#homeowners

#homeowners

Coach Husband & I have a new hashtag to share!  Today we closed on our first home this afternoon.  Words do not accurately express all the feelings we have at the moment but above everything else I think we would say grateful is at the top.  God truly used the last six months to grow both CH & myself individually, and our together in our marriage.  I know as life moves forward and we enter a new season we will be tempted to forget this time of ultimate provision so I will attempt to record the story God wrote for us recently to remember.

Six months ago Coach Husband and I felt the Lord closing the door on our current jobs and city.  It seemed as though CH would not have a coaching position in the fall, neither of us felt grounded or rooted and we figured while we are young and childless why not move somewhere crazy and start over?  We attend college here, met here and started married life together here.  We felt comfortable and as if we were mired in routine but not moving forward.  CH began to actively pursue other coaching opportunities and I continually quoted Ruth 1:16 to both him and myself.  “Where you go I’ll go.  Where you stay I stay.”  I was more than willing to pack up our home and life in our current place and move wherever his career took us.  We interviewed everywhere it seemed.  Phone interviews, in person interviews, written essay interviews.  At each moment when it seemed the new job was within his reach something came out of left field.  One promising position did not have a math opening, and so the contract could not be extended, another wanted him to teach at a middle school and come over to the high school for football practice.  It was after one of these heartbreaking conversations with yet another head coach that Coach Husband turned to me and said,  “I’m done chasing, done trying and believing the Lord has a plan.” 

In that moment we experienced complete surrender in our marriage to God’s greater plan.  And with that, God began to move.  When CH went back to work the following Monday he was called into a meeting with the principal and assured of his coaching position for the following year.  We began to feel at peace and rejuvenated about our city and felt God stirring in our hearts a permanent home.  As we began the house hunt we were incredibly optimistic with good reason.  The first house we walked into was my dream home and I fell in love.  Everything about it from the screened in back porch to the porch swing on the front porch was made for Emily.  We put in an offer and left on our cruise confident that we would be calling the little grey house ours.  When docked in Galveston there was a voicemail waiting, letting us know that the seller’s had chosen a different offer and that we would be on the hunt again.

Y’all, I don’t even know how many houses we looked at.  Seriously it got to the point where my frustration level was off the charts.  My sweet parents were in town almost every weekend going on showings with us and guiding us through the process.  It was one such weekend when my mother once again brought up a neighborhood that was well above our budget.  She had mentioned “driving through just to see” multiple times before and this time we agreed to be nice.  As we drove down the street and saw quite a few houses for sale out of our price range I was beginning to feel quite smug.  And then we drove up to this grey house, with a porch swing and black shutters looking so much like the one we had lost two weeks earlier.  The sign boldly proclaimed PRICE REDUCED and I remember sarcastically pointing that out.  One phone call to our relator later had the smug grin off my face and the relator headed to the home to let us in.  God had once again worked a miracle.  We put in an offer that night, well below asking price and completely confident they would not see fit to respond.  Instead the next morning they countered.  CH went in with our final number and I mentally and emotionally prepared myself to lose another grey house when the call came through that they had accepted.  We were under contract. 

We went into the home inspection knowing there would be some issues.  Daddy and CH had done a cursory walk through and already discovered a handful of issues that would need to be addressed.  When the home inspector recommended three major repairs though we were blindsided.  After some serious prayer and thought we went back to the seller’s and asked for them to fix just one.  The electrical wiring throughout the house would need to be addressed and once again we braced ourselves with the thought we might have to walk away.  Once again though God was good to us and the seller’s agreed with no qualms.

Today as we signed a million and one documents and handed over a check we have spent the last two years of marriage saving for, I was once again struck at how good & faithful the Lord has been.  We reached a point where fully & totally trusting in His provision and plan was our only option, because doing it on our own was not going to work.  I truly believe He was patiently waiting for us to come to Him and hand these burdens over as a testament to His power, grace and blessings.  The sudden coaching position, each and every step of the house buying process even as we prepare for this move that begins tomorrow, was not possible without His intervention.  The Lord wanted no doubt that it was through His power and planning that we received or accomplished any of these gifts.

Our family motto all spring and summer has been, God is good & God is faithful.  We have come to know that phrase and what it truly means intimately and fully over the last half year.  We are so grateful for His grace, His blessing, His undeserved goodness and His unwavering faithfulness.

We will begin some small renovations tomorrow with the help of my ever handy parents & the blog will soon be flooded with before and after pictures, DIY projects and the process of making this new house our home.  I am excited to be on this adventure and have my mom be actively involved in the process!  I can hardly contain my excitement for the first gathering of friends. 

Stay tuned for house updates!