Answered Prayers

Monday was a holiday, so Tuesday the girls and I hit the ground running.  Home school, household chores, packing, going to the park - I kept every minute planned and was determined to make it work.  We had still not heard from the bank regarding the house, and we confirmed our new rights as 'tenants'.  Our anxiety subsided somewhat.  I had given it all back to God. It was amazing how many more smiles I saw from my girls with time spent reading, learning, playing, exploring, and even cleaning with their mommy.  It made this mommy feel better, too.

We were waiting to hear if the 'perfect' rental would 'choose' us. This rental market is so insane that we have had to compete with other families.  The landlady of the 'perfect' house said she would most likely let us know by Friday.  We waited. And Wednesday we got a call saying the house was ours to rent if we wanted it.  Yesterday we dropped off the deposit. We are NO LONGER looking. We have a place to live.

It will be several weeks before the rental property is ready, and we are now in no hurry since we have a place secured and have *never* heard from the bank.  God is faithful.  If you have been following you will remember the lengthy list of things we were praying for in regards for a place to live. We said it didnt have to be big enough or fancy enough, just safe enough.  We asked for no new carpet or paint, well water, room for our chickens and roosters as a minimum, in a safe location not too far from Daddy's work.  It had to be a house and not a mobile home.  We said it might be nice to have some established fruit trees, a place to put a swing, and Big Sis would like a puppy if possible.  Here is what He provided:

- 2 bedroom 1 bath with a 2 car garage and fancy outdoor storage building for extra furniture on enough acreage to have our chickens, roosters, and grow our flock
- well water to remove the issue of fluoride entirely
- no carpet in the entire house.  New paint will be at least 4 weeks old by the time we move in.  Floors are hard wood except for new pergo in the bedrooms.  This will out-gas so we will get a hepa filter, but it is much less toxic than conventional carpet.
- the kitchen is new. NEW. It has been gutted and is getting entirely new cabinets along with (probably) Corian counter tops. For a rental?!  Again, this will out gas, but thanks to the new situation with the bank we are in no hurry and plan to use a hepa filter to help anyways.  This rental will be free of any previous rental funk corn in the room that matters the most!
- an additional 20 minutes added to Daddy's commute time making it a total of 40 minutes. Very reasonable.
- established trees and several fruit trees we have access to.
-no dogs allowed. But Big Sis is ok with that and the possibility of an outdoor cat later on.

In addition, we asked that we find something for no more than $1000 a month, and truly that was laughable. While we were panicking and trying to squeeze more out of our budget for a monthly rental amount, God had it all worked out.

Not only is this home $1000 a month, but being on a well eliminates water cost, and the landlords pay for garbage.  That means that we not only were blessed with the price range we prayed for and felt we could afford, but we were gifted less utility expenses!

Many times in the past 10 years I have been pummeled with the reality of unanswered prayers, and consoled myself with how God always has something better.  One year ago we felt God calling us to make a move that was uncomfortable, scary and entirely new.  We stepped out of the boat and said we would do what He called.  We outlined visions of farm animals and feeding Ellie and eventually feeding others in need.  With the help of friends praying us through we waited to see what God would do.  God was faithful (why did we doubt?).  He showed that He *is* taking care of us, and that He has an amazing plan ahead.  And we are EXCITED.

Every one of us is embracing the change.  Daddy and I know we will be walking the path we are called to walk and feel incredibly privileged.  Big Sis has been begging to live on a farm since she could talk.  And Ellie.......Ellie will probably have some typical 3 year old adjustments, and is too young to truly know what this move means.  I am excited that our new, slower, cleaner, healthier way of living will be the only thing she remembers.  That is truly God's grace.  And by the way, our new address? It will be on New Hope Road. :)

August of 2009 we started a journey that began with a very sick and vomiting infant.  The road has been steep, the climb has been hard, but the result is proving to be more than worth the effort.  Chicken farmer here I come!