Moving Back Home! HALLELUJAH!

It's been a long ride, and one that I can't honestly say I've been on board with. I haven't much enjoyed the ride, but as in all things, there was growth, lessons learned and a deeper dependence upon God.

First the first 2 months, I couldn't walk into our home without feeling a deep sense of loss, almost like someone died. Our house had been decorated for Christmas, plans for the holidays were in the works, most of the boxes were unpacked and we were planning our first dinner party. Then it happened. What we now know from the inspectors who came to the house was that not one, but 8 pipes burst that day in December and the City of Colorado Springs' line and meter burst as well. There was an estimated 10,000 gallons of water that passed through our home and we basically lost everything in our walk out basement, which was our bedroom. Our  bed is STILL in the front yard....frozen.

Our friends, Mark and Linda Warren, have been so gracious in allowing us to invade their home these past months, which has been more than 1/3 of a year at this point. God has blessed us with this amazing people and I know there is NO HUMANLY way we can EVER repay them for what they've done.

The pastors and elders at WPCC knocked us off our feet by helping us gather what was salvageable and praying with us, then sending us a card that reinforced to us how much we were loved and prayed for in that moment.

We are humbled, to say the very least, by everyone's generosity, prayers, concern and words of encouragement during a time that has stripped us financially, materially, but not spiritually. Even though we were saddened and grieved by the loss of our home, we knew when we were able to go back there it would be even more ours with all the repairs, color choices, new carpets, appliances, etc. God has truly blessed us with a new home.

We walked in the home last night as we knew the carpet had been laid earlier in the day and all we could do was embrace each other and say, "Thank you, God."  Our home is beautiful!  OUR HOME IS BEAUTIFUL!  We moved our table and chairs back to their places; we put the living room sofa and coffee table back where it belonged. I washed lots of dishes and cleaned the bathroom upstairs (after all, the toilet had been sitting in the bath tub for a while! YUCK!)

I've learned that I'm not the most patient person in the world, nor the easiest to get along with when I'm displaced, but God has been dealing with me on that. I've learned that if Don and I can survive being homeless and losing pretty much everything and not play the blame game that we do love each other and are sort of joined at the hip. I've learned that God has blessed us with lots of people who love and care about us and that sometimes you just have to let them take care of you when you're too distressed to take care of yourself. I've learned that stress really is the  best diet plan in the world. I LOVE 15 pounds during this time!

But most of all: I've learned that we put entirely too much emphasis on "stuff". God saved our lives that night. The ceiling literally came down on my head and the electricity was on while all that water was gushing through the house. The things that are important are not temporal; they are family, friends, the love of God, health.....all things that can't be bought or put on a credit card.

So.........  we are going home this weekend. Today I am going up to clean the dust away and put some things back in their places.  And I do it with a grateful, cheerful heart.

Hazel Wesson-Peterson