A Great Story Part 2

If these are too long, don’t read them together!

BTW – That really is our motorhome on the top of the last post!

So, we pulled into our church parking lot in Ohio.  We were supposed close on our house that day, but it was going to be 2 weeks before we could take possession, so our plan was to spend a short 2 weeks in the motorhome.  When we got over to our new home, the realtor told us that there were “mold” problems, and the mortgage company was refusing final approval on the financing.  What we saw was a damp spot in the basement where there was a little mildew, but the inspector was from Cleveland, and they have had black mold scares up there, and inspectors are really trying to cover their rears!

So, it was time to secure new financing.  We found a company who said they could assure closing within about 2 weeks.  That meant that we would be in our motorhome for 2 weeks until closing and then the contract said they had 2 weeks to vacate the house.  Remember, 4 kids, 2 dogs, and a cat in a 28 foot motorhome in Ohio in the beginning of winter!  Oh what fun!

Do you recall why I named this blog cyclical vomit?  One of my daughters has cyclical vomiting syndrome which causes her to start vomiting uncontrollaby on a set cycle.  We have her on medicine to control this, but any time she gets a flu bug, or any other stomach virus, after she has finished being sick from that, her body goes into vomit mode for 3 days.  In our 3rd week in the motorhome (parked behind the church by the way) all of our kids began geting sick.  The younger 2 started on Sunday and Monday, and got it again on Thursday.  Our oldest got it on Wednesday, but somehow we managed to keep the one who has CVS from getting it…until Friday!  After 1 day of the vomit in the motorhome, we decided we were getting a hotel!  2 rooms – one for a parent and the vomitter, one for the other parent and the rest of the kids.  We took turns in the more desirable room!

In our 6th week in the motorhome, the kids had gone to be with the grandparents, and I had my first funeral to do at my new church.  Sunday morning we got up, and it was extremely cold in the motorhome.  Our propane had run out.  That means pipes start freezing, and there are no warm showers!  Since I had visitation the next morning, and there was so much going on, we had to get a hotel again!  Boy were we ready to be in our house! 

On Thursday morning, December 7th, we finally took possession of our house!  I had mentioned in my last blog that we left Oklahoma on October 30th, we actually left on the 29th, but had been in the motorhome since October 25th since our house there was emptied that day!  October 25th – December 7th in a motorhome with 4 kids, 2 dogs, and a cat.  Did I mention that we are homeschoolers, so the kids were with us all day!  Praise God for grandparents who took them some!

 Sprocket, Brandon, Skubalon & Redheaddmbfan – I hope your moves go more smoothly!

Some time I will tell you about all the things that broke on the house!

Makes for a great story!

Based on my good friend Sprocket’s upcoming move he has told us about on http://insipidgarbage.com I thought this might be a good time to share my families story of moving to start our new ministry in Ohio.

Let me begin by saying that we do not have a small family.  My wife and I had 4 children when we began our move, and she was pregnant with #5.  We have 2 dogs, and a cat in our household also. 

We left Oklahoma on October 30th, and headed for Ohio in our motorhome.  It wasn’t just the motorhome though, my wife was driving one mini-van, our other mini-van was on a car hauler towed by the motorhome, and my motorcycle was shoved into the back of that mini-van.  30 minutes north of our old home, the motorhome had a tire blow!  Nothing to worry about, I will just change the tire.  I placed the jack under the motorhome, and rather than raising anything (other than my blood pressure) the jack simply twisted under the weight!  My lovely wife drove to the next town to buy me a new jack at Wal-Mart.  Once I got the motorhome jacked up, a new problem surfaced…getting the spare tire off of the holder!  AAAGGH!  Of course, once I got the tire back on the motorhome, the dumb thing wouldn’t start.  What else could go wrong?  It turns out when the tire tread started flying, it tore one of the battery cables off the battery.  We were on the road again!

It only took about an hour in Wal-Mart before we were on the road again!  We finally crossed into Missouri late Sunday evening and stopped in another Wal-Mart parking lot up around Ft. Leonard Wood.  Woke up bright and early the next morning to get moving, and not even so much as a click on the motorhome.  Battery cables are fine this time.  It turns out my starter has literally fried. (Starters on a motorhome are not the compact little size that they are on your car)  3 hours later, we are on the road again!  We had planned on being in Ohio sometime Monday…ha!

West of St. Louis I noticed that when I stepped on the gas going up hill, the motorhome would start to die!  If you know anything about St. Louis, you know this is not a good area to be having problems on hills.  Stopped at one parts store to get a new fuel filter, and you guessed it, they didn’t have it in stock.  I hopped in the other minivan to head to the next town to get the filter.  Monday evening, and we haven’t even left Missouri yet!

We got outside of Indiannapolis Monday night, and we were supposed to close on our house on Tuesday.  Tuesday afternoon, we are finally pulling into Ohio, and the realtor says, “I want you to meet me over at the house.”  This can’t be good.

this post is already long enough…part 2 will come later!