A New Home? (Part 1)

I can't believe I left us standing in the kitchen for almost 4 months. We can all surmise that moving is all-consuming and writing time has been squeezed out of my life.

Before I move farther into the nitty gritty of life in the new home, preparing and selling the old home, I want to share how we came to own this new residence.

We were contentedly living in the world of "someday we might like to move and get more of what we would consider our dream home and most likely our final home." Then one day my husband takes a bike ride out in the flat land of the river bottoms. He stops at the end of his route to grab a drink of water, and begins a conversation with a woman pulling out of her drive-way. He tells her that he loves it out there and that her property is really nice. She casually tosses out the invitation, "Do you want to buy it?" As it turns out her daily commute was an hour both ways and she was weary of living where she did.

So my husband comes home, tells me about the conversation and the next thing you know we have made an appointment with the family to see the home. We absolutely fell in love with the property, which was three acres of flat land, including a grove of trees with a creek running through deep in the back yard. The home would need some work, but the property itself was so enticing. My husband loved the thought of living in a place that he could jump on his bike and ride. It seemed a bit isolated for me, but I too loved the property and thought I could adjust. For me the thought of what I could do with a garden there encouraged me to press forward.

The housing market had taken a hit and we would be able to get it for a great price if they were willing. We made an offer. They decided, though, that perhaps they were not quite ready to sell. No worries for us. We didn't have to move. We let it go easily enough.

Well, almost...What happened that we had not anticipated were the questions that begin to rise about a possible move. Was it time to start thinking about it? Did God want to stir that thought in our hearts and minds and did He use this house to push us toward opening the door to a new home sooner than we anticipated. Those questions led to the big question of what do we even want in a home? We had lived in our present home for over 20 years at this point. We were settled and not musing about the next home much. It was time to do some soul-searching, thinking, talking and of course, praying.