The Big MOVE!

A few months ago, Jake and I were praying a lot about the next step for our family, and we both heard a very unmistakable answer (separately, and then we confirmed it with each other); God wanted us to start living below our means. In other words, even though we are doing fine financially, are expecting Jake's 1 year raise soon, AND will have a car paid off this month, God spoke to us about doing the opposite of our natural inclination to spend more because we have more. Instead, we decided to downsize, and look for a smaller, simpler, less expensive place to live. We also agreed that we (in our ideal world) would LOVE to find a home that was a little more private, quiet, and spacious so Eli and Toby could really run around together in the next year. Of course, those were "wishes" and "hopes," but the reality is that we needed to find a less expensive place that would still meet all of our basic needs. WELL! God really came through! IN SO MANY WAYS! First off, we've been searching for a few months, and have found some cute places, but they were either too far, too expensive still (not cheap enough to offset the cost of moving), too inhospitable for dogs, or too small. Finally, we found an adorable little place on Craigslist, so I immediately contacted the landlord, who invited us to stop by and take a look (this was June 14). We knew it was right on the water AND had an acre of land, so for the low price, we were basically expecting a dump, but we decided to take a look anyway. OH MY GOSH - as soon as we saw it, we fell in love! It's a 1920's home and the previous tenants weren't exactly the neatest of people, so it needs some work, AND there is only one bathroom, and no dishwasher (ok, got the tough stuff out of the way), BUT, here are the things it has (most of which we didn't even ask God for!!):

1+ acre of gorgeous, waterfront property
At the end of a quiet, dead end street (a wooded, empty lot on one side, and a really nice house on the other, separated by a giant hedge)
A gigantic deck in good condition
2 car garage
4 bedrooms (well, 3 plus a bonus room) - all pretty small, though!
A wood-burning fireplace in the living room, and a covered area outside to store firewood
All new hardwood floors throughout, new paint on the walls, and either new or almost-new appliances throughout
A landlord who is the most accommodating guy I know, and is willing to not just let us fix it up however we want, but PAY for it!!
Prime location for fishing/clamming/oysters right on the beach in front of our house!!
Perfect view of July 4 fireworks/Whaling Days fireworks/Christmas boat lights
AMAZINGLY nice, baby-loving, dog-loving, Christian neighbors across the street
Tons of room for gardening (wild rose bushes everywhere, too!)

God didn't just provide what we needed; He provided in ABUNDANCE!! We are totally blown away that this place is in our lower price range, and feel so blessed to have snatched it up before someone else did! There are definitely some sacrifices we'll have to make (like space, no dishwasher, etc.), but that was the whole point of moving, so we totally welcome them! Anyway, this is where the story gets REALLY good....

This was our house!!! It was meant to be! We both knew it!! We decided that night that we would take it, and told Don (our new landlord), so he could cancel his special order for a washer/dryer, since we already had them. In our current rental, they require 20 days of written notice before you vacate. It was June 15th, and we signed a 12-month lease on July 5, 2010, so it was PERFECT timing to give our notice, and be out on July 5th, 2011!!

....or so we thought.

Apparently our *actual* lease end-date was June 30, making the whole 20 day thing not work so well. No idea why they do that, but after reading through the fine print on our lease, it's true. Here is a (paraphrased) version of the conversation from there:

Me: Hmmm...well, is there any way I can still give the 20 days notice now, and then just go 5 days into July, and get the rest pro-rated?
Property Manager ("them"): No. If you go one day into July, you have to pay for the whole month of July.

(This was not possible, as we would have 2 rent payments, AND the difference on our mortgage payment that we are still paying every month. The whole point of this was to *downsize* and *save* money....)

Me: Is there ANY way we can just give 15 days notice??
Them: No.
Me: So we're going to have to pay all of July's rent at this point no matter what?
Them: *Pause*.....Well, if you found another tenant to fill the place for part of July, then you'd only have to pay part of the month.
Me: But, there's no guarantee that we'd find someone...I mean, the house was vacant for at least a month before we moved in...
Them: Right. *Long pause*....
...
.....
We actually have some interested tenants here at the office right now that are interested in moving into a place TOMORROW.
Me: E@#$J#$#(..TOMORROW?!?!.....uuum...uhh...ok..I guess....send them over...? *brain going a million miles an hour trying to figure out how this could even work*

So, this couple shows up at our door a few minutes later (thank GOD I had just cleaned the entire house!!) to see the house. They were really nice - about our age, with a 5-month old little boy). After walking through the home and answering their questions about approximate utility bill payments, they immediately loved it and wanted it over some of the other (currently empty) choices. They explained that they had just moved here for Jimmy to start a new job, and they had been living out of a hotel, with all their stuff stuck in a Uhaul. They were absolutely desperate to find a place ASAP because they only had the Uhaul until tomorrow (Thursday, 6/16), and the hotel room until Friday night (6/17). Not only did they not have the money for any extra days, but it was Father's Day Weekend, and everywhere was booked anyway. Of course, they saw that we hadn't even packed ONE box yet, and realized there was NO WAY we could be completely out by the next day. But, it was in both of our best interest to make it work somehow, so we started trying to find a solution. We figured out that if we could at least move everything out of our garage that night, and move it into the garage at our new house, they could unload all their stuff into the garage the following day, so they could return the Uhaul. Then, we could spend Thursday and Friday moving everything over to the new house, one room at a time, while they moved IN one room at a time. We would just help each other move! AND the new couple was SO impressed with the clean condition of the house, AND the room decor in Eli's room, that they didn't even think we needed to clean anything upon moving out, OR re-paint the walls! They would just do the same color scheme in their son's room! They even said they'd sign a waiver saying that they would take the blame for any mess/damage not addressed upon our move-out. We were getting excited!!! This could actually work REALLY well!!!

....But no. When we checked with the property manager, our little bubbles of joy were quickly popped..

Me: Thanks for sending that couple over! They love the house, and we think we can make this work by moving out as they move in. And they're extremely happy with the condition of the house, and are willing to take responsibility for all of it. The only problem would be that the house wouldn't be completely empty at any point, so is there a way we could do a modified move-out walkthrough? Or at least waive the carpet-cleaning requirement?
Them: No. You still need to empty the house, clean it (including professional carpet cleaning), hand your keys in, then we'll do the formal walkthrough, sign the lease with the new couple, and THEN they can move it.
Me: ...well, is there any way that they can at least just move their stuff into the garage so they can return their Uhaul? The rest of the house can be completely empty!!
Them: No. They can't put anything on the property until the walkthrough is done, and the lease is signed.
Me:3#(*$&(#*&$(*&#$#P(*#PUPR{)(#{(@

So, I proceeded to call the couple and explain the situation, and ask if there was ANY WAY AT ALL that they could just extend their Uhaul reservation just another day or 2 so we can empty everything out of the house completely. While they checked on it, we realized that although we had access to the garage at the new house, we still didn't have a key to the house itself. For some of our nicer furniture, etc., we really needed to be able to move in to the house and not the garage. Unfortunately, the landlord said he lived near Seattle, and we had no time for him to mail the key. My in-laws said they'd take the day off to come out and help us move on Friday (6/17), and since they could probably pass through Seattle on the way, I called the landlord to see if they could get the key from him. That's when he told me that he didn't actually live "in" Seattle ........(oohhh great..)

..He lives in Fall City - which just HAPPENS TO BE LIKE 2 MINUTES DOWN THE ROAD FROM JAKE'S PARENTS' HOUSE!!!! Talk about a roller coaster ride of emotions! He had absolutely no problem with them coming to get the key from him so we could start to move in the next day (Friday). So, that was taken care of, but we still didn't know if the new tenants were going to agree to everything! Finally, we heard back from them, and they said that because they have the hotel through Friday night, they could probably figure out a way to pay for the Uhaul through Saturday at the latest, giving us a little more time to move EVERYTHING out AND clean the entire 2500 square foot house for the walkthrough. Then, they could move in on Saturday night. OK!!! We're back to a workable (albeit challenging) plan! So, I called the property manager again...

Me: OK! They're willing to extend the Uhaul through Saturday, but they only have the hotel through Friday night, so is it ok if we plan to be out by Saturday morning, then you can do the walkthrough, and they can move in later that day??????????????
Them: No. We don't work on the weekends. EVEN if we felt like being nice, and decided to do the walkthrough on Saturday, they'd absolutely have to wait until Monday to sign the lease and move in. We don't do lease signing on weekends.
Me: *sound of heart deflating....again...* ...And I don't suppose they can just move their stuff into the garage on the weekend after we clean it and turn our keys in?
Them: No. They have to sign the lease first.
Me: OF COURSE THEY DO. *mentally punching something*

At this point I was almost in tears from the sheer insanity of all of this. There were things that were CLEARLY from God, and multiple confirmations that all this was supposed to happen, but then every single time we find a (nearly impossible) solution to a nearly impossible problem, it gets shot down. It was highest highs and lowest lows like this for the entire day on Thursday, and after many conversations with Jake and my very wise mother-in-law, I finally decided to offer a last-ditch effort, and ask the new tenants if they can make it to Monday by staying in our guest room for a couple nights to offset the cost of keeping the Uhaul over the weekend. There is no other explanation (aside from God) that they hadn't just given up by now, and decided to move into a very similar, nice, EMPTY house instead. As we waited for them to call us back and give us a definitive answer, I honestly felt like throwing up. There was no logical reason for them to go for all of this. We had already packed and moved our garage into the new house, AND the landlord had canceled his special order (which costs money to do) for the washer/dryer because of us. SO much energy, thinking, and downright stress had gone into everything until now, and it was just a simple (rational) "no, thanks" away from falling apart.

So, Jake and I prayed. And Taree and Bob prayed. And my parents prayed. We had so many friends and family praying for not just us, but for the new tenants (who didn't show any indication that they even believed in prayer, or God). We prayed that they would make the RIGHT decision - whatever that was, and that God would bless them with the means necessary to make it until Monday. Everything was riding on it.

That night (Thursday, 6/16), they called us back, and told us they could do it. I about melted into a blissful puddle of muck on the floor. It was going to work. FOR REAL. We found out later that they had explained the situation to the Uhaul company, and the guy told them to just take it (for FREE - normally about $100/day) until Tuesday!!! Then, they asked the woman at the hotel desk if she knew of any nearby hotels with any availability over the holiday weekend. She made a few calls to some other hotel owners in the area, and not only found them rooms for the rest of the weekend, but got them the family discount for $50/night instead of $100+!! Talk about answered prayer!

The last step was finding a carpet cleaner....on a Sunday...which just also happened to be Father's Day.......I made about 5 or 6 calls, and most of them were booked out for weeks, and/or wouldn't be able to do it on Father's Day anyway. Then, I found one that was owned by a really nice woman, who had a certain affinity for babies (and heard little Eli talking away in the background), and sympathized with our situation. She was able to switch up the schedules and get a guy (who doesn't happen to be a dad) out here on Sunday morning. PRAISE GOD!! Everything would be moved and cleaned by Saturday night, the carpets would be cleaned on Sunday morning, and we would drop the keys in the drop box at the property management office on Sunday around noon on our way out of town so we could spend the rest of Father's Day with Dad B.

So, starting late on Thursday night, Jake and I started packing like madmen. We sent out a call to all our nearby friends for help with moving, and got a moving party scheduled for both Friday and Saturday. The next day, Jake's parents and the Kim family came out and helped us move/pack at least 60 or 70 percent of the house (and Soobin REALLY helped by watching Eli while we took trips back and forth), then on Saturday, we had help from the Bollinger's, Uncle Keith, the new tenants, our neighbor Craig, and Brandon - a friend from Bremerton. Brandon even let us stay at his place Saturday night since we had no other place to go (we were thinking of spending it on our living room floor), and had to be up early on Sunday for the carpet cleaning. The rest of the weekend went exactly as planned, we were officially vacated by Sunday, and we spent our first day in the new house on Monday 6/20. Jake's sister Cassie and brother-in-law Casey even offered to take Toby for a few days so that I could have him out of my hair while I moved in (Jake was going away on a business trip for 3 days starting Tuesday). So, from the day we found/decided on the house to our first day of living in it, it was about 5 DAYS TOTAL. Insanity. Pure insanity. And lots of sore, pulled muscles, discombobulated packing boxes, a severely under-prepared, messy house (the landlord wasn't exactly ready for us to move in quite yet, but was happy that we did), utter mental exhaustion, but above all, BLESSING and PROVISION BEYOND BELIEF!! Our God truly is an amazing God who cares about the big picture AND every single, tiny, little detail.

I'm going to include the scripture verse that my amazing Mom B reminded me of while this was all going on.

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. -Ephesians 3:20-21