Yesterday we closed on the sale of the old house! I am so, so grateful and just in awe of how much we have been blessed during this move. When we moved into the old house in 2004, the relocation was a huge drama (long story for another post, or not) and not at all what we had planned. All we could think was that it was God's plan for us to end up in that particular house, and then I proceeded to bring my two brown-eyed baby boys home there and have the happiest years (so far!) of my very happy life there.
So even though we never loved that house, leaving it was, to say the least, a big decision. As we were looking at houses over the past months, I've prayed about it so much; I really do want to avoid moving for the sake of materialism or my own comfort or any of that kind of thing. Lots of prayers and soul-searching during these months, even talking it over with spiritual advisors, etc., believe me. How can I really justify moving into a bigger house when there are homeless people in my very own city? I mean, really, do any of us really need a 3-car garage? :) But on the other hand, we do want to raise our family in a nice home that we can all reasonably fit into, and a house is obviously a huge investment and part of prudently managing the resources that God has given us, right?
We are just so amazingly, abundantly blessed that things have gone so smoothly! To have had a contract on our house a week after we put it on the market, when plenty of others in our neighborhood have been for sale for quite a long time, and especially since we had taken a risk to purchase the new one without selling the old one first--well, I'm just so humbly thankful and full of wonder at God's goodness. And of course, as I said before, we got the little St. Joseph statue for real estate, although I couldn't bring myself to bury him in the yard and I kept him on the mantle. I'm positive that his intercession helped us this fall, no doubt! And I found this sweet St. Joseph novena, which is perfect for thanking him for helping take care of us. It has lots of interesting theological points about St. Joseph, who is so amazing and worthy of devotion--the patron saint of families, fathers, the church, happy death, and so many other things. Here's a bit of it from today that I especially liked:
Saint Joseph, you were the man chosen by God the Father. He selected you to be His representative on earth, hence He granted you all the graces and blessings you needed to be His worthy representative.
You were the man chosen by God the Son. Desirous of a worthy foster-father, He added His own riches and gifts, and above all, His love. The true measure of your sanctity is to be judged by your imitation of Jesus. You were entirely consecrated to Jesus, working always near Him, offering Him your virtues, your work, your sufferings, your very life. Jesus lived in you perfectly so that you were transformed into Him. In this lies your special glory, and the keynote of your sanctity. Hence, after Mary, you are the holiest of the saints.
You were chosen by the Holy Spirit. He is the mutual Love of the Father and the Son -- the heart of the Holy Trinity. In His wisdom He draws forth all creatures from nothing, guides them to their end in showing them their destiny and giving them the means to reach it. Every vocation and every fulfillment of a vocation proceeds from the Holy Spirit. As a foster-father of Jesus and head of the Holy Family, you had an exalted and most responsible vocation -- to open the way for the redemption of the world and to prepare for it by the education and guidance of the youth of the God-Man. In this work you cooperated as the instrument of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was the guide; you obeyed and carried out the works. How perfectly you obeyed the guidance of the God of Love!
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