It was this time last year that we were just ending our ministry and waiting on God to lead us to our new ministry. After that it was five months of no income and lots of praying and seeking His face as to where He was leading next. We knew that wherever that was, it would probably involve a move. So we, by faith, put our house on the market. And we waited. And waited.
It wasn't until several months had passed that we finally knew where God wanted us to go. So we made plans and started packing up our home. But the house had not sold. We learned so many lessons during those months. Lessons of patience. Lessons of trust. Lessons of faith. It was not easy a lot of the time. But we did our best to trust God and take each step as He showed it to us. When the day finally came for us to pull out and begin our journey to our new life, we left, even though our house still had not sold. But we knew without a shadow of a doubt that this was His plan.
And wouldn't you know that not even three hours down the road we got the call from the realtor that we had an offer on the house! After some negotiation, we had a deal and made good use of the hotels' fax machines as we made our way to our new town.
It was great news that we would not have to worry about managing a home hundreds and hundreds of miles from where would be living. The "bad" news was that we did not get the price that we really wanted/needed in order to purchase a new home. So, that was the reason we ended up renting for the first 6 months of living in our new town.
I don't need to go into detail here, but I will say that was a long 6 months in that home. It was not ideal situation for us, but I know that it was just where God wanted us at the time.
As soon as we got here, we knew that by June we would need a new place to live, since we only signed a 6-month lease. So we slowly began to look at all our options. Through careful planning, saving, and God's awesome provision, we were able to set aside money for a down payment on a house.
So in May we began to actively search for a home. By this time we had built a good relationship with our realtor, and he was busily showing us houses and looking for us. I don't exactly know how many houses we looked at, but it was quite a few. I felt like we were on an episode of House Hunters. Time was starting to pass and we started to get a little antsy. Were we ever going to find a house that would fit our family and be in our price range? We are not the type to take on a mortgage higher than we knew we could afford. So it was difficult to find houses that fit all the criteria.
Then, one day, we went and saw three houses. And two of them fit the bill. Perfectly. They were both in really great locations, actually not too far from where we were currently living. One had 5 bedrooms, one had 4. Mr. Handsome loved the 5 bedroom whereas I loved the 4 bedroom one more. But we both liked them both and could see ourselves living in either one. One was aver 30 years old, one was only 2 years old. One had an absolutely beautiful yard - one that was completely fenced in. It also had a garage. The other one had a grassed yard, but no fence or garage. After some deliberating and praying and getting advice, we decided to go with the 5 bedroom house.
It was a little over our price range, but we knew the owners were getting a bit desperate as they already had another home they were living in half the time. So we put in a lower offer. And wouldn't you know, it was accepted! We were thrilled! I started decorating each room in my head, and had it all planned where each kid would go, where I would place the furniture, what paint colors I would use, and all that fun stuff.
Mr. Handsome was busily taking care of the financial stuff with the mortgage broker and we were able to lock in at an unbelievable rate. We were just so excited! And then, we got news that felt like it knocked the wind right out of us. We were all approved for the mortgage. But we were not approved by the mortgage insurance company. Since we could only put 5% down instead of 20%, we could not get a mortgage without insurance.
We tried everything to get approved. At times it seemed "they" were just making up excuses for not approving us. We had many, many people tell us they had never heard of this before - the "reasons" they were giving us. But basically, their final answer as to why we were not approved was because Mr. Handsome had not been employed at his job for long enough. He had to have worked there for at least a year.
So we were then back to square one. We tried to work with the homeowners on a rent-to-own deal, but they just said they "were sympathetic to our situation, but no." I can definitely say we were devastated. What were we going to do? But this time we had just about three weeks left until we had to be out of our rental. Our landlord had already rented it out to someone else, as well as had it up for sale (which there were showings all the time - what a stress that was!).
People were very kind and were offering their basements and camper trailers to us if we needed it. There were no houses for rent in our town. We just didn't know what to do. Then, one day, I remembered the other house we had loved. Mr. Handsome called our realtor about contacting the homeowner about doing a rent-to-own deal just until January when we would then be approved for the insurance. It took several days to get a hold of the homeowner since she doesn't live in this town.
But once he got a hold of her, it didn't take long. She was very willing to work something out! Within days we had the paperwork all signed, and the deal done! The awesome part too was that the house was already empty, ready to be moved in to! About a week before we were scheduled to move in, we met with the owner and the realtor at the home to be able to meet face to face and give her our postdated checks for rent. Mr. Handsome and I were both secretly hoping she would give us the keys that night, but didn't think she would really do that. And you know what? She did? She said to move in whenever we wanted, and to enjoy the house and enjoy raising our family in it! We were so surprised, happy and grateful. We thanked her very much for working with us and she graciously said she was happy to help.
The next week was crazy busy and super exhausting, but with the help of some church people we were all moved in. As you can see from the pictures in the previous post, it is perfect for us and a beautiful home. We are so very thankful for this place. I don't know why the other house didn't work out. Perhaps it has something terribly wrong with it that we didn't know about. ( By the way, it has since sold) Perhaps we would have had terrible neighbours. Or, perhaps, God was yet again teaching us that His timing is not always our timing, and He knows what is best for us.
Whatever the reason, I am so thankful for God's work and provision in our lives. And I don't plan on ever taking this home for granted. We have dedicated it to the Lord and plan to use it to His glory.
Until next time...
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