Near the end of the Summer Mr. Stannix was presented with a job opportunity that seemed too good to pass up. We quietly discussed the idea of moving and making a career change and counseled with parents and grandparents. It has been quite interesting to notice our prayers being answered and to recognize Heavenly Father's hand in our lives as we have went through this whole decision making process. Mike's move to his new job last February was a leap of faith based on a strong prompting he received. For the longest time we were unsure of the reason behind the transition, but as we prayed for understanding and acted on faith we have seen numerous blessings unfold in our little family. This job opportunity would have never been brought forward had he not acted on that prompting back in February.
We spent the last few days of Summer vacation prepping our house to sell. We rearranged the bedrooms, took out the excess furniture to make things look more spacious, scrubbed walls, touched up the paint, steamed the carpets, and put a fresh vase of flowers on the table. The front of my fridge which was once filled with familiar faces of Christmas cards and baby announcements now glared at me from the corner of my kitchen. The house echoed when we walked in and it had lost is homey, well-lived in atmosphere. The sticky fingerprints on my walls were scrubbed clean and the windows sparkled.
It all hit hard when I waved at my good friend at a church activity and found myself blinking back tears all the way to the car, wishing I could have the same great influence on their kids that they have had on mine. We hadn't yet told anyone our plans and I felt so alone. As we drove home that night I couldn't help but think back with gratitude to all of the times she saved me babysitting kids, treating me for lunch on my birthday, being a shoulder to cry on when we lost our baby, rescuing me when our van died, and swapping babysitting so we could attend the temple each week. She has been a huge example of constant service and endless love.
I've been on an emotional roller coaster ever since. I can still remember nursing Finley to sleep on the floor in the hall the night before we listed our house. I was crying because my rocking chair was in the garage and I could hardly stand the smell of the poopy diaper left by the bathroom door. I was dealing with the anxiety of Camilla switching schools her first year in. I had been washing walls like a mad woman, puttying holes and painting late into the night with Mike.
When the kids would get crazy I would cry and think to myself, who's going to save me now? I was feeling overwhelmed and was beginning to realize just how much I was going to miss my friends here. I convinced myself that I will never be able to find a friend who understands me the way that my best friend here does. Someone who will come and visit on a moments notice and just know to walk in and make herself at home. Someone who won't mind the mess and chaos that comes with four little people and voluntarily fills the sink to wash my dishes while we visit. Someone who understands how shy and quiet I am and makes a point of including me in social situations. I have been blessed to know many lovely women here who have been wonderful examples to me. The whole idea of making new friends terrifies me and I have been preparing myself for the little bit of loneliness that might come with this change.
We spent the last few days of Summer vacation prepping our house to sell. We rearranged the bedrooms, took out the excess furniture to make things look more spacious, scrubbed walls, touched up the paint, steamed the carpets, and put a fresh vase of flowers on the table. The front of my fridge which was once filled with familiar faces of Christmas cards and baby announcements now glared at me from the corner of my kitchen. The house echoed when we walked in and it had lost is homey, well-lived in atmosphere. The sticky fingerprints on my walls were scrubbed clean and the windows sparkled.
It all hit hard when I waved at my good friend at a church activity and found myself blinking back tears all the way to the car, wishing I could have the same great influence on their kids that they have had on mine. We hadn't yet told anyone our plans and I felt so alone. As we drove home that night I couldn't help but think back with gratitude to all of the times she saved me babysitting kids, treating me for lunch on my birthday, being a shoulder to cry on when we lost our baby, rescuing me when our van died, and swapping babysitting so we could attend the temple each week. She has been a huge example of constant service and endless love.
I've been on an emotional roller coaster ever since. I can still remember nursing Finley to sleep on the floor in the hall the night before we listed our house. I was crying because my rocking chair was in the garage and I could hardly stand the smell of the poopy diaper left by the bathroom door. I was dealing with the anxiety of Camilla switching schools her first year in. I had been washing walls like a mad woman, puttying holes and painting late into the night with Mike.
When the kids would get crazy I would cry and think to myself, who's going to save me now? I was feeling overwhelmed and was beginning to realize just how much I was going to miss my friends here. I convinced myself that I will never be able to find a friend who understands me the way that my best friend here does. Someone who will come and visit on a moments notice and just know to walk in and make herself at home. Someone who won't mind the mess and chaos that comes with four little people and voluntarily fills the sink to wash my dishes while we visit. Someone who understands how shy and quiet I am and makes a point of including me in social situations. I have been blessed to know many lovely women here who have been wonderful examples to me. The whole idea of making new friends terrifies me and I have been preparing myself for the little bit of loneliness that might come with this change.
All of our hard work payed off and we ended up getting an offer on our house the same day we listed it. It was so bittersweet to have things move along so quickly. It has been a huge blessing and totally reinforced in my mind that Heavenly Father's hand has been in this decision since the beginning. I can't explain how well everything has fallen into place except to attribute it to divine intervention. Minutes before we put an offer on a new home we received email confirmation that conditions had been removed and our home had officially sold! The timing of everything has been just unreal! I am so glad that I don't have to keep things spotless anymore or worry about wiping away fingerprints on the windows every second of the day. Come mid October we will be packing up our quant home here and moving to the small town of Strathmore. Mike will be commuting to downtown Calgary to his dream job and our children will be enjoying the benefits of a small town community and schools. We are thrilled to have our dreams of raising our family in a small town finally coming true, but sad to be leaving the life we have built here over the last six years. It has been a wonderful adventure and I am excited to see what's in store for us down south!
1 comments:
Wow. That is definitely a big change for your family. Best of luck with the move and new house and ward.
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