Even before my husband and I were married we talked about moving from his home. He wanted us to have a place of our own. No memories from a previous relationship gone wrong to haunt us as we began our journey together. We each wanted to have a place where we would feel we truly belonged and let’s face it, the kitchen in his house was too small for me.
I am a woman who loves to cook and when I get into it I can cook for a lot of people. The kitchen in his house was limited. Sure it had the basics, stove, fridge, sink, dishwasher and a few cupboards which were to be used for storing food as well as dishes and cookware. Needless to say, once we were married and I was all moved in I did some reorganizing and found that the only way to make room for things was to move some of the less frequently used items and excess food storage out into the garage. A girl has to do what needs to be done to make things work and though it was frustrating at times not remembering where things were we made it work.
The Process Begins
Fast forward a few months, spring is upon us and we are both feeling like it is time to move. My husband’s greatest concern is being homeless…how do you sell a home and buy a home all at once? I tell him it’s easy, people do it all the time and … have faith in Heavenly Father and His plan for us, He won’t leave us homeless. So, we find ourselves an amazing realtor, I hate to name drop but Miss Rebecca Jorgensen Turpin with Homegrown Real Estate was absolutely amazing!
We met with her on a Wednesday evening where after going through everything she informed us that she would have our home listed the following week with an open house to be held the Saturday before the listing date. She was confident that it would sell fast and I had a feeling that the whole selling, buying, moving process would be quick. If I recall correctly we had an offer on our house Tuesday following the open house. Now, all we needed to do was find a new home.
Where the Lord Wants Us
One would think that shouldn’t be too hard, and for the most part, it wasn’t. As we had talked for months prior to this about moving I thought we would be moving closer to his family, something I truly wanted. It felt right. When it came to looking at houses we even looked online at some in areas that would bring us closer to his family but in the end that wasn’t where we discovered the Lord wanted for us to be.
Rather than looking farther north our journey in home searches brought us farther south. We had found a house we both loved online and I made arrangements to view it the Monday after our open house. While out I viewed a couple of others but when I reached this particular home with the agent I fell in love with it, though there were a couple of things I wasn’t overly crazy about. I loved it so much that after driving by it that night with my husband and taking a short walk around the neighborhood we decided to put an offer on it.
Making An Offer
It’s exciting reaching this point but it comes with some hesitation as well. We put our offer in, contingent on the sale of our home only to find that the next day they had received another offer. We and the other party involved were then asked to come in with our highest and best offer and the sellers would go from there… the anticipation, not knowing the outcome and the wait seemed so long.
We both loved the house so much as well as the area it was in. Nothing else I had seen so far compared to this home. I dreaded the thought of having to keep searching. I hoped I wouldn’t have to. In all of this, however, our greatest desire was to be where our Heavenly Father not only wanted us to be but needed us to be.
When Things Don’t Go As Hoped For
We finally got the call from our realtor… though our offer was higher the seller chose to accept the lesser offer as it was not contingent on the sale of a home. Our hearts sunk, back to the search we went, disappointed that things had not worked out with this home. We also understood that it wasn’t where Heavenly Father wanted us to be for some reason. You wouldn’t believe the added disappointment we felt when we received an offer on our house the very next day.
That can at times be a hard pill to swallow when our hearts are set on our wants and desires. I have come to learn and understand even, that Heavenly Father’s wants and desires for me are far greater than my own. Though we don’t always see it right away, and though it may take years at times to completely understand, His plan for each of us is so much more than we could ever imagine.
Back to the Search
My greatest fear in this setback was that things were going to take longer than we anticipated, my faith, however, gave me the quiet assurance that everything would be just fine.
That weekend we made plans to view 5 more homes that we had found online and really liked. Pictures can be deceiving online so it’s always best to do the footwork. One of the homes had the most beautiful view of Utah Lake as you were walking up to the house, the lot size was amazing with room to grow outside. The inside was nice but the kitchen was so small, smaller than the one in the house we were selling.
Onto the next house…each of the next 3 houses we saw was amazing in different ways, I could have loved any of them, had they had a bathroom on the main floor. Seriously, who builds a 3 story house and only puts bathrooms in the basement or all the way upstairs? Crazy!! I was becoming a little concerned at this point that we might have to settle for a house with just this sort of bathroom set up, frustrating as it was for me.
The House
The last house for the day…the neighborhood is beautiful, trees along either side of the road. From the outside, the house looked great, a nice big driveway (something we had to have in a new house as we were coming from an area with extremely limited parking). I loved the front porch.
We walk inside, the living room is nice though I don’t care much for the paint colors. On to the kitchen, spacious, plenty of cupboards, nice little island but again paint colors that made it hard for me for some reason. On to the laundry room, small but it works. Guess what I found right next to the laundry room? That’s right, a bathroom on the main floor. A half bath but that’s all I was asking for with one on the main floor.
The Yard
The backyard was spacious, didn’t leave you feeling like your neighbors could hear your every word. It was an added bonus that not only was the backyard completely fenced in, with gates on both sides, it also came with a trampoline. Now, that’s nothing we would really use but would fun for our nieces and nephew when they were over.
The Rest of the House
The basement was yet unfinished and that was fine. There was a room that could be set up for cold storage and less frequently used kitchen appliances. There was plumbing roughed in for a bathroom and room for one or two more bedrooms if you wanted. Oh, the possibilities.
Now for the upstairs portion. I had always wanted an upstairs. There was a nice big loft just above the garage, two bedrooms, and a bathroom as well as a couple of hall closets. The master bedroom was nice with a walk-in closet, nothing too huge but bigger than what we had and a master bathroom.
My Husband’s Decision
Aside from the paint colors downstairs, it was really nice. Once back on the main floor, the agent asks us what we think. I am not certain what to think or how to feel about this home, it was out of the price range we had talked about being comfortable with and though there were things I liked I just wasn’t sure. My husband, on the other hand, loved it and wanted to make an offer on it. Where I was usually the one who was calm and confident in this area and he was the one uneasy it was strange to see our roles reverse now.
I trust my husband and followed his lead on this. He seemed sure and so we did it, we placed an offer on another home, hoping it would turn out differently than the last time just a few short days before this. This was a home that had been on the market for nearly 6 months. We both wondered if there was something wrong with it that we couldn’t see. We had Rebecca look into it for us, just to give us peace of mind.
Feeling Things Are Right
Fast forward to today. As you may have guessed, things fell into place just as they should have. Our home sold, our offer was accepted and we moved all within about 6-7 weeks. There were some hiccups along the way and things were delayed a bit and while we know some of the why behind it we may never know it all. Such is life for us all.
The night we first started moving things into the new home we knew, we are right where Heavenly Father wants us to be. Though we do not yet know or even understand why we accept that this is His will for us. We were greeted by a few of our neighbors and that was one of the most wonderful things that could have happened for us here. To feel such love from those around us and we weren’t even all the way moved in yet.
Seeing the Lord’s Hand in it All
Seeing the Lord’s hand in this part of our journey together has been very humbling. We each have moments where we feel we aren’t quite worthy to be where we are and yet we feel so completely blessed to be where we are. not just in this house that we have made our home but in this neighborhood, in this ward. It feels like family and I am grateful to feel a welcome part of something so wonderful. A life handpicked for me and for my husband by our Heavenly Father, not because things have always gone the way we have wanted but by graciously accepting His will for us over our own.
We truly are grateful for this life He has given to us. Daily we see His hand at work in the details of our mortal existence. We have been blessed as we walk the path He has set before us, relying upon Him to help us along our way, that we may reach those places and people He has placed in our path.
