A House Tale

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I feel like I’m just walking around, smiling up at the sky, looking like an idiot.  But at least I’m a happy idiot.  Even if my brain is so packed with thoughts that I can’t really tell you how many days last week I wore the same black and white striped skirt.  It’s like my brain just went on strike.  ”Too much going on!  Must wear the same striped skirt every day to deal!”

I may or may not be wearing that exact skirt right at this very moment.  But that’s beside the point.

The point is, our journey to becoming homeowners (crazy!?!) was nothing short of a miracle.  And I think that it’s our duties as Christians to spread news of miracles.  I mean, how can I spend all that time talking to God about the desires of my little homemaking heart and not publicly thank Him when He shows up out of nowhere and plops a house right in front of us?  Answer: I can’t.  So this is it, our little house tale.

When Timothy and I got married nearly three years ago, we were in no position to buy a house.  Financially, emotionally, and in all the other ways.  We were still trying to figure out what God had planned for our lives and ministry, let alone figure out what kind of house we wanted.  So, we decided to buy a mobile home.  The price was right, the location was right, and we could own it.  Plus, it was a very flexible housing situation.  We didn’t feel super tied down like we would if it were a house.  It was one of the best decisions we made.

In the past three years, we have talked about buying a house several times.  Timothy and I knew that God had called us to be in Medora for a long time, and we really wanted to get a place where we felt like we could grow our family.  Yet each time we would talk about it, something would happen and we’d decide the timing wasn’t right.

I have a hard time dealing with disappointment, I mean, who doesn’t?  So I just decided to go on living in our trailer, making it the best mobile home I could, and not really think about the housing situation.  If I didn’t get my dreams up, then they wouldn’t be dashed, right?

So I was in that state for a while when Timothy brought up the subject one night on our couch.  He had heard of someone who was looking to buy a trailer and maybe we should let him look at ours?  I disagreed with him for a good twenty minutes, but he said that he just felt strongly that we should set it up.

So we did, the guy looked at it on a Friday night, and that was that.  Timothy and I talked about it and decided that we might as well look at a cute little house for sale that we had had our eye on for awhile.  So the next day we toured the house and weren’t really impressed.  We thought we might try and look at a couple more, but neither of us were really getting our hopes up.

Then on that Sunday, my Papa showed us a really cute house that he had just learned was for sale.  We looked inside and liked it but weren’t over the moon about it.  On our way home we passed a for sale sign for an adorable brick house.  Timothy decided to call and we set up an appointment to look at it Monday.

We asked my parents to come look at it with us because the two other houses we had toured looked suspicious in areas and we wanted their expertise.  (Sidenote: my dad is a genius at house things, so he can spot a problem from a mile away.)  We all met in the driveway and kind of just stared at the property in one of those super attractive open-mouth drooly stares.  It was gorgeous.  And the inside?   Holy cannoli.  I think it was built for us.

The whole time we toured the house a little spark of hope kept popping into my head.  And then I shoved it back down as hard as I could.  I was trying so hard not to let it sink in how perfect the house was.  I just had a hard time seeing how everything could work out.

The next two days were some of the most intense and emotional days I’ve ever had.  On Tuesday we went to the bank and received very good news.  Then God proceeded to provide a financial blessing that blew our minds.  We called the seller of the house, placed an offer, went to church that night, and got word that he had accepted our offer as soon as church was over.  I mean, YOWZA!!!! Right?

So basically, in less than a week we went from living life as usual to becoming (nearly) homeowners.  Like I’ve said before, I’m living life on a roller coaster.

It’s been a month since all that happened and I still feel like I’m living a dream.  And this waiting period while the banks and lawyers get all their business taken care of is KILLING ME!  I keep drive-by stalking our house and trying to picture us living there.  We still don’t have a buyer for our mobile home, but we know God is working that out.  I mean, He’s worked all this other out.  He’s pretty capable.  Ha!

So that is a shortened version of our little house miracle.  If you want the longer version, I’ll gladly share it with you over a cup of coffee.  As long as you don’t make any rude remarks if I happen to be wearing my black and white striped skirt.  Ha!

~Whitney