A couple weeks ago I posted this note on Facebook to explain our current housing situation. For anyone who isn't up to date on what's going on with our family, this would be a good place to start. :) Here ya go:
Hi friends....
We have had a significant change in direction in the last couple of months and I wanted to fill you all in on it.... Most of our friends know that in February we relocated to the Northeast Neighborhood of Kansas City, MO, an urban neighborhood in the heart of the city where our church family has spent the last decade + investing in the community. We moved into a house that we were planning on buying (and are currently renting) from some friends who had moved out of state due to a job change. We were so sure that this house was what God had for us...and it HAS been what He's had for us.... but for a much shorter season than we anticipated. Due to some significant hold-ups in the process of getting all of the paperwork together to purchase the house, the interest rate on the type of loan that we were going to need in order to purchase the house went way UP... which put us at a place where our monthly payments, had we gone forward with the purchase of the home, would have been RIGHT at the brink of what we could afford....we could have "eeked by" with our payments that high, but we would not have had much margin in our finances at all, and this house needs several thousand dollars worth of work that we would have had a tough time figuring out how to afford/save up for with a payment that high.
Soooo... several weeks ago, with heavy hearts (because we LOVE so much about this house), we started looking at other houses in the neighborhood, just to see if the Lord wanted to open something else up for us....and, after a couple of weeks of looking, we found "OUR" house. It is probably 2/3 the size of this one, but it makes better use of space so actually has 5 bedrooms with a possible 6th bedroom, and 3 full baths. It is, ironically, on the same street we currently live on, just about 4 blocks south (closer to our church)...It was a "for sale by owner," so the funny thing is that we would not have FOUND this house had we not lived where we currently do, because it was not advertised online. The house is in GREAT shape and has been VERY well taken care of. It has a beautiful deck in the back and a great playground set that Isaac will love as he gets older. The roof, furnace, AC, windows, electric, kitchen, bathrooms, etc. are ALL new within the last 3 years (actually I think it's 5 years on the AC). All of the rehab is very well done. Our utility bills will be MUCH less expensive because of the new windows, AND there is an atic fan that does a GREAT job of pulling cool air through the entire house, which will save us even more. ANYway... I could go on... but suffice it to say that we are super excited about this house. We are currently under contract on it (I forgot to mention that it is significantly less expensive than what we would have paid on our current home, which brings our monthly payments WELL within the range of what is comfortable for us budget-wise) and we are set to close on or before July 25th, assuming all goes as expected with the appraisal process. God is good and knows exactly what we need....and then gives us what we WANT, too. Wow. We feel so blessed.
So... with all of that said... I've gotta say that this house that we have been renting from our friends has been a GREAT blessing to us and we have so enjoyed it. I will be sad to leave it but Stan and I feel so much peace about the direction God is leading us. So, in a few weeks, we will (sheepishly :) ) send out aNOTHER "We're moving - please help!" email to our wonderful church family... sigh... I can't believe we're moving again. :-/ Definitely have moments of frustration over that. But more than that I'm in awe of God's leadership and His goodness to us in this season. He is so faithful.
On a slightly different, but connected, subject, we are so excited that our friend Jerusha will be moving in with us in the near future! She is in our house church and we have been enjoying getting to know her...and have felt like the Lord wants us to pursue community with her on a more intentional level. Isaac loves her, WE love her, and we are just soooo looking forward to having her in our home. :) Our new casa has plenty of room.... she will actually have her own "mini-suite." :)
And THAT... is that. Questions? Shoot. :) Love to y'all.
