Thursday, March 13, 2014

Our House

Seven years ago, Joel and I bought this cute little house in the city before we were married.

It had two little apartments and we had plans of living in one of the apartments and renting out the other. 

We came home from our honeymoon to a stack of gifts in the middle of an empty living room taller than us.

New beginnings are exciting in so many ways!

Since life always goes as planned, we soon found ourselves pregnant with Elijah and realizing our tiny one bedroom apartment wasn't going to fit a baby for long.

I have always dreamed of making our two unit home into one big house, as it was originally 165 years ago. But this was not the time.

So we adapted.

And by adapting I mean we cut a hole in our living room floor to make room for steps, and created a new, beautiful finished space in the basement for Elijah. 

Our cute little apartment grew by one room and our family grew by one cute little boy.

Fast forward a few years, 2 kids later and another on the way. 

After getting advice from friends who know the city well, we decided to open up the wall that separated one apartment from the other. 

And they became one. 

....ha.

But we had one big house and started using the entire space immediately.

Oh, the space! Oh, the freedom!

We have poured our blood, sweat and tears into this house. Literally.

We love this house.

But we started to feel like we should let go of this house.

For many reasons, but mostly, to stop pouring our time and money into a "thing," and pour all that time into our children.

And while both is an investment into our future, we were trusting that the equity in our house someday would pay for a house we really wanted. 

Our dream home.

While it is considered wise from a real estate perspective, we were not trusting that the Lord would provide, and that quite possibly, our dream home might also be something we were trusting should be ours someday.

So we started to pray about it.

For a year or two, we talked, prayed, talked some more, and decided to stay in the city a while longer.

But then this past fall we felt that it was time. We would start to finish the projects that were started and make it a goal to list our house this spring.

We still felt on and off about it for a while. 

We love this house.

I brought all my babies home to this house.

We had big dreams for this house. But they were our dreams. Not the Lords. And we felt it. 

So we started talking about the "where."
Where we would move? City, suburbs or the country?

We started noticing our kids when they had space to run. They soak it all in. 

They come alive

So we spent more time praying about it and processing what this would look like, but when we took our trip to New Hampshire a few weeks ago, it was confirmed in our hearts that we needed to leave the city.

It was time to sell our house.

So we discussed when we would sell it, what needed fixed up, etc.

We decided June or July sounded nice.

In the meantime, my brother and his wife told us they would be moving here. They looked at house after house, but not finding exactly what they hoped for.

{You can see where this is going}

When they heard we were officially selling, they told us they might be interested in our house!!

I didn't get my hopes up. It was too good.

But they started dreaming about making this house their own and the projects they would do

They started dreaming about this house. I love that. 

Plus... I GET TO STILL SEE MY HOUSE.

Well, their house (I promise, it will be yours!)

So it's settled. We signed all the papers this week.

We are moving out of this house and city. Sooner than planned, but that's the journey we are on, right? Trusting that His plans are better.

It's a really bittersweet move. I'll probably cry like a baby when we pull away from it. I love my neighbors, my community, this little slice of the city we call ours. I'll miss almost everything about city life.

But this is good.

I have full confidence that this is our next step. Change can be so hard sometimes. 

So with our house all but "sold," we are starting our own house search. We know we want to rent for an extended period of time to pay off debt, save, and not spend our time and money on a house.

For this season, we want to focus on our kids. On our family.

We are looking for a farm house with lots of space to run and play. Maybe some animals, maybe a dog. Maybe a garden.

(Maybe. I'm terrified of the black snakes around here. Does anything scare them away? Besides a mongoose or eagle, of course.)

So that's our journey, since so many have asked.
It's sudden to many people, but not to us. We have been processing this for a while. 

We are excited, frightened, sad and happy, but mostly excited. 

You can be praying for us during transition. We need to do a few more large projects around here, move, and find a place to live. So if you know of a farm house for rent, pass the info along to us!

You can pray for our children. They love our house and feel sad to move away from their neighbor friends. Elijah is especially fearful of stink bugs and skunks in the country. So pray for a place without those things. 

Kidding.

But do pray for his fears. I'm afraid he gets them from me.

...ha

I've been telling them that it's alright to be sad and a bit afraid of change, but that doesn't mean we don't do something we are afraid of. It's a good kind of afraid. 

We are all going to be walking through a season of change. Letting go of this house is a BIG change for us and it is a bit scary. 

I've been telling him it's alright to be scared and walk towards it in confidence that the Lord has led us to this point and He won't leave us homeless.

But we aren't alright with staying here out of fear. This is a decision of trust and surrender. 

And as scary as that sounds, we can have peace in the midst of being afraid. 

And often while I'm telling him these things, I know I need to do the same. 

So with a peaceful step forward...we are moving out of the familiar and into the unknown.

2 comments:

The Quiet Times of a Mom said...

I love your story. Keep at it, and keep trusting God.

Gedde Adventures said...

Praying, Kelly!