No more humble pie!

No more humble pie!
No more "Humble Pie!"

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Humble Pie Anyone?

We decided to serve ourselves up a few juicy slices these past 7 months. If you'd like a taste or at least share a few laughs and tears with us, read on...

Carl's job in Bullhead City came to an abrupt end on May 23, 2011. It was something we sensed might happen, but never in this way. We scrambled to find alternative employment, and after much thought and prayer accepted a position in Toledo, Ohio. We spent another month tying up loose ends, and preparing to move 2000 miles with our 7 confused children and large drooling labrador. It was denial in it's finest form.

For those that know us, we have been dreaming of home ownership for many years now. The economy and our hard-to-fit group has kept us in the rental world, and we thought that this was a prime time to buy and start living the "American Dream"... (scary music fades in)

Carl flew out to the Toledo area in June, and found a lovely home with all that we desired at a good price, but as he was boarding the plane to return home, the whole deal fell through, and he came home empty handed. Due to our financial limitations and the craziness of our lives, we were forced to complete the home searching process online and do our best to secure a home through our realtor. We thought we found a home that would be great for us. It was good sized with a large yard, and we went ahead and signed the final paperwork on July 26. We piled the kids into a minivan and a moving truck, and began our long drive across the United States. We dreamed of our new "home" and thought that we'd done a brilliant job researching the property through the eyes (rhymes with lies) of others.

After 4 grueling days of driving, at 11:00pm, we pulled into the driveway of our "dream home", only to find out that we'd stumbled into a "night mare". The home was a mess. The whole kitchen and breezeway smelled heavily of cat urine, the windows were painted shut, the ceiling was not square and the rails on the second floor were swaying loosely. Needless to say, we were devastated. The kids were disappointed and crying, and we just couldn't believe it. We decided to sleep there one night. It was horrible--no air circulation, and the house was settling so badly, it sounded like gun shots when the beams would creak.

The next morning, we called our realtor, and to our surprise, he was just angry and told us to "get a good lawyer". (click) So there we were, no where to live, a full moving truck, 2000 miles from anyone we know and a new job starting in 2 days. Thankfully, we had managed to pull ourselves together and find the church building. We attended church and fell into the arms of some of the kindest people we have yet met on this earth. We stayed the next night at a hotel trying to gather our thoughts and get some rest. By morning, some ward members had found us a vacant house to stay in until things settled with our real estate blunder. We moved our stuff into the garage so we could return the moving van, and just brought in some clothes, and bedding to "survive" on for a while.

Carl started work the next day. We couldn't find any nice clothes, so we bought him some. He managed to shower and dry off with a clean T-shirt (we are classy folks) and show up to his first day of work. Lora and the kids stayed in the borrowed house. The owners of the scary house continued to harass us and drove us to involve lawyers. They wanted to sue us for $10,000, then $50, 000. We didn't know what to do. Life became surreal and we just lived day-to-day out of an ice chest and the laundromat. Some kind sisters in the ward opened up their homes to our children to play and it took an edge off of their confusion and fears. We pulled together every night on the floor of this little house with 1 bathroom, and would just read together and pray for miracles like we'd never prayed before. Days turned into weeks, and the school year was starting. Our poor children were lost feeling and very worried. Finally, we found a rental that was sufficient for our family and at a price we could finally afford. We moved in exactly 30 days from our arrival.

The kids started school about 1 week late and Clay was able to get into school on time at a Magnet School, that didn't require a permanent address. All of our down payment money was now spent on the rental for the deposit, and the first and last month installment. We felt like we'd been through an emotional war. This home felt like absolute heaven after living in such sub-par conditions. We appreciate things like: a refrigerator, working stove, dishes and silverware, home cooked food, beds off the floor, and a place to collect mail.

This has been the single most poignant experience of our lives and has helped to define and humble us in ways we never suspected. We struggle daily with feelings of this experience being a blessing or a curse. We cannot decide if we brought it upon ourselves or if it is a rare gift of adversity that drove compassion, humility, and charity into our very core.

So here we are, in Toledo, Ohio. If we had a dime for every time we heard a person say, "You moved from Arizona to HERE? " we might have enough money to settle the lawsuit pending against us. Yes, the owners of the "scary house" continue to hound us. We received a subpoena from the sheriff on November 21. They are now suing us for $200,000. So, the plot thickens, or "sickens", as they say. (sigh)

On a happier note, aside from all of the "house-stuff", life is pretty good. We literally feel of the prayers on our behalf and are especially grateful to see the light in our children's eyes returning. In their innocent and wise ways, they have come to love Ohio. I hope it is evident in the pictures running along these words that they are happy. We are happy, too, but changed forever. We no longer seek for happiness in the things of the world. We still like to have fun, and some "stuff" is of course essential and enjoyable, but we see it for what it is--stuff.

There are of course a million details and nuances to all of these events that could fill volumes. The bottom line is, we are fine. We decided from this experience, that losing money is not eternally significant, but losing the spirit is. We strive every day to keep the spirit of forgiveness and love and fight the anger that could be justified.

Top 10 things we love about Toledo?
  1. Beautiful trees and plants
  2. grass (no rocks!)
  3. 4 seasons (still a novelty)
  4. Amazing art museum
  5. Theaters
  6. Symphonies
  7. good schools
  8. beautiful libraries
  9. Large Metro-Parks
  10. Strong Boy Scouting programs
Top 10 things we miss about California, New Mexico, Missouri, and Arizona?:
  1. you
  2. and you
  3. and you
  4. and you
  5. and you
  6. and you
  7. and, oh, you
  8. and yes, even you,
  9. and you too...sort of
  10. oh, and the mountains.
Happy Holidays from the Wild-Wild- MID-WESTphals!!



My Blog List

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