This post may be more for me than anyone else. Like a "dear diary" entry. I just need to work out my thoughts somewhere. Change is inevitable but that doesn't make it easier to accept, especially when it involves giving up something you've invested so much time and love into.
This journey officially started back in November. Joel and I had just found out we were pregnant, which meant we would be raising our baby in an area we haven't felt completely safe in. When Joel bought our house in college it was perfect for our needs. He could walk to work and it was affordable. He bought the house, gutted it, and I moved in a year later. Nearly 6 years have passed now, Joel has a new job, and we are very involved in our church. The problem is both are across town. I love this house. It's where we had our "where is this relationship going" talk while redoing the floors late at night. I wanted to know I'd be living here if I was investing my time into it. The house we were newlyweds in, bringing our separate lives together to figure out how to make it work as one unit. We made a baby here and it will be the first place she will live, although she will not have any recollection of it. The walls in each room have been painted at least 3 times, furniture has been switched out numerous times, and we have learned the definition of compromise in the process. This place has not just been a place to house our treasures but it has been a part of us since the beginning. How do you leave a place to begin a new chapter when this one feels so comfortable and complete?
That leads me to the biggest blessing and answer to prayer I've ever been a part of. Like I said this started in November when our friend Jason introduced us to a drinking buddy of his named Jack. A kind older man that owned a home on Jason's street. This was his childhood home where his sister continued to live up until she passed a couple of years ago. The house was never on the market and Jack was not in any rush to sell either. It was more important to him that he find an owner that would take care of and love the home as he did as opposed to flipping it for a profit. That's where we come in. We fit the profile so we met with Jack and did a walk through. It is a charming home and more importantly in the area we want to live, close to church and all of our friends. While houses are depreciating in value everywhere else, this house due to the area it's in will only increase in value over time. How is it that we could afford a home in another area let alone one worth way more than the asking price? Like I said Jack is not only kind but generous, very generous. He is basically giving us a house. Who does that? It's really the only way it would be possible for us to move.
I truly believe timing is everything...
Joel seemed more than ready to get the ball rolling back in November when we first saw the house but I was still a little skeptical. Refer back to the second paragraph. Was I really ready to leave our first home? The home we gutted that was practically brand new to move to a home we would have to work on little by little as we had the money and all while figuring out how to raise a baby? I allowed time to pass to see if God would change my heart or possibly Joel's. When May rolled around I began to pray that he would make it more than obvious if moving was for sure the route we needed to pursue. God reminded me that no matter what house we live in can be made into a home. This house surely did not start out looking the way we wanted it to but to move to an area where we can walk our baby to a friend's house or a store and feel safe is what's more important to me. Also, how often do you meet someone that wants to sell you a house for half of what it's worth because you are the right people to own it? A home that he has been willing to hold out selling as long as you say your interested? That is not an opportunity you pass up.
When I finally told Joel we needed to actively pursue buying the house he was shocked. He had been praying for an answer as well and this was it. To know that it was something I finally wanted too was the answer he needed. We put our house on the market the next week, a week after that someone came through to look at it, and it was a matter of days before they made an offer. If you know anything about the housing market or even the housing market particularly in the area we live in you know this doesn't happen EVER. I had no doubt that our house would show well. I love our house, but for someone to make an offer on it 9 days after you list is unheard of. God, all God! We are meant to live in Oakley.
The way the details have come together is what gets me through. Knowing we can walk to a friend's house or church is what I have to keep reminding myself. A house is a house and it is what you make of it. Although it will be hard to leave and think about someone else living in it I know it will come to mean as much to the new owner as it has us. Thanks to everyone who has prayed for us and that this would come together as God willed it to. I have no doubt he has been in every last detail and it will be the biggest blessing we will know. Please continue to pray that I can be positive about this and not become too overwhelmed by the timing of it all. We will be moving with a newborn and I don't deal well with stress.
On a lighter note...
I hope to blog more now that I am unemployed so as we renovate little by little I hope to document the process here.
Stay tuned!
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