The Lord continues to provide.......

In January we went to Sherwood to do some extra cleaning and get ready for an open house. Since our lease with the apartment is up on March 31 we were really praying that someone would come in, fall in love with the house and make an offer right then. We had actually even convinced ourselves that would happen, how silly of us! So as you can imagine it came as a huge heartbreak to us when I called our realtor Monday morning to find out that NO ONE came by. Not a single person.

Even though we were feeling discouraged we decided it was time to start looking at houses in Fort Smith. At this point we didn't really know anything about the neighborhoods or what was available and if for some reason our house sold out of the blue we would need to be ready to find something. We hit up some open houses one Sunday afternoon in hopes of finding a realtor in the area we liked. And we did- we found a very sweet lady that we set up an appointment with to show us around town and see some houses. We went out on a Saturday and looked at 8 houses. None of them were what we were looking for. That night when we got home we were feeling discouraged once again. I got on the computer and looked on just about every real estate website I could find. Then I decided to look on Craigslist. As I was looking I found a house that was right around the corner from where our apartment is. I mentioned it to Andy and he said he knew which one it was, he passed it everyday on his way to work. I started reading the description and it sounded very nice but it was out of our price range. The next morning on our way to church we drove past the house and Andy said we should go ahead and email them to look at it. But I didn't agree- I think my exact words were "that house is ugly I don't even want to go in there." Yah, kind of embarrassing! But we went ahead and emailed them and set up to see it the next night.

When we got to the house I can honestly say I had a bad attitude- I thought the outside was ugly, it was out of our price range and I thought we were wasting our time and the homeowners' time. But as soon as they opened the door and I stepped inside that all went away. We immediately fell in love with the house. To say it is everything we could want in a house is an understatement. We had actually made a list of all the things, big and small, we would need/want in a house and this house had it ALL!! And to top it all off the couple that owned it are so precious. We actually stayed at the house for over an hour visiting.

The couple bought the house 5 years ago after her son passed away and completely flipped it. They did not cut any corners because this was going to be their retirement home. But her daughter convinced them to move to Bella Vista to be closer to her. They absolutely loved the home and had a hard time putting it on the market but felt like it was the right thing to do. As we were visiting we were able to talk to each other and share our stories on how the Lord was working in all of our lives right now. As she (Niki) would say- our spirits just connected.

When we left that night I got in the car, looked at Andy and said "I don't know how and I don't know when but that is going to be our house." I later found out that as the owners closed the door when we were leaving she looked to her husband and said "that young couple is going to have this house."

We continued to pray for the Lord to work things out. I kept in contact with Niki and they were praying for us too - that our house would sell and that we would be able to get their house. As we kept getting closer and closer to the time that our lease was up on the apartment, Andy and I were getting worried that we would have to extend our lease and that the couple would not be able to wait on us any longer (they had already bought another home in Bella Vista). But we all had faith that the Lord was going to work it out, somehow.

At the end of February, Andy and I decided that we were going to go out of our comfort zone, step out in faith and ask them if we could make an offer contingent on the sale of our house and also see if we could possibly rent until we found a buyer for our house. Since that was a lot to ask of someone we were praying that the Lord would give us all the right hearts for the conversation and if that was not the Lords will for us that it would get shut down. The next morning I called and presented our offer, her response was "Amanda, last night the Lord laid that very idea on our hearts." Praise the Lord!!!

But we still had a lot to work out. Since we were still paying a mortgage on our house in Sherwood we could not afford a lot for rent. We got a great deal on our apartment and the house was certainly worth a lot more than the apartment. And- there was still that issue that the asking price for the home was out of our price range. We set up a time to meet with them and just prayed that the Lord would work it all out. But the whole time saying to ourselves- there is no way this is going to work out. We were both very nervous about it all and even felt guilty knowing what little we had to offer.

Again, silly us! We settled on a price for the house that was in our budget very quickly, and settled on a rent price that was only $45 more a month than our apartment rent, PRAISE THE LORD!!! On top of all this, they said that we would do a lease-to-own instead of renting so that all of our monthly payments would go straight to the purchase price. There is no way any of this would have worked out had it not been for the Lord!

Another praise is we were really in need of a new refrigerator. When we had originally looked at the house, they had said the refrigerator and hot tub were negotiable. We wanted to try to work out getting the refrigerator since that was a need for us, and would love to have a hot tub but that was more of a luxury. When we told them that their response was...."what about $500 for BOTH!" What a blessing!

So- here I am typing this blog post in our beautiful new home. We still have not sold our house in Sherwood but if the past 7 months has taught us anything it is- The Lord always provides!! We don’t know when or how but He is going to take care of us in His timing.

We are so thankful for the many lessons and hard times we have had because of them the Lord has blessed us with “need.” We know that we NEED Him and all things come from Him.

We are also so thankful for the couple we are getting this house from. Had they not been walking so close with the Lord we would not be in this house right now. They have blessed us so much! The day I picked up the keys to the house, my new precious friend told me that she said to her husband “you sure have a soft spot for this couple don’t you?” And he said to her “yes, because I see us in them. I remember wanting something so bad and reaching for it but I couldn’t grab a hold of it. And we have the opportunity to give that to them and I am thankful for that.” What a precious couple. I pray that someday Andy and I will be able to bless someone the way that they have blessed us.

Since I like to post at least 1 picture (especially in a post this long) I will end with a picture of our sweet girl and a cute story-

Here she is enjoying her tire swing in her new back yard! That is one happy little girl!! We also were able to put up her swing that she got last summer (we never had a place to hang it.) Everyday I sit down with Kenley and we thank Jesus for all the things we are thankful for. As we were outside and I was pushing her in her swing I was thanking Jesus for all that He has blessed us with. Then my sweet girl looked up to heaven and said "Thank you Jesus (for this) house!" What a precious gift!