She found herself in Colombia... part 3

Hello, welcome back 

I left you in the prior post in tears... those tears continued off and on and left me feeling even more strange and alone after family and friends went back home. I loved the new place but it was a stranger to me, no longer did I have the familiar to console me.

I no longer had my favorite spot in the back yard...

Or my studio

I said my Good byes...

 My favorite chair I kept and was now surrounded by boxes and pictures and hard to get at, I needed to get to work... and so I did. 

The week prior we had painted every room, it was a dark terracotta and lime green and now it was linen and warm gray tones.

I went shopping...

Found a perfect linen couch and chair at Walter E Smith, linen curtains and cupboard at Restoration Hardware and a great chandelier at Pottery Barn. This was starting to get fun and I needed to keep busy. 

I loved the kitchen with the stone and exposed beams. An added bonus was two fire´places, one in the dining area made of river rock and the other in the front room.

The bedroom needed a lot of help... There were header beams across the ceiling that lowered it way too much and I couldn´t put the top of the canopy on the bed. My son kindly removed them for me. The walls were paneled dark and I wanted to paint them but owner said no, so...

I got my sewing machine out.

and so I poured myself into my surroundings and settled in. It was a time of healing...

I had everything I needed without the maintenance and expense. It was comfortable and it even had a chicken coop in the back yard that I turned into my studio,,, but that is another post.

She found herself in Colombia... Part 2

Looking back...

Christmas 2016,  I am traveling back with my daughter from Minnesota where I've spent every Christmas with my family since I can remember. I am discussing with my daughter putting the house on the market with a realtor we know... I'm reluctant and while debating... my daughter just goes ahead of me and calls the realtor (anyone with daughters understands this). My daughter gives her my number and within a minute my phone is ringing, "Can I show the house tomorrow, I have a client looking for a historical house and she is going back to Pennsylvania the next day." I say, ok rolling my eyes and giving my daughter the look. As I was riding home, I was reminded of the conversation I had with DaddyGod a few months prior. 

 I was asking, "What now, Lord, what should I do now?" For you who are new here, my husband died the year before and I was in the midst of many changes.

 And He responded... you can stay right where you are, you can do what you've been doing, stay with the familiar and I will bless you or... Come on an adventure with me, step out and I will bless it.  

I chose the adventure

So here I am

selling my home stepping out in faith

To make a long story short, the family that came to see the house I had met at my church years before and had a connection with them. We visited around what God was doing in our lives and they ended up buying the house. It was a God appointment.

Well, it's now January in Chicago and closing is in February... and I am the queen of junk. A basement full, a three story house full, a garage full, a studio full, you get the picture. My kids, friends come to the rescue and help me sort through, pack and throw away. Meanwhile I start looking for something to rent... but nothing! 

I couldn't find anything I felt home in, I looked at a great apartment a half hour away in another town with exposed brick and old beams that I loved but I knew this wasn't it. On the way home I was discouraged and disappointed crying out saying, I thought this was it but if you want me to live in my car I will. Only 2 weeks until closing and I have to be moved but I was ok with it all. It was up to God and I knew even if it was the car it would be ok. I had a peace that not too many understood.

There is something about God's timing that is always impeccable... when we look back but at the time it seems the eleventh hour or just in the nick of time. But really it is for him to show up and show off, to show himself strong in your life. He loves you and has all things under control. 

And then suddenly... God

I was driving and got a call from my friend, "there's a house on Main street that has everything you liked about the apartment". I turn the car around and drive by, it looks like me! I call and make an appointment the next day.

Walking in the main floor of an old turn of the century 3 story home in the town where I spent the last 27 years in, where half my kids live and only blocks from everything I need... God had this for me. Not only that... He also gave me exposed old beams and exposed flagstone just what I loved about the apartment that he said no to. Because He knows me better than me. Because He knew I needed my kids close during this time. Because He knew this move was epic and a few blocks was much easier than miles away. Because this place was prepared for me ahead of time with even a chicken coop I turned into a studio. Because He made me who I am... and when I don't understand I trust him.

The next day I have a lease signed for two years.

And so the moving date arrived and we got a week to move things into the new place. It was orchestrated by God... that week it was 72 degrees in Chicago in February! I cleaned out the garage in a sweater. I am still thankful for that beautiful gift.

My sister came from Minnesota to help, as the last of the movers left and they set up the furniture including my bed, we sat on the couch exhausted... I said we can clean more tomorrow, lets go home and come back tomorrow. My sister looked at me funny and said, we're not going back there, your beds here... you live here now! Suddenly it hit me, that was my last night in my home I knew for 29 years,  I was so focused on the task of moving I didn't realize I wasn't going back... I burst into tears.

It was another death.

She found herself in Colombia...

Hello

I'm going to start off by saying, it's been awhile since I've been here... but I am back, for whatever that's worth. I've been asked to share my journey the past couple of years and so I have decided to do it here... at my old friend blogger. I see it's changed here around the old neighborhood and I confess I don't know who is still here. I, like so many have been lured away by fb, instagram, pinterest and twitter and there are only so many hours in a day. I am not abandoning my friends on any of them but adding hopefully a larger more detailed picture of what God has been doing and where it has led me... 

She found herself in Colombia

so starts my journey, my adventure in Cartagena, Colombia.

But...
I need to go back two years and tell you how I got here... it's an amazing journey!
God is an amazing God, who is in every detail of our lives and continually speaks to us,
we only have to listen.
 He is writing our story and invites us to follow, we could not weave together the threads that tell such a beautiful tapestry/story...

I have been made a messenger of this wonderful news (the gospel) by the gift of grace that works through me. Even though I am the least..
Ephesians 3.

to be continued...