Straw # 4,752

It's hard to believe everything that has happened in the last two months.

Mid-January my mother approached me saying that she and my dad wanted to sell the house I was renting from them. They've been in a land dispute since last year when I made the mistake of staying home for a vacation (my vacations always seem to bring bad fortune, I'm just lucky the house didn't burn down) and the stress of fighting the city was too much. That, and my dad is convinced there is something shady going on with one of my neighbors that he's hiding his property under his own name when he's actually representing Taco Bell (or something) and so I might end up with a drive thru in my backyard. So they want to sell.
So I needed to move.

About two weeks later, on a Friday, I made an offer on a house.
The very next Friday I received my first foster child.
Two weeks after that the foster child went to a permanent placement.
Two weeks after that (today) I prepare to move into the new house.

I was coming to God on a pretty regular basis reminding Him of a promise to not put anything more on us that we can bear. I'd been counting the straws and each time He added another one I was almost certian that one more straw would indeed break my back.

Inbetween all this were weekly Wednesday morning visits with my mother. These visits consist of her sitting at my desk and trying not to cry about my fathers physical condition. Not to make light of it, but apparently he's becoming very lumpy. They don't know what the lumps are exactly, but mom is under the impression that they are growths of cancer on his bones. So she sits, and she tries not to cry. Meanwhile I sit and pray that I say the right thing. And I wonder how many straws her back will carry.

Today, I'm relieved knowing that my phone won't ring for awhile with another foster child (I have to get my new house ready for their inspection first), and that I no longer have to growl about the mortgage broker that somehow through all this I never actually met, and only spoke with once.

You forget just how light it feels sometimes, when the weight of stress comes off. I've found myself randomly just taking a deep breath and sighing with relief. You just feel better knowing that the worst is over.

The easy part begins now. I have to fix the house, and move into it. Those things are easy. Time consuming, but easy. I'm blessed. I'm relieved. And I'm happy.
And it's all more than I deserve.