Chronicles of selling a house in Colorado

This was a draft from July, 2015 that I never posted.... here it is, better late than never.

Life has a tendency to be like a roller coaster.
Let me correct that-my life has the aforementioned characteristic.

Somethings go up, others go down-at a tear jerking screaming unexpected crazy roller coaster speed and pace with the wildest turns imagineable.

At least that's kind of how it has been lately.

I can't remember when I I last blogged so here I will say it.
You know our sweet cute cozy little yellow house in Colorado?
It was totally defiled!
We  went to Colorado with the intent of renewing our lease with our tenant.
Sorry if we didn't see you or notify you (Caterina). My husband flew to Denver, I came via SLC it was a bit contrived  but we got there.

That morning I was saying my prayers, thinking about my
Upcoming day, asking Heavenly Father for help on the things up ahead of me and I had the impression that we should sale our home.

Say what?
So I said "honey, why don't you say a prayer before we leave". He did and came to me saying "we need to sale it."
There was the confirmation. Law of two witnesses right?

We got to our home, met the tenant. Started checking the house out. He asked if we could extend the lease for the next two years at least. We said no, we need to sale.

My husband was checking everything out and said I'm going downstairs. Our tenant, said., "ah, you know, there's nothing down there".  So I I went too.
As we headed down the steps, he says, "I have cancer".
We thought that was a little ill placed but didn't think much of it. For the next two steps down.
And then we turned the corner.

And saw.... Our 1,200 sq foot unfinished basement  that  had been turned into a commercial marijuanna grow center. Really.

Defiled.

We were assured that  he was registered for medicinal use with the state.
Yeah right. The state allows 6 plants. Not 600. (Ok maybe I exaggerated but maybe half of that).

Since the lease was almost up,  he told his he would be moved in the next couple of weeks.
Being an absent landlord is tough. Really tough!

New Adventures

SO much to do, so little time to post.
Life has jumped into fast forward mode for us.
It seems to always be an adventure - one crazy thing after another.

This July, we traveled to Colorado and discovered that our sweet little yellow house, was actually being used for a commercial pot growing operation. Our tenant insisted that he never smoked it, (the house reeked) and told me that he only used it for medicinal purposes, and put it in his smoothies, unfortunately for him, the carpet didn't lie like he did.

In the end, my husband spent a few fine days in Colorado, begging our tenant to leave (in the end we had to pay for a hotel so he would leave), ripping out carpet, repainting and fixing up our home there.
We were gratefully able to sale it in October, and have (sadly) closed the Colorado chapter of our lives.
Sniff - so many good memories and things learned there, and sweet ones we love(d).

The same day that our house sold, my husband received a job offer in the state of Washington.  Yep, as in - the other side of the nation - the polar other side of the nation.

We all traveled there on a house hunting trip, and saw a lot of homes in the Tri-Cities area and we are excited to be moving there next month.  That said, there's SO much to do here in Florida. So many beaches we haven't visited, so many items on my bucket list that will have to wait until we move back (along with lots of packing, cleaning, and getting yet another home ready to sale).
I really love Florida, and am so sad to be leaving.  It has been a crucible here. We've experienced a lot of really hard things, but we've also definitively seen God's hand in our lives, and we've been so touched by the kindness of others here.

As we were thinking and pondering such a big move for our family, we went to the temple, looking for some heavenly insights.  I was a little distracted, and not very focused, but one thought that very distinctively came into my mind is that God is a creator, planner, and preparer.  Before sending us to earth, He created every single minute detail down to the T.  Planned it, and executed it.  He planned the rivers, streams, insects, fish, larvae, grass, flowers, lava to create land, weather systems, and even that pesky mosquito.  Every single minute detail.
I realized that if God was sending us to Washington, He would have also prepared before sending us there. But then I argued (in my head), "But I don't even know anyone there in that area!"  And then, suddenly, I remembered a sweet missionary from our church who we had been close with, who 'might have been from somewhere in Washington'?
Leaving the temple, I shared this with my husband, and texted this young man (who completed his mission about 5 years ago).  Amazingly, this young man was from the exact area we were looking at moving to.  He put us in touch with his parents, who were so kind and sweet and helpful with information.  They've been such a blessing to us, and I've learned that Heavenly Father prepares all needful things if we are just patient, and look for His hand in our lives.

My boxes are calling my name - and so our adventure continues...next stop Washington!