.We're Moving.

God certainly loves to surprise and delight us, doesn't he? We have been waiting on Him for a while now, hoping our insurance situation would somehow get worked out so that we could start to look for a home to rent in Arlington. Looking back on the last time we were going to try to get a house and the Lord shut that door, we are just filled with gratefulness that is was not our will, but God's will that was accomplished for us. What a mess it would have been to try to move down to Arlington a month or two ago!

This past Tuesday, Jordan was talking with our insurance company, and trying to figure some things out with them, when we found out that in fact, our carrier provides insurance coverage to the region of Northern VA in addition to Maryland! This came as quite a shock to both of us, and we were delighted to discover that we could indeed start the house hunt up again!

The beginnings of the hunt were not showing to be too exciting. I found a few on craigslist worth taking a look at and a one or two on the listing our realtor sent us that worked within our finances and needs. One was a cute little bungalow, and the other was a nicer home near to the hospital. On Saturday, we stopped by both homes, and were both uncertain about what we felt about them.

That night I went to a baby shower for my sister in law, very much excited and in faith that even if these two homes we saw were not the ones for us, that the Lord would provide and that we could patiently wait on him. That night, I did my normal nightly routine (very patient, right?) and got online to check and see if there were any new listings on craigslist and the MLS database. That was when I found two bigger homes within our limits.

We had previously decided that we wanted a smaller home, since we do not really need that much space, and so I was not looking for that big of a home. We simply needed a home with a room for a renter (a friend from our church will be living with us) and a room for Jordan to have his office in, and bedrooms for the kids and us (either one room big enough to fit all three boys in or two rooms for the kids and a master for us). Tricky to find all those things together, but we knew God has something to meet our needs out there! We had no idea how lavish God was about to be on us!

Monday afternoon, our realtor took us out to visit some of the homes we thought might work. We went to the first of the bigger homes, and I really liked it. It seriously has enough room to have two families living in it. It was huge. It was quirky, and retro, and something about it was really charming to me. Then we took a look at two smaller homes, that might have fit the criteria, but the room set up was all wrong. So we were running out of time, as we had made plans to bring dinner to friends, but decided to stop in this last home.

On a quick side note, this last home, was listed on MLS on Saturday afternoon. We got to see it 2 days after it had been listed, and I "happen" to see it the day it was posted.... God is so wonderful isn't he??

So we drive up to find this...

Pretty isn't it?

Then we walked in to find this... yeah... I was just about screaming/ squealing/ laughing/ crying... pretty much my dream kitchen!

and this perfect room for an office for Jordan

and a great big room to be together with friends and family...

How does this kind of house even sit on the market for a day? It can only be the Lord. The story with this amazing home, is that is was the retirement home of a military family, that was about to move into it, when they were stationed in California. They tore down the original and built up a brand new home on top of the old foundation. Amazingly, as it is pretty much all new, there is not a hind of mold or mildew, which was a big concern for Jack's health.

So we put in the application the next day, and prayed that the Lord would make his will clear, and for favor with the Landlords as they reviewed our application. We were confident, that if this home was not the one, the Lord had something different for us, and it would be just right for us. So we waited. While we waited, I feel like I learned some old truths in new ways. You see, I have been taught that, the Lord does not treat me according to what I do or measured what good things I have done in my life to earn favor and rewards. And yet, as I sought to wait patiently for the outcome of this application, I realized that I was tempted to want to have faith so perfectly, so that God would give us what I wanted!

It became so clear to me that no matter how responded to this test, whether full of faith or complete distrust and failure, that those things would and could never change the Lord's disposition towards me at all. This great truth sank in so much deeper, the truth that because of what Jesus has done for me on the Cross, I am a daughter of God, and not because of anything I could ever do, but because of His perfect life. Romans 3:3,4 resonated with me in a whole new way. It says, " ³What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? ⁴By no means!" This truth just took hold of me in such a profound way, and all I can do is sit back and marvel and say, "Look at all the Lord has done!"

Oh man, sorry to go on that long-winded way of saying, I really learned a lot over the course of waiting to find out if we got this amazing home. So since all that was so long, I will just cut to the chase!! The next morning, a happy email from our realtor told us that the house was basically ours, and we were just waiting for all the paperwork to be done, and should be signing a 2 year lease some time next week!

I was shaking I was so happy! Oh, and it still has not sunk in at all! Here is the crazy part , well maybe just another crazy part.... we are going to move NEXT SATURDAY!! In one week! I have been packing as much as I have been able to, gathering boxes and tape. It has been a whirlwind, full and exciting. We have a lot to get done over the next week, but so much to look forward to! We are so excited to be living down in Arlington, and, well, this sweet house makes it even more exciting!

Tyler and Jack are really excited too. Jack has been doing great, and although he has not been sleeping much, and we are pretty tired from his many middle of the night interruptions, he has been full of life and joy. We are grateful beyond words to the Lord for his lavish goodness to us. Thanks for all the prayers for our insurance situation to be worked out and for housing! I am so aware of the many prayers being said on our behalf! Much more to tell later! Thanks for reading all this!!