When we were selling the Altima, there was a guy who was interested in buying it who owned a suburban. Jordan commented when he came to look at the car that ONE DAY we would like to have a suburban. The guy joked back that maybe we could make a trade. The joking became a little more serious and Jordan ended up calling me to ask me what I thought of the idea. I didn't. I mean I didn't even think about it. We were supposed to be leaving in a week and we had way too much going on to be thinking about getting another car, and not a suburban...it is so unpractical! We don't need it. Don't even think about it. You are a little whacky. Goodbye. He agreed while we were talking, but a seed had been planted and his brain was working. He brought it up again later. I had a similar (and more detailed) response as to why it would not work. We accepted a down payment from a different buyer for the Altima and just let it go (well, I did). But, the guy came back to take a 2nd look at the Altima, hoping that if the other deal fell through we may still be interested in trading. I was upstairs cleaning and packing when he arrived and Jordan really wanted me to come and just look at the suburban. After refusing for quite some time, I relented and went down to see it. I have a thing for clean cars...this was NOT. There was gunk everywhere. I peeked in the doors, and walked around the suburban once to humor Jordan, but I had no intention of ever thinking of it again. Plus, what in the world would we do if we traded it. Then we would have a suburban and Jordan's Xterra. We did not have time to get his truck fixed up and ready to sell. It just wouldn't work.
Jordan agreed. I went back inside to continue working and Jordan was explaining our situation to the guy and telling him why it wouldn't work. Jokingly he said "I have an Xterra, you could trade me for my Xterra." Much to our surprise, he seemed interested. He told us to call him if the Altima didn't sell, he wanted to buy it regardless, and he would be thinking about the Xterra. The Altima sold to the other person, so Jordan left the guy a message telling him the Altima was gone. To our surprise he got a text back asking if we were still considering a trade with the Xterra. We had separate activities planned for the next couple hours, so Jordan said "just think about it and pray about it. If we don't want to do it we don't have to, but let's just ask God if this is the time he is wanting to give us our big family car." So, we did. As I was running my errands I am thinking about being in Arizona with all the cousins. We could all ride in the same car together. I could pick up all the kids to go and do something fun. When we have another baby, we wouldn't need to worry about getting another car, we'd already be set. I've always wanted a suburban. It could be cleaned up. Hmmmm....I am starting to want it. When I got home Jordan felt the opposite. We don't need it right now. Maybe it is too much to try to do all of this before we leave. I felt sad. I couldn't believe it. We decided that we would go ahead and meet the guy, do a simultaneous test drive, and if he wanted to do a straight across trade we would do it. But we would not buy the suburban and then try to sell the Xterra. The Xterra's AC was broken, the CD player didn't work, and there was a giant crack across the front windshield. It was a long shot. The suburban is older, but the miles were the same. On the test drive I was starting to get giddy...praying that the guy would want to trade. When we got back to the house, after some strange conversation (do you like my car? I like your car. Do you want my car? I want your car.), we signed titles over to each other and swapped cars!!
We are now the PROUD owners of a beautiful red suburban. Jordan scrubbed and cleaned it for me and it totally meets my standards. We filled the back to the VERY BRIM and hung our bikes on the rack. Off to Arizona we go. What an amazing gift with incredible timing. Thank you God!
The house had been looking like this before we left, and the kids were suspicious of what was happening to our things. No amount of explaining to Silas was getting the idea across. He reported to Lisa that many of his toys were lost. It was time to get going to the next phase. We found outstanding renters for our place, left the house in good hands, and took off.
Unfortunately our first set back was a big one. We had stayed the night with Kyle and Lisa the night before leaving. Jordan and I put our kids to bed and then went back to the house and cleaned well past midnight. We had finishing touches of packing and some errands to run (including a final stop at our beloved apple farm, looking like the Beverly Hillbillies) before heading out of town around 2 pm. We made it to Redding, California the first night and stopped to get some sleep. Jordan and I tend to take the cheapest route possible when it comes to hotels, but since we had our kids with us and all of the belongings we were taking to Arizona, we sprung for the higher grade. Sadly, so did the thieves who stole Jordan's bike AND our two seating bike trailer for the kids. Seriously, who steals a bike with a baby seat attached and a kid's bike trailer. It was a huge damper on things. Huge. We had just bought the trailer and Jordan had bought his mountain bike as a comfort toy after selling his motorcycle last summer. But, we packed up, counted our blessings that Silas' Strider bike was still there and that they didn't break into the Bury 'Burb to get anything else, and headed down to Orange County.
We stopped at a park for lunch. It was total dejavu for me as I watched Jordan run Silas all over, trying to get all of his energy out. It took me back to our family trips up to Washington when I was a kid, stopping at rest areas and my parents instructing us to run races, chase each other, or whatever it took to release the pent up car energy. I would make myself pee twice, worried that I would be the one to have to tell the family I had to go again. Then with hot lungs and tired legs we would get back into the car to continue the journey.
Jewel getting a break from her diaper, and seeing what the view is like from the front seat.
Praise the Lord we had a lot of this in the car (as opposed to the last AZ car trip when Silas slept a collective 3 hours in the 27 hours we were in the car).
And Jewel spent the rest of the time happy as could be (Silas was watching a lot of movies, I'll admit now that we were on the verge of brain rotting...but he survived. I didn't take any pictures though, because a three year old with blood shot eyes, not blinking while he watches his portable DVD player just isn't as cute as this). :)
And waiting for us in Orange County was Uncle Chris, Aunt Christine, Ellsie, and brand new baby Nixon. Chris totally spoiled us and got our family a room at a hotel that was right on the beach. I mean we literally walked out of our room, down the hall, and on to the sand. Talk about amazing. I love the ocean so, so much, and this was exactly what we needed. Thank you Uncle Chris and Aunt Christine for spoiling us. We love you guys.
Both mornings we ate breakfast at the Orange Inn, the same people were there both mornings, having the same breakfast. It was so fun to be a part of that world for just those few days...and the breakfasts were delish!
When we left California, reality started to set in. We no longer had a home in Portland, someone else is living there. We don't have our own home in Arizona, we are staying with my parents. There is no job. There is no for sure plan. We did not hear from the Marshals before we left, so the October academy is out of the question. How long will we be in Arizona? How hot will it be? Will we ever go back to Portland? Will the Marshals work out at all, or are we going to Arizona because God has something totally different in mind for us? The kids slept a lot the last leg of the trip. Jordan and I talked a lot about what we were hoping for our time in Arizona. Relaxation, a change of pace, spending time with family, enjoying each other, seeking God and loving him on a whole new level as we get to know him even better. There were so many emotions, there still really are. We miss Portland so much. We miss our friends and our church and our beach and our hikes and our stores and our big green trees. We haven't yet experienced "our things" in Arizona. It's hard to look forward to an unknown. But we know we are loved, we know our family is there waiting for us...so we won't turn around, we'll trust and keep heading south.
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