Update on Our Family’s Situation

We are out of our house. We moved all of our stuff into storage on Sunday, March 13. We stayed in a hotel for a week. Now we are in a lovely Airbnb. We all love it!

We are near the Museum District in Houston, so today we went to The Museum of Natural Science. It was really nice. It was also Free Day, so it was very affordable. 🙂

We saw lots of mollusks. Some of them were HUGE! And I learned today that squid and octopus are mollusks. I really do learn something new every day. We also saw lots of gems. They were beautiful.

We gave our car to our son, Patrick. So now all we have is our 12 passenger van. It’s not the easiest thing to maneuver in these close quarters in the downtown Houston area. But we do have 6 kids with us, so we need the larger vehicle.

But we feel so blessed and highly favored. 

We know that God has something really good for us just around the corner.

It has been a long time since we’ve been in this kind of situation. It’s not the most comfortable, I must admit. But God has always come through for us. If you don’t know our testimony of how God miraculously provided for us before and after we lost our house in 2005, you can read it in my book, “Refined By Fire: Our Family’s Journey”.

Things just happened to line up perfectly for us to have enough money to rent a moving truck and rent a storage unit that’s big enough to fit almost all of our furniture and boxes of personal possessions. And then enough to afford a hotel for a week and now 11 days or more in a beautiful, roomy Airbnb. Before that we had no money. We have not had a job in 2 years. We have been living very frugally, so to speak.

But God has been so good to us, and we know He won’t stop now.

So for now, we’re in the big city and actually enjoying it. It’s not what I had in mind for our next jump. I’m a country girl at heart trying to get back to the country. But God knows what He’s doing, and I believe He put us here for a reason. He’s doing things in our hearts and strengthening our faith every day in every way.

I am not anxious. Because He told me Himself not to be. Let me tell you about it.

At a time when we lived in Illinois, the owners were trying to make us move out of a rental house before we were able to. We knew that we might be moving out of state any day because of the job offers Gary was getting, so we needed to hang tight just a little bit longer. It’s not that easy to move a family of 12 around from place to place. And that would have wasted so much money and time for us. But we were lowly renters, so none of that mattered to them. They brought people in to see the house while we were still living there. They changed the trash pickup out of our name. And generally harassed us. So I was feeling extremely anxious about what was going to happen. I cried out to God for help. I asked Him to give me a word or a scripture or something. I started to hear in my mind (spirit) “Phil. 4:6”. Well, I had no idea what Phil. 4:6 said, but I thought I should check it out in case there was something in it for me. When I opened my Bible and read what was there, I was shocked. It really was what I needed to hear. Phil. 4:6 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

So I straightened up and went back to trusting God. And He delivered us out of that bad, stressful situation. He provided a job for Gary that paid a lot more, in Pennsylvania, and we moved into a much nicer home than the one in Illinois.

So here we go again. Favor, favor. Just like our twins represent. If you would like to read that story, it’s here.

This little adventure feels kind of familiar, but our attitude is better this time. We have more hope and faith that something good is coming. Those other times, we felt very insecure and unsure about what was going to happen next. But this time, we have an expectancy that God is going to do something really wonderful for us. We are able to enjoy this time in between, knowing that God is good and always takes care of His children. He has been faithful, so our hearts are full of faith.

I will keep you updated on the next phase of this faith journey that will hopefully lead us home  –  soon.