I’m BACK!!

I’M BACK!!!

You guys. Wow. I’m not even sure where to start. I know it’s December right now, and that I haven’t written since probably May or so, but I have a lot of really good reasons. Like REALLY good reasons.

So, as everyone knows, the world was hit with a lovely pandemic this year. Yes, that was complete sarcasm. Anyway, we were in the same storm as everyone else, and were caught off guard with quite a few things. I believe in one of my last posts I explained that we were moving from our little 800 square foot rental house because the owners sold the home. This was during the same time that all the schools were closed up here and the kids were thrown into distance learning. My husband had also started a new job just before everything was shut down, but, because everything was so slow, he was laid off and was told he was not going to be re-hired as they weren’t going to have the budget for his position anymore. So, here we were with six kids, only one job, and no house. It was something else!

So, at the end of May, we finished packing up our little house and put everything into storage. We moved into a 27-foot camper. Yep, you read that right. Our family of eight plus a large dog moved into a 27-foot camper. We thought we were living tiny in the little house! Ha! 

We spent almost six months in that tiny camper. It was not exactly my idea of fun, but I’m so thankful that my dad allowed us to borrow his camper for that long. I’m also thankful that we were able to spend that much time with my dad. The kids absolutely loved spending the summer and fall at my dad’s property. They spent most days outside playing with the kittens, riding their bikes around, helping my dada with projects around the yard, and making trails through the wooded areas. 

I am also very thankful that stage of our lives is now over. Part way through the summer, my husband was able to get back to work. He did not go back to the job he was laid off from, but he did go back to the one he had before that. His former employer called him and asked if he would come back to work for them. The people that they had hired to take his place decided they didn’t want to work. God provided his old job back! It was a major answer to prayer! He was able to go back to work, with a raise! God is so good!

Not long after he went back to work, we were able to get our preapproval finally set so we could look for a house. That is where we ran into our next issue. The housing market in our area was INSANE all summer long. It’s still going crazy. But, again, God had a plan. Imagine that!

I had been looking at houses for a while, so when we got everything in order, we immediately started going to see them. I don’t even remember how many houses we walked through, but I do remember there were a couple houses that we wanted to offer on, but they ended up accepting offers while we were in the middle of our showing. No joke. That is how crazy the housing market was and still is up here. I felt completely defeated. I was so upset over one of those houses that we missed out on. It was my dream house. It was in a great location. It was under construction. It was ready for my husband and I to finish it out exactly the way we wanted it. It was big enough for our family. It had so much room for everything that we needed. I was completely in love. And then they accepted an offer before we even had a chance to put ours in. We were actually in the house talking with our realtor about what our offer was going to be. Our realtor called their realtor and told him that we were going to be putting an offer in that night. The other realtor told him that they had just accepted an offer. We were gutted and deflated. It was a terrible feeling. We really thought that we weren’t going to find a house after we missed out on that one. I was heartbroken.

Fast forward two more months and a couple other missed houses. We were on our way to church one morning feeling completely defeated. We drove the same way to church that we always drive. But that morning was different. There was a house a block away from church that had a new for sale sign in the yard. I immediately called our realtor. The house wasn’t even listed on the market yet, but I called him anyway. He got to work trying to get us into it for a showing as soon as it was on the market. But God had other plans. My realtor called me back a few minutes later and asked if we were busy after church that day. The owners had agreed to let us look at the home that day, before it hit the market. What?! This was a huge advantage in the market that we were dealing with at the time.

So, right after church that day, we walked over to the house and looked at it. We put an offer on it while we were still in the house. We found out a couple days later that they accepted our offer. We finally had a house!! One of our main criteria when we were house hunting was that we be close to church. Our idea of close was within a half hour drive. We never once thought that we could get a house a block away from church!

Once we had the accepted offer, we requested a closing date. Everything seemed to be going well. At least that is what we were told, anyway. Long story short, our closing date was pushed back three different times. But, let me tell you, I have never been more thankful for a home in my entire life!

So, now that we are finally into our new home and have internet, I am able to start working on this blog again. I’m sure you’ll get a good laugh out of all the craziness and stupidity that comes from us! 

Moral of the story is don’t lose hope. God has a plan. Even if it’s not your plan, God will take care of it. Even the tiniest little details. I honestly thought we were going to be stuck in that camper forever. We had no running water, a tiny fridge, and no way to cook much besides something over the fire. We had an outhouse out in the woods and a water cooler that we filled up from the outdoor spigot every day. But God allowed us to go through that in order for us to better appreciate the home He provided. I can’t count the number of times we have been in awe that we have our own home again. And it even has running water! 😉

I hope to talk to you all again soon!