Blog

Gold-rushing- part 1

Devona 0 Comments

Those of you who follow me on Facebook know that we’ve recently moved from Ohio to California. Recently, as in, we moved this past week. I’ve been posting photos on facebook because I just wanted to share them as we went. But now I’m going to put them in context.

When Rob took the job at Twilio and we came to San Francisco together to search for a home, we came with open minds about where to live. We considered looking in the city proper but I couldn’t figure out where we’d put our canoe, and how the school system works. So East Bay it was. Searching for a home was both stressful and exciting, and we narrowed the towns down to Orinda and Pleasanton. Some of the people Rob works with were joking that we moved from Ohio to Ohio in California, but there are big differences. The weather for one thing! But also there are tons of thriving local businesses, smaller yards, and much higher home costs.

We applied to rent a small home near downtown Pleasanton and a larger but older home in Orinda. We didn’t get the house in Orinda, someone else got it over us, and the small home in Pleasanton just wasn’t sitting well with Rob. We had no more time to look at houses, and we were literally on the plane home when Rob emailed our realtor asking her to look at a larger house we hadn’t had the chance to see in town. Long story short, we applied to rent it sight-unseen and got it.


Thus began the frantic transition to California. Rob left Ohio on August 15th, and the girls and I planned to take a cross country drive beginning September 9th. My mom volunteered to come along as we made the trek, stopping in South Dakota, and Wyoming on the way.

The voyage was amazing, and I really feel like we’re striking it rich here in the Golden State. I’ll tell the story of our trip in at least two more installments coming up in the next week or so. Hope you’ll come back as check in to see all the amazingness we discovered.

Doing the Work

Devona 0 Comments

14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good[b] is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.  

As many of you know, we’re moving to San Francisco. In about a month. And we’re selling our house. Our house which had some cosmetic repairs which needed to be done. Cosmetic repairs are often the ones which go ignored, because apart from looks they don’t really detract from living well in your home.

Well, they do detract from selling your home. And so even though we had none of these projects on our To Do list before Rob accepted his new job at Twilio they suddenly became the most imperative jobs on it. Highest on that list was freshening up the paint on the following surfaces:

  • Master bedroom
  • Kid’s bedrooms
  • Stairwell and hallway
  • Living room
  • Dining room
  • Half bath
  • Front Porch
  • House exterior
  • Trim of windows- exterior
  • Back deck (the largest deck in West Akron)
  • Garage
Did I mention we started this endeavor 4 weeks before we list our home? And we’re not hiring anyone to paint…

While I was outside last Monday, painting the second coat on the front porch, my mind began to wander to the what ifs. What if we don’t have enough time? What if we discover some major problem and have to pay a ton to fix it? What if I let my kids spend an entire summer watching Avatar the Last Air Bender? What if no one buys my house?

As I was encouraging myself to consider the sparrows (Oh, Jesus, your comfort is what I needed) and not worry about the TV watching kids and how many more days I of work I still have to do, it dawned on me that this is a moment of faith being shown by works. I may be struggling to keep my mind on the now, and struggling to believe that God knows this will work out, but I do have faith that He will work it out somehow. I’m painting my porch for the next home owner, because I believe that the next home owner is coming. God will deliver.

If I sat on my duff and didn’t even put a sign in my yard, that shows that ultimate in lack of faith. I am not preparing for the answer to my prayers. Without work, my faith is dead.

So that’s my selling the house parable. And I have no choice but to believe that it will sell. I can’t make it sell by willpower or any other force. All I can do is paint it, and set aside any control I think I have over it. I have to have faith that it will work out.

Summer Boredom

Devona 0 Comments

We’re getting used to being bored again. The first week out of school we all cried and begged to sit in front of the TV. I let them watch more than I’d like, and I argued with them more than I’d like. But school has a way of getting everyone used to being told what to do next. So when faced with 12 hours of free time, it’s intimidating.

After we returned from camping I determined that we would not just sit in front of a screen all day. What a lame way to spend the summer. But, the weather decided to rain all over us so we couldn’t really go outside either.

Now what?

Well, Olivia had the wonderful idea of making a cardboard maze for our pet hermit crabs. So we cut and taped and glued for about an hour. Then we dropped Rapunzel and Turquoise into the maze and rewarded them with glittery stickers and raisins.

Today we worked on our chicken coop together. The girls held wood in place while I worked the screw driver. I have been using scrap wood from the garage and the basement to build it. I’m trying to keep my costs down. I found two old pantry cabinets in the basement crawl space and they work perfectly for the front of the coop. One of them even had smoothly turning hinges! It was meant to be!

The little jobs have been good for reminding us how to balance our boredom and busyness. And so today when the rain rolled in I didn’t feel bad putting My Neighbor Totoro on for the girls to wait out the storm.