SOLD

It is no secret that the Smiths have been going through a little bit of a "transition" period for the last little while. Chris was laid off from G.E. in mid-July,and, since we weren't sure where we would end up, we put our house on the market in August. This was our very first house- the one where we built a swingset for the kids and put Christmas lights on the roof- and we were heartbroken to think we would be leaving after only 18 months. I cried with my neighbors in the yard the day the sign went up and could hardly talk to the realtor when he came over to make it official. Ever since then, we have been praying that Chris would land a job in Rapid City so we could take that stinkin' sign out of the yard and just stay here.

Now, fast forward five months- five long months of praying and worrying and planning and budgeting- to Christmas 2008. We watched some Christmas show with the kids about Christmas miracles and later that night, Chris and I were talking about how badly we needed a Christmas miracle. His severence package and health benefits were running out the end of the month, no one had looked at the house in weeks, and no real job opportunities had surfaced. We needed a miracle badly. Christmas came and went with all the excitement of the season and we throughly enjoyed ourselves. Still, the stress of real life weighed heavily on us. We had decided to go to Idaho for a few days, to get away and visit Chris' family for a bit before school started back up. Neither of us were all too sure about our plan, and, at the last minute, decided not to go. Chris told me he really felt like we needed to stay home so that is just what we did.

The morning of December 30th came, Chris was hunting and the kids and I were at home. A realtor had scheduled an appointment to show the house so I was cleaning up the after-Christmas mess like a crazy woman. The showing was held but there was no phone call or anything immediately following so I didn't think much of it. Chris came home from hunting and the first thing he said was, "Well, we got an offer!" I was shocked and stunned and couldn't believe it! The realtor had called him and IT WAS TRUE! The guy had literally shown up out of nowhere, bank papers in hand, ready to buy our house. We spent the evening talking over details and, although hard, it was such a relief to know that our biggest burden was about to be lifted. I have come to realize that this house, although we have loved it, is still just a house. It is our family that makes it a home and where ever we are, we will be happy because we are together. So now we are packing and planning and excited for whatever lies ahead of us. We are certain that the sale of our house,finalized on New Year's Eve, was just in time to still be called a Christmas miracle.