We are almost three weeks into our new home. What a blessing it is. We love our new place. it has so much character and the location is amazing! We could not be more satisfied. There is a really cool back story to getting this home. Well, it wasn't very cool at the time but now, looking back, we are so thankful for God's hand at work in our lives. It was in January that Shelly and I decided to look for a home to purchase. We were ready to start a family and we were renting on the Hill, which is more than a mortgage itself, and it began to feel like we were taking cash each month and throwing it into the trash can. So we decided it was time to make an investment since we both felt like we would be around these parts for a while. We searched and searched and learned everything there was to know about home buying and foreclosures. We put an offer on one home that Shelly and I absolutely loved and lost it. Then we searched again, all the while hoping we would find one before the first-time home buyers deadline. We were on a mission. Finally we found one that seemed to be a good fit for us. We got the contract and prepared for the 30 day waiting period to get all the paperwork in line. After the 30 days we waited and waited and signed two more extensions making it 40 days. You can imagine the waiting period. We had to move out of our place so the next tenants could move in so we were homeless for what we thought was going to be only a couple days. After the second extension we found out that the house was not able to be sold because the owners did not pay off their second mortgage. Are you kidding me? At this point we had already unpacked all of our stuff into the garage of the new house. Now we had to rent another truck, pack up all our belongings again, and find storage to keep our stuff until we found another home. Unfortunately now the deadline was over for the tax benefit. Nothing was going our way. We doubted our process and wondered if we totally missed God. Then we found out that the first home we put a contract on, the one we thought we really wanted, had become available again because the people had a problem securing the loan. We couldn't believe it. We thought for sure this was God working on our behalf. So we put yet another contract on the house and waited and waited. After two weeks of waiting we found out that they gave it to someone else without even contacting us back for a counter or final offer. We were devastated. How could this be happening? We decided to stop looking because the whole deal took a toll on us physically and emotionally. We did not know what we were going to do but we did know that we were done searching for homes. After a few weeks our realtor emailed us about a property that he had seen and thought it would be worth us looking at. He thought it was a great home that was priced well below its worth. We shot him down and said we were not interested. The next day we felt like driving by the property just to confirm that we should not be interested. Well, we took a look and became interested. To make this long story short we made an offer along with four other people. After making a final offer we got the contract. What's even more ironic is we moved into the house two days after my surgery. Well, our family moved us in two days after my surgery. After all was said and done we were homeless for more than 90 days, we missed the $8,000 tax credit, and our settlement fell on the day after my surgery. I know, sounds crazy right? However, the house is the best location of all the homes we saw, it's $90,000 cheaper than the last house we had a contract on, Shelly will be able to stay at home with the children if she wants to, and we got this home after we got out of the way and let God do what He wanted to do.
If we are honest our human nature desires to gravitate to logic. We think if it's not logic it's not of God right? Well our story goes against all logic and believe me I thought we made the wrong decisions because of it. But then I read the Bible and nothing in the Bible is logical.  God brought us an amazing gift in a home and an amazing story to go with it when we stopped trying to make it happen and removed ourselves from the equation. Not only did we get a great deal out of all of this but we also learned a great lesson that we will take with us for many years to come. I hope this post challenges and encourages you in your life. Always remember, it may not look like the way you think it should. Leave that part up to God.