God Opens Doors, Even If They Are Across The Country
Last month we got a HUGE surprise email from Jared’s Mom and Step-Dad.
Early Development of Plans to Relocate to Arizona
During the last week, there were several events that brought about the possibility of a move to Arizona sometime in September or October of this year.
The first of these was the sudden loss of electricity to our home for a period of 25 hours. This occurred during the snow storm on Sunday that dumped 7 inches of snow on Comanche. When there is no electricity at our house, it means no lights, no heat, no water, and no computer, among other things. We felt isolated and did not know about the condition of the roads. Our cell phones went down with low or no battery power.
The second event was a text from our friend Candee on Wednesday, that indicated her house would be available at a low rent for us to move to. We were at first thinking she was just joking with us. Rita and I began talking about this possibility if it were indeed true. After two days of praying, discussing, and wondering, we established communication with Candee to learn her intentions. She assured us that she was serious and the conditions for moving to her house which will be empty this year were quite attractive to us.
The third event was the realization that we had experienced several things here in Vandyke that caused us considerable challenges. The viral hogs which appeared unexpectedly to root large areas of our property that we had leveled out on two separate occasions only to have the hogs come back within a week to uproot the leveling. The tunneling of moles which led to sudden depressions when stepped on worsened my walking in the yard as my stability has become a problem. The presence of wild animals under the deck and then digging under the house became more worrisome for us. These including fox, opossums, raccoons, and skunks. In addition, the inside issue of the mouse population increased in spite of several types of traps to eliminate them. Of course the dream of raising chickens had been crushed by the two times that they had been almost annihilated, the dream of having fruit trees presented too many obstacles for us to manage, and the repair to an old farm house proved to be disheartening and expensive.
Finally, the problems to our health as we have grown older made us realize that something needed to be done.
To have access to a house in Gilbert would allow us to be near several families when unexpected health issues occurred. Aging brings realizations that are often painful as they cause dreams to be memories, and mobility and memory to be challenged.
Just wanted you to know several months ahead of the relocation. Much prayer is needed and plans to be made.
We love you all, whether you call us Rich and Rita, Mom and Dad, Pop, Mamaw and Pampa, Grandpa and Grandma, or any other name.
January 17, 2021
What an incredible friend Candee is and has been to them over the years! Don’t we all wish we had an angel friend like her? Just incredible!!!
This news came as a wonderful surprise, but also Jared and I had “just” had a conversation about if his parents would move back to Arizona the day before! Crazy and neat how the Lord prepares us for life changes before we fully understand everything.
Candee’s home, where they will be living, is about 2 miles south of us in Chandler! So close!! I got VERY lucky in the In-Law department. Most people would cringe having them live closer but I am beyond excited! I’m thrilled my kids will get to know their grandparents better too. They have lived in Texas all of their lives and now they will get to see them and visit with them more than every couple of years at reunions.
As you can imagine there is a LOT of planning and decision making that needs to happen. One of the biggest things is the future of the Farm. Jared and his siblings always thought they would keep it in the family but it’s looking like financially it’s not feasible and the house is in such a state that it will take quite a bit of work to get it back into shape. Distance is also an issue and we just wouldn’t be able to get out to the property and enjoy it as we would love to. However, nothing has been decided for sure. These are just the first discussions being had. They are planning to get an appraisal done sometime next week. If none of the children want the Farm they want to speak to Rick, Rita’s nephew who lives close by who uses some of the pastures for his cows, and see if he might be interested before they list it publicly.
Thankfully, Rich’s daughter Susan has had some experience with moving across the globe and has offered to help coordinate and organize this endeavor. Jonita lives in Texas which makes it a little easier for her to get down to the Farm and she too has volunteered to do what she can.
Jen, Julie, Jeff, and Jared have all offered to travel out at intervals as needed to pitch in and get whatever needs doing done.
I loved the last line in the most recent email we got from them. It sums it up pretty well.
As they say, “It takes a village.” to move 80-year old parents across the country!
We love you all,
Mom and Pop
This move is not something Rich and Rita have decided on lightly. It has been full of prayer, humility, and trust in the Lord. It’s never easy to leave “home”. And it has been that for Rita especially, all of her life. She was born in that little Farmhouse! Lots of emotions for sure!!
As things develop more I’ll continue to update. We can’t wait until Fall!
