The Promised Land

     This is the moment I have been waiting for.  This is the moment that I get to share with you how God has stepped in to the perform the most amazing miracle that I've gotten to witness so far.  I used to be afraid people would think that I'm bragging when I tell them things God has done; but this story is not about me.  Who am I really--just one among billions (with a big mouth)?  If I keep quiet about this, "the stones will cry out".(Luke 19:40)

     You might remember that we close on our house on July 23rd, which is only four days away.  Last week we settled where Brent would work when he picked his job last Wednesday.  What you don't know is that a week ago today we saw two houses, fell in love with one, put in an offer and after some negotiating we are buying it.  It takes a standard 30 days for the bank to be able to put together a loan...but we have to be out by Monday.  The home owners of the house we are buying have agreed to let us "rent" our house from them till we close.  Yes, the house we fell in love with is amazingly not occupied.  All of the things that had to come together for this to occur are amazing! 

     Some things in life are wonderful blessings, but many people would not feel comfortable calling them miracles.  This is not one of those situations.  This is clearly astounding to me and my family.  This is what makes it qualify for a miracle in my book:

This is a miracle for my husband because

      a) It is on 10 acres

      b) in the country

      c) with a large pond with a fresh water spring

      d) with a generously wooded acres for hunting,

      e) and it has a huge, beautiful workshop 

       f) along with a huge rustic red barn

He asked the realtor for all these things when he asked her to look for houses for us, but we didn't know that we would find one that met ALL of these requirements.

This is a miracle for me because

      a)It has a large kitchen (and a ginormous pantry),

      b)TWO and a half  large bathrooms (we currently have 1.5 small bathrooms),

      c) unbelievable closet space

      d) a lovely cellar for storing food

      e) plenty of room to run around the house and have people over

      f) within a mile of two dear friends

      g) on the road that I have asked God a million times if I could possibly live on. (Even though I thought it was a crazy prayer because we were supposed to be moving far away from here)  We have driven by this property probably close to a hundred times in the past 5 years because our friends live by it.  This house isn't even close to a downsizing--remember my fear?

This is a miracle for my kids because

     a)they can finally get the outdoor cats they've been dreaming of and

     b) have three homeschooling families with a couple of miles of them, (which means more kids to play with than in our current subdivision neighborhood).

     c) They will also be within ten minutes of a wildlife park that we have a connection at that offered to let our children help with some of the animals.

     d) They will also be five minutes away from a horse stable that one of my children has been offered a position in a few years from now.

     e) Two of them that have birthdays in the next month and a half, will be able to celebrate with their friends they've made since being born in this area.  One of the things I heard them talk the most about with sadness was not being able to celebrate their birthdays with their friends.

    This is a huge answer to prayer...and shows the amazing power of God to answer all of our prayer requests down to the very last detail.  He provided the house of our dreams the day after we settled on a job that we can move into in less than a weeks time (and on the very road I've been asking to live on)!  Try to figure out the odds on that one!!

      Also, money is a huge sticking point for me.  It is really hard for me to trust God on this issue.  There is a fine line of stewardship vs. letting money control you, and I don't always stay on the right side of this line.  My husband is much more easy going with money.  We generally do a good job of balancing each other out.  One of the hardest things for me about letting our current home go has been all of the work and money that we have put into fixing and updating our house that we essentially aren't recouping from it.  (Of course, if we hadn't put anything into it; we might be selling it for less than we bought it for.)  Just to clarify, the vast majority of the work was done by my hubby, not me.  

     The home we are buying has been on the market for two years--just the thought of that boggles my mind.  It has waited two years for us.  No, I believe God set it aside for the past two years for us.  We both find it hard to believe.  Because it has been on the market for so long, they have already reduced the price by a really good amount.  Add to that the lovely negotiating power of my husband and the favor of God...and we are getting more than just a good deal.  As my brother would say, this deal is "smoking"!  If you look at any comparable properties, they are way, way more expensive.  The other night, we kept wondering if there was something hidden that was making this so reasonably priced.  The more we have dug, we can't find anything.  The thought of selling our home for less than I personally valued it at when we didn't know where or even if we needed to move was a challenging thing for me to accept.  It all went back to allowing my husband to lead.  Either I let him lead, and trust God to work out the details, or I make no progress in this area that I believe God is challenging me to grow in.  Clearly this has worked out very well for me!

     I feel so blessed right now that I feel like I could explode with gratitude!  To all those who have been praying with me about this, may I sincerely say, "Thank you!"  Thanks for sharing this journey with me.  It is by no means over...this is just the beginning of our adventures in our promised land.