Meshak

One of the things I am so thankful for

is that God knows what we need

before we need it.

And God knew we needed Meshak.

We had just come through three dark years

filled with trials that really broke us.

Emotionally, physically, mentally...

We were so tired.

And done.

But one of the things that broke us

was subdividing our property...

And that left us with a decision to make.

Do we continue with the dream of building a house,

or do we die to that dream and move on.

We were pretty sure dying to that dream

was our only choice.

At least for now.

We were thinking we could just sell or rent our house,

try to sell the properties,

(that we were forced to sell after the cost

of the subdivide and the permits that don't last forever,)

and take a breather.

Enter, my last post.

God had different plans.

One thing I learned in the past few years-

is that God will get you where He wants you.

He will make it happen.

I can't tell you how many times we have died 

to the idea of doing anything on this property...

Being so tired, we had no desire,

well, little desire, to build a house.

We had heard horror stories of 

going over budget, challenges on marriage,

too many choices, etc...

We didn't need any more nightmares in our life.

Then God introduced us to Meshak.

Back when I was telling you our house wasn't 

on the market but our properties were,

we had many people stop by and look at the sign in our yard.

One day I saw Mark outside talking to a guy that

I recognized from about 20 years ago...

(I have this knack for remembering people's names

and faces from a long time ago-it can 

be embarrassing sometimes...)

Like this time.

I walked out to them and said,

"Hi!  Are you Meshak?"

And he kindly looked at me like,

"Who are you and why do you know my name???"

I recognized him from my college days 

at the Inn, a college Christian ministry.

His wife sang for worship with this amazing,

beautiful voice that I have always dreamed of.

(Ask my mom about how I used to ride around

Sumas singing at the top of my lungs,

wishing someone would "discover" me.

I will never be "discovered" for my voice,

and I have come to grips with that now.)

Anyway, Meshak had been looking for 

property to build on for some clients.

He wasn't finding any that would work,

so one day on his way home he decided to 

go down this little one block road in the country-

where he happened to see this sign 

that showed view lots for sale.

He told us that he had several people 

that wanted him to build for them 

and he brought them by to check it out.

One looked like it would pan out, 

but they needed to wait a few months to start.

So we waited.

And they came back,

worked out a deal with Meshak,

who worked out a deal with us,

who then went on to build for the 

lovely Machado family.

What a blessing they are to have as neighbors!

As I said in earlier posts, 

the other lot sold, and then our house was pending,

and we realized that maybe, just maybe we could build.

So when we asked Meshak, 

and he said yes!, so we went for it.

Building a house is no simple thing.

But Meshak makes it look that way.

We watched him build for the Machados,

and it was encouraging.

Everyone was relaxed, having fun,

and there were no horror stories!

We sat down with him for a couple of hours,

told him some of our story,

told him our dreams for our house

(which we have been planning in our 

head for ten or so years...)

and he came back with a sketch.

A sketch of a house that had just about 

every element that we wanted.

He was amazing!!

We took that to our dear friend, Kevin,

(whom we both know!!)

and Kevin officially drew up the plan,

we tweaked it here and there 

and came up with the perfect house plan for us.

Side note:

One of the crazy things about Meshak 

is that it seems like 90% of the people I know, 

know him, or know of him.

He is like Kevin Bacon.

You know the six degrees of separation thing?

So anyway...

here we are, half way through building our house.

Mark and I are still happily married.

The decisions we are making are

simplified by Meshak's connections with

cool, amazing people and companies

that help with the decision making process.

That, and the fact that Meshak doesn't just build houses,

he pours himself into them.

He takes his experience,

his love for people,

and his God given talents

and uses them to not build a house,

but a home.

Just yesterday we were making decisions on 

cabinet options for the whole house.

When we got to the laundry room,

he started asking questions about how 

laundry works in our house

Next thing I know, I was was no longer talking

to my builder, but to my own personal

home organizer!!!

He had a system for laundry all figured

out for how our family of six could

have an efficient system of doing laundry in this new house!!

That is just a small, (silly), but real story of 

how God has taken care of us

by bringing Meshak down our one block road

that cold winter day.

I love that God can take the most negative of things,

and turn them into the most beautiful of things.

And I love that He has done that in our lives many times.

We are thankful that at just the right time,

when we thought it was the end of a dream,

God brought Meshak into our lives.

He's not only our builder,

but he's an encourager,

 home organizer,

kidder with our kids,

teller of cool stories,

and our friend.

It's just too bad he doesn't drink coffee.