changes

Guys...it's been real crazy around here. Like not good crazy. It's been stressful. And emotional.

You see, we live in Daren's grandpa's house. We pay rent to him. Daren's aunt and uncle live behind us. We have always known they either owned the house or were going to own it when we were done. Last year we found out they do own it...but we kept paying grandpa rent. We knew the aunt and uncle didn't want us there. There son, who is a slight loser, was living with them and causing all kind of issues. He's a real winner...

Well, about 2 months ago, the aunt came over to find out what our "plans" were. She was basically trying to put us on a guilt trip and bully us out. We told her we were planning on moving in the fall, which was true. She said okay. Another month passed, and here she comes again, this time with her husband. Now she said she couldn't wait that long and we had to be out by July 1. Holy freak...Daren was quite calm and called her out on all her lies, which in turn made her mad. So now we were starting to get a little nervous. I mean, could they REALLY, LEGALLY kick us out?!

Enter Mother's Day. We came home from a nice weekend in Salt Lake to find BURNOUT marks on our lawn, sidewalk, flower beds, and UP our stairs. We later noticed there was a big hole in the one of the bricks. They hit the house. Awesome. We called the police and filed a report. We also put a property watch on the house. We later found out that an officer would come to our house every day and write up a report about what he saw that day. We are very grateful for that officer's service.

After this episode, we starting really thinking about what to do. We did NOT feel safe. We hated walking around with a target on our backs. We also hated leaving Bear there by himself. The son has a record...and a temper. And his mommy always bails him out. There is no telling what he would do.

I forgot to mention, by this time we had talked with grandpa about the situation and them telling us to be out by July 1. He had no idea. Is anyone surprised?! He said he didn't know what to do and would think about it. The next day he called Daren at work and basically said, "I'm done and good luck." Really grandpa?! That's it?! You are just going to feed us to a hungry pack of wolves?! Thanks a lot. You are a real peach.

Needless to say, Daren's parents were ANGRY! We decided that week that we would move in with Daren's parents until we found a house. We decided to move out on Memorial Day. After we decided to move out, we received an eviction notice taped to our door telling us we had 15 days to get out. 15 days? We will be out in 12. Thanks though. It was intense. Thank heavens for Susi. She packed 75% of our house for us while we worked. It was incredibly stressful. We could hardly sleep or eat. It was such a terrible feeling.

So, we moved out. Through all of this, we have been so incredibly overwhelmed and humbled by the amount of support and love to were given. Seriously, who knew we were so loved?! It was amazing! We even had an old lady in our ward offer to shoot them so we wouldn't have to move! Moving day we probably had close to 25 people helping us move. It took us only about an hour to move everything out! We put everything in storage except for our bedroom.

We are now settled in Daren's parents house. It's not the ideal situation but it works. And we are so forever grateful for them to giving us a place to live for a few months. We are very at peace with this decision. We are still dealing with the consequences of living next to door to evil. We have discovered this week that someone has peed in the gas and oil of our riding lawn mower. Real classy huh? Tools.

My husband is struggling inside. Part of him wants to start slashing tires. Part of him knows it is not the honorable thing to do. He will be okay though. I have lots of faith in him. He has been so amazing and strong during all of this. The most frustrating thing is that they are going to get away with it. It's annoying.

I have realized that Satan is real and he is powerful. He wants to destroy families and unfortunately there are some people out there that will let him enter their lives and do that. People are incredibly selfish and greedy. That's not what life is about. Life is about family. And being there for each other. And supporting each other. I am hoping one day they will understand that. Until then, that part of the family, including grandpa, will not be involved in our lives. I know it is terrible. But I can't have those kind of people in my life. I don't want those type of people bringing me down.

I am so grateful for the gospel in our lives. It has been the one thing that has brought us peace and comfort during this time. I am grateful to know that I live a life that our Heavenly Father is proud of. I am going to strive to keep living that life. Some days it is hard. VERY hard. But I know we will be blessed for it.

So now! We are house hunting! We have just about everyone in our ward looking for a house for us that is in the ward boundaries! It is such an amazing feeling to be wanted in a ward. To have people come up to you and tell you they don't want us to leave.

Pray for us.

We are going on vacation next week. I say we deserve it! Looking forward to relaxing and regrouping.