How Did You Find Your House? Tell Me Your Stories…
Has this ever happened for you?
I have been told many times, that when you find the right house, you will "just know".
What do you think?
Has that been your experience?
I would like to hear about your home-finding experiences…Did you find the perfect house? Did angels sing for you? Or did you just find a house, and make it perfect for you over time? Maybe you found an awful house, but you still knew you were supposed to live there for some reason? Maybe you don't think there is such a thing as the "right" house? Maybe your right house quickly turned into the wrong house?
I want to learn from your experiences.
I love, love, LOVE hearing about house stories, good and bad.
Will you tell me your stories…pretty please?
Mari, I've had both kinds of experiences - angels and making it work. but I'll tell you the story of finding a house when we moved to Alaska. We were moving 4 kids - three of them teens and they weren't necessarily thrilled about the idea of leaving friends, school, etc. So I prayed that we would find a place to live that would make the transition easier for them. Beyond that, I looked at only houses that met our minimum requirements, i.e. 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, close to work, etc.. The house I settled on fit all the criteria - but I didn't hear angels singing, In fact, there were 2 houses within the same area that would work. The answer to my prayers was: "your choice." Once we moved in, the kids all found friends quickly in our new ward - the transition was easy for them - my prayers were answered. My suggestion? Look for and pray about a house that will work for your family and where you can help grow "The Kingdom" and you will end up where you need to be, then you make that the perfect place for you!
ReplyDeleteGood advice from Laurie...
ReplyDeleteWhen we bought our house in Arizona, we didn't hear angels singing...in fact, we tried to back out, but we had signed a contract. It didn't speak to us very much, because it was just a spot of land in the desert far out of town at the time. There were about five model homes (five floor plans) with some options for the outside and colors on the inside. We picked a four bedroom model that had room for a pool table in the family room. Even though these were tract homes, they all had about 3/4 of an acre. We customized it over the years and loved living there. We loved the friends we made (still our friends today) and the ward in the area. But when we left to go to Alaska, we were not heartbroken and realized that it was just a place and it was time for a new adventure.
When we bought our house in Alaska, it was about the only one available with the number of bedrooms we needed. The interest rate was terrible, then the economy in Alaska crashed and it often seemed a great burden because the value went down and we couldn't refinance it. But we worked on it...as you well know...and tried to make it an enjoyable place where our kids would want to bring their friends instead of going to someone else's house. But we left it again when we were in Samoa and went on to a new adventure. In a sense, we have been homeless since 2001, never owning a house or having a place with a rocking chair on the porch for all our grandkids to come and visit. We thought some other things would work out, but we're where the Lord can use us (he probably could have used us in other places)...and if he can use us some time in the future, we'll go where we need to go...but we always try to make some choices ourselves because there are so many places to serve.
There are no perfect houses except in the world to come and I suspect that we will be continuing to work on those. As Laurie said...think about where you can grow the Kingdom which may be outside your comfort zone...
Sorry to be so wordy.... Dad
Home is where the heart is. And where the dirty dishes are.
ReplyDeleteThis was written by me, Charles. Mari would never say this.
DeleteLong story....my husband had been looking for a teaching job for 2 summers and it was getting close to the start of the school year again. We were living in Emmett at the time and he had an interview in Nevada. I really wanted him to get a job but I also really didn't the Boise area because our daughter is buried here. So I decided to fast every Sunday for 6 weeks (because that's when schools were starting and it would be very unlikely that he get a teaching job after that). So I fasted that I would know that whatever happened would be best and that if we were supposed to stay in Idaho that I would know. Well after the 6 weeks were up, I came home after a meeting one night and my husband was looking at houses online, and actually suggested that we try to buy a house, which was so out of the ordinary for him. So we started looking and our choices were very limited. He had a fairly low paying job but there were a few houses in our price range that we looked at. Nothing was working out. There was one house that had been on the market for 6 months that I wanted to look at but my husband didn't really want to. We went and looked and it was crazy nasty inside and smelled terrible! When we got back in the car I said I wanted to offer on it. My husband thought I was crazy! He agreed to offer but for 5000 less than the asking price (which was already pretty low). They accepted the offer and after the appraisal we actually got the house for 15,000 less than it was listed for, spent some money and lots of elbow grease to make it livable and couldn't be happier. (It doesn't stink anymore...!) We love Middleton and can't imagine living anywhere else right now. And then my husband ended up with a teaching job in the area the next year. We can't attribute our blessings to any source but the Lord. We comment on it to each other all the time.
ReplyDeleteI have yet to have an angels singing, this is the one moment. Both of our houses have come along at the right time when we needed them. We feel like we were there for a reason but not because they were the house of our dreams. As your know our house now is larger than the first, in a cul-da-sac and in our same school/ward. That is what made it appealing. As far as the actual house I don't love it. The floor-plan isn't my favorite and the yard is tiny. It isn't my dream home. I would much rather have a home with a basement on a large lot for my 4 boys to run around like crazy and not bother the neighbors. Technically we could stay here and make it work but I do find myself daydreaming of a home with lots of room and land like the one I grew up in. I don't know how many people actually live in their dream home. To get closer to a home I'd love we'd have to leave this area...which we love. There will always be give and take. Nothing will be perfect. People just make there house become there home and it works.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments! And thanks for those of you who emailed me your stories! I will write about some observations I have had from reading them… it really helps me feel things out from hearing the experiences of others. THANKS!
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