Truly, I appreciate all of your comments from yesterday. And please keep the you-could-move-here recommendations coming! We'll be checking-out each one. Seriously.
How good it feels to follow Grace around again. I think for a couple months she hid in a closet, probably wondered if I'd ever find her. It's funny how you can try to beef-up your obedience and listening to God, but still feel unsure, blind and groping. But then in one day, suddenly! You know what you were supposed to know. And now hope, purpose and adventure have replaced the questions--and the boredom. Gee, how God and I hate boredom!
After all these 18 Buffalo winters I finally understand the 'snowbirds'--those older folks who escape to Florida or Arizona every December. And those who just plain move away, period, because they're sick of the ice, the danger and never really feeling warm for four months. I get it--oh, how I get it.
In the car coming home from the vet yesterday I asked myself, "Why do we put ourselves through this? Why, especially now that Tom is not tied down to a job, are we hanging around for yet one more dreadfully long, cold Buffalo winter when we could, at this moment, be experiencing what Julie from Texas, later wrote:
"... but right now, I have just trimmed my rose bushes, hung out my spider plants on my sunny 70 degree porch and everyone is wearing shorts and t-shirts again. Most everything is still green, people are "mowing" their lawns and this temperateness is common Winter weather here."
Why, now that we are free and over 50 are we still stuck in the ice instead of experiencing what Julie and others see at this moment? Especially Tom with his polio'd leg and my tendency to worry about him on ice? Good grief.
We must be masochists, or something. heh.
So. There is no turning back. There will be no blog posts--I promise you--where I say, "Nah, we changed our minds. We'll just stay settled here." (If I do, well, you have my permission to just shoot me.) :)
No, it's time to move on--there'll be no second rate settling. It's time for a whole new season. God is using our extreme weariness of 18 hard winters to lead us out of here, for such a time as this, and so we will follow Him and Grace. And the adventure, though tiresome most likely, will be awesome.
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Julie of Texas--thanks so much for that link! The house was perfect and oh wow--since the 1980's I've wanted a cabin in my yard to restore. I'm so not kidding!
And to anyone else--feel free to leave specific links to houses. You don't know how much I love reading real estate listings! In fact, lots of my readers do, also.
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"In the same way, you and I should be joyfully anticipating the promises of God being fulfilled in our lives. At the right time—His time—He will move suddenly and things will change. We'll see and experience the things He has spoken to us in our spirit become a reality." ... Joyce Meyer
7 comments:
Have fun on your new adventure Debra!
I won't recommend where I live to you. It's just 'more of the same'.
For me, I'm willing to wait for the eternal good weather of Heaven, and for now will just put up with this stuff and do my best not to whine about it.
(note that i said 'do my best', not that i will be able to avoid it all together!)
I have lived in Southern California my whole life and don't even know what 1 degree weather feels like. It actually has never gotten below 34 degrees in my backyard. OHHHHH...how I love warm weather and the sun on my face and to be able to take long walks everyday. you will LOVE it!
We lived in an area with over 300 days of sunshine a year .. high desert of So. California. We've also lived in Michigan .. When we picked up and moved 1400 miles away five years ago (giving up hot summers for cold winters) we went on a web site called findyourspot.com. It has a test you take asking tons of questions about weather, life style, etc. You pick either random or region (example .. entire U.S.A. .. or NW, NE, SW ..etc). After computing your answers .. it pops up about 15 towns meeting your criteria .. with links to real estate, regional data, cost of living, etc. From there you can go to links with real estate. When we took the test we chose the Northwest region .. it included Washington, Oregon, Montana, Colorado, Utah. We put in figures that included how much house we could afford, nearby amenities, lake, beach, cold/hot, theater, etc. Even religion and politics are factored in. Try it out .. you just might 'find your spot' :)
Debra, I am finding that God is doing a lot of this guiding, lately! I was led to your blog very recently when I searched one of my favorite authors, Anne Labastille, on Google and your writings came up. So, I just "happened" to start tuning in for your timely posts, and was prompted to respond. That home, whose link I gave, is located in the middle of 3 of the large cities in Texas and the beaches. Houston is 2 hours drive to the east with everything in the world, including one of the best medical centers in the USA. San Antonio is just west, with its atmosphere of Mexican influence. It is quite a tourist destination. Austin is just up to the NW and it is always ranked as one of the best cities, located in beautiful scenery. But, yes, investigate all the southern states to see what you guys think. I like Mrs. Mac's idea! :)
If you decide on the Triangle and need a good realtor I'll be happy to send you his information via email.
The summers here are more tolerable than Florida's, winters are warmer than places further north, in other words - we have seasons, but not in extreme.
It's 3 hours to the mountains, 3 hours (or less)to the beach, 1 hour to VA and 2 hours to SC. (and should you be crazy enough to want a Florida summer, it's only 7 hours away) There's lots of universities - there's always something going on culturally. The "country" is about 10 minutes outside of the city limits, and two well respected hospitals are a stone's throw away.
Just putting in my plug for NC! :)
i was born in the land of the midnight sun ... and lived in snow country all my life ... but but but ... i hear ya, re the snow, cold stuff - my heart loves the deserts and snowless winters ...
you are up for an adventure i'm sure! God has one planned - doesn't He always?!!!!
blessings on ya!
We are just rounding out our first year of retirement in KY. We are New Englanders who just spent 12 years in WY.
KY real estate and taxes are quite affordable. Winter weather comes in for a few days and leaves us with something rather like March in VT or upstate NY.
July and August here were hot and humid but so far it seems like a good trade-off for the shorter milder winter.
We are in south/central KY>
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