The Goodenough Story Part 1

The story of how the Goodenough family got from Portland to Idaho began in 2006 when Leon and I decided we wanted to welcome lots of children into our lives. We wanted to teach them to sing and laugh out loud with joy to God. We agreed with George Mueller who said it was hard to be a witness to neighbors who already think you're a curse to them. With children everywhere, yelling, laughing, riding bikes past their house 20 times a day, balls rolling in the street etc.
So we sold our house and gave away almost all of our stuff and off we went to find a more suitable place for lots of children to sing and laugh out loud.
We lived in a basement, a tiny motor home, and then a duplex. One day the neighbor who we thought we were loving, got drunk and told me what she thought of me. She thought I was a terrible mother, had too many children and that they were all horrid little beasts, we were noisy, bumping the walls and pounding the drums, she said I did not, could not, love those nasty creatures.
So off we went to find a more suitable spot to have lots of children singing and laughing out loud. We loaded all our possessions into a 5 by 8ft. trailer. and headed off to WI to work with Uncle Harold.
When we arrived in WI we were told that Uncle Harold was dying in the hospital and wouldn't speak to anyone ever again. We were given keys to a little house. We went there. It was smelly, filthy, animal excrement was on the floor and bugs, we couldn't let our little ones crawl around on that floor! That night Leon and I sat down on the edge of a couch that we cringed to touch. It was soooo hot and muggy, with not even a breeze. We sat alone in the dark. "Had God brought us out here and then left us?" We realized that we were very close to slipping into 'the pit of despair'.
After a few days, we were feeling better about our situation. We even recorded some of our 'Sparkle', album there at the house (Possum in the wall studios). I used to get so mad as I sat alone eating a bowl of cereal in the morning. I would stare at that wall and listen to all the gnawing, scratching and moving around. Finally, I would get up and pound on that wall and say, "get out of my wall!". Something big would stop turning around,.. and then start again.
On one of our visits to see my Uncle, he looked at me. I said, "we came Uncle, we are all here." He said that he loved me and I've never heard anything that sounded more believable. 2 weeks after our arrival Harold died.
So off we went to find a suitable place to have lots of children and sing and laugh out loud. We headed to OK and bought a tiny house. We loved living there. We did many things for the first time. We replaced walls, light fixtures, wiring, soffets, painted the whole house inside and out, installed a shower and lots more. We wanted to stay in OK and grow old there but, we wanted a full time job so we could get some land. We couldn't get that job and then a big company in Idaho called and said, we want to interview Leon. He said, "I didn't apply". After 5 interviews they hired him and moved our whole family out to Idaho.
Here we were, we stretched our legs and breathed deep. The children ran and played like crazy, wild natives. They climbed trees, built and tore down. We raised chickens, ducks, pigs, a sheep, goats, we grew gardens, heated with real wood that we cut, split and stacked ourselves. "Ahhhh", We said, "we
can stay here .....for a while".