Sunday, June 30, 2013

No Complaining

This is my new motto: No Complaining about the Miracle!

You would think that this would be easy but really it is hard to not complain about all the things that I need to get done before we go. Now that the house is sold (almost, conditions do not come off until the 5th) there is a lot to do. I have lists every where about every thing. Here is just my list of people to phone.

-Mortgage Company
-Realtor with documents for purchasers
-Health Insurance (both BC and Sask)
-BCAA/CAA
-Home Insurance
-Car Insurance/Driver's Services
-Canada Post
-Credit Cards
-Bank
-Lawyers
-Movers
-Telus
-Fortus
-BC Hydro
-Cell Phone Company
-Sask Power
-Sask Tell
-Parish
-Kids School (BC)
-Kids School (Sask)


But I am not complaining. I am so thankful that God has made this list possible. I just keep forgetting to say thank you in the middle of the busyness.

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

20 hours in Saskatoon - A controlled flood

Whew. A week ago, we were begging creditors to back our owning two places, renting one out, de-listing our property... today we are watching our sale close and our purchase close within minutes of each other with ideal dates.

Sunday: we make the call to delist. Monday: 'serious' buyers beg one last showing, which becomes two. Tuesday: the 2nd buyer offers, we accept, I buy a ticket and fly to Saskatoon that night.

Wednesday. The South Saskatchewan River is higher, faster, more voluminous than I have every seen it - and at 20,000 gallons a minute, more than has ever been recorded. With the devastation in Calgary, my mind quickly went to imagine the damage this force could wreak. But my dad had some insight - the river, though dramatically dangerous, was controlled. As soon as the authorities heard what was happening as far upstream as Canmore, they opened the Gardiner Dam as far as it would go. Since then, the river through Toon Town would sweep you away in the blink of an eye, but stayed within its banks, booking it for the Lake Winnipeg.

The day was also a controlled flood. I met the superintedent and principal who hired me at Greater Saskatoon Catholic Schools. We had a great meeting about the meeting of needs and energies between myself and the school division (they call districts divisions there, btw). Then I was able to drop in to the School where the kids will attend on September. Finally, I inspected the house itself. It passed.

In between, I spoke with father, brother, mother. It's incredible - I can't believe I am bringing my family to the city I spent my childhood and adolescence in.

To the Edge and Beyond

This has been a crazy few days. Or blessed, maybe that is a better word.

After much prayer and stress we decided that we had to take our house off the market and try to find a renter, remortgage it to get some money for a down payment for the place in Saskatchewan, and hope and pray that someone who give us a loan for the rest.

So, Monday morning I call up our realtor to tell him the plan. He calls me back five minutes later to say that he just got a call form someone who really wanted to come see our place and asking us to hold off for one day. OK, so we call the mortgage guy to see if we can get an extension on the rewrite and I run home to clean like a crazy woman.

Eventually our realtor calls to ask if one more couple can come by at 7 pm because they to wanted to look at our place too. Sure why not, it is really the last chance and the place is already clean.

Well cleaning I start to pray (again like a crazy lady), and I call one of my very best friends and ask her to pray too. She in turn asked a group of women that we have met with over the last few years to pray too. Well, the phones in heaven were ringing off the hook!

I was really hoping for a miracle late night call on Monday night but even thought I stayed up just in case nothing came. Oh well, we still had plan B.

Tuesday Morning: As I am about to call my realtor the phone rings. He wanted to tell me that the last people to see the house were sitting down to write an offer that morning. Oh My! Wow! Hallelujah! But I don't want to get my hopes up, until I see what they are offering.

As you may have already guessed God is good, and has good timing. (I some how keep forgetting this)

The buyers were offering a fair price and were very flexible with timing and move the dates so we could buy the house in Saskatchewan with no need to bridge fiance. Every thing worked out exactly as we needed, when we needed it. All that stress and worry and God had our back the whole time!

Now the real busyness starts!

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Gideon and St Joseph

OK, so yesterday Gideon came to me in the shower. It was slightly less surprising than meeting an angel while hiding in a wine press (Judges 6), but still. The man is totally the underdog and the angel says get on up and take on an enemy whose numbers amount to a plague of locusts or Bieber fans. He's a coward, a rookie, low man on the Asherah-pole - what I've fondly referred to myself as an Omega-male. Sorry, that's lower-case omega. low-voltage. flat-line.

And, naturally, Gideon is one of these post-enlightenment thinkers who wishes for empirical proof before he gallops off into certain death on the words of a hallucination. *gallops: he might have had a goat. So he sets up his experiment - get the wool wet while the ground is dry.  Make things scientifically impossible for God, so you can excuse yourself from paying attention to this spiritual whimsy of his. Then it happens. OK, that's not quite enough God, now I need to know that wasn't a fluke. Wool dry, ground wet. Next morning: check and double check. Your laws of science are taken care of, now you have no reason to shirk.

Gideon first is sent within his family, to tear down idols to Baal and Asherah. This does not make him popular. But he gets it done. His boldness gets noticed, next thing you know he has 30,000 men! Not bad. Not the enemies' numbers, but a decent showing.

And what happens?

God continues the whole 'are you really there?' sign language - precisely because Gideon has demonstrated rather imperfect faith. God says, "send 29,700 of your men home" - 99%! That's right, God was the first one to tell the 99% to pack up their tents and go home.

When tested, God plays the game way beyond what Gideon's comfortable with - because he knows Gideon will forget how dependent he was on God when he was cowering in the wine press.  Emphasis on "play" - God says, 'you like signs? well, then I'm going to keep on giving them to you.' When God conquers Israel's enemies with a measly 300 (ha! take that, Sparta - losers!) he definitely reveals Gideon as the omega-person on the battlefield, trying to give Gideon the enduring gift of humility.

Cut to me in the shower. EEEEKK! No, I'm fine, ain't nobody got time fo' vlogging in da shower.

All year, we have been asking God, show us what you want us to do. And he only ever says to trust him.

It's an uncomfortable fit, our will and trust. But it boils down to: we make the decision to follow God's will, but it is GOD who accomplishes it. When we choose to dream, to apply, to accept a job, to buy/sell/rent/rent-out a house, we lay down 'our will be done' and take up 'thy will be done' - as Rohr says, "thy kingdom come - my kingdom GO!"

Today one of three possibilities will become clear. Or something totally different. The wool will be one thing, the ground another.

My job is to tear down idols, keep listening, resist the temptation to test.

After victory, Gideon keeps Israel faithful - sort of. Their enemies don't trouble them, but Gideon sets up an 'ephod' - an oracle, that becomes 'a snare to his family'. We just can't resist peppering God with all the unimportant questions - are you really there? give me the answer I seek! - when victory lies in trusting, listening, following orders.

St. Joseph, pray for us. Gideon, Judge of Israel, pray for us.

Thursday, June 20, 2013

We Bought A House

Well, as I knew it would, it is all happening at once.

We bought a house. Sort of. We have an accepted offer, and are still waiting on an inspection and the financing. Financing in the more stressful one by far.
You see, we have not sold our house here. If we don't sell by the end of the week, we will most likely rent it out. This scares me a bit. One of our big reasons to move was to have less debt not more! But financially it does make sense.
So now we are in a flurry of busyness. Getting all this in order. And I know that here is only more busyness to come. Packing, cleaning, garage sales and all that good stuff.
Still, this is way better then the waiting!

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Qunito Pinto

Well we have big news!

No, we have not sold our house. That is still all the same. Waiting, hoping, trusting and now preserving. All good virtues in which God thought I was lacking and in which I could use a good lesson.

No, our news is even more exciting and live changing than an move across the country.

We are having another baby!

The nickname for the baby is now Quinto Pinto. Here is the back story to this one.

When we were pregnant with Cathrine, the nick name we called her was Quatro because she was number four. So this time Quinto sounded about right.
Then, then day we told the kids about the new baby they wanted to know how big the baby was and how far he/she had developed. I looked it up and the website I was reading said that the baby was the size of a pinto. And well, that has suck, even though I am sure he/she has grown way pass legumes.

Well, now I have more to blog about and way more to have fun with. And something to keep me cozy during the long prairie winter.