The Hunt for the Perfect Location

I will be moving soon, to an as-yet-undisclosed (and undiscovered) location. What am I hopping for? Perfection. That's it. Not much, really. Only one word. 10 letters. But, perhaps I should be more specific. What is perfection in a living location?

--Low cost of living. Housing, food and gas prices that are at the lower end of the national average, along with a community college that is either free or very close to free for highschool students. (Yes, Virginians, there is free college for highschool students in some states.)

--Nice people. Friendly, well-educated. This presupposes a low crime rate. Criminals may be friendly with each other, but I really don't want my kids hanging out with gang members. Preferably many of these nice people will homeschool their kids and enough of them will be LDS that my kids have a good dating pool to choose from.

--Not Too far from my family members at BYU. This could perhaps be an extension of "Nice People." =) I like my kids, my parents and my siblings. And grandparents are a good thing for children to have around!

--Lots of trees, no billboards. Think of the mama duck (I think it's a duck) on Bambi (I think it's Bambi) who says, "Green's good for the eye!" (Or wait. Was that The Ugly Ducking? Anyway, you get the idea.) Trees make me happy. Billboards make me feel like white trash.

--Fun Stuff to Do. Nearby activities that are kid and family friendly and either free or pretty darn close to free is big on my list. This could include museums (think Smithsonian), hiking, fun parks, lakes and rivers for boating/canoeing, etc.

--Easy Homeschool Laws. Some states make it easy to homeschool your kids. Some seem to have forgotten who gave birth and who didn't. I like Alaska, where, if I understand correctly, the state assumes your child will be homeschooled unless you tell them otherwise. If anyone finds a way to move Alaska a little closer to CONUS, please let me know.

--Really, really good church congregation. One with a good assortment of happy, non-cliquish teens, where home and visiting teaching happen, ward parties are fun because the people like each other, and members are generally thrilled to be with their friends on Sunday and at YM/YW. If they happened to have a Girl's Camp that was comparable to Scout Camp, I might never leave.

I think this pretty well sums it up. Do you happen to know where I am describing? 'Cause if you do, please contact me ASAP! The hunt for the Perfect Location is on!

Yes, but-

What if I look under the bed

To make sure they are only figments of my imagination

And they leap out

Splitting my ears with their roars

Tearing my face with their claws

Spilling my blood

In pools

On the bedroom carpet

?

Solid Ground

I never notice

Stepping onto the shore

After a day on the lake

In my canoe

But after a night on the sea

In hurricane storms

I fall to my knees

Clutch the grass in my hands

Press my face to the dirt

And thank Almighty God

For the blessing

Greater than I could have imagined

Of solid ground

What's Up?

People have been asking what's up in my life lately, and... well... frankly I don't have time to answer all of them because of what's up in my life lately. So, a quick blog post will have to do.

I turned on my computer tonight and found an email from my attorney that read, "You're divorced!" I stared at it for several minutes wondering if I was going to feel anything. Apparently not. But now you all know.

What else has been going on? I'll see if I can remember. My car has just recovered from a month out of commission during which time my dishwasher and kitchen sink quit working, the court lost my divorce documents, my kids psychiatrist lost his medical license, Bethany had two ear infections, Naomi was uninvited to attend our church's youth group, the bank deposited my money in someone else's account, I got stranded out of town with no way to get home, an animal died somewhere in the garage (or in the walls of the garage), and the garage door fell off.

I'm pretty sure I'm missing several major things, but this is all I can remember right now.

My apologies if I've been behind in emails, phone calls, or neighborly chats. It's not that I don't love you. I just can't remember what I'm doing. Oh yes. And we're moving.

Somewhere.

Else.

Rebecca =/

The Miracle of the Cell Phone

Something like this past week at our house must have inspired The Series of Unfortunate Events. You know-- that book series about a family who goes through so many horrible things it's completely unbelievable?

But in the midst of broken car parts, a broken dishwasher, wrong car parts, a broken disposal, cracked car parts, a doctor whose license was revoked, mountains of paperwork, missed appointments, and more car troubles... a miracle occurred.

Bethany lost her cell phone and we turned the house upside down and inside out searching for it. I'd offered major rewards for it's recovery (to motivate Peter and Naomi to search- and search they did!) We'd stationed people all over the house, and called and called Bethany's number, even though the ringer was turned off, hoping it might make its self known to us. We'd prayed and prayed to know where to look. But nothing was working. We went through trash cans and old boxes no one had opened for years. It appeared that, along with all the other stress of the week, the phone was gone.

A couple of nights ago Bethany and I were up late. She asked what she was going to do about her phone, and I told her there was not much we could do. I can't afford to get a new one. We'd just have to do without. We both went up to bed feeling depressed.

A moment later Bethany was shouting, "Mom!" in a voice that made my blood run cold. Had she found one of the cats dead on her bed? This would fit with the week far too well. "It's going to be all right!" she sobbed. I opened my door and there was Bethany with her cell phone in her hand.

"You found it?"

"I was praying again, telling Heavenly Father I really need help and asking Him to help me find it. And then I heard it ringing! I went into Joshua's room and there it was, under my drum set, ringing."

N0w let me just say, her ringer was turned off, no one was calling, and the only alarm set on the phone was for several hours earlier. But it rang when she prayed.

We hugged each other and cried. And for some reason, I knew she was right. Everything will be all right.

=)