What June Looks Like

Okay, so I've mentioned that we are embarking on a new adventure. We're doing this so unusually, it makes me shiver.  We know God is leading.  How do I know?  Because of the little (and not so little) messages he has sent along the way.  I'm going to bullet-point our steps so far:

• Two years ago Matt and I feel a "tug" to go back to Eau Claire.  We feel it independantly, afraid to say anything to each other because we just KNOW the other will say it's crazy. 
• We acknowledge we are both crazy.  When the "when" comes into the conversation, we both say "2 years" out loud.  Crazy.  Makes sense to go right then... or wait 5.  Whatever.
• We start looking at houses in 2009. We go from big country places 50 miles out, to big country places 20 miles in.  We do not think about living "in town". 
• The housing market crashes... we are "underwater" on our Kenosha place. We keep looking.  Crazy.
• We look at place after place after place - all "not quite ringing a bell"... and decide we are crazier than earlier thought. 
• On a whim we look at a place "in town".  It needs a TON of work.  We hear a bell ring.  I know - crazy.
• We are led to a local lender willing to work with us.  We decide he is crazy and thank God mightily for him.
• We attempt to make offer on said bell-ringing place only to find it's taken off the market that day. huh?
• 3 months later, we see it on the internet.  So we bid and "win" the house on internet auction. We save over $8000 from our original price.  Sweet!
• We sign loan papers, get a key, start to plan on fixing it up.  Parents come to see. They don't tell us - but we know.  Crazy - certifiable.
• We start tearing out walls, getting bids, buying propane heaters to work by in the frigid indoors, eating prepared lunches made by recovered parents. 
• We buy broom and a kitchen sink.  So - now we need everything ... but the kitchen sink.  So we buy a furnace and some windows.  There - that's better!
• How are we going to pay for this??? I panic.  I pray - hard crying, "we are totally crazy!" Next day, I get a bonus.  I'm humbled to the core! God loves to do amazing things.  It will pay for the new roof!
• We save money from ev-er-y-where to start remodeling.   We buy a new transmission for the Jetta, a new chimney liner for the Kenosha place to get the water heater working, replace the wheel bearing in the truck, ... WAIT... that's not for the house!  Pebble numbers 78,101 and 112, I think.
• We watch savings account get smaller and smaller.  Ah - well.  It's God's.  He knows what he's doing.

So, as I'm sitting at Rudy's Mexican Restaurant talking to my friend Lee, I'm relaying all the things happening and revealed my biggest challenge so far.  I like knowing what's coming 'round the bend. In general.  I mean, barring all of the unexpected, you can pretty much know what things will look like in your life in the next few months... this summer - next school year.  I like that. 

But now - I have NO IDEA what June looks like.  I have no idea what October looks like.  Where will we be?  Will the house here be sold, will we be carrying 5 mortgages? (the house here, the house there, the cabin, the boat, the business - ugh, yeah - crazy!), will the roof be on, when can we move in, this year even?  It makes me crazy not knowing.

"I can help you with that!", says Lee.  "June - it's big blue skies, lots of sun, lots of work.... and October, lots of work, and pretty trees".

Once I stopped laughing I realized...
She's right - I DO know what June looks like!