Look Up and Laugh and Love and Lift

Because this isn't going to be the blog posting of a typical Episcopalian! I am so grateful for the experiences David and I had being raised in the Catholic and Episcopal Churches. Both Churches are filled with so many beautiful worship experiences. However, you don't typically hear an Episcopalian going around praising God all the time as you might hear say a Baptist do. Hence, why you might need coffee (or wine for this post)! After moving to Memphis, it became quite apparent to David and me that we didn't want Memphis to be home and that our careers would quickly hit a ceiling we hadn't anticipated. For months, and eventually years, I prayed constantly for an opportunity to move back to Atlanta. I woke up praying, I went to bed praying. I didn't understand why I heard silence, and even worse, any opportunity that arose didn't work out.

Makin' a Baby in Memphis or Georgia?
Given that we weren't getting any younger, we realized we might want to start that family and either buy a family-sized house in Memphis or start saving for the move home. So we started saving and happened to pop up pregnant fairly soon. We came home one weekend for a baby shower and David mentioned an office that his company was building in Atlanta that he'd love to work in. I mentioned he should try to see if they'd have him but he felt like they were hoping to staff it with more senior staff members. I didn't think another thing of it. A couple of weeks before DM was born, he received a call about a possible opportunity in Georgia. But in an effort to not get too excited, I ignored it.

Surprise Breech Baby
Now stay with me! Two weeks prior to DM's due date, I went for a walk on a FREEZING Saturday with Tahoe. Tahoe pooped. It had to be cleaned up. I leaned down to pick up the poop and my water broke. I walked all the way home freezing and proceeded to shower, eat, and slowly pack for the hospital. All the while, I didn't really clarify to David what was happening. We got to the hospital to find out DM was breech and probably had been for some time. After a fairly fast c-section and a few scary moments, we had a precious, perfect little girl with legs sticking straight up in the air. While still at the hospital, David received a phone call that set the move in motion.

One Step at a Time
Along the way, particularly given the economy, we knew everything had to work out perfectly. David had to have a good offer, our house had to appraise well, we had to quickly secure housing in Atlanta, and we had to sell our precious house in Memphis. All the time, we had our sweet DM to get to know. First came the offer and it was workable. Then came the appraisal and it was even a bit higher than we had to move to make the move feasible.

Agent: "Maggie, can you do this?"
Then came the real estate agent to discuss marketing the house. Between sleepless nights, we prepared our house to go on the market. We knew in the horrible economy, when we hit the MLS, everything had to be perfect. David and I had a miscommunication about when we would put the house on the market. I wanted to wait; he wanted to get it on ASAP. (At this point, I still had the bright idea that DM and I would stay behind in Memphis while the house was on the market. CRAZY idea!) We went with his "sooner" idea. The agent came to review the final paperwork. Of course, I hadn't showered in days, could hardly stand up, and surely had an afro. Thankfully, our agent and I had been in frequent touch while we lived in Memphis so I was quite comfortable with her. But comfortable or not, when she looked at me in my state of exhaustion and said, "Maggie, if I list this house this week, are you going to be able to get DM, Tahoe, and yourself out of the house if you get a showing?" I wanted to jump over the table and pop her, but I look at her and calmly said "Don't worry about us. You find us a potential buyer and this house will look perfect, childless, and dogless when s/he comes through the door!"

And We Have a Contract
And in less than 24 hours, our phone rang to tell us we had a showing. We made it out! And the phone rang 40 hours later to tell us the potential buyer from yesterday wanted to see our house again. And we made it out. Meanwhile, David flew to Atlanta for a 48-hour rental house hunting trip that proved to be more challenging than we'd anticipated in so many ways. After losing several houses, we settled on what we thought would work for a year or less.

No Time for Shame with the Moving Crew
Back in Memphis, 48 hours after going on the market. We had a contract on our house that was workable. Thank you GOD! A week later, the best moving crew in the history of all moving arrived and packet our house before we could blink our eyes. I can laugh now, but when I realized the crew packed my underwear and lingerie before I could get to it, I wanted to cry. In the chaos of working with DM, I FORGOT to pack my own personals. I just never anticipated a moving crew could move so fast. All of our belonging left Memphis and David, DM, Mom, Tahoe, Millie and I stayed behind for one last night in M-town.

Homeless
Early the next day, we began the long drive down through Mississippi, across Alabama, and for the first time in years, through west Georgia with the knowledge that we were moving HOME! We had to go straight to the rental house for a walk-through. And so began all the crap in the world hitting the fan. We quickly discovered the property was about to go in to foreclosure. A rental home in foreclosure is NOT where you want to be when the bank comes knocking. We were homeless and went to a hotel to collect our thoughts.

God Was Moving Us . . .
We searched and searched the next day for a new house. And the next day, too. Eventually, we drove OUR agent around down because she frankly didn't know what she was doing and that is putting it mildly. We returned to a house we'd passed on a couple of weeks earlier due to a sketchy lease. This time, we signed the "sketchy" lease feeling pretty sure we could win in court if anything happened. As the year has gone by, we have come to realize that there have been many reasons the initial rental home did not work out (beyond the obvious). God was moving us to the perfect place, but we sure couldn't see it then.

We Are Home!
And finally, we moved out of the hotel to our new "temporary" home. But . . .I looked across the street and noticed a house for sale. For a very good price. I wanted to cancel the lease and run over and buy it. But a deal is a deal and for many reasons, we had decided to rent for a year. I watched this house. I stalked this house. I knew every time some one came or went from this house. I noticed every time the price changed on this house and when it was nearing foreclosure. Meanwhile, my desire to live in the city was being squashed every time we discussed all the obstacles that living in the city would present to us. The week of Thanksgiving, I realized the contract on the house across the street had fallen through and we learned it was indeed a short sale that had been "pulled from foreclosure" more than once. Ugh. Short sales are hard and can get dirty. But, we had time and could make a good offer. And as most of you know, we got the house across the street from the rental house we hadn't planned to rent. It is not what most of our friends would select, but it is in the perfect location and is the best compromise for David and me. If you come visit, come ready to work for the next 10 years because we'll probably be working on it for the next 10 years.

And now you know why this Episcopalian says God has been good to us, even when I wasn't good to Him. This many great things do not happen by accident. And He gave us a precious Baby with her Daddy's temperament. And in the end, Memphis was good to us.