It's funny. I had originally said, when I found out that Savannah would be "home" for us for a while, that I wanted it to be for just a season. Maybe 5 years. Kev can get the experience he needs at Gulfstream, and then we're booking it back to hometown. Yeah...so funny.
Home buying has been on our radar for quite some time now. In the beginning, we thought we would remain in Pooler for an extended period of time, so we began looking in the older part of town because it's well...old. And we're into that sort of thing when it comes to home stylings. Plus, at the time, I was teaching in Pooler, Kev was working at the airport (also in Pooler), and we really felt like the Lord had great things in store for our community. We are also super attached to some really great folks we do a lot of life with and have really grown to love. Deeply. So living in this city (Pooler) just made sense for our family.
Ever since we found out we were pregnant back in December, it seems like more and more we've been drawn to live in the city of Savannah. I am no longer tied to working in Pooler (since I'll be a SAHM for a while) and we've begun to spend a whole lot of time there. Kev has been playing volleyball at Daffin Park on Mondays for a long, long time, and we're now a part of a Village Group (missional community) with Eden Village Church that meets regularly in Savannah. We've dreamed of moving closer to the city someday, and the Lord began to make that dream a reality for us over the course of the past several months. He's confirmed our doing so time and time again.
So we bought a house.
I've always wanted to live on a numbered street. Why? It just sounds so Savannian! Don't you think? And well, it just so happens that our favorite part of Savannah (midtown) is chalk full of numbered streets. As we began our house search in the area, many of the ones we looked at were in fact on a numbered street. Sweet! So a few months after we found out we were expecting, we looked, and looked...and looked. Our realtor, Kassie (Brooks) Peterson, who is also a dear friend from hometown who moved down here with her military hubby, was the best. She was so proactive and helpful in helping us find a house in the location we desired at a price we could afford. She and Kevin did a lot of the talking and coordinating, and most days, I was literally just along for the ride :). Looking around at all of the different houses was a blast. I felt like I was on one of those HGTV shows I watch all the time! So fun.
In May, we eventually stumbled upon a fixer-upper home (on a numbered street I might add), that had a lot of potential. Somewhere in there. We were sure of it. So sure in fact, that we made an offer on the house and the whole process began. We had accepted the fact that a fixer-upper was probably what we could afford right now. You know, get it up to par and at least ready to move into and then we can finish and make it feel more like "home" over the course of the following months or even years. All the while, crossing our fingers that the Property Brothers would come to town, meet us, and turn this house into our dream home. As you can imagine, that totally didn't happen. But we were ready to tackle such a project. Truly we were. People thought we were crazy (and we probably were a little bit) for taking on something so intense with the pending birth of our son being so close, but we really felt that pursuing this house was exactly what we were meant to do. It's not the house we ended up getting, but I have no doubt that we were meant to pursue it.
I'll (briefly) explain:
We went under contract on the fixer-upper and began the negotiating. After much discussion back and forth on this rickety little place, our "reno" window of opportunity was steadily closing. Several days would pass at times before we'd hear anything back from the seller's realtor about how they felt about our offer and what step we should take next (a part of our frustrations, yet a part of God's orchestrations). Offers were made and accepted. Stipulations were put into place and turned down. Minds and prices changed. It was a whirlwind. And it wasn't long before the deadline passed at which Kev and I felt comfortable with moving forward with such a project before Nolan's expected arrival. Meanwhile, Kassie, Kevin, and I began looking at other houses in order to continue our search should that other house fall through. And fall through it did. We made the decision to terminate that contract and pursue another all in the same day. All while standing in the living room of the house we now call "home."
There we were. Two people, disappointed that the other house hadn't worked out, but standing in a move-in ready home that probably would have been out of our financial reach and off of our radar had we not pursued the other. By now, it's practically mid-June. What finances we had intended to use for renovations, we could now use as a down payment on the home of our dreams. Was this really happening?! HOW was this happening?! So, we took a (giant) leap of faith and decided to make an offer on the newly discovered, waiting-to-be-lived-in, built-in-1951 home. We entered a bit of a bidding war (so HGTV-ish) and won, and so the waiting game commenced...once again. But I'll never forget the night the bidding war took place. The sellers had asked each buyer who had shown interest in the house (us and one other party) to put forth their best and final offer. Naturally, we felt a little overwhelmed at the unknown and feared making the wrong decision. But we knew what we felt comfortable paying and decided to stick to our guns. I will forever remember the prayer my husband prayed after we finished relaying the information to Kassie and got off the phone. He poured out his heart (and vicariously my own) about our desires for this home. His prayer wasn't about our desires to have a building to own or a place to call home. Our apartment provided just that. Instead, his prayer reiterated our desire for space to serve and to love and to get to know our neighbors in a community we truly believe we are meant to be a part of. Instead of asking the Lord to "give us this house" as I would have so easily prayed, Kevin recalled time after time after time when the Lord has been faithful in our lives. "Lord, you were faithful...*fill in the blank*...." Why should we doubt his faithfulness now? And so we rested. Literally. And reveled in the fact that our God is faithful. Whether we got the house or not.
The next morning, we found out that our bid had beaten the other and so, we went under contract and began the part of the process where we...you guessed it...wait. We set a closing date and closed ON TIME (a miracle in and of itself in the home-buying world, so I'm told). And as of just shy of a week ago, that beautiful little home on that adorably numbered street became our own.
Lord, you are faithful.
We've spent every day at the new house (along with some really great friends and family) cleaning and painting and preparing for our big move this weekend. I am *finally* able to begin working on Baby N's nursery, and have spent much of my time there propping up my swollen feet and being encouraged by the company and conversation we've already had within those walls.
I'm overwhelmed with thankfulness, and I can't wait to begin making that house our home. Although, I think it's already become that for us.
Welcome home.
I never want to forget this story. And I never want to forget that God is so good and so much to us.
Including our Provider.
Home buying has been on our radar for quite some time now. In the beginning, we thought we would remain in Pooler for an extended period of time, so we began looking in the older part of town because it's well...old. And we're into that sort of thing when it comes to home stylings. Plus, at the time, I was teaching in Pooler, Kev was working at the airport (also in Pooler), and we really felt like the Lord had great things in store for our community. We are also super attached to some really great folks we do a lot of life with and have really grown to love. Deeply. So living in this city (Pooler) just made sense for our family.
Ever since we found out we were pregnant back in December, it seems like more and more we've been drawn to live in the city of Savannah. I am no longer tied to working in Pooler (since I'll be a SAHM for a while) and we've begun to spend a whole lot of time there. Kev has been playing volleyball at Daffin Park on Mondays for a long, long time, and we're now a part of a Village Group (missional community) with Eden Village Church that meets regularly in Savannah. We've dreamed of moving closer to the city someday, and the Lord began to make that dream a reality for us over the course of the past several months. He's confirmed our doing so time and time again.
So we bought a house.
I've always wanted to live on a numbered street. Why? It just sounds so Savannian! Don't you think? And well, it just so happens that our favorite part of Savannah (midtown) is chalk full of numbered streets. As we began our house search in the area, many of the ones we looked at were in fact on a numbered street. Sweet! So a few months after we found out we were expecting, we looked, and looked...and looked. Our realtor, Kassie (Brooks) Peterson, who is also a dear friend from hometown who moved down here with her military hubby, was the best. She was so proactive and helpful in helping us find a house in the location we desired at a price we could afford. She and Kevin did a lot of the talking and coordinating, and most days, I was literally just along for the ride :). Looking around at all of the different houses was a blast. I felt like I was on one of those HGTV shows I watch all the time! So fun.
In May, we eventually stumbled upon a fixer-upper home (on a numbered street I might add), that had a lot of potential. Somewhere in there. We were sure of it. So sure in fact, that we made an offer on the house and the whole process began. We had accepted the fact that a fixer-upper was probably what we could afford right now. You know, get it up to par and at least ready to move into and then we can finish and make it feel more like "home" over the course of the following months or even years. All the while, crossing our fingers that the Property Brothers would come to town, meet us, and turn this house into our dream home. As you can imagine, that totally didn't happen. But we were ready to tackle such a project. Truly we were. People thought we were crazy (and we probably were a little bit) for taking on something so intense with the pending birth of our son being so close, but we really felt that pursuing this house was exactly what we were meant to do. It's not the house we ended up getting, but I have no doubt that we were meant to pursue it.
I'll (briefly) explain:
We went under contract on the fixer-upper and began the negotiating. After much discussion back and forth on this rickety little place, our "reno" window of opportunity was steadily closing. Several days would pass at times before we'd hear anything back from the seller's realtor about how they felt about our offer and what step we should take next (a part of our frustrations, yet a part of God's orchestrations). Offers were made and accepted. Stipulations were put into place and turned down. Minds and prices changed. It was a whirlwind. And it wasn't long before the deadline passed at which Kev and I felt comfortable with moving forward with such a project before Nolan's expected arrival. Meanwhile, Kassie, Kevin, and I began looking at other houses in order to continue our search should that other house fall through. And fall through it did. We made the decision to terminate that contract and pursue another all in the same day. All while standing in the living room of the house we now call "home."
There we were. Two people, disappointed that the other house hadn't worked out, but standing in a move-in ready home that probably would have been out of our financial reach and off of our radar had we not pursued the other. By now, it's practically mid-June. What finances we had intended to use for renovations, we could now use as a down payment on the home of our dreams. Was this really happening?! HOW was this happening?! So, we took a (giant) leap of faith and decided to make an offer on the newly discovered, waiting-to-be-lived-in, built-in-1951 home. We entered a bit of a bidding war (so HGTV-ish) and won, and so the waiting game commenced...once again. But I'll never forget the night the bidding war took place. The sellers had asked each buyer who had shown interest in the house (us and one other party) to put forth their best and final offer. Naturally, we felt a little overwhelmed at the unknown and feared making the wrong decision. But we knew what we felt comfortable paying and decided to stick to our guns. I will forever remember the prayer my husband prayed after we finished relaying the information to Kassie and got off the phone. He poured out his heart (and vicariously my own) about our desires for this home. His prayer wasn't about our desires to have a building to own or a place to call home. Our apartment provided just that. Instead, his prayer reiterated our desire for space to serve and to love and to get to know our neighbors in a community we truly believe we are meant to be a part of. Instead of asking the Lord to "give us this house" as I would have so easily prayed, Kevin recalled time after time after time when the Lord has been faithful in our lives. "Lord, you were faithful...*fill in the blank*...." Why should we doubt his faithfulness now? And so we rested. Literally. And reveled in the fact that our God is faithful. Whether we got the house or not.
The next morning, we found out that our bid had beaten the other and so, we went under contract and began the part of the process where we...you guessed it...wait. We set a closing date and closed ON TIME (a miracle in and of itself in the home-buying world, so I'm told). And as of just shy of a week ago, that beautiful little home on that adorably numbered street became our own.
Lord, you are faithful.
We've spent every day at the new house (along with some really great friends and family) cleaning and painting and preparing for our big move this weekend. I am *finally* able to begin working on Baby N's nursery, and have spent much of my time there propping up my swollen feet and being encouraged by the company and conversation we've already had within those walls.
I'm overwhelmed with thankfulness, and I can't wait to begin making that house our home. Although, I think it's already become that for us.
Welcome home.
I never want to forget this story. And I never want to forget that God is so good and so much to us.
Including our Provider.
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Matthew 6:26-34
We can't wait to visit y'all in your cute new house!!!! So ecstatic for y'all!!!
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness, what a wonderful story. I am so glad you wrote it down so you can always remember His faithfulness! Congratulations on finding a place to call your own, in beautiful Savannah!! How marvelous! Thrilled for you three and the sweet journey you're on! God is good ALL THE TIME. And your new home is seriously so beautiful. Oh what fun!!!
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