I thought about just including this in our
December update but, as I began to think of all I wanted to share, I decided it
warranted a separate update. We knew
that 2012 would bring the first thoughts of selling our house and beginning of
realizations that we would be leaving Charleston in the near future. However, we had no idea just how amazingly
God would provide.
With
the council of several people, talking with our realtor, and lots of prayer, we
decided that putting our house on the market at the beginning of November would
be the best decision for our family.
That would give us plenty of time to sell and make plans for where to go
afterward. We had this whole ideal plan
in our minds of how God would work it out and, though He still worked wonders,
they were above and beyond our expectations.
Thankfully He knows best!
We
listed the house November 6th, got an offer on the house December 12th,
and accepted the offer December 12th knowing it meant we had until
December 31st to find a place to live. Not only did we have only until the 31st,
but all contingencies would not be dropped until the 26th so we
couldn’t be sure we were moving until then, crazy! We were incredibly excited about the house
sale and the Lord’s provision so quickly, though we were a bit concerned
initially that everything would work out and we would be able to find a place
to stay. However, we made a decision
early on to trust that the Lord would provide, especially since he had provided
so perfectly for us so far (as well as in the past). It was so encouraging and we know the Lord
was working through our church too because the pastor was preaching all month
about trusting the Lord with our futures even when we don’t know what they
hold. We have had to do this A LOT and
we still are continuing to since we know we will on be in SC until July. Thankfully God is the most reliable one to
place trust in!
So
we began the apartment search (and a few townhomes) thinking that an apartment
would be our best choice for cost and then we could just store everything that
didn’t fit in a storage until. We
finished our first weekend of looking convinced we were going to stay in a 2
bedroom apartment and had already priced storage. A few days later when I was filling out the application
for the apartment, I felt like I should look at our numbers again and check out
the spreadsheet that Ben made of all the places we had checked out (I totally know
this was a God-thing that I did this).
I happened to see there was one place just 5 min
down the road that Ben hadn’t been able to get in touch with so I figured it
couldn’t hurt to check out what they had online. I noticed that they had cheaper apartments
and they also offered a 3 bedroom townhome with an attached garage that would
fit all of our stuff in it potentially so we wouldn’t need a storage unit. When Ben got home from work, I suggested we
head out to check it out. The apartment
was nice, but the townhome was perfect for what we needed. We both left there realizing that was the
best choice, but we still had a week left in the contingency on the house so we
were left with a decision.
We talked with my parents, our realtor, and
prayed about it for a few days.
Ultimately we decided to take a step in faith and go ahead and put a
deposit on the townhome (it was the only one that would be ready in time) and
make plans to move the 29th.
We didn’t know for sure, but again we were trusting in the Lord’s
provision and thankfully he is the perfect provider.
My parents arrived a few days before Christmas
and we enjoyed time with them, but spent the evenings packing a few boxes in preparation
for the move. Then on the 26th
we got the go ahead that the sale would be going through as planned and we
began 3 days of hardcore packing to get ready for our move on Saturday. Another huge blessing that was totally
orchestrated by the Lord was that my parents had already planned to be visiting
for Christmas before the house even went on the market and so they were here to
help with the move. We would have been
able to do it on our own, but having their help made it much less stressful.
We were a little concerned that Ben, my mom, and
my dad would be doing a lot of lifting (I wasn’t allowed) because many of the
people we would ordinarily ask weren’t in town and we hadn’t heard
confirmations from very many people that they were coming. Boy did God bless us again! We had our Darien, Danielle, Lance, Lance’s
father-in-law (doesn’t even know us), Lance’s son, Brett, and Brett’s
father-in-law (again doesn’t even know us) all show up that morning to help. We had way more help that we could have even
imagined and the best part was that my mom was able to watch Alethea so I could
direct where things went and finish up some small packing of last minute
things, and my dad didn’t have to risk hurting his back at all (he just helped
with the puzzle of packing the truck).
God is way too good to us! To say
the least, we were feeling beyond blessed this day!
With my parents help, we were able to get a lot
unpacked and get settled in those first couple of days in the house. We even went to church, though a bit like
zombies, but we couldn’t miss the chance to worship the God who has provided so
well for us. Monday morning December 31st
rolled around and we were all set to close at 2. I haven’t been to many closings, but this one
had to be quick (barely 10 minutes). The
buyers weren’t there and they were paying in cash so everything went super
quick and, to top off all the blessings, we walked away with just shy of 300
dollars at closing. I don’t know if that
would be considered profit in everyone’s eyes, but to us it was and is a huge
blessing given this housing market! (We
think it truly is profit, but there is no need to get into numbers of why.J)
Sorry that was so long, but I just had to make
sure to share the amazing blessings we experienced surrounding our house
sale. I am so glad we serve such a great
God!
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