For those of you who aren’t on Twitter and didn’t hear yet, we have a house!
It’s in the wrong place, which is why I hadn’t looked at it before. It actually adds to Aaron’s drive time every day, which we didn’t want. But I reached the point where I realized that if the choice was between a place we all wanted to live that he was happy to come home to, with space to breath, vs. a tiny cramped hard to be in place that was closer, I’d rather have him happy to come home. Even if it meant driving farther.
So I went to look at it on Friday afternoon. Actually I called first and said, “I have kids. Please tell me now if that will be a deal breaker, so I can save myself the trouble of driving there, liking it, applying and being passed over again.” His response that he hoped to rent to a family and has kids of his own was encouraging, so we got in the car.
It’s got a big front yard, all grass and trees, pear, lemon, guava, with a wrought iron fence all around it. The house looks tiny until you get inside. Our landlord completely renovated it, thinking his family would live there a long time. He restored the original hardwood flooring, he put up crown molding, re-plastered, put in gorgeous tile work in the bathrooms…
It has two bedrooms, plus another little room behind the dining room that goes into an office with built in desk and tons of cabinets. This is technically the 3rd bedroom. I admit I was so dazzled by the size of the first bedroom and the hard wood that I thought there were three bedrooms plus the office and little den room. I realized my mistake when we went back again yesterday. But since this bedroom is the size of our current living room, with huge storage closets, I think I’m going to rig it with furniture and curtains so there is a boy side and a girl side that are private. The Boy can hang out in the den if he needs some peace and quiet to work on school or read. Because I’m so excited to be able to set a room aside, just for Aaron, that he can relax in in the evenings with french doors that shut and block out all the noise from the house. Back yard has a concrete patio w. built in fireplace that begs for all my planters to come live there and more grass and paths.
Here are the problems. It’s street parking only, so Aaron will have to unload his tools at night so they aren’t stolen. That’s exhausting to do at the end of a hard day. Does anyone know of super secure ways to store tools in a truck? And we’ll need to put in a storage shed or something to put them in.
Oh, and I have to find a fridge, washer and dryer this week because it doesn’t come with that. More craigslist browsing.
The people we’re renting from are a really sweet couple. He was a pastor’s kid too. They have already offered to find out if we can talk to their church about The Charis Project. And we’re close to friends that I didn’t even realize lived nearby.
So it seems like all of you were right. God did give us a place. Thanks for your encouraging comments on Friday. I cried reading them. I think this place worked out so well for a reason. I still wonder if I chose right, I always second guess myself later. But it’s done now, lease is signed, time to madly pack, and figure out if a lot of buff teenage boys is enough muscle power to move the piano.
Thank God for friends who offer to help and come bearing food and free child care.
I’ll probably not be on much this week. Our moving day is Thursday. I just wanted to thank you all for your encouragement and let you know how things have progressed.
Oh and the ultimate good news is that Aaron got home safe. He’s tired, he got sick up in the village and he’s at work again this morning, But he’s home! Now I have someone to torture with my constant running internal monologue about all these decisions. 🙂 Kidding. Sort of. But it’s such a relief to have him home.