I wrote this post a couple of months ago, but waited until now for the new job to be concrete. Read to the end. You'll understand.
A number of years ago, Chris and I had a quick overnight getaway right before Christmas. We stayed in Colorado Springs and were intrigued by the beauty of the area. We tried to visit some of the model homes and builders, but since it was Christmas Eve Eve, everything was closed.
We even checked around one neighborhood and found a view lot that we loved that overlooked the Garden of the Gods in the Springs. After the Christmas break, we checked in with the builder and found that that particular lot had already been sold.
Since Kristen was still in school, we decided to stay put until she graduated from high school and headed off for college.
Fast forward to graduation and sending Kristen to the University of Utah for her first year of college. Chris and I were enjoying empty nester life and decided to visit the Colorado Springs Parade of Homes in September of 2023.
We spent the entire weekend looking at homes, pricing, builders, and locations and left after the weekend thinking that this was something to pursue. It was time.
September 9, 2023
We are "considering" a move. We have LOVED living in our home at Pelican Shores, but with just Chris and I at home, the work to maintain an acre and a half of property is overwhelming. We hired a young kid to help with yard work and even he got overwhelmed because when he was done, there was still so much weeding that he didn't do.
At the end of September 2023, we returned to Monument and Colorado Springs to look for a lot (and select a builder).
October 2, 2023
Chris has been more gung-ho on looking in the Springs. I hadn't felt yeah or nay. But to be specific, I hadn't felt a strong "go for it" either as I had in our other moves. Since our visit to the Springs a couple of weeks ago, I have been praying and trying to let the idea of a move take root in my heart. Moving forward as though this might be the plan for us.
After spending all day looking at homes on Friday, and then listening to General Conference all weekend with a prayer in my heart, hoping for some clear answer, I still had not received a confident "Yes, this is the plan for you" as the conference was drawing to a close.
Chris and I were driving home from Colorado Springs, and mistakenly took the I-70 route with bad traffic and significant delays; we listened to the afternoon session of General Conference as we inched along. As we listened to the prophet speak and heard him announce that there would be 20 new temples, I began listening to all of the foreign cities and locations.
I can't even fully describe the emotions I felt and the immediate, miraculous answer to prayer that filled our entire car as the prophet announced, "Colorado Springs, Colorado".
The spirit filled my heart, and I was so overwhelmed with emotion that I started to cry. It was powerful. I can really only describe the intensity and power of that witness by saying, "If you have experienced such a moment before, then you know."
Chris grabbed my hand and I knew that he had felt it too. He said, "I'm driving, so I can't cry." Through my tears I noted, "I just needed a yes or no answer. I didn't need the miracle of a temple."
From there, we moved forward with a renewed purpose. We met with our new builder, Alliance, and started the process with buying a lot, having a design and concept meeting, then a pricing meeting, and an architect meeting all by the end of 2023.
2024
In the beginning of 2024, I began purging stuff from our house, cleaning, and packing. We had painters come and do touch ups, we rented a storage unit and moved most of our food storage to it, I hired students to come and help clean windows, cabinets, and baseboards.
We dejunked a lot and held a garage sale. Anything that we didn't sell, we donated.
During this time Kristen was working to accomplish all of the necessary steps to submit her mission papers. She received her mission call on April 2, 2024 to Adelaide, Australia. We were all thrilled; she said a sad goodbye to the house for the last time (and us) before leaving for the MTC in Provo in June.
Our house was officially listed on April 18, 2024 and we were prepared for a quick sale and feeling concerned with the potential of a double move.
We continued working with our builder in Monument to finalize the house plans in May and started making flooring, color, cabinet, etc. selections.
It took until August for the permits and approvals. The basement was dug August 16, 2024. Happy anniversary to us!
After a summer of showings but no home sale, we were having intermittent showings by September and October. Our contract with our current realtor ended in October.
Our spirits were definitely deflated.
Chris and I tried to remind ourselves often that, "If it was right when you prayed about it and trusted it and lived for it, it is right now." ~ Jeffrey R. Holland "Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence"
The whole of Elder Holland's talk is amazing. I recommend it. I needed it.
We decided to keep the house off the market during the holiday season, but were ready to get started in January with a new realtor. We were still hopeful. Krissy was enthusiastic, excited, and determined to get us sold.
Chris, Amy, Misha, and I spent Christmas in Florida. We had made plans in early 2024 for Christmas since we didn't think we would still have a house in Firestone; we could have stayed home, but it was a nice break to be in the sunshine and have different scenery. Especially since Kristen was in Australia.
2025
The Pelican Shores house went on the market again with our new agent in the middle of January while our Monument house build continued to progress. By February, electrical and plumbing were installed, drywall was up, and cabinets were in.
Chris and I spent plenty of weekends working there to finish off some of the electronics, get the internet up and running, and measure for blinds.
Fast forward to June 5. Chris and I returned from a much-needed stress relieving break in Croatia and Slovenia to a final walk through one week before our house was finished.
Were we stressed that the Firestone house was still on the market? Yes. I tried not to think about it too much because the sense of panic was overwhelming.
We were packed and ready to go on June 13 for our move to Monument. There was little joy in moving with two homes and two mortgages now.
Throughout the last few months, I have felt my own Israelite moments as the children of Israel must have felt when they stood at the shores of the Red Sea. “Ok God, certainly you haven’t brought us this far only to bring us this far. Now what?”
And so I felt as though I was standing at the shores waiting for my own miracle.
Our summer involved lots of trips back to Firestone for yard work. Who would have ever thought we would still be weeding? Not us. We continued to pray, fast, and have hope that God's timing and plan was already in the works. We asked family to pray and fast for us numerous times, enough that I felt embarrassed to keep asking.
I felt as though I had figuratively waded into the Red Sea up to my knees. “God, we are doing all that we can.”
June passed. July passed. Then August. And the water swirled about my waist.
We were becoming entrenched in life in Monument, in our new ward congregation, in making friends, and in being invited to an Empty Nester dinner!!! My Relief Society president, Mary R., was in charge of a dinner group for August and invited Chris and I. She was hosting the dinner at her son’s home.
The Empty Nester group was made up of people at least 20 to 30 years older than Chris and I. To be honest, I was grateful for Mary’s kindness in including us, but also wondered if they were trying to infuse some younger blood in the group.
We enjoyed the dinner but found ourselves mostly talking with Mary’s son, Curtis, and his wife, Sarah. They live in an amazing house on the side of a mountain in Monument, flanked by huge car showrooms for Curtis’ collection of cars. In fact, Curtis was in the process of building what he jokingly called his new “bat cave”. Chris was enchanted.
We stepped into September with feelings of despair and asking, “What more can we do?”
“The water is up to my neck now God, and I am standing on my tiptoes.”
And yet in this, the relief Chris and I so desperately wanted still wasn’t in sight.
On October 11, Chris listed BOTH of our houses for rent. We had to do something. We were prepared to rent one or the other or both. We were hemorrhaging money with two mortgages and a house was NOT worth financial ruin.
If necessary, we were ready to sell our Monument house in the spring.
On October 13, a couple visited our Pelican Shores house with dreary results. They wanted a Modern Farmhouse with lots of changes and even different texture on the walls. Krissy had stopped sending us alerts on new showings. I think she felt bad about getting our hopes up all of the time.
“God, I know you are aware of the details, so surely you know that I feel as though I am treading water now.”
On October 14, Krissy mentioned she was meeting an agent and another buyer at the house around 5 pm and asked Chris to make sure the alarm was turned off. The buyer was running way late. Krissy showed the agent around the property and house for 45 minutes and then had to leave. The agent then continued to wait until 7 pm (I was keeping my eye on the exterior cameras around the house) when Brian, her buyer, finally arrived.
Brian stayed until well after 8 pm. He had a friend or family member come over around 7:30. I didn’t mention to Chris or Krissy that they stayed so long, I figured, “Why bother?”
The next morning, I received a text from Krissy that we had an offer. She said she had sent it to my email, but nothing was showing up. I just asked her to share the details via text since the email wasn’t showing up in my inbox.
FULL PRICE, CASH OFFER!
“Wow.” I was stunned.
Neither Chris nor I had expected to receive such good news. We were planning for a lowball offer. Chris was in meetings in Chicago. He was so overwhelmed with joy while reading the texts between Krissy and I while in meetings that he put himself on mute and fell to his knees in gratitude. Tears were streaming down his face.
We readily accepted the offer after a few typography details were worked out. Brian wanted to close in mid-November, and we knew we would be out of town. He agreed to a quick closing on October 29th. On October 22nd, Brian had an inspector come to the house. The list of fixes was long on an 11-year old house. Instead of taking the time to get bids, hire contractors, and fix things, we offered to give him $10,000 in concessions and Brian could fix what he wanted. He countered at $15,000, and we agreed.
It wasn’t until October 30th that we allowed ourselves to breathe easy. We had signed closing documents, Brian had signed his portion of the documents, and the proceeds from the sale were deposited in our account.
But let me add in a twist that neither Chris nor I saw coming. On Sunday, October 12th, Curtis R. (from the Empty Nester dinner a couple of months ago) texted Chris and asked if Chris would be interested in a business proposition.
Turns out, Curtis was tired of the day to day running of his successful company and had been looking for someone that he felt comfortable turning the reins over to. It was that two-hour Empty Nester dinner where Chris met Curtis and the wheels started turning. Two hours!
God needed us here in Monument for those two hours.
There has been lots for Chris and Curtis to work out and time needed for Chris to decide if being the CEO of a door company is even what he wants to do. It will be a giant leap away from travel and tech and all that he is super good at, but there is no denying God’s hand in it.
There have been times when some of Chris’ co-workers have received amazing job opportunities or huge financial windfalls and we have marveled at how nice it would be if something so wonderful happened to us.
Well, it is hard to deny a miracle that comes custom wrapped and tied with a bow.
What have I learned?
- In ALL things trust God. I hope my girls have noted the struggle and the miracles and the blessings. Life is not easy and for us to think it has to be in order for God to be mindful of us isn’t so. God is with us on our mountains, in our valleys, and in the middle of our hard. Don’t give up hope.
- God’s plan is greater than my plan.
- God does hear and answer prayers. Sometimes the answer is no, sometimes it is yes, and sometimes it is not yet.
- As many miracles go, this one has been mighty and life changing for us. We have been in some of our lowest of low moments of despair and anxiety. We didn’t realize that we were being carried through it all.
- Chris and I have been solid with each other. Life with him is infinitely better than life would be without him. I am grateful the “We” part of us didn’t fall apart.
- It is not lost on me that this mountain of a challenge coincided quite closely with Kristen’s mission preparation and year and a half of service and that our house closing was one month before she was released from her mission.
- This miracle seems to have come at one second to midnight—THE last moment.
And surely God knew the details all along and my arms and my faith are stronger from treading water!