In high school, I had to take one of those 'spiritual gifts' tests. I don't remember all the results, but I have always remembered my top one: faith. It seemed odd to me then, and still does almost a decade later, but I guess it's true. I have always believed that God will take care of things. This trait drove my parents nuts when I said that God would provide the few thousand dollars for a summer mission trip. Sure enough, God's money tree provided. The same happened when I chose a university thousands of miles away with a whopping $1,000 scholarship for the $20,000+ per-year tuition. But again, He provided all the way through. I don't generally stress about things (unless hospitals and kids are involved, but I think that's the mother in me rather than a doubt that God can't take care of it). Anyways, I say all that to tell you a story about a couple and a house. Some of you may know this story, and if so, you can skip to the bottom. Otherwise, enjoy.
Todd and I knew we wanted to work full-time for the church. As a result, we rented a cute little apartment situated across from the local putt-putt/go-cart racing/roller rink/paintball zone and corn field, so that we could focus on paying off school loans rather than a mortgage. Our apartment was situated over the four garages of the apartment building, but it was cute and we liked it. We lived there for years, which was hard for Todd, who'd never rented in the course of his life. I on the other hand distinctly remember the rental home where part of the kitchen ceiling fell because of ants, which coincidently is the same infestation my mother had been complaining to the landlord about for months. Anyways, I thought we were so lucky because it was a brand new place, and we had the blessing of being the first tenants ever. So when the economic crisis happened, and word started getting around that the economy, coupled with our, er, unique (non-pastoral) skill set (and being 6 months pregnant with Em), we decided to buy a home while the market was low, since it didn't look like we were going to mission field any time in the near future.
We got a credit line for an OUTRAGEOUS amount of money, which is just nuts. The house we really loved was one of those two-owners-in-50-years places with only needing a few upgrades, had room to grow into, with a side yard where I could plant veggies, and had two parks in a four-block radius. I also loved the fact that it was in a quiet section of the historic part of town. Lots of kids and younger families and the BEST part? It was nearly a 1/3 less than the proposed credit line that the bank said we could have (or would need). Todd and I both felt confident that we were being responsible and reasonable. So, we bought the house in mid April. We hired a young guy to come and help Todd install tile (the two old ladies who have lived there the first 50 years had carpet in the kitchen, which made sense for them, but I really couldn't handle that) and we replaced the green-turned-faded-yellow shag carpet in the living/dining room with a more "kid friendly" carpet. We painted the entire house, and then I made Todd repaint the entire house again (alright, maybe just the living room) when the first color was too light and my sage green was more an icy cucumber green. We moved in our ten pieces of furniture and started looking for a few more things, like the crib that I hadn't allowed myself to buy because of the unknown possibilities.
Well, as the story continues, we were driving to a furniture outlet's outlet's outlet (a somewhat sketch warehouse piled from floor to ceiling with furniture in various stages of disrepair and a somewhat dangerous looking guy in the back office who only accepts cash and has conveniently misplaced his receipt book) to see about a headboard when Todd received a call. I knew, immediately, that it was someone from the church asking us to serve. Todd hung up the phone and told me that they wanted us... in August. I love my hubby, but sometimes, he's overly logical. This was one of those times. He expressed regret that we'd done all this waiting and now we had to say no. Through the course of the conversation in front of the run-down "whatever" furniture store with free stuff in the front (furniture in EXTREME state of disrepair), it came out that we had no option but to decline now that we had the house. I pointed out that the house was merely a technicality and God could handle "technically" really well. We both agreed to think and pray about the possible assignment through the weekend and make a decision on Monday. I was happy that nothing had been hung and most boxes weren't unpacked in the 15 days since we'd moved into the house, so moving again should be a cinch. Yes, 15 days.
Monday came and the phone rang. Todd spoke for a long time and then came in with an ashen face that really rather startled me. He said that was the church and that they had yet another assignment available. They had two places that needed both he and I and we needed to make a decision. I'm still not sure if Todd was ever really okay with trusting the house to the Lord before that second offer. It's easy to say one thing, but still have your heart tossing back and forth. But God made it good and clear, in just the right way for him, that it was time to leave Bourbonnais. So we again prayed about it, and let the decision makers in the church decide which need was more pressing, allowing them to send us to whatever southern hemisphere country they wanted (nothing against northern hemisphere countries, that just wasn't an option that they gave us). A few days later we gave birth to our beautiful little girl, Emmerson Capri. Then, after the completion of the monumental and life-changing task of welcoming your first child into your home, we started the daunting task of packing everything for Kansas City to then be packed again for South Africa.
The same agent who sold us the house put the house up for sale again less than a month later. She thought we were a combination of crazy-nuts and admirablely-naive. She told everyone about the situation, and in December, literally days before we got onto a plane for South Africa, we signed an installment sale contract with a man going through a divorce who would pay us for the home over a two year time period. Everything was sorted, contracts were signed with our lawyers, all was settled, and things seemed to have worked out perfectly. Fast-forward a year and a half, the man stopped making payments and neatly and nicely left us the house once again, and the house has been on the market (again) for 7 months.
Prayer: I know God will take care of this house and this situation in His way and His timing. Our current reality is that action needs to be taken. It seems that there are a number of houses for sale in the same area. Many of which are fixer-upers but cost thousands less. Our realtor isn't very hopeful although she's been trying her hardest. I guess the housing market just isn't going well at this time in that particular area of town. So I'm asking for prayer for wisdom and guidance. We need specific directions on where to go from here. In the past, it's always been something like, "God, you know about that cute little house on Emory. Please take care of it and sort out all the details." Now, we're really asking for concrete answers and clarity to know where to go from here. Thank you again for all of your prayers and support! We love you guys!
