It has come to my attention that many of my friends and acquaintances are not aware of what has been going on in my life. I am not great at keeping in touch or updating the blog but its been quite the adventure lately so I will attempt to summarize the events that led to us moving here.
So going back quite a ways...After Fede's heart surgery and the collapse of the mortgage company that he worked for Fede eventually started working in the Oil Field. For the past 2 1/2 yrs or so we have lived the typical "never see each other" Oilfield lifestyle. Fede was home aprox. 1-2 weeks a month. It was not ideal but but it was work and it was a "temporary" situation. That temporary situation grew into a more long term situation obviously After one little interruption for layoffs... Fede was rehired and sent to work in North Dakota. All last winter he suffered below zero temps working outside in wet and terrible conditions. He HATED it. I hated it. It was not fun.
I was fine in Grand Junction with my amazing support system of friends but it just couldn't continue forever. I think Fede had finally had enough of not being a real part of our lives. So last spring while he was up in a little place called Noonan ND staying at a converted nursing home turned lodging he called me and asked what I thought about buying the place. I reacted as I usually do. Maybe . some day. we'll see.(but thinking- yeah right!) But he was pretty persistent. and so finally I said "OK fine. show me the numbers. show me how to make it work." I am a bit of a sceptic but we talked it over with my mom and Dad and they thought it sounded like a good idea. So I did projections and thought "what the heck." We prayed about it and it was scary but it seemed right. So we did it. We bought a hotel in North Dakota. ( If you diodn't already know the oil industry is going crazy up here.that is why this was a good idea) I think it helped us to feel more comfortable having a business partner going in with us, a guy who used to work with fede.
They decided this town/area needed a good Mexican Restaurant and since this had been a nursing home it had a working kitchen already set up. We just needed to update and buy some extra equipment. Since its such a small town the expectations for ambiance and everything were not high so it was very easy to just get started once we had a cook. We made changes little by little as we could and now its looking pretty nice (on the inside). Of course we are learning from our mistakes as we go but we feel like this is the time and the market to do so. The important thing is the food is delicious. It is really fun. the logo was just designed by my BIL Bill Ennis.
Fede and I wanted to see how it went so Dante and I stayed in Grand Junction we were doing the 2 weeks on 2 weeks off schedule still, switching off with his business partner. The feeling that we had to do whatever it takes for our family to be together had been building and building for awhile. After Fede had bought the hotel it seemed like our temporary situation had become permanent and I knew we couldn't continue this way. When I was praying about what to do after it became so clear that we needed to move up there to be with him. After our visit in August it felt like the right thing to do. Around October the partner decided it wasn't working for him so we bought him out. And then it was time for us to move up here.
Of course God never makes anything easy. We couldn't sell our house, we had no place to live in North Dakota and all but it was a weird feeling of surety that it would all work out. The first time we went to the ward here (an hour away!!) we felt like this is exactly where we needed to be. I can't tell you all how many stories I have heard in the ward since we moved up here just like ours. People left the security of families and home ownership to come up where there was work and the lord guided them, helped them find houses, jobs etc.
We had a problem the Hotel was packed full and we had no place to stay. It is so busy up here there is no available housing. We would have had to kick out someone in order to have a place to stay. Now understand this is no Marriott, its not even a super 8 level. It is a functuiional lodging that fills a need (a warm clean place to sleep) We would have to share showers with all the workers. Not exactly a family place. About a week before I moved up fede let me know a nice lady was going to rent her guest house to us b/c she didn't want us living in a camper (little did she know the camper left with the business partner so we didn't even have that as an option. Dante was disappointed!) Such a relief! It was a tiny little place but so much better than nothing.
We were going to just leave our house as it was, staged to try and sell it but I realized the financial burden would be too much. So, last minute I found a renter and the week before Christmas I packed up our house (thanks to amazing friends) and we moved so that we could be together for fede's bday and Christmas. (It was horrible- never do that!) We left behind all of our stuff in the garage because we didnt't have a place for it all here. Soon after we got here the mayor came and offered to rent us a house they bought. Again a huge blessing.
It is not an easy life here in the middle of the middle of nowhere. We live days aways from our family and friends and we miss everyone like crazy!. Flying is not really an easy option for travel either. Church activities and meetings are so far away and we are the only members for about 40 miles or so...But we know we are supposed to be here. Our neighbors are amazingly kind and supportive. The restaurant and hotel are doing well and Dante has adjusted. He has adopted another set of grandparents that watch him when I work. This ward has felt like a family since day one. Things are never meant to be easy but there are definitely daily blessings of knowing you are where the Lord wants you to be. Even if you have to remind yourself that once in a while.
