How it all began.... the move that is Part 2

In order to put our house on the market, we had to get the roof replaced from the hail, get the basement flooring replaced/cleaned, repair the trim and sheet rock, paint the entire basement, and move some of our furniture back down there, and declutter the rest of the house. Plus, hubby had numerous smaller projects that needed to be completed as well. It was a very stressful time. Oh, and we also needed to have a baby in with all of that!


One of the bigger concerns was the financial costs for the move. God provided for all of the details. The job offer was very good, and there was an unbelievable relocation package. There was an allotment for repairing and staging the house, which covered the basement carpet and our deductible for the roof. The housing market wasn't that good at the time, but there was a bonus if we were able to sell the house in the first 60 days and we got an offer on day 59. No joke! The company would pay for an apartment for hubby for up to 2 months (they ended up paying for 3 months), would pay for him to make 2 trips home per month, fly me down for a house hunting trip, pay for professional movers, realtor fees selling our home and buying a new one, and a hotel stay for the move. It was truly too good to be true, and without it we could have never made the move. Every financial concern that we had was provided for.

The other major concern was the emotional impact of the move on our family. We were losing our entire support system, family, friends, church. Moving to a new place where we knew no one. It was very hard on the kids and me to do all of this work to get our house ready to sell when we didn't want to move. I prayed and prayed telling God all my concerns: my parents don't have the means or resources to be able to come visit us, my dad was 77 years old, once we left there would be no place for us to stay (who has room for a family of 8) to visit, and selling our house that God had given us? (More on our house in a future post) God didn't give me any answers to any of these questions, but that we were to move.

It was decided that hubby would start his job Aug. 12. This meant that the baby would be born at home before the move. There had been talk of him starting his job mid-July and then trying to be home for the birth. So, the Aug. date was a relief, but the due date was Aug. 5, so not a lot of wiggle room on that. The kids and I would stay with the house until it sold and hubby would go on and start his job. The thought of being a single mom with six kids, one a newborn, and having our house on the market was very intimidating. Keeping the house in perfect condition to show at a few hours notice is not my idea of living!

I had a secret fear that the baby would die when he was born. (Padme and I both almost died when she was born.) I had a hard time buying baby supplies and actually opening them. I guess I thought that way I could return them if I needed to. Once he was safely born I felt this enormous sense of relief. Hubby left when he was 12 days old to start his job. Our house had been for sale for 2 weeks and we hadn't had any lookers.

After our house had been on the market for a month we were getting a bit worried. We agreed to an open house and then had another showing later that same week. Still nothing. The next week our realtor called in the afternoon, right in the middle of our schoolwork, and said that there was someone sitting in our driveway who wanted to look at our house. My worst fear come true! I told her to give us 5 minutes, we did a super quick tidy and went to the backyard while they looked at the house. And guess what, they are the ones who bought our house! But, they only gave us a 2 week closing!!!! And we did not have a new house picked out yet! But the nice thing was that God limited our house showings to a two week period, so although I felt like I always had to have the house ready to show, it was a short time that people were actually coming and looking at it. I was very grateful for that!

We got the offer on the house on a Sun. afternoon, we countered Mon morning, accepted their counter offer Tues morning, I flew with the baby to meet hubby for house shopping Thurs, we looked at houses Fri and Sat and put in an offer Sat, and I flew home Sun. With movers coming on Wed. It was fast and furious and felt out of control.

We couldn't move into our new house for a month after we moved, so we stayed with 6 kids, 3 dogs, and a hedgehog in a two bedroom apartment. We literally had kids sleeping in closets to fit us all in. Leia still thinks fondly of that time. I thought it was better than living in our Suburban. There wasn't even a place for us all to sit and eat dinner together, or watch a movie without multiple kids on the floor. After that, moving into our house seemed like a luxury!