Our homes

Are you ready for a great story?

Back in September of 2015, Jake and I were talking about our family. What we needed and plans for the future. I expressed how it was so frustrating to only think two months in advance and that even if Jake did not have cancer we should be thinking about the next steps, especially for our kids.

At the end of the conversation, Jake said, "Maybe we need to think about moving."

It was one of those times where you instantly know it is right but you don't want to accept it.

So for the next few weeks we thought about moving. Where we should live. What we wanted for our kids. We were in a unique situation, in that because Jake was on long term disability, we no longer had to live close to his work. Instead of his job driving our location, we could shift focus to our kids.

Because of that we decided to stay in Phoenix for the school year to let the kids finish out their grades with their amazing friends and teachers. We also needed time to prepare our hearts to leave our beloved desert home, friends, and neighbors.

We thought about a lot of options, Hawaii being an amazing one. But not very realistic. We narrowed it down to three places we had previously discussed.

And after more thought and prayer it became clear. Provo, Utah was the place for us.

So in November I called my friend Emily, who had moved from Phoenix to Provo, to ask her about the area. At the end of the conversation she said she would keep her ear out for any homes becoming available.

Not two weeks later, she called back saying that her neighbors across the street were planning to sell their house in the summer and asking if Jake and I would like to see their home when we were there for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Before we went up Jake and I had discussed our "ideal" home. We decided that we would like our current house- a ranch style home, with with the addition of a full basement. We wanted 5 bedrooms and two living areas. We wanted an older home with updated kitchen and baths.  We wanted the garage off of the kitchen and a mature, grown in yard within walking distance of the elementary school.

We walked in to see the Provo home and it was exactly what we had imagined. Exactly.

We went back at Christmas to see it again with the kids and they left giving it a 10 out of 10 and asking when we could move in. Jake and I both felt so good about it and were incredibly grateful that it seemed to just fall into our laps and be available when we wanted it. The owners are lovely individuals and so willing to work with us.

And as things with his health changed during the beginning of 2016, ultimately resulting in his death last month, I am forever grateful to my Father in Heaven that Jake and I were able to make this housing decision together.  I can now see that the timing of our decision was no coincidence, but that a loving Father put the wheels in motion so that Jake could know where we would be going, give his approval, and set everything in motion for the kids and I to execute such a big change even though he would not physically be with us.

As we made the decision to move to Provo, we also started getting to work on preparing our house in Phoenix to sell.

All through the fall of 2015 Jake and I worked on decluttering our home. We went through everything in our house- pulling out the contents of the closets, bookshelves and under the beds and then sorting through it, deciding what to keep and what to toss, and putting everything in its place. I am so grateful that we were able to do that together. Just thinking about it puts a smile on my face.

We chose a realtor together and were in the stages of doing a few repairs and touch up paint to prepare to put the house on the market when Jake found out that his cancer had irreparably progressed. We put everything with the house on hold for March and April and didn't think another thing about it.

The week after he passed away, I felt a great urgency to get things going on our home and finalize what we needed to do to put it on the market. I set up a few things to happen (carpet and tile cleaning, painting) while we were at Jake's services and burial in Utah.

When we came back, my sister and friend Kelly spent that Friday with me boxing up decor, pictures, and clutter to stage the house for people to visit. Monday the dear women from church came to clean, Tuesday we had the exterior wood painted, Wednesday our realtor sent in the photographer and Thursday morning, May 12, it went on the market.

And that same evening, I had a signed offer on the table.

It sold the same day.

We are in escrow with plans to close at the end of June. Unbeknownst to either of them, it turns out the family buying our home go to church with my friend Kelly. They are thrilled to have our house. They have two girls and a little boy. They will love, entertain, and live here just as we did and I know that this home will be a sanctuary for their family as it was for ours.

I am still processing the thoughts and emotions of leaving our home. The place of most of our married memories. Where we brought three of our four children home from the hospital. Where I can remember Jake living, loving, and being in every room. Where we are surrounded by the dearest friends. Where we built a life together. I can feel that the emotional reality of this change is still to come and will hit piercingly hard.

But I had to share this story. I cannot even write about it without seeing so clearly the hand of the Lord. Manifest at every junction, in every decision, to every particular.

I am witness to promise of the Savior's admonition in Matthew 6:24-34.

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 

Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? 

Therefore take no thought, saying What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? or, pardon my addition, Where shall we live? 

For your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; 

and all these things shall be added unto you. 

I know that as we continue to seek Him, He will continue to provide for our family.