When things change they really change. One of my favorite contemporary Christian songs is “Good God Almighty!” That could be the theme song for my life right now. The song refers to the mightiness and goodness of God. Good God Almighty the phrase refers to oh how much stuff could happen at one time!
Here’s a link to the song if you’ve never heard it. It’s a favorite of mine to sing along to in the car! It puts a smile on my heart for how mighty God is!
If you haven’t been reading my recent almost daily posts I’ll include links to them at the bottom of this post. That will help this post be just a summary of all that’s happened in the last two weeks.
This post is the story of the last 12 days from August 3, 2021 when I decided to move back home to Hammond, Louisiana from my beautiful Little Slice of Heaven in Amite, Louisiana and today, August 14, 2021.
I’d been thinking about making the move for some time now but hadn’t been ready to share with anyone or to pull the start the move switch. A few things happened within a couple of days that made me realize the time was right. They are personal things, mostly having to do with Roy not being alive to live with me there and I’m going to keep them personal. One part of my decision was that I wanted to be closer to my church, Trinity Baptist in Hammond, and all my friends who live there. It was our family’s home for over 30 years, where we raised our sons and made many friends.
If Roy was still alive such a move would never have been considered but I’ve become lonely by myself, without him there, and need to move on to a new stage in my life. One of happier times and moving on with my life.
I prayed to God that if it was his will for me to move forward with this that he please please make it go smoothly. If it was not his will for him to put up big roadblock signs what they be really obvious to me. I can be dense and not see subtle hints so I needed him to be loud and clear. My God is so good and every step along this process I felt peace, and never saw any big roadblock signs so I knew I am following His will for this time in my life.
I also prayed really hard for this next one. Having dementia my brain gets really tired when it has to talk or think real hard for any length of time. My request to God was to take that away and give me my strong, clear thinking brain back during this period. He did. Every day was like my old self. I cried a few times it was so wonderful to be able to be like this again. I think that time has started to expire but I am so thankful that He gave this to me so I could make decisions, handle all the many calls to disconnect and connect and move and change and think through the packing process and all that entailed. If you don’t know God like this I’d love to share about Him with you!
When I made the decision I shared it with my dear friend Cindy Vernon and with my son Chip. Cindy was very supportive that day and through the whole process helping me to pack my rock room and kitchen. She’s an old lady like me so that was a big kindness on her part! It took Chip a while to process this since not only was I moving but his planned move took on a whole new outlook. He was a great help to me daily in the packing process which even continued with the move out of the old house and into the new house and with him cleaning thoroughly all the stained concrete floors once I moved out and hanging wall decorations and assembling new furniture in the new house. God gave me a great friend and a great son through this process and I am so thankful to them and for them!
Next, I scheduled appointments to see five single family houses in Hammond and Ponchatoula, Louisiana. The house I picked turns out to be perfect for me. It is in Downtown Hammond, came with a washer and dryer, has a large fenced in backyard for Buddy (which he climbed over the first day but that’s a whole other story for another day!) and the main rooms (living room, kitchen and master bedroom suite are larger than my other house). If you know where Sonlight Christian Bookstore is then you know where I live nearby.
Once I found something (all in one day) I reached out to movers because without Roy this was not something I could tackle on my own. Found a wonderful company that I wrote about in my Moving Day post. They communicated well with me leading up to moving day, their moving guys were terrific, and the move was quite successful and well priced
Next came what seemed to me beforehand to be quite a daunting task. The renting out of my home in Amite. Thinking about having to keep my home showable throughout all the packing made me a bit nervous but here’s what happened. I finally had time the next day to list lots of info and pictures on Facebook’s Marketplace. I figured I’d wait and see how it went. Well, minutes after I clicked POST I got a Facebook private message from a young wife and mother that they were very interested and could her husband come by to see the house. We scheduled an appointment for when he got off work.
Between the time she contacted me and the time he came there were 12 serious inquires, three of which wanted to send me online the rent and deposit, sight unseen. Lots of pictures had been shared but really in person sight unseen? Seems the rental market is on fire right now. Of course, I wanted to think I had the most amazing place in the world and naturally, everyone would want to rent it but this urgency took me quite by surprise! I told all 12 of them I’d let them know as soon as this first person came to see it.
The young husband came to see the house and wanted it. We showed him all around and it’s going to be perfect for his young family! Lots of things about their family told me they are the right people to rent to and before he left I had the money in my bank account through an online payment. Amen, Praise God that was completed all in one day, the first day on the market.
Six full days of packing with help from Cindy and Chip got everything ready to move on Tuesday morning. Nights of exhaustion and complete rest and sleep kept this old girl going. I’ve had several compliments from being Wonder Woman to Super Woman. Of course I’m neither but I am going to share in a separate blog post the things that helped me get all of the planning, packing, and moving done in a week.
The first day of unpacking was interesting. It started with me rummaging through all the kitchen boxes to find a spoon, the coffee, the coffee pot, and coffee filters. They were each in a different box and I never found the filters nor did I have any paper towels to use in their place. Finally found one paper towel I used to wrap up a cup and used that!!! I then sat down and enjoyed my morning cup of freshly brewed coffee! My coffee drinking friends will understand the pain!
Chip came by to hang up several pictures, assemble the closet shelves in the second bedroom which for some reason were on the shelf in the first bedroom, and install things I couldn’t install. He’ll be back Sunday after church to install more.
The internet/television cable connection has been interesting. They mail you the receiver, modem, and router and no longer install it themselves. I figured we can handle this but after a friend helped me somewhat with putting things together nothing worked after they left. I am quite proud that I pulled my big girl panties up and called Spectrum to get help and actually understood what she was telling me to do. The most wonderful caring lady listened carefully and walked me through connecting things up correctly so I had internet. Ya’ll know how I love my internet so I felt the dark internet cloud lift immediately. Then the television start-up wasn’t processing correctly and I called back and got someone else just as helpful. I can’t give enough praise to their customer service staff’s knowledge and kindness. After getting things hooked up correctly for the television something is still wrong and their technician (for free) is coming out on Sunday between 5 and 6 pm so I hope I can watch television again then!
I’m in my new home and have enjoyed peacefully unpacking one room at a time. That will probably take longer than the packing and moving! I’ve finally gotten to the point where I could unpack my craft/rock room goodies and doing that (it’s not finished) makes me feel like I’m home! I no longer have a walking pantry or a linen closet so I will have to find some creative ways of storing those things I really need. My friends Lisa Watts and Cindy V offered to help me unpack but unless I get stuck I’m going to do this on my own for now.
I’m not ready to have company but my new sofa arrived yesterday. It’s simple but fits in well with the other furniture.
I went out for the first time yesterday to Big Lots to get some things I need and have a 3 pm pick-up time today for a Grocery order at Albertson’s. Both stores are less than 2 minutes away from me which is a big difference from the 20 plus minute drive from my Amite home into the town of Amite where I shopped. Buddy was not happy when Grannie left him at home for the trip to Big Lots but was happy when I returned with a new toy and new treats! He’ll get to drive with me to Albertson’s later and we may drive around town some to reacquaint ourselves with what our hometown has to offer now.
That’s all I can think of to share right now and while I’ve enjoyed the resting that sitting here writing has provided I see things that are calling out for help and I must answer the call. Oh, I weighed finally and I’ve lost 10 pounds through all this. I should move more often!!
BECAUSE HE LIVES 