House

Tuesday we bought our first home!

::screeching and squeals of excitement::

It's a fixer upper.

::horrified gasps and moans of certain doom::

Do you know how many years we've been looking for a house? Do you know how many realtors I've talked to? Did you know that the word "realtors" is apparently incorrect according to spell check?

God's timing is perfect.

After we had Wallace, with Daniel having a steady, paying job, we decided that now was the time. I guess God did too. On a whim we walked into a Century21 office. It was empty, except for Keith.

Keith. The realtor. Enemy No. 1.

I had my mind made up. I knew what I wanted, we knew what we could afford, and this "Keith" wasn't going to mess me around. Keith was going to work for US. If Keith asked how much we were looking to spend right off the bat we were walking.

Turns out Keith is a good listener. Keith is extremely patient. Keith wanted to sell us what we needed, not what we wanted. Keith wasn't going to tell us that yet.

Keith doesn't have a house or car payment.

We both love Keith.

When we were much younger, we wanted to buy a fixer upper. Daniel always clicked on the "homes $50,000 and under" links on real estate websites. I, longed for land. Not a hundred acres, not a first anyway. Just a few. Daniel's picks were always dilapidated and unlivable. The land I always chose was out of state. Stale mate.

Then we had kiddos and after six years of "making it work" in a barn, I didn't want a "fixer upper". I wanted a pantry. I wanted my washer and dryer to be in the same room. I wanted a garage. I didn't want to fix anything with a toddler at my knees and a baby on my hip. Daniel, working 50 hours a week, wasn't excited about taking on difficult household projects. He didn't want to come home and carry down laundry, or trip over the vacuum because there was no place to put it. Also, BOTH of us knew Coen was getting too big to take baths in the kitchen sink. We didn't want a cookie cutter so we were left with older homes that had already been renovated. We just couldn't swallow the fact that someone had done what we could do. Someone else was making the money. WE were the ones paying for a fix and flip. Not cool. Our best hope was for an investor so desperate to sell he would lower his price enough to fit our budget. We would end up with a 3/2 in a neighborhood. Good enough.

"Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and'such we are." 1 John 3:1

Turns out Keith had a card up his sleeve. An estate. 3/2 on TWO ACRES. Needing some TLC and updating, but not a tear down. Just enough to handle, just what Daniel wanted, just what I wanted, just what we needed, right on the upper end of what we could afford. We made an offer, low balled them. Got a call back the next day.


He knows what we need. He knows what we want. He knows how to give above and beyond anything we could have ever hoped or imagined. He knows!

It doesn't bother me that there isn't a pantry, that there are a LOT of things needing some updating and elbow grease and paint. When you know that God is for you, when you are the recipient of a gift so perfectly suited for you it must have been made for you, little things like that don't matter. I mean, they can start to bother you when you lose sight of the blessing. Right now, though, I would have to look around the BIG blessing to see all of the little imperfections. That would just be stupid. :)

Did I mention that there is a bathtub?

Giddy.