Our last update left us waiting to move in to our rental house on April 1st and looking forward to celebrating Easter. We had a very nice holiday with family and did attempt to get settled into our new housing on April 1st. What a journey we have been on, and one that has certainly not gone quite according to plan!
When April 1st arrived we were given instructions that we could not access the home until 4:00pm and so we expectantly waited to gain entry, but had the fun and wonderfully exciting distraction of watching the Artemis crew launch and begin their mission to circle around the moon. We then entered the rental and began our own mission to empty the U-Haul trailer and get it returned without accruing additional expense for it being later in the day. We were pleasantly surprised to find the home, although small, would comfortably house us space wise, but were a bit taken aback by an unpleasant odor and what seemed to be a not satisfactory cleaned or furnished home. In the moment, we were focused on unloading our belongings with the help of Daniel’s dad and getting the trailer returned, and didn’t give much thought to unpacking any further. We had decided we would unpack and fully move in after Easter so we could enjoy time with family and celebrating the resurrection of Jesus, especially as we have not had the opportunity to spend any holidays with family throughout our marriage thus far.
After unloading, we returned back to Daniel’s parents’ and continued on a few more days. Then the Monday after Easter we trekked back to the Sacramento area and began considering what should be done about the housing we had secured. We knew we wanted to clean more thoroughly before unpacking our belongings and had picked up some cleaning supplies to assist us in our endeavor. We quickly discovered that the home was more unclean than we realized and was going to take quite a bit of work before we would be comfortable settling in. Unfortunately, the more we tried to make it better the more profoundly we realized that this might not be a good home for us as it also had a carpet beetle problem (EEEK!), which we hadn’t noticed until we began more thoroughly cleaning. At this point, we asked the landlords to please terminate our lease agreement as we could not wait out the time it would take to effectively correct the problems as our reasons for relocation were for the medical needs of our unborn child and we needed to be more settled before he would make his entrance into the world. We quickly made the decision to promptly move all of our belongings out of the house, rented another trailer to move everything to Daniel’s parents’ property with the assistance of our brother-in-law, and fully vacate the rental premises as soon as possible. Irony upon irony, U-Haul was simultaneously experiencing an entire system outage across the entire United States and could not rent or receive returns the day we were trying to move out before we even fully moved in. So finding a trailer to rent proved to be a somewhat difficult task even though we were in the city. This impromptu decision was extremely stressful and fraught with much anxiety, but the Lord in His mercy, did allow for the lease agreement to be terminated without us being held liable to pay the remaining rent for two more months of accommodations.
The Lord also continued to provide for us through Daniel’s parents. They have very graciously allowed us to live in their “Cottage” located on their property and we began the arduous process of cleaning all of our belongings in an attempt to then settle in a little more permanently. Up to this point, we were only considering the Cottage as a stopover and not where we might be setting up house long term. Although, we have yet to finish the task completely of cleaning all of our things, we are beginning to feel a bit more settled, gaining a bit more normalcy and routine, and Daniel can work more regularly albeit remotely. The transitionary period of where we would land took a toll on all of us and we are grateful to be finding our footing again and getting back to a schedule that is helping all of us sleep better and breathe a little easier. We are still unsure of what to do about being closer to Sacramento as finding another rental feels quite intimidating as well as moving the family yet again in such a short period of time. We are praying the Lord will give very clear direction of what we should do and where we should be as it does feel like we are running out of time to make any significant shifts before Matthias’ arrival.
During the tumult of moving, we were given great news while we were getting fully established with UC Davis officially as patients. We had some follow up appointments that included consultations, a fetal echocardiogram, and ultrasounds. Not much has changed with what we know about Matthias, but we were surprised to received the news that my diagnosis of polyhydramnios has fully resolved and my amniotic fluid is back in normal ranges! I was by no means anticipating such a report and am thankful that my own status of high risk is now minimized. This news has allowed us to breathe a little easier and gives us much hope that we can indeed carry Matthias to term. At this point, I am 35 weeks and counting. Lord willing, Matthias will stay put for another 4-5 weeks giving him the utmost time in the womb for growth and development.
In the meantime, we continue to enjoy spring, relishing in spring rains, chorusing frogs, beautiful temps that allow us to splash or “swim” as Ioanna thinks of it in the creek, new life of baby cows, sheep, and goats around the countryside, and a family of geese with two little goslings that keep visiting the bank behind the Cottage. The girls and I can’t get enough of being outside playing in the yard and soaking in the sunshine. It has been a fun time of exploration and discover, wondering why flowers aren’t always open when its not as sunny or the day has turned to dusk, and exclamations of “The sky is broken!” when its steadily raining, and having some of their first experience with worms and grasshoppers. A true highlight was showing the girls the lemon tree in the backyard laden with fruit, gloriously yellow, just waiting to be picked. Of course, we acquiesced and filled two brown paper bags with the citrus, and then proceeded to make old fashioned, fresh squeezed lemonade. What a treat!
We will continue to contemplate how we should address our housing situation and whether or not we should attempt closer accommodations. We have been shifting our thoughts towards welcoming Matthias into this world and figure packing a hospital bag is probably a good idea. We will also have the pleasure of celebrating some family birthdays within the next week, experience the small town festivities of “Homecoming” in Daniel’s hometown, and express our love and gratitude to the mothers in our lives. As much as we have felt displaced, unsettled, and unsure this last month we have also been given times that are extremely special if we allow ourselves to be in the moment together with eyes willing to look for the blessings and gifts being bestowed. We are continuously astounded by the encouragement and love that has lavishly been given to our family and we want to be sure to say how much we appreciate each of you! Your thoughtfulness towards us has been a way in which God’s faithfulness has been shown in our lives as it encourages us to press on and stay the course. Surely, we have known your love as you assist us in carrying our burdens and encouraging us when we are faint hearted.
