Something I have discovered I DO NOT love to do...house hunt. Not my thing! I think it could be fun if we were looking to buy, but looking to rent is a big hassle. Everything from scams to not in our budget to wrong area, seemed to interfere with our house search. We went down July 4-5th with one place lined up to view. Just one! As we drove up to the property to look at it my heart sank. There is no nice way to put this, the place was a dump. It looked good on paper. On paper only. We drove away discouraged. We prayed for God to direct our next steps. We really had to find something on Friday if at all possible to avoid another trip down before the end of the month.
We decided to drive to apartment complexes and just ask them what they had available in our time frame and in our budget. After 2 complexes, we were feeling even more discouraged. They had nothing available in our price range. We stopped for lunch and took a deep breath. We were racking our brains for what to do next, and still praying. During this time we thought that maybe, just maybe, we could downsize to a 2 bedroom apartment for a year while we look for a home to buy. This idea had crossed our minds on several occasions previously, but we weren't sure if it was possible. Also during this time we were waiting to meet with a lady concerning her home that was further out than we wanted to live, but doable. Since we had time to kill before the meeting, I told Aaron we should try just one more apartment complex, and I had a specific one in my head. So we drove there. We went in and told the lady we needed a 2 or 3 bedroom apartment, and asked if there were any available. She informed us that they don't have 3 bedroom apartments, but that they had a couple 2 bedroom apartments available in our time frame AND in our budget!! Actually,
below our budget. I could feel the weight lifting off my shoulders as she was talking. I was praising the Lord, and wondering why I wasn't just trusting Him all along instead of worrying. I could see Aaron was feeling really good about it as well. We looked at the model, and asked a couple questions and then we left. We barely walked out the doors when we knew this would be our next home. We conversed briefly, filled out the application, got the money order, and turned it all in.
We drove away praising the Lord for directing our steps to this place. He knew where we would end up, He knew all along! We had a lesson in trust throughout this process for sure. God has NEVER failed to provide for us, so why oh why did I stress out about it??? I am ashamed to admit my lack of resting in God's sovereign plan for my life. It is something I am continually working on.
So a 2 bedroom apartment!! (pending acceptance of application)!! Can we do it?? This is where my handy dandy love for cleaning, organizing and keeping "stuff" to a minimum comes in handy! I truly think we can do it!! I don't believe we have a choice now! I am up for the challenge :) I am not much of a sentimental person (sadly!...maybe?), but today I discovered some things that do hold sentimental value to me. I am just a wee bit sentimental. Like our coffee table that I put up for sale today. We bought it when we got married...it was one of our first brand new furniture purchases. As of right now it sits up against the wall (coffee tables are not really child friendly) and it has random things stacked on it. We don't need it currently, it isn't conducive to children, and it won't fit in our apartment. So it will be going to a new home, among other things.
Somehow by July 31st, we will be packed, loaded up, and this current home will be sparkling. Speaking of sparkling...I recently heard about Mr. Clean Magic Erasers and how awesome they are. I will let you all know if I agree with this after I give them a try. We have a couple areas that could certainly benefit from some "magic". We will be in our new 2 bedroom apartment learning how that is going to look/work.
We are so excited for this new chapter in our lives! Oklahoma will always have a special place in my heart, and I will miss it! But Texas also has a special place in my heart! For those praying for us, thank-you!
A few ways to pray for us in the up coming weeks:
-Pray that the application will go through fine (it should).
-Pray for the packing process. I love it!!, but it is much harder with 3 kids! Last time we moved we had no children.
-Pray for a smooth adjustment, especially for the kids.
-Pray for us to be creative with hospitality in our new place.
-Pray that we will trust and rest in the Lord's timing.
