I have been rather stressed out lately about our housing situation. Our house now is less than 900 square feet. With 3 children now and one more on the way, we needed to find something bigger. We aren't quite ready to buy a house yet and didn't really want to move into another rental for a few years before we purchased a home, but couldn't find another option. Until my parents' purchased their house. It was all approved and we were going to be moving into the parsonage for a few years. However, the details didn't all work out and we were back to square one. We had pretty much decided to just stay in this house and save the hassle of moving, but God had another plan.
Why is it that we as humans think we need to be in control of everything and that God certainly couldn't handle a problem so big as a large enough home for us? For a few days, I was at peace about where we would live and put it in God's hands, but then I really started to have doubts and was very upset that our previous plan didn't work out. But God had a reason for that. He had a more perfect plan that we could have never imagined.
See, there is a man in Ithaca who believes in God, but tried to take care of everything himself. On Tuesday, April 28th, he told his wife he just couldn't do it all anymore and was going to give it to God. His problem? He has a large, 2 story, 4 bedroom house that no one is living in right now and in his retirement years, doesn't feel he has the energy to keep up with it anymore. Where is this house you ask? Well, it is about 2 acres away from my parent's new home. On Thursday, April 30th, he tells his wife he just feels he should go by and see if he can meet his new neighbor. As luck would have it, my dad and Alexandar are outside on the quad and he introduces himself. He lets my dad know that he doesn't live in that house, he and his wife live in town. He's been thinking about renting it out, but didn't want to post anything because he wanted to get someone good in there. Hmmmm..... my dad then responds by saying that his daughter and son-in-law were possibly looking for something, but hadn't really decided what their plans were. Are you seeing where this is going? Good. You are smart. You can certainly catch on quickly. However, there is sooo much more to the story.
See, while this house has new siding and almost all new windows, it does not have an updated inside. The carpet is shag, and the wallpaper and all the coloring is from the 50s-70s era. What makes this story absolutely amazing is that the owner wants it all updated and Shawn is phenominal at all of the building "stuff." But it gets even better. We (but mostly I) have free reign as to what we want to do and HE WILL PAY FOR THE MATERIALS. But it gets even better. (I hope you aren't tired of reading that, because there is at least one more of those) Shawn will also be paid for all of his time he spends working on the house, including some of the lawn care. (Did I mention there are a couple of out buildings sitting on 6 acres?) Our rent money is not needed to make a mortgage payment, so if we work off our rent in the month, we don't owe anything. But it gets even better. (Told ya) At first, when he spoke to my dad, he was not interested in selling it. However, once talking to us, he thinks in a few years he might want to sell. Oh yes, and our rent will go towards the down payment.
See? God had a perfect plan. We can certainly see this house as our first home. The kids went nuts over the property and Isabelle is old enough to understand that we will be living next to Nana and Papa. What's nice is that there is plenty of land between the two homes, so we neither of us feel like we're living on top of the other. I could have never dreamed that I would get to live in our first house before we were able to purchase it, totally redesign it and update it, have someone else foot the bill, AND pay us to do it.
Thank you God. We are so blessed.
