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I am not sure what to expect here, I just
want to share "My Moving...
Experience" with you. There
are certain things in life that are beyond ordinary... this is one of them. Mahalo and enjoy...
It was July 2008, a very warm, no, it was
a very blistery hot day in California when I received the news. My cell phone rang and it was my hard working, loving, handsome
husband calling, this is what I heard "Hi honey, how are you? do you have a moment? well, I know how you always want
to know things right away, so I thought I would call you instead of waiting until I got home...they have decided to replace
me with someone else and I am only going to be working here for two more weeks..."
Well, to some that may seem like very bad news, but to me it was a moment in time that
brought a leap of spiritual faith in my heart, a moment that swept a wave of joy all over my being. It all seemed very
surreal, maybe I was in shock. See, there was a prayer I had been praying for many many months, "Lord, we need
a change, we need something else, this is NOT WORKING for me !!! I have lost my husband, he isn't here anymore in body or
in mind...I am not happy and I think I might need a new career too...help us Lord, please, I am desperate!"
Just the previous December 2007 we moved into a big new house, it was beautiful,
3332 wonderful square feet, space for my business and life too! It followed a summer of looking at a hundred
houses to buy because we wanted to invest in our future. The job seemed secure and the house we had lived in for thirteen years was
feeling way too small. As Jason and Katie grew, so did their friends and activities and our 1700 square
foot home was busting at the seams. All I could think about was moving.
We looked and looked and looked some more...and finally found a home that felt
good. I thought it would also work for my business, not ideal but with our creativity and a few holes cut out in some
walls, we would open it up and make it work. On our house hunt we met a gentleman that was a Realtor and a mortgage broker,
or as truth be known, he was learning the mortgage business...big difference...We already had a Realtor but still needed a
mortgage guy so it seemed like a match made in heaven.
At the beginning of October 07 we made the offer on our
chosen house and were happy, very happy to hear the bank had accepted our offer right away, wow, that was fast! we could have
offered less! Oh well, it was a foreclosure and therefore in our price range. We were also pre-approved for the
loan right away and so we felt confident that everything was going smoothly.
It was during the loan process, papers
to fill out, documents to send, proof of this and that, you know the routine...that the real estate market began to plummet,
and fast! It was going at a rate of about 10,000 dollars a month so our offer of six weeks ago was quickly becoming
more than the market value of the house. Anyway, it suddenly became very frustrating and got more frustrating as each day
progressed. There were things that the mortgage guy did and documents lost, which started to be a red flag to us. The loan
underwriter was starting to stall and I'm sure she did not understand why the mortgage guy did not give her the documents
she needed. Sooo, it all became very clear one sunny winter day the first of December that this house purchase
was not what we were suppose to do, so I opened the Sacramento Bee...
Most everything in our home of 13 years was packed up in boxes. We were ready to MOVE!
Boxes marked and taped were everywhere, piled in the kitchen, piled in the living room, piled here piled there. The kitchen
consisted of a few real cups, paper cups, paper plates and alot of boxes. Walking thru the house was like a well constructed
maze - of boxes. There were no Christmas decorations out, no twinkling lights to delight the senses, no reindeer adorned with
red poinsettias, no garlands or wreaths hanging with all their beauty, no none of that was going on, we had boxes, brown boxes
everywhere. Somehow I felt like the grinch was stealing my Christmas!
...As
I opened the Classifieds in the Sacramento Bee, I had a real peace, and knew that whatever was to come was alright, the Lord
was in control. I quickly found the houses for Rent/Lease in Roseville and Rocklin, there were just a few that met my
criteria, so I gave them a call. No one answered, so I left messages. It wasn't even five minutes and my cell phone
rang and it was a home owner to the house I was most interested in. We set an appointment to go see the house and all felt
right. Jim did not understand how a new house could come up so quickly and be exactly what we wanted but I did not question
it, the Lord always works in mysterious ways.
When we saw the house
we loved it! We told him our situation and said we needed to move in just a few days, he agreed and so we had a decision
to make. Do we keep going with the house purchase and all it's struggles and oddities, or do we abandon that situation
(run don't walk) and go for a Lease/Option on the home we just found. After a few phone calls and alot of prayers, we decided
to lease the home on Tanus and pull together our Christmas holiday as best as we could.
Thirteen years in one house has alot to say for itself. It says collect, stuff it, and collect some more.
Of course with my design business it is very easy to do that, everything is a possible design project and so it went, we had
alot of stuff. Jim would say "MaryAnn had alot of stuff!". Either way there was alot of stuff to move, which made
for a very lengthy and hard move. I found it very interesting and very disappointing who did not show up to help us...The
few people that did come were a huge blessing to us and I blessed them right back. Soo...we had finally moved... wow!
Rocklin, California is a great place to live!
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