Going Through Our Days: Finding a Home

There has been so much to post about that I just haven't gotten around to doing. Way back in May when we decided to move from NJ to MN we knew that God had plans for our family. We decided to move without Hubs having a job, without our NJ house selling, without our family having a home in MN. We knew that God had a plan for us and we were just going to trust in Him.

In the beginning of May Hubs found out about a Youth Director position open in a church in ND (only 45 minutes from his family). He decided he was going to send in a resume and see what happened. He has always been interested in youth work and has been talking more and more about wanting to get more serious with it. He was super frustrated with his job and wanted a job that made a difference.

Hubs sent in his professional resume and his youth volunteer resume. He got a call back and had a Skype interview towards the end of May. We had such a peace about this position. We continued to pray about and continued to pack up our house. Right away the church search committee said they would like to do a face to face interview. We set it up for after our move (since it was coming so quickly).

Right after Hubs gave his resignation letter to his current job he had an amazing idea pop into his head. He talked to his boss about possibly working part time remotely from MN. We were shocked and relieved when they said that would be great. Knowing that there would be some income was a big weight off our shoulders.

July 6th we piled in the car and moved our family. We knew that we were going to be living with Hubs parents for some time. A week after moving Hubs had his second interview. L and I got to tag along for this. We had such a nice time walking through the two church campuses and visiting with the pastors. After the interview, on our 45 minute drive back to his parents house we prayed about the position.

We were so excited when Hubs received the call letter from the church. It took us almost 2 weeks to accept the call for different reasons but were thrilled when we were finally able to tell the church Hubs accepted.

For the last two weeks we have been trying to find a home for our family. This has been a very frustrating, overwhelming task. Hubs took most of the brunt of this. He would spend hours after his morning working hours searching for a place for us to live. He found some amazing houses that we were totally interested in renting. Apparently there are A LOT of scams out there. House listing after house listing after house listing was a scam. There was one house listing that Hubs contacted and the guy said he was out of the country. He told Hubs that he could drive by the house if he wanted to and then Hubs could send in the application and deposit check. Hubs decided to drive by. When he saw cars in the driveway he thought, hmm, I think I will knock and see if they will show me the house. When the lady answered and the house was full with furniture he decided to ask her if she owned the house... long story short... someone else put her house on craigslist so they could scam someone out of the deposit and possibly their identity through the application information.

We came across many of those scams. We also came across some beautiful apartments, town homes, twin homes, and houses. We always had the same problem with those places.....

This guy. This incredibly laid back, easy going, calm, non barking dog is a PIT BULL. Yup that's right, a bully breed. There is NO WHERE that accepts bully breeds. I totally understand, but FRUSTRATING! I think we were more frustrated with houses that were for rent that allowed dogs but not OUR dog.

Now, if you follow my blog at all, or if you know us personally than you know that we have already gotten rid of one dog. We had to find a new home for my dog Sota. You can find that story here. Now, you also would know that I don't like dogs. Actually I'm afraid of dogs. You would know that I don't want a dog. I can't stand dog hair, dog smell, dog anything. However, I just couldn't stomach the idea of getting rid of Jersey.

He is so easy. This is what he does - all day, every day. I let him out in the morning to do his business then I bring him back in and feed him and I don't have to let him out again until after he eats dinner at night. I will let him out if we go out to play or if he 'asks' me. However, there is no maintenance with this guy.

AND I know that if we got rid of him my boys would NOT get over it.

We looked at a lot of dirty gross disgusting places because those were places that would allow Jersey. Ugh I'm getting the shivers just thinking about some of the places... yuck!

Hubs finally came across a nice place for us. A beautiful town home that had two floors, three bedrooms, lots of space, and a back yard. He came home after seeing it and was just beaming. He had ideas of how we would set all of furniture up. The next day the lady called him and said, oh sorry I didn't realize you said pitt bull. UGH! Talk about disappointment.

At that point my mom and Hubs parents told us that maybe it's time to think about getting rid of Jersey, finding a home is more important than the dog, there are plenty of farms around that might happily take him, etc. I told my mom that God must have a better place in mind for us and that I'm confident He will show us ... He brought us this far.

Haha, Hubs said he looks like a seal here and now I can't stop laughing at the picture.

I could keep telling you stories about our search, but I think I might bore you. So I will get to the good stuff.

On Thursday Hubs went to the church to his first meeting at his new job. While there he lined up a couple more places to see. Last week Hubs sister told us about a friend that was thinking about renting out their place but as she continued to talk about it it sounded like they really didn't want to so we didn't look into it further. The home owner contacted Hubs sister's Hubs to get our phone number. He called Hubs on Thursday while he was at his meeting. Hubs wasn't going to call him back because he just assumed it wouldn't be worth it. When we were talking on the phone during a break I told him he should just call him and see what is going on. He hemmed and hawed about it but decided to call.

Hubs called me right back and said that I would probably be mad at him because now he was going to stay until 6 when he could see the house. I asked him if it was even worth seeing? He said he did't know, they didn't talk about the house or anything, but just said they would get together to see it and talk.

I was pretty upset that he was going to stay out later, especially with not knowing what he was going to see. Was he going to another gross house. Was he going to be wasting his evening when he could be home helping me? Ugh.

NO!! Not another gross house! NO!! Not a waste of an evening!

They talked about details. They talked about possibilities. They talked about life. They talked about future. They talked about missions work. They talked about youth work. They talked. He had such a nice time visiting.

Hubs came home talking up this house. He was telling me how perfect it would be for us. How perfect it would be for youth to come over. I have complete trust in my husband and he knows what I like, but we have seen so many gross homes and so many nice ones that were pulled out from under us that I couldn't help but think that he was exaggerating because it was a house and they would allow our dog.

We all decided that it would be good to bring me over to see it. We went last night for a quick look. Our quick look turned into a two hour visit. It was so nice sitting and getting to know the people whose home we are going to care for.

Can I tell you how perfect this house is!!!! I can't wait to post about it! We get to move in September 8th. It's later than we wanted. We were hoping to be in a house before September. Hubs is officially starting at the church September 1st so he will commute for the first week. He wasn't thrilled about that but when we thought about it it's no more than what he use to do every day for the last 5 years, one week wouldn't make or break the situation.