We finally did it. We put our beautiful home up for sale. The truth is, if it doesn't sell, I won't be heartbroken - even though I'm completely ready to go on to the next chapter, take on the next home improvement challenge and bring new life to a house that's fading into the shadows. I guess its the creative nature in both of us that makes those projects so inviting and so much fun.
If God is ready for us to move on, the pieces will fall into place just as they should. It's always been that way for us and this time will be no different.
Twenty seven years ago, we lived in a crowded stuffy subdivision in Houston. More than anything, Mike wanted to move back to the mountains of Idaho but times were hard. Supporting a family on a secretary's salary and the income from the art we sold was a challenge, to say the least.
One day I came home from work to find Mike working on a HUGE painting. It was 5' x 8' and took up the entire loft wall where he had his studio. We had an art show coming up and he decided if he could sell this huge painting, we'd have the money we needed to move.
He also decided, after working in acrylics for 3 years, to try his hand at oils - on this big painting! For those of you not familiar with the difference, you can basically blow on acrylics and it dries while oils must be mixed precisely right if you want them to dry in less than a week.
The painting was awesome but after 3 weeks, the oils were still not drying which meant we wouldn't be able to take it to the show. It would get destroyed in transport.
Two days before the show, one of Mike's customers came over to preview the art and lo and behold - fell in love with the huge painting. Mike told him the price was $8,900 - and he said SOLD! The look on Mike's face was priceless. As the customer was leaving, he picked out two more paintings bringing the grand total of his purchase to $13,500.
Two weeks later, we delivered all the paintings to the customer's business and collected our check. We stopped on our way home and cashed it, pulled in and reserved a big U-Haul truck and within a week, were on our way to Sandpoint, Idaho, where yet another adventure awaited. Not only did we get the money we needed to move, we had enough to tide us over until we got re-established.
Not in a million years could we have predicted the way God would get us out of Houston . . . and not in a million more could we have known the kind of adventures we were about to have.
