Jodi has been asking me to write a housing update for weeks now but I’ve not had the time.  So though it’s a little belated, I now offer you “A Tale of Three Cities…”

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…

Cincinnati:  city of fire and deep water.  But also a city of hope, the setting for JT’s bone marrow transplant, the place where he received his new gift of life in Room 21.  We’ve been well-cared for here, carried in prayer and support by our friends and family.

Youngstown:  setting for the first seven years of our marriage.  A place with powerful memories, the place we’ve all called “home.”  Most recently, one of us spent “Justice-weeks” at 1073 Colonial Drive while the other took on the health-care routine with JT in Cincinnati. 

Grove City:  town where we both went to college and in which I’ve taught for more than ten years, a community of good, kind, and generous people that have rallied around us like family.  We’ve looked at houses here for more than five years, always waiting for “the one.”  

Every night we pray that our boys would have long, fierce, joyful, healthy, and abundant lives.  We’ve always known that sort of life flourishes in community, and we’ve felt the draw towards Grove City for some time now.  We told each other that when it was the right place, we’d “just know.”  But it was never the right time, never the right house.

Until this year.  Back in January, during her first week home alone with Justice, Jodi went to look at a place and got that “knowing” feeling.  I went the next week and felt it too.  The realtor said it would be gone in 2-3 weeks; if we wanted it, we had to move right away.  So we did.

The owners agreed to close on April 30 to give us four months to sell our own house.  Though we felt 100% about the decision to go for it, we started to perspire more and more freely as that date approached.  But as in so many other ways this year, we were blessed…despite a slow market, a young couple bought our house in Youngstown for a fair price and we closed April 23, seven days before we needed the money for the house in GC.

It may seem like a crazy time to take this on but we’re ready for everything to change.

It’s going to be a great place, close enough to town for Jodi and private enough for me.  My commute to the high school will be one mile each way.  The hour and a half I used to spend each day in the car I’ll now be able to spend with my family.

So that’s why Jodi has been spending so much more time up north:  there’s much to do to get the house ready for JT’s homecoming.  We already installed A/C with air filtration and a UV light to keep it clean for JT to breathe as he continues to recover.  The mini water treatment plant (more UV bulbs + reverse osmosis filtration) we had in Youngstown will be re-plumbed with an addition or two to keep the water completely safe.  The carpets have all been ripped out and new flooring is being installed.  Both of our families have been recruited for painting (and many other) duties.

And JT can’t wait to get there.  During the long days down here he talks often of the “new house,” of the bike trail and giant pumpkins and parks and parades we’ll see in Grove City. 

So…Jodi, her dad, Justy, and the movers emptied our house in Youngstown on Thursday.  That chapter has closed.  A new one is opening, and it seems like much more than a change of address to us:  moving to GC will signal the beginning of a brand new sort of life for our family, a life in community.  Of course it will be another year or so until JT can get out and about in it, but the promise will be there.

Oh, and one more thing:  our new house number is 21, JT’s BMT room number in the hospital.

It’s been a hard year but a good year, and the journey continues.  We hope to be together at our new home in GC by the end of July / beginning of August.  During these long days in Cincinnati, this hope is the light at the end of the tunnel.

Thanks for continuing with us on the road…