God really can seem like a mystery sometimes. Like when we don't hear and see and feel him in the ways that we want. We are sometimes unsure of him. But often, when we look back, we see that his providential care & provision are remarkable. A couple Sundays ago, we heard a sermon through our church's Livestream in which our pastor was talking about the story of Joseph. You know, the guy with the colorful coat. His main point through his sermon was that God always provided for Joseph, through everything. Yes, there were likely times when Joseph doubted if God was really there and if was actually hearing his cries, but God took care of him through it all. God provided. Pastor Trav said it like this, "Once you hear the silence of God, you begin to appreciate the mystery of God." And if that doesn't describe our life over the past couple of years, I’m not sure what does!
The story I want to tell is one that's been in the works for longer than I ever could have imagined. It probably started back in 2005 or maybe even before that, when I first met my friend who is now my neighbor. I was at Gordon college and had a friend who had a best friend from childhood at a nearby college. She told me multiple times that I needed to meet this friend because we were so similar and we'd get along really well. I don't even remember when we were first introduced or exactly how, but we definitely got along well and became easy friends. And our mutual friend was right, we were very similar in so many ways.
As time went by, we graduated college, I started dating my husband and she started dating her husband around the same time. We have wedding anniversaries that are within days of each other, different years. We drove the same car, different colors, for at least five overlapping years. We would get together and get pedicures together and often pick the same color. She moved to my local area, I invited her to my church. We go to church together. We have kids all around the same ages. So naturally, when she knew we were looking to buy a bigger home than our two bedroom condo, she recommended her neighborhood and told me how much she loved living in her little town.
When I first got pregnant with our fourth baby [which yes, was actually planned for all those in question!] we knew that it would be tight in the condo, but we knew we could make it work for at least the first year with a new baby. We had enough room in the master bedroom for a crib and the other three kids shared the other bedroom really well. As in, they all slept through the night, hah!
As time went by, we graduated college, I started dating my husband and she started dating her husband around the same time. We have wedding anniversaries that are within days of each other, different years. We drove the same car, different colors, for at least five overlapping years. We would get together and get pedicures together and often pick the same color. She moved to my local area, I invited her to my church. We go to church together. We have kids all around the same ages. So naturally, when she knew we were looking to buy a bigger home than our two bedroom condo, she recommended her neighborhood and told me how much she loved living in her little town.
When I first got pregnant with our fourth baby [which yes, was actually planned for all those in question!] we knew that it would be tight in the condo, but we knew we could make it work for at least the first year with a new baby. We had enough room in the master bedroom for a crib and the other three kids shared the other bedroom really well. As in, they all slept through the night, hah!
You’re probably wondering why we were even still living in a two bedroom condo with four kids? Well, when I quit my full time job as a high school math teacher to stay home full time with our kids back in 2011, it obviously reduced our household income significantly. But we both agreed that being home was where God had called me to be. We also felt that God would make it known to us when it was the right time, both practically & financially, for us to move our family into our “forever home.”
While I was pregnant with this fourth baby, I kept my eye pretty close on our local real estate market. We had a list of wants & needs in a town, neighborhood & home. It was maybe a long list. But we knew that wherever we moved to, we’d be staying for a very long time.
The summer I was pregnant, we went on a 4 day camping trip with lots of friends and little electronics time [the best kinds of trips!] and coming off the camping trip, I saw a house that had come on the market while we were away. It seemed like it had all that we wanted, except for the town that it was located in. We were willing to compromise though. I went to the open house within hours of when I first saw it. It had its flaws, but had most of what we wanted. We saw it again. And again. We were ready to put an offer on it, but during that last visit, we saw some things that we just couldn't overlook. So we decided not to make an offer.
The summer I was pregnant, we went on a 4 day camping trip with lots of friends and little electronics time [the best kinds of trips!] and coming off the camping trip, I saw a house that had come on the market while we were away. It seemed like it had all that we wanted, except for the town that it was located in. We were willing to compromise though. I went to the open house within hours of when I first saw it. It had its flaws, but had most of what we wanted. We saw it again. And again. We were ready to put an offer on it, but during that last visit, we saw some things that we just couldn't overlook. So we decided not to make an offer.
After that, we decided that I was getting really pregnant and the timing of everything just wouldn't be ideal with a really pregnant mom or a very new little baby and three other kids and colder weather approaching... So we put our housing search on hold for some time.
About six months later, I was feeling more like I could handle things again, and the spring real estate market was ramping up, so we decided to start our house hunt again. But at this point, some things had changed and we were a bit unsure as to where we wanted to live. We had gone through another New England winter, and we were now wondering if this was an opportunity for us to head south as a family. The real estate market was much more appealing down there, there were hybrid home schooling models that we really liked, we had visited areas that we loved and had friends and some family already living down there, so it seemed like an easy decision.
About six months later, I was feeling more like I could handle things again, and the spring real estate market was ramping up, so we decided to start our house hunt again. But at this point, some things had changed and we were a bit unsure as to where we wanted to live. We had gone through another New England winter, and we were now wondering if this was an opportunity for us to head south as a family. The real estate market was much more appealing down there, there were hybrid home schooling models that we really liked, we had visited areas that we loved and had friends and some family already living down there, so it seemed like an easy decision.
But there were a few other important things we needed to think about like all of our family here, a job for the primary income provider and our amazing church family. We were torn. We sought advice from some friends who are in the next stage of life from where we are. They were once in our place. They gave us some great advice. They said, "Pray for reasons why you should stay up here."
So for the next few months, we prayed. We prayed just what they had suggested. That God would reveal reasons as to why we should stay in this area. It was hard as I was constantly comparing the real estate market in the two areas. What we could buy here versus what we could buy THERE. If a house was all that mattered, buying there would have been a done deal. But there is so much more! Every time we got together with friends for a hang out or a party or a shower, all I kept thinking was, "This can't be the last time I do this!" Or I'd think, "Well if we're going to move, at least wait until after we do ____." It was like I was trying to bargain with God for what I wanted. But that's not His game. He remained silent on the house hunt.
So for the next few months, we prayed. We prayed just what they had suggested. That God would reveal reasons as to why we should stay in this area. It was hard as I was constantly comparing the real estate market in the two areas. What we could buy here versus what we could buy THERE. If a house was all that mattered, buying there would have been a done deal. But there is so much more! Every time we got together with friends for a hang out or a party or a shower, all I kept thinking was, "This can't be the last time I do this!" Or I'd think, "Well if we're going to move, at least wait until after we do ____." It was like I was trying to bargain with God for what I wanted. But that's not His game. He remained silent on the house hunt.
During that time, we also had so many great things happening at our church and within our church family that we kept thinking, "This is so good! Why would we want to leave this?" We knew that the community we have built around us over these past 7 years is unique and special. And to build that same type of community and life somewhere else would not be easy and would take time. Maybe lots of time. Why would we want to take that chance? God was speaking to us through these times.
Throughout that whole summer, when the real estate market is hustling & bustling, here in New England, God made us wait. He was silent. Different things happened in our lives over those months that made it clear that it was not our time to be looking for houses anywhere. We needed to just stay where we were and be patient and wait. Patience is hard for me, but I waited. During this time, my friend now neighbor, would tell me about homes in her neighborhood coming on the market. But none seemed exactly right for us. There was always something that wasn't exactly what we wanted. It was like God was continuing to tell us to be patient, while continuing to be silent.
Over Columbus Day weekend, we went on our annual camping trip with friends up to the mountains of New Hampshire. It is beautiful at that time of year. The foliage and fellowship are some of the best and it's a weekend we all look forward to all year long. But again, limited electronics time, which is great! While driving home that Monday, we were stuck in traffic and I did my usual real estate search. A house had come on the market that day just hours earlier. It looked like it had all that we wanted, except for again, the town it was located in. We could overlook that again though. I set up a time to go see it the next morning with our realtor.
Throughout that whole summer, when the real estate market is hustling & bustling, here in New England, God made us wait. He was silent. Different things happened in our lives over those months that made it clear that it was not our time to be looking for houses anywhere. We needed to just stay where we were and be patient and wait. Patience is hard for me, but I waited. During this time, my friend now neighbor, would tell me about homes in her neighborhood coming on the market. But none seemed exactly right for us. There was always something that wasn't exactly what we wanted. It was like God was continuing to tell us to be patient, while continuing to be silent.
Over Columbus Day weekend, we went on our annual camping trip with friends up to the mountains of New Hampshire. It is beautiful at that time of year. The foliage and fellowship are some of the best and it's a weekend we all look forward to all year long. But again, limited electronics time, which is great! While driving home that Monday, we were stuck in traffic and I did my usual real estate search. A house had come on the market that day just hours earlier. It looked like it had all that we wanted, except for again, the town it was located in. We could overlook that again though. I set up a time to go see it the next morning with our realtor.
The house and yard both needed a lot of work. It was very outdated and hadn’t been occupied for many years. But that was ok, we were ok with some updating. It had all the other things. It even had neighbors that we knew from church! And they had daughters that were of babysitting ages! We saw the house a couple times. We decided to put in an offer. Our realtor tried to submit the offer online and it came back as “cash only offers.” What?! Why was that not in the listing? Who has that kind of cash? Turned out it was bank owned. We weren’t sure how we could get around it, but it was a house we really wanted.
Our realtor, who is also a great friend, wanted to help us out. He has a friend who is in the business of flipping houses. He got his friend on board with this house. His friend worked out a budget with us and was willing to buy the house, flip it, then sell it to us. Could it be any better? Could this be God at work?! So his friend did all he needed to do and went to submit an offer on the house.
Turned out that the house was actually up for auction. Again, not disclosed in the listing! Our flipper friend could obviously only bid so high to stay within our agreed upon budget. Sadly, he wasn’t the highest bidder. We lost the house. We found out on October 30th, which was our littlest one’s first birthday. I was all sorts of emotional that day and had a hard time keeping it together most of the day.
Why was God continuing to be silent on our house search? Why was he closing so many doors? I continued to trust him, knowing that he always provides, but I was also just so sad on so many levels. Life was not easy with 4 kids in a three level, two bedroom condo while trying to homeschool! It was stressful in a lot of ways. But I continued to be patient and wait on God.
Sometime in November, I met up with my friend who’s now my neighbor for coffee one evening. We hadn’t caught up in a while since we both still had nursing babies and life was a bit crazy. We chatted about all sorts of things and I filled her in on our big house let-down from weeks prior. She mentioned there might be a house in her neighborhood.
Weeks later we were walking out to our car after church on a Sunday. Our church is so awesome that we have parking attendants to help us find spots and get us in and out of the parking lot safely. The two attendants just happened to be the neighbor of the house that unfortunately didn’t work out, and the husband of my friend now neighbor. One attendant said, “We’re so sad the house didn’t work out for you guys! We were hoping to have you as neighbors!”
The other attendant said, “I heard you might have a flipper to work with? There’s a house across from us that looks like it might be going on the market, but I think it needs a lot of work.”
And the next part of our story is when things really started to happen...
