My dear friends and family,
Thank you for following our journey on Caring Bridge. I know you're anxious to hear how Russ is progressing in his recovery. I'm happy to say he is feeling fine, walking  slowly with a cane more than the walker and depending on the wheelchair less. He is anxious to begin out-patient physical therapy soon since home health therapy ended 2 months ago.  He will also continue with speech therapy.

I have big news to share. Many of you are aware that Russ & I purchased our retirement cottage in Summerville, 20 minutes north of Charleston, SC, two years ago to be near family which has been the biggest thing lacking in our 26 years in North Carolina. The SC house was purchased well before we intended to retire, although Russ did retire soon after in order to take care of  both homes. Fortunately, Russ made the most of his retirement time repairing  and updating the SC house with the help of our son-in-law, Dave, and furnishing it while getting our home in Holly Springs market ready.

Thanks to the pandemic, Russ and I have been isolated without much needed family to help us. I knew we would need to move as soon as Russ's home health therapies ended, but having to sell a truck, RV and our home in Holly Springs presented a huge challenge for me physically and mentally. This was bigger than me, but not bigger than God. I went to the Lord in prayer acknowledging my inadequacy and sought His perfect plan for our lives, especially in this situation. 

Ephesians chapter 3, verse 20 says: “Now to Him is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or even think according to His power that is at work within us.” The power within me is my faith in knowing God is able to move mountains if I trust in Him. After I prayed for God to take this burden from me, I found He had already put everything in place for us.  Here's a quick list of the amazing events that transpired to move us from Holly Springs, NC to our new address: 46 Regency Oaks Drive, Summerville, SC 29485.

1. Our sweet, new next door neighbor is a realtor and was thrilled to list our home and keep an eye on it after our move. Her husband is in construction so he is able to keep everything in good shape while we're out of state.
2. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law drove up from Florida two weekends in a row to buy our Silverado and RV. They were excited to be able to become the new owners of our much loved rig and truck and keep them in the family. 
3. We had already fully furnished our SC home and needed to leave our furniture and a lot of other household items behind.  It was Russ who suggested I call our former neighbor who has his own estate sale business.  Our friend was happy to help and told us to leave everything we didn't need behind and he would arrange the sale and clean up after.
4. I found our mover through a neighborhood Facebook recommendation and his company was awesome and so caring about every detail.
5. Our home sold the first day on the market, over the listing price, to a sweet little family who wrote a letter to tell us how they knew we had loved our home and how they fell in love with it too. Our closing date will be November 23,  which is the one-year anniversary of the blackest day of our lives when Russ had the stroke.  I truly believe it's no coincidence that God wants us to rejoice on that date!

In closing, please know that we are praying for you to stay safe and well during this pandemic. You are all wonderful and your prayers and concern have brought us to this point where we are today.  God bless you all. 

PS: I'll include some pictures with the next update.