Moving Fast, Hanging On

Life is moving fast.

I feel like I need to retire my flip-flops and replace them with running shoes to keep up.

You know I love the country life. Every time I visit my sister in Arkansas it has been good for my soul. My last visit was no different. Two weeks ago, I drove with another one of my sisters and three kids 10 hours to Arkansas to meet our new niece….and hug the rest of her fam.

It was a short trip, but so worth it. I got to catch up with two of my sisters (I’m one of nine kids), hug my nieces, and unplug from all the house showing craze.

We went fishing.

We gathered wild flowers.

We rode ponies.

We stayed in our pjs.

We played games.

and we laughed a lot.

We came home from Arkansas and received an offer on our house the next day. We went back and forth ironing out the offer and the fine details, but the end result was a contract on our house. We celebrated with ice cream out, like everyone should!

There was such an immediate feeling of relief and a huge weight lifted from our shoulders.

We were so thrilled to have the house selling step of our move behind us. It was and is a complete blessing. So, we packed up our little family for another trip and headed out the next day for Indiana. It was time to house shop!

Our kids were rock stars to get placed back in the van for another 10 hour road trip.

To make a long story short, we needed to find a house that weekend to be able to seamlessly move from our house in Georgia to a new house in Indiana. We saw a lot of old houses that needed a lot of work. I loved so many of them. But the amount of work that was going to be required in fixing up these 100+ year old farm homes with sloping floors started to get discouraging. It was cold. It was wet. And we were tired.

We did find the PERFECT home though. Only to realize it is under a contingency contract. I walked through this beautiful old home (that has already been completely remodeled) and fought tears. I loved it, but it seemed impossible. It was already claimed.

I walked out of that house and had a huge cry. It was cold and rainy. I was wearing flip-flops and I was emotionally exhausted. BUT then God stepped in. Friends encouraged us, loved on us, gave us safety in hugs, and Matt bought me a new comfort blanket to warm my toes…and as I was praying through tears…a rainbow literally appeared for mere seconds.

It was hard to come home without a house. I have buried myself in packaging up Love is Patient shirts and starting the packing of boxes.

You know though, I feel so blessed. I had that cry and it was like my final release of me.

Jesus knows the perfect house for us, even if we don’t. I’m ok with that. I have my little family, we are on a path of following God’s call on our lives, and we have all our basic needs met.

Including an incredible family who is welcoming us into their home in Indiana until we find a place of our own.

So, I will continue to pack up this house and prepare to move in a short 11 days.

Thank you for continuing to journey with us. You all have always been such an encouragement to me. Thanks for doing life with us.

If you feel inclined, please pray for us during this transition. Most days are really good. We are trusting and have a complete peace we are doing what we are supposed to. The small details of packing boxes (not knowing what room/place they will end up) is hard in the midst of starting to say good bye to friends and family here (which we don’t have a lot of answers for to all their questions). We are praying that we live “love is patient” with each other as we step over boxes and rest our tired bodies and souls in a place we are starting to let go of.

Love you all! To follow this journey more closely, my instagram (@ericadeuel) is my daily blog.