No or Not Yet

We often think that when God closes a door, that is His final answer.  We put a period where God puts a coma.  We think that it is a no, but it’s really a not yet. (Whisper:  Mark Batterson pg. 109)

Prior to Covid, Pam and I had begun to think about what our plans should be, as we moved closer to the time when our house might become too much to keep up or age and health issues might necessitate a life style change.  We began to explore retirement living facilities and came to some general conclusions as to what we might like and what would fully serve our lives going forward.

We both had experiences with parents entering this phase of life. My parents moved to Covenant Shores on Mercer Island and Pam’s folks into Friends View Manor in Newberg, Oregon, albeit not without several years of pressure from their three daughters.  That experience cemented in our minds that we wanted to proactively make this decision ourselves and not burden the kids with that responsibility.

Over time we came to settle on Emerald Heights Retirement Community in Redmond.   As a “total life care community” it offers independent living, assisted living, memory care and nursing home care all within the same campus.  So, in December 2023 we made application, were approved and took our place on the waiting list.  We were generally advised that typical wait times were one to two years in the multi-story buildings and up to five years for cottage duplex units.  We settled in to wait, as we really felt a cottage would serve our all around needs and wants the best.

As we were then part of the future resident list, we were included in all emails regarding newly available units which would be open to tour.  The decision regarding the eventual occupant selection is based on those who submit an Expression of Interest form and have been on the waiting list the longest.  Much to our surprise a cottage unit became available in mid-September.  Mostly out of curiosity, we toured the unit, liked it and submitted the appropriate form.  As would be expected, we were advised that we did not get the unit. A couple who were #19 on the waiting list did.  We also learned at this time that we were about #70 on the list.  All along our prayer was that if this was not right for us that God would very clearly shut the door.  He DID!

Disappointed but not surprised, we took a deep breath confident that this was not God’s plan for us at this time and we would just see what the future brought.  Imagine our complete shock when 12 days later I got a call from the Emerald Heights Marketing Department asking if Pam and I would like to move up from #70 to #1 for the cottage.  WHAT?!  Well it turns out that the original couple selected decided to back out. Since no one else had submitted interest, it was ours if we wanted it.  We took it.

We found out that NO was really NOT YET!

Update:  We have sold our home in Kirkland and moved to Hansville in Kitsap County for a few months, pending refurbishment of the cottage and thus possibly answering some of your questions as to our temporary disappearance from Creekside.