The rest of the Story...
Let's see...where did I leave off?? Oh, yes....FREE HOUSING!!
So, I am sitting in the Pastor's office and the President of the Bank here in town walks in and offers us a free house. That's right...FREE. "Come look at it tomorrow if you have time." So we agreed and went back to the chapel to accept the formal call to FBC Blytheville.
The next day was a full one. We had appointments to meet with the school principal and also look at some homes with a realtor plus look at the house that the bank was offering. We also had to make our plane at the Memphis airport (which is an hour from Blytheville). We started off our morning really early and made our many appointments then went to look at this free housing that we were offered. I was so excited, and in my mind I was thinking, "How bad can it be? It's free so some fixing up is to be expected...oh, and cleaning. But it's FREE right? I will keep an open mind."
When we drove up to the house I was excited. It is so cute. All the homes around here are super beautiful (or they were in their hay-day). All of them are 2 story with wrap around porches and columns and beautiful yards and lots of space. This one was just like that....it was a house you could only imagine would be super cute inside with lots of history. Well, the outside was really nice. Even the pictures on the internet made the house look livable. When we walked into the house I was tremendously let down...to say the least. I was still trying to keep an open mind.
"It's been vacant for a while and needs some work."
In my MIND I kept saying, "Some work? Are you kidding me? It needs to be gutted."
It wasn't horrible, but it was dirty and smelly and needed a complete overhaul. If we didn't have children I would've considered living in this home. It isn't in the greatest part of town, but in all the times I've driven by it looks pretty safe, and it's like a block from the church...within walking distance. It looked like it needed a complete electrical check and redo, the floors needed to be sanded and sealed, it needed new carpeting, it needed new windows, it needed new bathrooms and kitchen redo, it needed some work on the outside where the weather and trees had messed up the roof....it needed more work than we could have afforded to do ourselves (even with the Bank helping us). In my mind, again, I kept asking, "God, I said I would do anything and go anywhere, but this is putting my children in danger. What are You asking of me?"
I went on with this for a few more days. We hadn't completely omitted the idea of living in this home, but we were both concerned for our children. We couldn't possibly live in a house that most people would consider unsafe. We prayed...and asked God what to do.
A few days later we got a call from a very loving lady in FBC. She said, "I have a house on my farm that I will let you live in till you get your house sold. Have you found a place to stay yet?"
"No, and OMGSH...that would be greatness!"
"Well, I'm gonna get my lady to go in and clean and I will get the bedroom painted and new blinds and have someone come clean the carpets."
"Thank you so much."
A few more weeks went by and we settled most of our business in Port Neches. God provided a lady, literally on our doorstep, to buy our house. CONFIRMATION #2
We entered into contract with the buyer of our home and did all the inspections and such that are necessary to sell a house. Everything passed so we went forward.
One Sunday evening as we were waiting for the closing date to arrive we received a call from our buyer about some of the things she wanted done before move-in day. Somehow we got to a topic about appraisal and she said, "Well, we don't have to worry about that. I'm paying cash."
Ummm....excuse me? Did I hear you right? You mean we don't have to go through a financing institution to get an appraisal that might decrease the amount of money we will get for our house? You mean that we will not lose as much money on this house as we thought? OMGSH!!! CONFIRMATION #3
So, as we are sitting in our awe-struck state at how wonderful our God is we somehow got packed and moved 11 hours from our loving home. We were obviously scared out of our minds about what we were going to do about buying a house. Once we arrived in our new "home" the lady we rent from informed us that we will NOT need to pay rent on our temporary house. Are you kidding me? GOD, YOU ARE SO GOOD TO US!!! CONFIRMATION #4
So, are we meant to be in Blytheville? I would answer with a resounding Y-E-S!! Is there anywhere else I would rather be? Hmmm....as much as I miss my HBC church family and all my friends I have to say no. I would not rather be anywhere else.
Sometimes I wonder, "God, how will I know when You are speaking to me?"
Well, all I know is that God is loud. When you ask Him to speak He always comes through LOUD. I can assure you that I hear God's voice when He speaks. It's always a quiet whisper, but it's always a loud quiet whisper....LOL. If you have ever made a big move because God told you to then you know what that LOUD, QUIET WHISPER sounds like. It's not an oxymoron.
So, here we are in Blytheville. We have found a house to buy and we will be closing by the end of the month. I am anxious to get to a permanent house and unpack all my "stuff". We are not living meagerly, but most of my stuff is packed up in boxes lining my laundry room. Also, as much as I hate to say it, I AM NOT A COUNTRY GIRL. I tried it, and I have to say it's not for me. Living without the comforts of the city makes me feel spoiled, but I believe God knows that about me and has provided a nice home with a garage and amenities that He knew I wanted in a home. Once again, He has provided for our family. He is constant and loving. I just can't say enough how wonderful our Creator is to us. He knows my heart and hears my anxious thoughts. He calms me and gives me the answers my heart needs. Thank you, Lord, for knowing your servant and even providing for those little things that make me happy. You are truly One worthy of all the Glory.
Now, we embark upon Homeschooling. Ummm....that's a story for another time...lol.
So, I am sitting in the Pastor's office and the President of the Bank here in town walks in and offers us a free house. That's right...FREE. "Come look at it tomorrow if you have time." So we agreed and went back to the chapel to accept the formal call to FBC Blytheville.
The next day was a full one. We had appointments to meet with the school principal and also look at some homes with a realtor plus look at the house that the bank was offering. We also had to make our plane at the Memphis airport (which is an hour from Blytheville). We started off our morning really early and made our many appointments then went to look at this free housing that we were offered. I was so excited, and in my mind I was thinking, "How bad can it be? It's free so some fixing up is to be expected...oh, and cleaning. But it's FREE right? I will keep an open mind."
When we drove up to the house I was excited. It is so cute. All the homes around here are super beautiful (or they were in their hay-day). All of them are 2 story with wrap around porches and columns and beautiful yards and lots of space. This one was just like that....it was a house you could only imagine would be super cute inside with lots of history. Well, the outside was really nice. Even the pictures on the internet made the house look livable. When we walked into the house I was tremendously let down...to say the least. I was still trying to keep an open mind.
"It's been vacant for a while and needs some work."
In my MIND I kept saying, "Some work? Are you kidding me? It needs to be gutted."
It wasn't horrible, but it was dirty and smelly and needed a complete overhaul. If we didn't have children I would've considered living in this home. It isn't in the greatest part of town, but in all the times I've driven by it looks pretty safe, and it's like a block from the church...within walking distance. It looked like it needed a complete electrical check and redo, the floors needed to be sanded and sealed, it needed new carpeting, it needed new windows, it needed new bathrooms and kitchen redo, it needed some work on the outside where the weather and trees had messed up the roof....it needed more work than we could have afforded to do ourselves (even with the Bank helping us). In my mind, again, I kept asking, "God, I said I would do anything and go anywhere, but this is putting my children in danger. What are You asking of me?"
I went on with this for a few more days. We hadn't completely omitted the idea of living in this home, but we were both concerned for our children. We couldn't possibly live in a house that most people would consider unsafe. We prayed...and asked God what to do.
A few days later we got a call from a very loving lady in FBC. She said, "I have a house on my farm that I will let you live in till you get your house sold. Have you found a place to stay yet?"
"No, and OMGSH...that would be greatness!"
"Well, I'm gonna get my lady to go in and clean and I will get the bedroom painted and new blinds and have someone come clean the carpets."
"Thank you so much."
A few more weeks went by and we settled most of our business in Port Neches. God provided a lady, literally on our doorstep, to buy our house. CONFIRMATION #2
We entered into contract with the buyer of our home and did all the inspections and such that are necessary to sell a house. Everything passed so we went forward.
One Sunday evening as we were waiting for the closing date to arrive we received a call from our buyer about some of the things she wanted done before move-in day. Somehow we got to a topic about appraisal and she said, "Well, we don't have to worry about that. I'm paying cash."
Ummm....excuse me? Did I hear you right? You mean we don't have to go through a financing institution to get an appraisal that might decrease the amount of money we will get for our house? You mean that we will not lose as much money on this house as we thought? OMGSH!!! CONFIRMATION #3
So, as we are sitting in our awe-struck state at how wonderful our God is we somehow got packed and moved 11 hours from our loving home. We were obviously scared out of our minds about what we were going to do about buying a house. Once we arrived in our new "home" the lady we rent from informed us that we will NOT need to pay rent on our temporary house. Are you kidding me? GOD, YOU ARE SO GOOD TO US!!! CONFIRMATION #4
So, are we meant to be in Blytheville? I would answer with a resounding Y-E-S!! Is there anywhere else I would rather be? Hmmm....as much as I miss my HBC church family and all my friends I have to say no. I would not rather be anywhere else.
Sometimes I wonder, "God, how will I know when You are speaking to me?"
Well, all I know is that God is loud. When you ask Him to speak He always comes through LOUD. I can assure you that I hear God's voice when He speaks. It's always a quiet whisper, but it's always a loud quiet whisper....LOL. If you have ever made a big move because God told you to then you know what that LOUD, QUIET WHISPER sounds like. It's not an oxymoron.
So, here we are in Blytheville. We have found a house to buy and we will be closing by the end of the month. I am anxious to get to a permanent house and unpack all my "stuff". We are not living meagerly, but most of my stuff is packed up in boxes lining my laundry room. Also, as much as I hate to say it, I AM NOT A COUNTRY GIRL. I tried it, and I have to say it's not for me. Living without the comforts of the city makes me feel spoiled, but I believe God knows that about me and has provided a nice home with a garage and amenities that He knew I wanted in a home. Once again, He has provided for our family. He is constant and loving. I just can't say enough how wonderful our Creator is to us. He knows my heart and hears my anxious thoughts. He calms me and gives me the answers my heart needs. Thank you, Lord, for knowing your servant and even providing for those little things that make me happy. You are truly One worthy of all the Glory.
Now, we embark upon Homeschooling. Ummm....that's a story for another time...lol.
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