Time to Move On

Change is never easy, but beginning last Fall it was becoming increasingly obvious to us that it might be time to think about downsizing. We bought our house in 2004 and so many memories were made here. It has been a season in our lives that brought much joy with college graduations, Leah's wedding, and the birth of our five grandchildren, but also much heartache with my father's passing, and EZ's diagnosis of Multiple Myeloma and subsequent job loss. The sun was setting on this chapter of our lives.

Little did we know nine years ago how important it would be to live next door to our daughter, Tara, and her husband, Jamie. We wouldn't, in a million years, ever dream that they would become the parents of not one, but two sets of girl/boy twins! They needed all the hands we could provide and we loved every minute of helping with those precious little ones. And of course we never anticipated that we would need them like we did when cancer entered our lives three years ago. It was 3/10ths of a mile from our front door to theirs, and what a comfort that was to all of us. We could be there for one another in a heartbeat, whenever the need arose.

Jamie was pastor of our church, and their family lived in the parsonage on one side of the church, and we lived on the other...just through the woods. My mother moved in with us after my father died, and Nick moved home from California to work and help out however he could. The church body and our friends rallied around our family for these life events and supported us in so many ways, from prayer, to providing food, to raising funds for EZ's medical expenses, and taking care of our yard. We will never forget the endless kindness and love that was shown to us, in good times and in bad. We feel so blessed.

We have loved experiencing the changing of the seasons in this home with our own little forest of trees. We will certainly miss the beauty of looking out our windows onto this:

It is now almost three years post transplant (8/25) and EZ remains in complete response. However, there is much upkeep with a 25 year old home on three acres, especially when he battles fatigue brought on by a daily chemotherapy pill. Jamie resigned as pastor, and is now the Dean of the College at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. They moved to a home within walking distance of the campus, so we are no longer each other's closest neighbors. Nick moved back to Chapel Hill a year ago to begin his four year journey with the UNC School of Dentistry. Our daughter, Leah and her husband, Kyle, moved back to North Carolina from Georgia, with our precious granddaughter, Emery. This house is more than EZ, Mom and I need, and difficult for us to maintain, so we knew it was time to move on. So began the long process of completing projects, listing, showing, offers, counteroffers, inspections, repairs and house hunting. It is emotional and stressful, to say the least, but hopefully on August 8th we will close on our current home at 11:30, and buy another at 12:30, embarking on a new season of life. We are certainly praying that it comes to pass. More details to come...

Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. Psalm 37:3-5