Alabama Trip, Part 3

We left the hospital at about noon on Monday, headed back to Cleveland, loaded up all of our stuff, three children, and my mother (though technically she loaded me up--Katie and I rode with her), and headed back to Bessemer. Mom spent the next few days with us in the fifth-wheel since Dad had hauled their camper back home on Saturday due to the change of plans.

We spent all day Tuesday with our realtor down there, Laura, looking at houses that we had asked to see. Twelve of them, I think. We really, really, really liked one in particular. We called all of the others by their street name, but simply called this one "the yellow house." I think it was the third one we saw, but it remained our favorite throughout our search.

When we got back to the trailer that night there was a note on the door from the Ridlespurges telling us to go into the church--there was some barbeque and a jug of sweet tea waiting for us. How thoughtful!!! We called and invited them over for dinner (ha!), but they couldn't come because they were meeting with somebody in need that night in an attempt to minister to him. What wonderful people they are. HE is a little nutty. ;-) I like 'im a lot. We're really impressed with the whole family--and everybody else we've met down there so far. Anyway, we enjoyed our dinner, then called it a night. After a game of I Buy. :-)

We only had two houses to look at on Wednesday, down in the Pelham area. It's not all that far, really... but the Interstate convinced us we just didn't want to make that drive to go to church all the time. After seeing those two, Laura arranged for us to go see The Yellow House we'd fallen in love with the day before. We wanted to look at it one more time, just to make sure. That's when we found out that somebody else had just put an offer on it a few minutes before! CRAZY! We went ahead and looked at it anyway, not knowing if the offer would be accepted or not. It was sad looking at it this time, knowing it was most likely going to sell before we had a chance at it. And it did. Of course, it hasn't actually closed yet and anything could happen, but the people did accept the offer. So unless something strange happens, we'll have to find something else. To be perfectly honest, we loved the setting more than we loved the house. It wasn't too far from the church (about 15 minutes), in a nice, quiet area, not too close to the road, with 2 acres, and a beautiful, very, very private back yard with flat grassy areas and nice treed areas and a purty little split rail fence around the whole thing--they PERFECT yard for the kids and poodle. When we get a poodle. ;-) And everything about the house would work--the right amount of rooms and spaces, without being huge and oversized. Here it is:



But oh, well! I've decided that I can sell houses. All I have to do is decide which one I want and it's going to sell immediately--to somebody else! Ha! The first house we fell in love with (right after the Assembly) had been on the market for over two years. I decided it's the one I wanted and *wham-o* it sold. This one had been listed for 7 months. The very day that I decide it's "the one" *wham-o* it gets an offer. Crazy! Come to think of it, both houses were yellow. Maybe we ought to try for another color... ;-) Frankly, I think we just need to wait until we get THIS house sold.

Which is another story. Too long and too much of a drudgery to repeat. In the end, we still have no contract in sight. I began to wonder a few days ago if it's a hitch with US. You know, like maybe there's something we haven't surrendered or something God is wanting to teach us that we haven't learned yet. I've wondered it off and on for a few weeks now, but I'm wondering it a lot more strongly now! More than praying for the house to sell I've been praying that God would accomplish His purposes IN US through this. I feel like perhaps when He is able to do THAT the sale of the house will follow in quick order. Who knows?! I just want to be surrendered to Him, His will, His ways, His time--and learn gracefully all that He is desiring to teach us through this. But for the sake of our family and of all of Alabama, I am truly hoping we learn whatever we need to learn very, very quickly! Do keep us in your prayers.

We went to our home church for the first time on Wednesday night. It was Brother Powell's BTI service and he taught a great lesson about what "Let the Church be the Church" really means. There were three visitors that night. :-) After service we visited with some of the good folks there for quite a while and enjoyed it so much. Up until this point we have known by faith that we would be happy in Alabama. Now we know it by the little titch of experience we've had there. :-)

Thursday morning Mom headed to Anniston to spend a night with Sister Bishop and we headed west again. We were able to make it all the way into Texas, which was great since we got a bit of a late start that day.

The next evening we made it to Andrews, just in time for stew and cornbread at Aunt Sue's house. :-) Sue had been watching Jeremiah while Sam was at work and Tammy was at Ladies' Retreat (I don't want to talk about it!!!), so Sam came over after a while to pick up "the boy." He stayed and played I Buy with Aunt Sue and James and I before he left. It was great. :-)

Friday was such a nice, leisurely day. We were tired after the long trip and lack of sleep throughout the past week and it was great to have a day to just do nothing. We visited with Aunt Sue and Uncle Jerry for most of the morning, then Sue hopped in with us and we dinked around town for a while. We drove by our old house, then stopped by Cassidy's for lunch. We went to Sue's store and I stocked up on candles and more Blossom Bucket--I am SUCH a sucker for those little clay things. We took the kids to the park for a little while, then headed back to the house for a much needed nap. Unfortunately, it was not to be. Uncle Jerry wanted to take the kids to ride in the golf cart and James insisted that we ALL go along. We all went out to the golf course for an hour or so. Uncle Jerry let the kids take turns driving the cart all over the place and then trying to hit some balls. Aunt Sue and James and I just sat on a log and talked while we watched them.

When we got back to the house it was too late for a nap. BUMMER. We let the kids watch a couple episodes of Gunsmoke, then it was time for tacos for dinner. After a while Brother Sam showed up again (he'd been invited for dinner, but was an hour or two late--surprise! Ha!), so we got in another game of I Buy before bed. :-)

Sunday morning we headed out pretty early and hadn't gone too far when we got a call from my cousin Stacey saying that Uncle Jerry--while we were spending the night at his house the night before--had had another heart attack. He didn't tell anybody because he didn't want everybody trying to gather around him and pray and all that stuff. He's so cold and hard toward the Lord--so much bitterness in his heart. I guess the heart attack lasted for an hour and a half or something like that. He looked terrible that morning we he told us goodbye, but we just thought it was the lingering of the headache he'd had the night before. Please, please, please pray for him, that God will somehow soften his heart and help him to surrender his life to the Lord. He's a wonderful man and we all love him dearly, but he's so lost in pride and stubbornness and bitterness. He desperately needs to be saved--and his health keeps reminding us all (and surely himself, as well) of how soon and how quickly he could enter into eternity.

We set off that morning on our last section of the journey... and the longest one ever. This whole trip seemed long and hard to us. We are used to traveling and usually don't think anything of it, but we had a hard time this go around! I think it's because it's not according to our schedule. Usually this time of the year we drive 5 hours to Colorado for Ladies' Retreat (I'm not talking about it!), then maybe an hour or two to a church and then another, then 6 or 7 hours back home. So the 20+ hour trip (each direction), plus the added driving to Knoxville and back, is more than what we're used to--and not very long after the big Assembly trip. And that stretch of highway from Roswell up to Clines Corners is the longest, flattest, ugliest, slowest stretch of highway ever invented. It's TERRIBLE!!! We actually stopped in Vaughn for lunch because we couldn't take any more. Who knew there was even anything to stop at in Vaughn?! Vaughn is one of two little itty-bitty, junked up, run down, used-to-be towns in the 2 or 3 hours between Roswell and Clines Corners. But they actually had a really neat little diner sitting back off the road a ways and we so enjoyed watching the dude make all of our meals--which varied greatly--right in front of us: some sort of Mexican steak dish for James, a burger and fries for me, a taco, rice and beans for Katie, oatmeal and toast for Joe, and bacon, eggs, and toast for Sam. One guy did all of the cooking on three griddle areas within about a 6' stretch and he was AMAZING. Neat-o.

We made it home at 2:00 in the afternoon and discovered shingles and skylight pieces all over the yard. Apparently we had a major windstorm while we were away and our already torn up roof (from the hail last time) just got blown to smithereens. The boys busied themselves cleaning that up while Katie helped me unload the van and then she vacuumed it out. I got everything unpacked and put away, then separated and started the first of 6 loads of laundry before we left for church that night. Last night, I guess it was. Wow--it feels like longer ago than that! Ha! It was so good to be back in service here, which throws everything for a loop inside of me again. Ha! I get my heart set on Alabama and am so excited to be going there and anxious to get there and all that... then I get with the people out here and my heart breaks all over again to be leaving them! It wears you out, you know?! Anyway, it was good to be back in service and visit with Brother Chris for a while afterwards because Sister Shanda wasn't yet home from Ladies' Retreat--but I'm not talking about it!!!

Okay, I'm talking about it. It KILLED me to miss Ladies' Retreat!!! Even now the tears are coming back! Aaaaaauuuuugggghhhhh!!! I hate this!!! I had known for a while that I wasn't going to be able to be there and I was sad about it, but coping okay. Then Tammy called on Friday while she was with Emilee ON THEIR WAY to pick up Jamey and Karen and head up to Retreat, and I just lost it. And I think I've cried every time the subject has come up since then! Is that pitiful, or what?! It's just SO HARD to have missed out on everything--the girls, the classes, the services, the away-from-everything time, the games, the laughs, the craziness, just EVERYTHING. I've heard little blips about how great it was, though no details yet (patiently waiting here), and I'm sooooo glad. Every time I thought of the Retreat I would pray that everybody would have a FANTASTIC time and a GLORIOUS Retreat and that the services and speakers would be anointed and all of that stuff. Then I'd envy them all. Ha! Sad, but true. I've been way, way too emotional about it. But then, rumor has it it was an emotional weekend for Brother Dustin, too, though for different reasons. He's all mushy and gushy and feeling emotional like a woman and all sorts of sorry stuff. When I start feeling ashamed about how pitiful I am I just think of him and then I feel so much better about my own condition. At least I AM a woman. ;-)

Today I got the rest of the laundry done, got the kids back into school, got the house cleaned up, and fixed a nice homemade dinner of fried chicken. It was GREAT. I'm sooooo tired of eating out!!! ~sigh~ It's good to be home. I just wish home was in Alabama. Sometimes. Other times I still can't bear to leave here. I'm so confused. ;-)

And that's about it from here. I think that gets me all caught up. As a reminder of the important parts, please pray for:

Karla's salvation, as well as her physical recovery -- and her family; they need strength and grace to hold up through all of this

Uncle Jerry's soul and health

Our family's need to get to Alabama--that God will accomplish His purposes in us and sell our house and help us find a new one in Alabama--and not let it sell to anybody else! Ha!