Part 1- We have moved a lot in the past 8 years of our marriage. 1 house and 4 apartments. We have moved 4 times because of my health issues. Mold or allergens in our home or apartments that made it impossible for me to live there. I have lived at our good friends house 4 different times for months at a time (thanks Ryan and Lisa) because our home was not healthy for me to be in. So we are a more than a little scared of moving into a home that has any potential of making me sick.
Our church decided to sell its parsonage last year. We were excited about the possibility of buying this as our home. It was in the neighborhood, had an amazing yard, and was clean. We were in the process of potentially buying this home for a long time, November of last year through May. I now know this process was part of God preparing us for his plan, but the time it was very frustrating. We did not understand why things were not working out if God wanted us to live in the neighborhood. The end of April Henry and Jacque called and asked us to have dinner (We partner with Henry and Jacque for teen ministry). They wanted to talk to us about buying the house next door to them. We went to dinner because we love Henry and Jacque but I told Nic "We are NOT buying that house...There is no way we are buying the burned house with a hole in the roof!"..I tell you this just to let you know how insistent I was that we were not going to buy the house. We were having dinner from my favorite taco stand :) and throughout the dinner God was changing my heart. I listened to Henry talk about the idea of us living next door. How we could establish a Christian community (living in intentional Christian community has always been my desire) and how we could support each other.. and God worked in my heart. And there was the matter of the house itself. Since it was a disaster, it had a fire and was open to the elements for 3 years, the whole thing had to be gutted and rebuilt. This meant that even though right now it was moldy and dangerous for me it could be cleaned out and made mold and allergy free. I left the dinner and told Nic.. I think we should buy that house. This was the same week we found out that the parsonage would no longer be a possibility. God clearly made a way!
We decided to try to buy the house. But there were some obstacles. In part two I will tell you about that and post some pictures of the house.
Our church decided to sell its parsonage last year. We were excited about the possibility of buying this as our home. It was in the neighborhood, had an amazing yard, and was clean. We were in the process of potentially buying this home for a long time, November of last year through May. I now know this process was part of God preparing us for his plan, but the time it was very frustrating. We did not understand why things were not working out if God wanted us to live in the neighborhood. The end of April Henry and Jacque called and asked us to have dinner (We partner with Henry and Jacque for teen ministry). They wanted to talk to us about buying the house next door to them. We went to dinner because we love Henry and Jacque but I told Nic "We are NOT buying that house...There is no way we are buying the burned house with a hole in the roof!"..I tell you this just to let you know how insistent I was that we were not going to buy the house. We were having dinner from my favorite taco stand :) and throughout the dinner God was changing my heart. I listened to Henry talk about the idea of us living next door. How we could establish a Christian community (living in intentional Christian community has always been my desire) and how we could support each other.. and God worked in my heart. And there was the matter of the house itself. Since it was a disaster, it had a fire and was open to the elements for 3 years, the whole thing had to be gutted and rebuilt. This meant that even though right now it was moldy and dangerous for me it could be cleaned out and made mold and allergy free. I left the dinner and told Nic.. I think we should buy that house. This was the same week we found out that the parsonage would no longer be a possibility. God clearly made a way!
We decided to try to buy the house. But there were some obstacles. In part two I will tell you about that and post some pictures of the house.
