Critters in the Attic

Ohhhh. There's a critter in the attic. The pest control people came, quoted us $250 to put 2 cages on our roof and check them every day for 5 days then take the critters alive "off site" to sneak into someone else's attic. What a waste! The soffits need to be fixed and our land lady has been dragging her feet on getting them replaced. I nagged a new roof out of her and was absolutely exhausted afterward. I had to tell her the ceiling was going to crumble into the house before she began searching for a roofer. She ended up cutting corners and hiring someone who would do it for cheap (just like all the other "upgrades" in the home).

They're not so cute when they're jackin' up your attic! 

 Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful to be living in a house (I've lived in apartments all my life) and usually I can look upon these things as adding character to the house just like a good scar on the forehead. The squeaky floors- sound character, the water logged ceiling with the flaking popcorn stucco- visual character, the missing kitchen cabinet door- shabby chic :) With all the charm and trouble this house has been, I don't want to move again. 

Almost 4 years ago we moved from Chicago to Columbus. We heard the call to ministry and we moved. I was 5 months pregnant; had just made tenure at my Chicagoland teaching job (I was going to be a "lifer") and my husband had a great job at a local hospital. Combined, we were almost earning 6 figures. We left it all, except our clothes and beds and moved to Columbus for the Lord. We lived with friends for a year, had our second son, and endured through his Sickle Cell Disease diagnosis at birth. We moved into our own apartment, My husband took the fire fighter test and we waited and waited and waited. 

I took a 50% pay cut to work at a Christian school (it was that important to me) and was hired to be the Worship Director at our church. We waited some more. My husband started the background process with the fire department and we waited some more. 2 years from the beginning of the process, he got into the academy! Woo hoo! I quit my job to better focus on our family, and we invited my mother to come live with us forever once she retired from her job in Chicago. We moved to this lovely house; she moved in a month later, and I started a private music lesson business. I'm tired of movement and transition. 

I truly don't care that there are critters in the attic (I know I should) or that the soffits need to be replaced. I just want to be somewhere long enough to get tired of the paint color on the walls. I want to know each divot in the lawn of our back yard. I want to know where the groundhogs live and grow a bigger garden. I want to dig my toes in the carpet and hide under a blanket on my couch over and over and over again and still be doing that habitual movement in the same place 10 years from now. I want to be still like a sycamore and grow deep gnarly roots. I know pruning needs to happen (even to sycamores) and maybe this is my season of being cut back but I pray there is a season of stillness somewhere near cause then maybe, I'll have time to worry about critters in the attic. 

Fiery Wife