressing.  There were times I wanted to throw in the towel.  Just refill the house with furniture and stick it out.  But every time I went back to God, he made it abundantly clear that Keenesburg wasn't in our future.

     What to do?  Well, since the real estate market is soft and the rental market is strong... we decided to become landlords and rent out the house.  After much prayer and deliberation, I crafted an ad and posted it on craigslist.  Within an hour, I had two phone calls and an email.  Within four days, I had countless phone calls and emails.

     Apparently, this was the right door.  So currently, we are screening potential tenants.  Is it nerve-wracking? Oh, yea.  Am I sure I want to be a landlord?  No.  But do I feel this was the right decision?  Absolutely.

     What did I gain from the trip to Indiana and several "wasted" months of trying to sell the house?

     My husband.

     Being in Colorado by himself made him realize what was most important: his family.  Within a couple weeks of our return, he assumed the finances and started paying the bills; for the first time in our 16 1/2 years of marriage.  He scaled back his outside commitments, re focused his passion and energy toward our financial future and began including the family in all his hobbies.

     As hard as it has been to wait on the Lord and wonder at what was happening, I look back over the summer and realize that God had a plan which didn't include selling the house.  It was a means to his end.  But he has opened the door for us to leave via turning the house into a rental.

     Financially, this makes sense for our family.  We don't lose the money and time we invested and learn a whole lot about being prudent.  As nerve-wracking as looking for the right tenant is, I have absolute peace about God's plan for our future.  No fear.

   Next post:  About our fun journey traveling from Indiana to Colorado!

Papa Scott and the power outage

The kids and I spent a couple days with my dad, Scott Caviness, and his wife, Yvette.  They live in South Bend and have things like books stores and a mall nearby.  As much as I loved being in the rural community, I did miss city amenities.

The day we came to stay at Papa Scott and Mema's house, there was a big storm that knocked the power out for blocks around.  Fortunate for us, the weather was just right.  Unfortunate for us, the pump for their well was electric.

So no water.

Their neighbors, however, had a hot tub full of chlorinated water.  So Dad and I schlepped 5-gallon buckets back and forth until each toilet (3) had a full tank and then some.  Plus, some wash water. We used bottled water for drinking.

His refurbished generator kept the air conditioning going and sometimes the TV (for XBOX games).  But the most entertaining aspect were the two chipmunks that Maizy, their farm kitty, brought in for a present.  Wasn't that nice of her?  She does it so often, they are used to the sound of skittering feet.  Sometimes the chipmunk makes it out alive, but other times it meets a watery grave in the toilet (while trying to escape).

Papa Scott also introduced us to a new math game for our homeschooling ventures: poker.  One rule I made the kids repeat: "Poker is a great way to lose money."  And my dad's rule: "The trick is to always stay in the game."

We won some and we lost some...

Hamburgers at Papa's!

Sassy Kyla doesn't like taking pictures

Cousins just hangin'

Most of the days blended together in a splendid symphony of not quite so harmonic cousins doing what children do best: play.

I captured some sweet moments between them that just had to be shared:

Judah is waiting for the rain to end

The boys working together

Little Ben, 4-years-old

We had fun hanging at Lake Michigan.  Quite a novelty to play in fresh water waves...

My beautiful sister, Sarah, sunning

Zoe and Jessica burying Kyla in the sand

Judah waiting for lunch

My sweet stepmother, Yvette "Mema" Caviness

My dad, "Papa" Scott Caviness -the best in the world!

My brother-in-law, Lester, avoiding the sun...

Poor baby raccoons

It is a fact of life, on a farm, that animals will live where they aren't wanted.  While helping my brother-in-law get his office organized, we ran into that problem.  Baby raccoons had nested in the walls and so the hunt was on.

The most entertaining part was watching everyone defend themselves against the baby raccoons just in case they darted through the hole in the wall.

Papa Scott with his gun

The intrepid Racoon hunting group!

Lester

Papa Frank ready (not really!)

I was the worst one because I couldn't shoot any poor little critter.

In the end, our fearless Amish neighbor, Aaron, did the dirty deed and disposed of the varmints. 

How many people does it take to remove four baby raccoons?  Just one -with experience...

Haircuts

My sister, Sarah, is a professional hairstylist. One night, she gave everyone a cut and color. The girls picked pink and the boys picked blue.

The color faded after awhile, but lots of fun while it lasted.

Parades and Parties

Among the many fun activities we did whilst visiting the heart of Amish country was watch a parade in tiny Bristol, Indiana.  A mix of the modern and the old.  The kids managed to gather some candy.

After which, we rested in front of the oldest stick building in Indiana, the "Stone Soup Emporium".  Rumor has it that a ghost haunts the upper floor of this eclectic ice cream shop, which also sells everything from hand-painted stools to antique comics. The ice cream is to die for.

We also celebrated multiple birthdays.  The theme for my brother's son, Ben, was superheros.

We went with what we had... The best part of it all was being with family!