The Waiting Game

Do you remember how hard it was to wait as a kid? "Tomorrow" might as well as have "ten years" and "next week" is like saying "practically never." I remember! It's for that reason that I can't even tell my boys where we're going or who we'll see until right before we're getting ready to leave. "Let's put your shoes on, boys," I'll say. "We're going to see Nana!" And don't forget, we still have the thirty-five minute ride in the car. Every few seconds, they echo, "Nana? Nana? Nana?" as if to remind me of my destination. They probably think we're never gonna make it!

Waiting is tough on kids, for sure. But how about us adults?

As an adult, I have much more control of my situation. I am in charge of deciding where we go and when we leave. Though I could argue that my boys have more control over the speed of that progress... or lack thereof. We get our lunch in less than three minutes through the McDonald's drive-thru window and complain if the car ahead of us won't make a right on red. We bypass busy intersections, leave before rush hour and travel the side streets, all in an effort to keep us from waiting in traffic. We survey the lines at Wegmans, gambling on which cashier will get us through the fastest, keeping an eye on the size of carts and number of coupons in the hands of customers ahead of us. If you've got two toddlers with you, it becomes even more important to keep yourselves from waiting.

Trust me. I get it.

Perhaps that is why I'm having such a difficult time waiting on progress lately. I'm used to getting my way rather quickly! We sold our house at the end of April (praise God!) and are scheduled to close in the middle of July. And we still don't know where we're going to live. That's right. We've got nothing. Thankfully, we've got some time, my husband made sure of that. We're free to stay in our house until August 31st. But after that? We've got nothing. Nada. Zilch.

Our realtor sends us an email every morning with the houses that have just entered the market or have fallen into our price range. We consider ourselves to be pretty open minded when it comes to the condition of the house, but are rather picky when it comes to (what I've come to refer to as) the three "Ls." Location, land and layout. We can change pretty much anything else, but we've got to have those three Ls. It's been two months and nothing has peaked our interest. I know that God already has our next living arrangment all picked out, but is waiting for His perfect timing to reveal it to us. Alright, Lord. Aaaaaaaaanytime You're ready!

So we wait. Every morning, I open my email and browse through the new listings. My husband will go see many of them, but (as per my request,) will only bring me along when he sees something he likes. After those options are ruled out, we wait again.

Jack and Ben seem to be oblivious of our waiting game, though. They've never complained of having too little space or not enough room to spread their legs. They're not feeling overwhelmed about the amount of time there'll be to pack or how we'll ever renovate an area in time to move. In fact, they're as happy as ever. I guess ingorance really is bliss.

Ahh, to be a kid again.