Adios, Limboland--Hello K-Town and Beyond!

Well, it finally happened!  We finally left Limboland, and made it to our new home.  It was a bit of a wild ride, but yet one that I feel Heavenly Father's hand was in. 

So...here's the story...beware, it's a long one...

Since nearly day one of living in our other home I had been itching to move.  It started with not really liking the house, it was a rambler, and I've always liked two story houses.  After a few years it became a bit of an obsession for me to have a change in residences, and I would often check the MLS listings to see if a wonderful two story was for sale somewhere that we could move into.  A few more years later there came a time when many of our friends from the neighborhood moved on to new houses, and that was an incredibly hard time for me, as it seemed everyone was moving but ME, the one who really wanted to move.

It came to a major head about a year and a half ago.  I really started to feel as if I would be miserable if I had to spend the rest of my life in that house.  It was a struggle somewhat because there was really nothing WRONG with the house, it actually was a house many people would have loved to live in, but for me it just wasn't making me happy.  I had lived in that house double the longest I had lived in any one town (however we had moved houses within that town) and triple the longest I had lived in any single place.  I was SOOO ready for a change. 

I spent many, many days weeping, wailing, and gnashing my teeth over this.  I looked up houses online, and tried to get Craig interested in moving.  I prayed and prayed and cried and cried.  It became an overwhelming desire to me to move.  I finally decided that I needed to fast about it one Fast Sunday and find my answer from Heavenly Father: could we move?  And if not, could I please have those feelings of wanting to move tempered so that I could be happy where I was?

That Fast Sunday for me was filled with what I felt were three distinct yes answers: it was ok to move.  I was so excited about it, and thankful for answers that seemed to come so clearly and strongly.

It seemed as if Craig was maybe turning towards the moving thing.  But he still wasn't 100% percent sure.  He seemed to be waiting for me to tell him that we could move.  Which I did (and had been telling him for the past 13 years!), but yet it seemed as if he was looking for more than just me saying it was ok.  I finally told him that I had gotten my answer that it was ok, and now it was up to him to get his.

He set out to get an answer.  I honestly was a little surprised at this, as Craig was pretty content overall where we were and it didn't bother him if we were going to stay there forever.  But I am thankful he did, and I was also thankful for the answer that he got: it would be ok to move.  So, we started looking around more earnestly.

We looked at a few existing houses, and nothing seem exactly right in those existing homes.  We talked about maybe building because then we'd get exactly what we wanted.  To make a long story a wee bit shorter, there's a part of this story where I was sure we were going to build with a certain builder in a certain neighborhood, but it was not meant to be.  And then there was the part of the story that put our plans on hold for another 4 or 5 months...

That part of the story has to do with the fact that Craig was serving as bishop in our ward.  Although we had felt like it was ok to move, we both seemed to struggle with the fact that in order to move we'd be leaving Craig's calling before he'd been released.  One evening I was reading a book and I read about "enduring to the end".  The book talked about how it's endure to the end, not endure most of the way.  It talked about how a marathoner doesn't quit at 25 miles, and various other things relating to sticking it out to the end.  As I read that, I got an overwhelming feeling that even though it was ok to move, we needed to "endure to the end" of Craig's service as bishop.

So, we waited.  About 4 or 5 months later it started feeling like maybe we could look into moving again, and I began spending hours and hours pouring over the MLS for land, and driving all around town visiting model homes and trying to find a place for us to build.  When I would find a place that looked interesting I would drive over there myself a few times, then drive over there with the kids a few times, then drive over there with Craig.  If it "passed the test" I'd call on it, and find out what I could about buying it.  Nothing quite seemed exactly right though and we couldn't seem to settle on where to build.

We had friends who had moved away from our neighborhood about 3 years ago who just happened to have an empty lot on either side of them.  I talked to her about the lots, and she told me they had been bought when real estate prices were sky high, and she thought these lots were pretty pricey, although she wondered if since they'd been for sale for such a long time they'd come down some on the price.  She gave me the phone number for the owners, and I decided to give them a call to see what they actually said about the cost of the lot.

To our amazement, when the owners called back they said they had just that day dropped the price of the lot, and quoted us a price that was nearly half the price my friend had told me she though they were going to sell it for.  Craig and I couldn't believe the price, it was lower than other lots we had been looking at, and decided that maybe we should take it.  So, we immediately put an offer in on the land, and within a few days we were the proud owners of a half an acre.

I've since heard that at least 2 other people were interested in this lot at the same time, and if we had waited on it we probably would not have gotten it.  To me it seemed like a sign that this was where we were supposed to be, as the timing seemed so perfect to get us in.

After purchasing land we started looking around at house plans and builders. This was another process that took much time and effort before it came to pass.  In the end we went with a totally custom house plan, drawn up by "Derek the Drawer", and built by "Bob the Builder", a contractor we knew. 

Finally, about 9 months after I had originally gotten my answer that it was ok to move, we broke ground on our new home.  Just over 3 weeks later Craig was released as bishop as they rearranged our ward boundaries and put in a new bishop.

To make a REALLY long story shorter, I will tell you that everything you've heard about what a nightmare building a house is...is true!  It is a hard, hard process, full of more decisions that you'd even wish to make.  But, like many "hard things", it was so worth it in the end!!!!  I love our new home so much, and I love our new neighborhood too.  I am so looking forward to our new chapter of life here.

Oh, one more instance where I felt like Heavenly Father's hand was in all this would be in selling our home.  From the beginning of selling our home I prayed constantly that the home would sell to the "right person" at the "right time".  As much as I didn't like our old home, I feel like Heavenly Father had placed us there for a purpose.  I hoped that the "right people" would buy my home, people that Heavenly Father needed to be there for His purposes.  And I hoped for the "right time" because Craig swore we were only moving ONCE, from our old house directly into our new house.

Once more I'll try to make this really long story short (not working, you're probably thinking!), but in the end, due to minor problems along the way with the sale of our home and the time it took to unravel them, we got the permit to occupy our new home the same day that the buyer's loan funded, meaning that yes, we actually moved directly from our old house into our new house...hooray!

So, that's the REAAALLLY long story of leaving Limboland.  Oh...and did I tell you who else moved out of Limboland?  Remember Mel and the student teaching ?  Well, in the end, she got a internship at the school where she had been working as an aide, so she'll spend the next year teaching 3rd grade for 1/2 day pay and student teaching credit.  And remember Mel and the boy?  Yeah, well now it's Mel and the fiance!