Just a warning before you read this....this is the story that may never end.....I know I said I would finish it tonight, but it's probably not going to happen. There is still so much more to tell you....and I haven't gotten to the best part yet (it's the part you don't know about....it's the whole reason I'm re-telling this part of our story....and I promise it's good.) Stick around long enough and I'll get to the end.
To read part 1, click here.
To read part 2, click here.
To read part 3, click here.
To read part 4, click here
This is part 5.....
It was Halloween 2012. I had prayed specifically that I wouldn't have a baby born on Halloween. The Lord is sort of funny like that. After it happened, I realized it was no big deal at all, and it was actually kind of fun.
On that night, we welcomed baby #3 into our family. Wyatt James Dalke was born happy and healthy.
But that night, I couldn't sleep. It wasn't him. He was perfect. It was the thought of leaving.
The calling to move across the country to California that had been so strong and so certain was suddenly gone. His little heart beating against my chest changed everything. I couldn't imagine it anymore. I couldn't see us there.
But Brian and I had a plan and we had agreed on this. How could I be the one to call it all off? I just started praying. Asking the Lord to make it clear what we were supposed to do (again).
And our entire hospital stay was overshadowed by my doubt about our next move. What were we going to do? We were supposed to be moving to California in approximately a month, and I couldn't see us there anymore.
On the way home from the hospital, it came up. It was Brian and me and another tiny life that we were now responsible for. I asked him if he thought we were still doing the right thing. And he hesitated. He wasn't sure anymore either. And his doubt made me feel better.
That was the end of the conversation, but it wasn't the end of my mind racing. I started looking at real estate in our city. Maybe we could stay here.
It was a couple days later that Brian opened up the computer to look at real estate locally to find that I had already been looking. And just like that, we knew we had to stay.
Our decision to stay brought about a very real predicament. We had already sold our house. We were closing in a little more than a month, and we officially had no place to live.
The hunt was on. We started looking on our own. The problem was, before we started looking at houses in California, we had looked everywhere in our city. We knew (or thought we knew) every neighborhood, every area, every district. We had even seriously considered building. Building was the plan for a while.
We had looked and looked and looked and could not find what we were looking for. We knew we were up for a challenge.
We had a newborn, and I made it very clear that since we were staying, I only wanted to move once. Ideally, I would like this to be our last move. Let's find the house, and let's do it in less than 30 days. Sounds like a new plan.
We basically had a deadline. We knew that we had to find a house by a certain date in order to be able to close in time for us to be out of our house by closing.
We finally hired a realtor. We knew Brice through Scentsy. His wife was part of our Scentsy team. We knew he would work hard for us, and he did.
We toted that newborn baby boy through countless homes. Nothing seemed to be turning out.
We wanted at least an acre, trees, 4+ bedrooms, an office, a dining room, and a playroom. Talk about a high order. We wanted the house that would be big enough for Brian's family at Thanksgiving (we average 30+). It was a lot to ask for.
Brice took us all around the city. The day we looked at our house, I didn't even want to go see it. It didn't look great in pictures. It had been on and off the market for years. I didn't want to waste our time. But Brian insisted. We were going to look at another house near the area, so we might as well.
I reluctantly agreed.
I was immediately in awe of the neighborhood. I had no clue it even existed. It was a gated community with just over a dozen houses. All on 3-5 acre lots.
The house wasn't what I would call my style. The outside was red brick. The plans were fashioned after 19th century architecture. Huge ceilings, giant doors, and really ugly grape tiles on the backsplash in the kitchen. Really? Who does that?
The space, the layout, the land....it was all more than we could ask for. It wasn't the kitchen I had hoped for. And some of the details were off, but all those things could be fixed in time. The house was being lived in, so it smelled weird, and someone else's stuff was in it. I was very intrigued, but there were more houses on the list.
Before the day was over, I was asking if we could go back and see the house with the trees and the land one more time. Brice made it happen, and that 2nd showing was all it took to help me make up my mind. We walked the property line, and I could see Addy and Luke and Wyatt growing up exploring the creek and seeing turkey and deer on a daily basis.
And with that house, it was officially official. We were staying in Oklahoma.
To be continued....(more on the babies tomorrow....)
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