Overwhelmed with Gratitude

A sweet woman in our ward is moving to Utah, and is leaving her way-too-cute house behind to be rented out.  She had asked us a while ago to come and look at it, but we kind of put her off; the rent was $300 more a month than we were paying now (plus the extra utilities and deposit), and there was no way we could afford it.  She asked us again recently, so we decided to just go and look for fun, knowing we would have to say 'no'.

The house was so ridiculously darling, and I fell in love with it.  It's 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1400 square feet, with a backyard.  A huge change from our 2 bedroom, 1 bath, 750 square feet!  She told us if we did all of the yard work, and because she trusted us, that she would lower the rent to $800.  Thinking that we still couldn't afford that, we told her we would think about it.

We came home and plugged the numbers into our Excel budget... and they all worked.  Yeah, we would have to be extremely frugal, but they worked.

We prayed and it felt so right.

***

We have thought about moving a lot these past few years.

We have lived in our apartment for over 4 years (the longest we have lived at any place during our marriage), and it's been really hard. 

Our neighbors are crazy. 

We wake up daily to beer cans thrown on our porch.  The neighbor next door has a dog that barks constantly (and a dad that screams even more).  The neighborhood kids are so awful, that after the 3rd time Adam got hurt in a fight, I stopped letting them go outside. 

And the drama.

Good gravy, am I ever so completely exhausted by the sadness of people's poor choices. 

Especially when it involves children.

It just makes me heartsick what I see here sometimes.

(Not to mention the time that a man was shot and killed a short distance from our house, the SWAT team visits, the time our neighbor's apartment was deliberately set on fire in revenge, the break-ins, and the police that are always here).

I have some stories, let me tell ya.

Anyways, we have looked and prayed a lot about moving, but it never, ever felt right.

Until now.

***

We knew Mike would have to get a second job in order to have the deposit. 

He has looked for a second job several times over the past few years, to help with our medical debt and bills, but with his varying schedule, nothing ever worked out.

Except for plasma selling, of course.

(It's what all the cool kids at D.I. do).

;)

So, knowing that our move totally depended on a second job, he began looking.

He looked Craigslist, and there was an advertisement for a Night Auditor at Red Roof Inn for Sunday and Mondays only.

We could NOT believe how perfect that was; besides a lack of sleep (he would work midnight to 8am those days), it would work perfectly with his schedule.

Not to mention the fact that 12 years ago, he was a Night Auditor.  At Red Roof Inn.

He went in for an interview, and the manager hired him on-the-spot.

***

Initially, we weren't moving in until July, so we thought we would have plenty of time to come up with the "standard" 2 months ($1600) deposit.

Then, we got a call from our friend, asking if we could move in June 1st.

Which gave us just a little over a month to get it together.

Worried, I asked her how much she wanted for the deposit.

She told us $500.

Which would be just right for what he would bring home in a month from Red Roof Inn.

***

Then I called our landlord, worried that since we were backing out of our lease 2 months early, they were going to charge us a huge penalty.

They told us that since we had been excellent renters (and because of all of the problems that Adam has had with the neighborhood kids), not to worry about it.

There would be no penalty.

***

So, we are packing.  Cleaning.  Getting busy around here.

Going to live a dream that I honestly thought would never happen:

Living in a house.

{Not to be negative, but I honestly thought we would never live in a house.  Mike's working his dream job, so I would never want him to leave.  He also works for the church, and you know how stingy Mormons are (jk).... so we aren't exactly going to be millionaires ever.  And I'm okay with that.}

I am absolutely overwhelmed with gratitude to my Heavenly Father for these HUGE blessings.

Completely overwhelmed.

So overwhelmed, that I keep randomly bursting into tears at the thought of how much we have been blessed.

***

The other day Adam had a really, really good day at school, and I told him to remember it in his heart, so that the next time he has as stinky day at school (because he he has those sometimes, too), he can remember that there are completely great days, too.

I've been thinking that I need to apply what I told him in my own life:

That I need to hold this experience dear to me, so that the next time we have some hard times and trials, that I can remember that prayers are answered, that the clouds will part, that the sun will come out eventually...

... and completely, awesome, wonderful things happen in life, too.

***

I have been feeling a lot like Charlie lately, when he found out he won Mr. Wonka's chocolate factory:

"Don’t forget what happened to the man who suddenly got everything he wanted."

"What happened?"

"He lived happily ever after.”