The House

We are so excited! One week from tomorrow, Amanda and I will close on our very first house. The situation could not have been more perfect for us.

Amanda and I began a leisurely search for houses back in November or so, very slowly at first. In fact, we weren’t really sure what we wanted to do earlier in the Fall. At the time, a move to a different apartment or a rental house were two options still on the table. I would say one of the biggest challenges was overcoming the social and economic pressure to buy a house. We were hearing things like “the housing market is at an all-time low and it is a ‘Buyer’s Market’”. I didn’t want to buy a house simply for that reason, but we figured we should start looking if we were going to make a decision one way or another.

Our criteria made our search more complicated than many. We both grew up (middle school and high school years anyway) in houses that sat on a couple of acres and were located out in the country. We quickly realized that this is a difficult thing to find in Madison and the difficulty was only compounded by our price range.

I’ll save you the boring details of the months of searching and skip to the end. We had one final viewing scheduled and were both about ready to give up. We told ourselves that we would just go see this last set of houses and then if nothing stood out to us, we would give up the search for a while and let the issue rest. As we pulled into the driveway of the first house on our list for the day, however, we both felt a certain excitement about the property we were about to view. Finally, we had found a house that wasn’t going to be a 45minute+ commute to and from work, was just the right size for a growing family, sat on a beautiful property, and just fell into our comfortable price range. All we had to do was get inside…

(if you are unable to view the pictures, you may need to visit www.theshoesnews.com for the original blog post)

We absolutely fell in love with this house. (Although not too much at first in case we didn’t get it… ha) Thankfully, the whole process has gone very smoothly and all we have left to do is close on the house next week.

I’ve found a lot of things follow this pattern in my life recently. Perhaps it’s simply that I am paying more attention now, but it seems as though God waits for me to fully submit before he’ll provide me with the answers I am seeking. I certainly never get an answer when I’ve already made up my mind without consulting Him. I guess you could see that as a frustration, but I’m learning to take comfort in His guidance. He is always faithful and I really wouldn’t want to move forward with these big life decisions without God’s blessing. I am confident that this house will be a blessing for Amanda and I and our family!

We are looking forward to throwing a massive house warming party and sharing this occasion with all of you!