where in the world is heidi san diego?

Now, this is story all about how

My life got flipped-turned upside down

And I'd like to take a minute

Pull out my floss

I'll tell you how i became the Queen of a town called

Waycross

when i last posted in may, we had only decided the day before that we would be moving to waycross. but even just a few days before that we would have been incredulous if you said that in 5 weeks we would have sold our house, packed up everything and moved 5 hours south to thomas's hometown. i still can't believe it today except for the fact that i packed up most everything myself and i'm sitting at a new table, in a new kitchen, in a new house looking out the window at my new crepe myrtle trees. 

after thomas recovered from his covid ordeal we were able to take stock of what a blessing of sorts quarantine had been for us. sure, having everything shut down and the constant fear of illness and a free-falling economy have been less than ideal, but for the first time in our marriage, we were all together. since thomas's office was closed, he didn't have to suffer through an 1 1/2 hour commute each way through horrific traffic. we ate lunch together. we had moe's mondays! we ate dinner together. every day! we worked out in the garage in our makeshift, ramshackle gym. we really enjoyed each other's company. can home really be a heaven on earth? especially during these trying times? indeed it can! i liken it to the scripture in alma 50 during the war chapters when Moroni and the people are in almost constant preparation and fortification against an inevitable attack from the Lamanites. in verse 19, "and thus we see how merciful and just are the dealings of the Lord, to the fulfilling of all his words unto the children of men" and verse 22, "And those who were faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord were delivered at all times" and finally, verse 23, "but behold there never was a happier time among the people of Nephi, since the days of Nephi, than in the days of Moroni". how was it possible that through all this work and trial that they were so happy? i concur, after the march and april that i had, how was it possible that i felt such peace and happiness in such uncertain times? there were many times during thomas' illness that i went to my basement guest room where i was sleeping and cried from exhaustion and fear. there were many times that put my face into a pillow and railed at the unfairness of it all. you know those people who have hard times thrust upon them but they don't complain? i am certainly not one of them. WHY ME??? nevertheless, each and every time i read my scriptures and prayed, there was peace. i spent a lot of time reading Saints volume 2 and there were several key passages that buoyed me up in time of trial, particularly when the saints are trying to settle the salt lake valley and they were starving to death. i was especially touched when i read of the cricket infestation and Stake President John Smith wrote, "The Lord led us here and He has not led us here to starve." the Lord led us through quarantine and we would not starve temporally or spiritually. 

"but heidi, that's lovely and all but how does all this get you to waycross?"

oh dear reader, i'll tell you. as soon as georgia state laws allowed thomas' office to reopen, thomas' boss had the building sanitized and everyone was expected back in the office. that was the catalyst for change in our family. after a few weeks resuming working and commuting after having known how wonderful family time can be, thomas said enough was enough. but what was the solution? we had everything we ever prayed for in gwinnett county. we loved our house, we had a great ward, we had an incredible school district that had served all of our children so well. but we also had a very hectic life and we only saw thomas on weekends and even that was limited because of callings and activities. 

thomas has a friend in waycross who had a small, thriving law practice. they bounced ideas off of each other from time to time and even referred business to each other. brandon had offered thomas a partnership many times but it was never something he was interested in. thomas would tell me about it but i never thought anything about it. we have moved enough in our family to know that we were certainly not seeking out opportunities to move. however, brandon was serious enough to keep bringing it up and it was an idea thomas was becoming amenable to because of our covid experience. i said flat out no! for so many reasons, but really because moving is the worst. i'm a level 1000 moving expert now and i'd rather have my house burn down than move again. but i did say i'd pray about it. that was on a friday night. saturday morning i said another prayer for good measure before i went on my morning run. the first portion of every run i listen to a conference talk. that day's particular talk was "Called of God" by Elder L. Tom Perry from the october 2002 general conference. it was simply the next talk in the queue of conference talks. as the talk progressed i started punching the air in front of me because of how perfectly it answered my prayer, but it was also not the answer i wanted. but i listened and i tried to be humble and accept the answer. most of the time i don't receive lightning bolts of personal revelation, but i did that morning. at one point of his talk, elder perry tells a story of his family moving for his new job and trying to decide which house to buy. they found a house that they all really liked but elder perry discovered that the commute was 1 1/2 hours each way, the same as thomas' commute. i'm sure people who saw me running that day thought i was having a seizure as i ran and shook my head back and forth and shouted "NO! NO! NO!" 

as the story continued, elder perry gave the decision of which house to buy up to his children. 

“You can have either this house or a father,” I said. Much to my surprise they responded, “We will take the house. You are never around much anyway.”

that is how i knew we were supposed to move to waycross. the Lord laid it out for me in simple terms. it was a lightning bolt of revelation. i could not deny that i prayed and asked for an answer and received an answer. i knew that even though this talk was given in october 2002, the Lord knew it was the answer i would need on may 16th 2020. His timing is perfect. had i not been pleading for years for a way for us to spend more time with thomas? did i finally receive it? and now that i had tasted that wonderful time with thomas, did i only want more? was the answer to move to a tiny, rural town and have thomas open up his own practice, complete with 10 minute commute? i knew it, i knew God knew it and i could not deny it. so i finished my run and walked in the door and i said to thomas, "we can do this". we went down the waycross the following weekend and picked out our house. 

not the house we bought but i loved it so much. someday it will be mine!

the house we actually bought:

there are many details that i'm leaving out that i'm sure i'll cover in future posts but once i received and accepted the answer, there was no going back and everything worked out. it was such a busy, hard 5 weeks but the Lord keeps his promises. i felt carried by Him many, many times.

having been here 2 months now, atlanta feels like a lifetime ago. it is certainly my old life. as hard as it has been on all of us to move, there is no looking back. i choose to be grateful and i try to laugh when i feel like crying(which is often) but the Lord has not brought us here to starve. i still miss aldi very much though.