Blessed Beyond Belief!!!

After our final 12 hour trip yesterday, we arrived at White Sands Missile Range about 18:20 (that's about 6:20 pm for all you non-military folk). We were met both by Paul's sponsor (another E-6) and his new Command Senior Chief. We got signed into our temporary housing, which is a beautifully furnished three bedroom house that is larger than the apartment I just left at Fort Monroe.

The only thing open for us to grab a bite to eat was the snack bar at the bowling alley. So we munched on our two bacon cheeseburgers and chicken finger basket as we tried to let the realization that we are really here in New Mexico sink in.

Since we got in too late, we had to wait for today to go into housing to find out about where we will live. I felt like a kid on Christmas Eve, excited and anxious, not wanting to wait till the morning to see what great surprise I would find.

I woke up early, a bit before 7 (hey, that's early for me!), and when Paul woke up and saw 7:07 on the clock, he asked me, "So, it's nine on the east coast?" I just laughed and answered yes, cause he knows that 9 is my normal wake up time if I am left alone.

I was excited to see more of the base, so Tricia and I started to walk through some of the housing. The house we are staying in is in "O country" meaning mostly officers. SO I figured this area would not be where we ended up. They are building absolutely beautiful new homes throughout the center of the housing area, and Tricia and I gawked over them while pointing out empty ones. It was too far of a walk to go up to see the last section, these houses were the ones that were the largest three bedrooms but where also much older. But I knew I needed to make breakfast for my hunny, so I headed back.

After Paul finished getting his uniform ready, the two of us headed out the door to go to housing. We drove through all the areas so he could see what he'd missed on my walk, and I could see the section I was unable to. We decided that we liked the environment of the older houses because they had much much larger trees.... and shade. The new stuff was beautiful, and we knew they would be nicer inside, but trees?... not so much.

We walked into the housing office a little uncertain, cause we've not done this whole housing thing before. I was a bit nervous, and it got worse when we were asked if we had an appointment. An appointment? I didn't know anything about needing an appointment. So she brought us into her office and punched in Paul's ss#, and announces that we weren't even assigned a house. They had nothing to offer us in a four bedroom because this new battalion is coming in. We told her we knew that, and in all honesty we were not expecting to get a four bedroom. We said we would be happy to accept anything they had to offer us. Then she told us we were supposed to have called 30 days before we were due to arrive to get an appointment and house assignment.

30 days? We did not know this. The woman Paul had spoken to said nothing to him about calling 30 days ahead. We apologized for not knowing this, and he assured her he would have been more than willing to call if only he had been told. She left the office to see what she could do. I felt nervous and uncertain, feeling like we had done something wrong when we had not. So I closed my eyes and quietly asked God to work everything out for us.

You see, as the time got nearer, and especially after seeing all the different housing, I wanted to pray asking the Lord, "give me this house, give me that.... make it big, make it wonderful...." and on and on. That thought was SOOOO tempting. But I didn't. Instead I said, "Lord, this is what I want to ask for, but I know that YOU are the one who has brought us out here, so what I am going to ask for is that You give us the house (and the neighbors) that YOU want us to have, no matter what we end up with." Afterall, this has been my heart during this whole thing.... Lord, your will, not mine. So why stop now?

So as I was sitting in this office, trying to ignore the enemy's calling that we screwed up and were going to end up in an uncertain mess, I instead reminded myself that God was in control and would work everything out for us. There was no need to worry.

So she walked back into the room and said, "this is what I can do for you.... if you wait three days, I have a 3 bedroom on this street, or if you wait 9 days, I have a four bedroom on this street..."

Paul asked if we could see the map to show us where the houses were, and when she circled them I realized that Tricia and I had walked past both houses that morning. I could not remember what the three bedroom looked like, but I knew the four was really nice cause Tricia told me she wanted a house on that street where they have cacti in the front yard. Paul wanted to drive by both before selecting, though we told her we would most likely want the four.

When we drove by the three bedroom, it was UGLY. I don't think that very many of the houses here were ugly, but this one was. So we moved on to the four. It was BEAUTIFUL!!!! We peeked in the window, and all I could see was the kitchen, but it was HUGE! I squeeled in delight. The landscaping in front was my favorite along the whole street. I couldn't wait to see what it looked like inside. It almost killed me to think we would have to wait up to 9 days to see it!

You see, this is not a house we should qualify for. This is an area that is occupied by officers, NOT enlisted. But TWO days ago, the command decided that since many of the officers were moving into the new officer houses, then they should allow enlisted with larger families to live there. If we had called 30 days ago, we probably would not have had this house. This definately felt like God moving to me. So we stopped by to let the housing lady know we wanted the four bedroom on Jupiter. Then we were able to get our temporary housing extended for another week.

We headed back, after a short commissary trip, to get the kids and walk them over to the new house. I was still squeeling the whole way cause I am so excited. We took them past the three bedroom, and they agreed that yes, it is ugly. When we got over to our soon-to-be house, Paul stopped the neighbors driving by that we had seen starting to move in two houses down. He told her he was glad to see another enlisted family moving in (we were warned that we will most likely be snubbed from our officer neighbors cause they are not very happy to have us there as we are lowly enlisted, and NOT officers!).

Our new neighbor, Sandra, was so nice and sweet. We found out it was her family that might have inspired the opening of this housing to enlisted. She was told the same thing we were... only 3 bedrooms. Just like me, she was quite content to have a three bedroom.... just give us a house, she said. But when the "big guy" (the highest ranking enlisted guy at this command) saw her family and was told they were given a three bedroom, he said no way. If the officers want to move into the new fancy houses, there is no reason her family couldn't have an open older officer four bedroom house. She openly praised God for the blessing of this house. How Cool is that?!!! And I told her about my prayer.... to be placed where God wanted me. Then I thanked her for paving the way for us.

She was so nice that when she found out we hadn't seen the inside yet (and most likely wouldn't for at least a week), she backed up her SUV and three kids and invited us in to see her house (they have the exact same layout).

I almost cried! Literally. I felt God's love and blessing over me so strongly that I almost couldn't contain my self! This house is HUGE!!! Remember, I'm moving away from a three bedroom that was 1050 square feet. This house has a one car garage, a laundry/utility room, a kitchen large enough to put a small table in it if I wanted with tons of counter and cabinet space, a dining room, a living room, a family room, and two medium sized bedrooms and two large bedrooms, one with a three quarter bathroom. There is a double-wide driveway that could easily fit four cars (not including garage space for one), and the back yard is really big as well. We have two large trees back there that provides a lot of shade.

When I got back to the computer and looked it up, I found that the square footage is almost 2400sq.ft.. There are only 17 houses larger than this one (and this one is only 1 of 12). Again, I was overwhelmed by God's blessing. Nikki asked me if we were going to be able to fill this house with our stuff, and I exclaimed, "NO! Isn't it great!" This house is more than twice the size of our last home. And I am beside myself right now.

We have to call on Friday to find out exactly when we can come sign our lease and move in, but we know we will be here in temporary lodging for most of the next week. I do not have much to do this week but wait, but maybe that is God's way of giving me a vacation from my travels before all the hard work of unpacking begins. We can enjoy and celebrate Justin's 7th birthday on Sunday in a comfortable house not filled with boxes. And hopefully we will be all settled before Paul's birthday at the end of the month.

Lord, you are such an AWESOME God! Thank you so much for your provision for my family. Thank you for giving us so much more than what we deserve or qualify for. All the glory goes to YOU, Lord Jesus! I love you! Amen.