In A Pickle

Long time no post! Again...

We have been in a pickle, a big, 5-gallon Sam's jar of pickles to be exact! Todd left on September 5 to start his new position with Sam's in Springfield. (Yeah!) We worked our hearts out before he left, our house was not finished. My mom came for a week and worked her heart out, still not done. So, September 6, the kids and I started out on our own to finishing remodeling our house. The quicker we got it done, the quicker we could list it and move on. Easier said than done. I tried to call professionals to come do the work for us, but they all said they couldn't get to it until this date or that date. It seemed like it was going to take too long to get the job done, so I figured we could get it done quicker. Do you see where this is going? First mistake. Should have just let the workers come and put my feet up somewhere. We were in over our heads. Now, let me say, we are pretty good at figuring stuff out, but when you are in a rush, there is just not time to figure out how to do things you have not ever done before. We just kept plugging along. Our realtor here is a friend from church and I think she could tell this was not going to work. So she and her husband showed up one day and started helping. Friends started keeping my kids when they could so I could work in peace. Friends showed up to paint, bring lunch, whatever they could do. Our realtor is from church, so she put the word out at church and we had people come over and use their talents to finish projects that ranged from putting up trim to cleaning my oven. The clock was still ticking but, we were making progress. We missed our daddy, but we were so busy we didn't have time to dwell on it, which was a good thing! On top of all this was planning the move to Springfield. When were we going? Where would we live? On and on. A stressful time to say the least!

But, we did it. We did it with a lot of help! I am not one who likes to ask for help. Can't stand it actually! I like to think I can do everything myself. Guess what, I can't :)! The last few weeks I have just accepted it. I went to bed every night overwhelmed with people's generosity with their time. Time is such a valuable commodity this day and age and people willingly gave it up for us. Our house looks nice. We have it listed. We have had a few showings and an open house. I just hope it will sell sometime! I know this is the winter season (we've already had snow in Iowa!), not the best time to sell a house. I think it will sell someday. It is a desirable neighborhood and a nice size house with lots of "new". That has to count for something, right?

Kellen commented a few weeks back that "this is why it is good to believe in God and go to church because your church friends help you". He is so right. Our church here has truly treated us like a family while we've been away from family. I have tried to figure out for years how to teach my kids to serve. I wondered if we should go feed the homeless, if we should go to nursing homes, on and on. While all those things are wonderful and are still things I hope we can do, there is nothing like the example we were shown the last six weeks. When you are on the receiving end of service, you know how it feels. You know how it feels to feel like there is no way this is going to work out and then people come to your rescue. I always say we have had many lessons and blessings everywhere we have lived. This has been the biggest one here. Everything we have gone through here has been worth it for my kids to learn the lessons they have learned these last six weeks. The lessons were not anything I can teach out of a book, not anything they can learn without going through it. I hope that I have also taught them how to graciously accept help and thank God for all he has done for us. I can truly say that at least for the boys, all I will ever have to say is remember how we felt in Iowa, when we had help beyond measure? They will always remember and be ready to serve. I know I will.