His Plans for My Life

'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11

The mind of man plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps. Proverbs 16:9

O LORD, You are my God; I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name; for You have worked wonders, plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness. Isaiah 25:1



Friday was my last day working in the office of Grace Church. Sunday was the last regular Sunday service for me and Dan...the last time I read Scripture...the last time I listened to the choir...the last time I'll see my friends on a regular basis. Monday was a last good-bye to a lot of friends. And it was a special time of memories, laughter and prayer. Thanks to all who were there. We love you so much. Tonight was my last Biggest Loser/American Idol night with my friend, Noonie. A lot of years have passed with LOADS of memories from living in SLO for 45 years and going to Grace Church - corner of Osos and Pismo - for almost 39 years. I will head out Wednesday morning after I finish packing up the stuff in the little bedroom we stayed in for the last 8 months in my mother-in-love's house - Thanks, mom, for putting up with us for so long.

But, on the other hand: Wednesday will be the first day I'll step into my own house and be able to stay with my husband (no more commuting for either of us). It will be the first time I will have to look for another church in 39 years. It will also be the first time to look for a job in 12-1/2 years (I'll take my time on that one).

God has certainly been with us every step of the way. We are moving away because of our job situation. American Eagle said bye-bye to SLO and Dan went with them to LA, we thought for just a few months. But, the way the economy was going, decided it was best to be where he had work. We looked for housing and just couldn't seem to find something in our price range that had parking and laundry...our two most important specifications we felt we needed as we saw what Southern CA living could be like. We saw the house I blogged about, but thought it was a little small (or something - we can't remember why we didn't look at it before). A month later we were heading somewhere else, but "happened" to park in front of this house again and saw that it was still available. So, we finally decided we should at least see if it met our specifications...AND IT DID.

"God, You showed this house to us and we didn't get the hint. You showed it to us again, and we listened." Amazing what happens when you decide to listen to God, rather than to your sight.

So, who knows how long we will be gone? We hope to come back eventually. In the meantime, we will make Redondo Beach our home and find a new church family to get involved with and figure out what ministry we can do together as a couple. AND be able to spend time with our daughter and son-in-love now that we are closer to them. God is faithful, God is good, God is loving and He provides for all our needs, wherever He plants us.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ELIZABETH

You will have to stay tuned for pictures of Liz growing up, but wanted to say Happy Birthday to my girl. I will most likely be offline for the next few days as Dan will be taking our computer and stuff down to our home in Redondo Beach. I head down Wednesday, and as soon as I find pictures of Liz, I'll post them. You could go back to February 22 when I posted some of her and Danielle on Danielle's birthday if you can't wait. :) Anyway, pray for us as we get settled. But here are a couple of pics for now.She's the one on Grandpa's lap.

Can't believe it's been 4+ years.

My future home

Our little house in Redondo Beach. Dan's going to clean off the door - probably repaint it. The screen door is one of just a few that are security doors, but the tenants felt safe enough to leave the doors unlocked for anyone to go in and check it out. That's why were able to see it when we did and were able to let him know we were interested in renting. We now have our keys.

Our garage and driveway.

The back door that leads to the shed where our washer and dryer are. (we found out they were left behind by the last tenants and were going to get taken away - we were able to keep them - so basically we weren't going to have laundry facilities. Glad we found out before they were taken away.)

Some of the kitchen, including the nook where the refrigerator will fit (hope to find one).

The living room looking to the kitchen.

The walk-in closet and our bedroom looking towards living room.

The bathroom. Not a lot of storage, but we'll figure out something.

OUR NEW HOUSE

After opening this link to our new house you need to rotate the picture twice to get the view of our house. So, where the arrow is pointing is our new place (after rotation - got it?). It's small, but it's good for us. The blue rectangle is showing our house, plus the apartment complex behind us. Right behind us, between the house and complex, is a shed where our washer & dryer are. And right under the first unit is our garage. You can see the driveway and in the shadow is where we can park our second car. There is street parking, but hopefully, there won't be too many cars (from other tenants) using the driveway so we won't have to do any street parking.

So, Dan will most likely move in sooner than me since I have to give notice at work. First he needs to get a fridge, THEN he said he'll be ready to move in. He figured he would be able to leave at 4:30am to get to work by 5am. He's so excited that he won't have to commute to Long Beach in the afternoon anymore. And we are only about 2 miles from the beach, and 15 minutes from a church we might consider...we are actually going to visit more to make sure. Maybe next week I can take some things down to start. I can't believe it's almost here - moving to LA.

Oh...and the funny thing about this house...God showed us this house about a month ago and I thought it was a little small. We didn't even call the owners (who are Christians). So Dan parked in front of it again, and we decided to check it out. The owners told us it was open, so we went in to see it and we decided it was doable and worth it to have a house rather than an apartment, no matter how small. And it had a garage, washer/dryer and it's month-to-month, which is great. I'm so glad He took us back AND we actually checked it out. It might be another month before He would have to show us again, until we finally got it in our heads that this was the place He had for us. And I would have still been complaining we didn't have a place yet. We of little faith and short-term memories.

Thank you, Lord, for you patience with us and for showing us - AGAIN - the place you already picked out for us. We passed it by so many times, driving all over the place trying to find the right place and it was there all the time. I'm surprised it wasn't rented already, but You're not. It was ready and waiting for us to take the next step. Thank you for that nudge. I pray we will make it a home that will bring glory to Your name and, even though it is small, that we can still be hospitable to others as we get to know our neighbors, make new friends, and have visitors now and then. Thank you for our new home and for bringing Dan and I back together under the same roof. We love You.

He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress,
I will never be shaken.
Psalm 62:2