Every day brings a new adventure around here. I'm learning and experiencing new things every time I turn around.
Saturday we had to go into town to try to switch to a new cell-phone provider because our last one just didn't give us enough signal out at New Song or anywhere outside of town, for that matter. It made me nervous about driving on all these long country roads with no way to get a hold of anyone. First we had lunch out at good old Bob Evans, then we went to Verizon. We also got a device to provide internet in the RV, so now I don't have to go in to the school to work on the computer. It took pretty much the whole afternoon to get everything switched over to the new phones, and then we still had a bunch of issues getting the providers completely switched over.
Sunday we went to church with Matt and Chrissy, then spent the afternoon hanging out with David, going back to Verizon to help with the glitches we were having and dealing with issues in waiting for everything to transfer fully. We are all happy with our new phones now, finally, and we are in a much better situation with getting signal.
Sunday night we joined Matt and Chrissy and the boys at Chrissy's dad's house for a rib fest/potluck. We had some amazing food, enjoyed good company, hung out on a BEAUTIFUL deck and waited out a pretty big rain storm. His desk would make an amazing writer's retreat, and Chrissy told me he would literally let me come any time I ever wanted! But honestly, I think New Song is an amazing writer's retreat, as well. And I think I'll be here nearly every day for a while.
Monday I popped in to meet the incoming campers around three in the afternoon, hung around for a couple get-to-know-you games, and then walked back to the camper to relax with Mike for the evening. I also met my new little friend, Abi, the granddaughter of the girls' houseparents. I had given her grandma a copy of my first book just a day or two before that because she said she really wanted to read it and know our story (didn't know they had a similar story of their own!), and little Abi saw it and read through it first! So when I met her, she felt like she already knew me, and she just kept saying how much she loved my book. We found her a copy of the second book, and she's already devouring that one, too. Love her. :)
Later that night, Mike and I walked back up to the campus to join the campers in their first campfire.
Today I went to the school house to take a nice hot shower and do some laundry, and I ended up being there just in time to help out with craft time. Then the girls' houseparents invited me to join them all for lunch before the girls headed out on an outting. It always takes me a bit to warm up and take in my surroundings before I feel comfortable somewhere, so being here alone last week and then being able to help out with camp this week is really just what I needed so I can start the school year more confidently. And who knows--maybe some of this week's campers will return as students for the year.
A week ago yesterday, I sold my house. Just a few hours later, I found a house and rather large property at a good price just ten minutes from New Song, but it definitely needed a face-lift and then some. More than anything, Mike wanted a house with a lot of land. Where he can build things, fabricate things, fix things, play with his "big boy toys", use for recreation, etc. Matt drove by it on his way to see us that night and was just giddy with excitement over all the possibilities. That night, Mike called about it and set up an appointment to go see it the next morning. A week ago today, we showed up with the whole remodeling crew from Tipton Home Services (Matt, David, and Matt's father-in-law) to not only see the house but also to do our own "inspection" of what kind of repairs it might need.
I left feeling quite overwhelmed. It's not at all the home I envisioned. They left optimistic and excited. I saw lots of work and a longer time before I could unpack and settle down. They saw amazing potential with never-ending fun. That's where I realized just how different we see the world and how much I completely underestimated their talent, expertise, and experience in this area. Mike was ready to make an offer that day. I wanted to walk away and keep looking. David warned me that I'd really regret not jumping on the location, knowing the odds of finding something that close to New Song in our price range were very slim. I was torn. I had envisioned myself finding a house ready to settle in to and make my home. Mike saw the potential to take the shell of this house and transform it into whatever we want. With a whole crew working together, we could turn this little old house into a cozy haven for many years to come--at a fraction of the price that someone else would have to pay someone to do. With even just a few of the more major repairs and a minimal face lift, we can increase the value of the home by a ton.
I slept on it, and after a very prayerful day the day before, I woke up in the morning with enough peace to send Mike a text saying I trusted him with whatever he decided to do. God's really been working on me lately to get out of the way so Mike can rise up to be the leader God designed him to be. To look up to him and respect him and stand by him. He didn't want to move here so we could just find a cute little house and settle. He wanted to move here to pursue the things he's always wanted to do but couldn't while we lived in a large suburban community outside of Dallas. He doesn't want to be like his dad, who waited so long to build the huge garage he wanted and then never got the chance to use it. He sees all the cool projects his brother has been able to have fun with while living on a good chunk of land, and he wants to be able to do the same. Not only is this chunk of land a dream haven to him, but also the ability to work with his brother to, in essence, flip this little house. I'm sure it can only help give even more credibility to Matt's business, too, because they can experiment and have fun with it and then advertise their success each step of the way. And, hey, there's plenty of room to build whatever else we want on the property in the future.
He calculated a lower offer based on the quotes Matt gave us for materials, and they accepted it! Now here we are under contract again, in the middle of e-signing documents for a new mortgage, driving by the property every chance we get to envision how we can make it our own.
My new job at New Song is literally out in the middle of nowhere, a good 30 minutes from town, at least 20 minutes from the nearest store or gas station. It's also about 20 minutes from Matt and Chrissy. And I'm not looking forward to driving in any kind of ice and snow. So our goal was to find a house as close to here as possible. But everything we found in our price range was either too far from New Song (meaning a longer drive for me) or way too expensive. This property is a super easy ten minute drive from here, ten minutes from the nearest store or gas station, and only 20 minutes into town where Mike will be working at least a couple days each week. And the land is amazing. We'll be closing in early September, just in time for the leaves to start to change and we'll see spectacular displays of color all around us. I heard that people come from all over the world, literally, to take pictures of the trees here in the fall. I can't wait to experience that.
I'm purposefully not showing any before pictures right now because it's OUR project, no one else's. It will be OUR haven, and it will be done on OUR timeline. I don't want other people's opinions about what we should and shouldn't do and when we should and shouldn't do it. It's all going to depend on time, money, resources that become available through Matt's business, and how the repairs go. Plus, Mike is not a big planner. He starts a project and just goes with it, sometimes letting the project lead itself. He may say he's going to do one thing, and then end up doing something completely different. Just like when I start a poem, I have no idea where it's going to go or how it's going to turn out. I just follow the rhyme of the words. So I will show before and after pics together as each step is completed. But like I said, we've still got about five to six weeks of living here at New Song in the RV, which yes, is cramped, but super convenient, affordable, and comfortable enough for now. Then once we close on the house, we will probably just take the RV there to continue living in until we remodel enough of the house to start living in it.
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