I did learn something.....if you make Cookie Dough Truffles, you will want to eat them.

These last few days I've been avoiding packing, avoiding processing, avoiding the emotions that come with moving from a house that I am wildly in love with, to a house that's fine. It will do, it will work. It's nice. It's on the Mountain, I have a view. I'm grateful that we've been given it.

But let me tell you the story of this house, that will be forever known as "Zanatta".

5 or 6 years ago, the place where we are living for a precious few days was a completely undeveloped side of a mountain. Basically, a big rock. But considering that we live in the Lower Mainland, if it can be developed, it will be developed. And as I drove past this lovely nugget of the earth several times a day and saw houses going up, something pulled at my heart strings and for reasons that I cannot understand, I said to myself, "That's where I'm going to live!"

So my Kid's Dad and I looked at 4 or 5 houses on the street not long after they went up. But we didn't buy one, for reasons that I don't even know. I suspect it was that we wanted the biggest and most that our mortgage dollar would give us. (that backfired, but that's a story for another day) And that's what we bought.

Fast forward a few years and I was living alone with my kids in our 4200 square foot bundle of financial destruction, and I decided that I could not live there anymore. I met with my Kid's Dad and explained the situation and we agreed that I would move out and he would move in.

And I had a month to figure out where I was going to go. So where did I turn?

Yep. Craigslist.

I had my wish list and as I combed though the listings there was ONE, yes, ONE house that would work for us. And guess which street it was on? The very street of my dreams. The street that had called to me years ago. And through nothing short of a miracle, I was picked as the new occupant of Zanatta. It was with joy and shouts of glee that my friend's moved us 13 short months ago. I vowed to those around me that this good gift that was given to me and my family was where I would spend the rest of my days. The plan was that I'd buy it in a couple years after my finances had rebounded from the shock of divorce and become best friends with everyone on the street.

And a lot did happen in that short year. I married a wonderful man named Jarrett and we welcomed him and his son, Jaremie, into Zanatta. Good thing I was smart enough to look for 6 bedrooms. We had space to be together and space to be apart. No fighting over bathrooms. It was ideal.

Then we got a letter that the Owners were moving back in. I went into shock. Denial. Anger. Tears. The whole grief cycle. Why would God give me this dream many years ago, and then the dream actually came true, only for it to be taken away after only one year? Why?

I don't know yet. I wish I did. So we go forward, I'll slap on my happy face and make it though. And this morning I finished making Cookie Dough Truffles for my kids (read: me) and whenever we eat them we can remember the great times we had in this great house.

                                 Oh ya - totally email me for the recipe. They are fantastic!