God's provision.....

They say that patience is a virtue, but that is one area of my life I've never been good at ESPECIALLY while pregnant!!  I actually recall a conversation once I had in one of my early pregnancies; I was huge, miserable, and ready for it to be over and someone said to me "I guess God is teaching you patience!"  Well the normal me would have smiled and walked on the hormonal me came out instead and replied, "God doesn't teach pregnant women patience, He knows better!"  While we laughed about my unexpected response (I didn't even expect it) it became something God would later use to prove me wrong!

When Nathan and I got married we purchased a 3 bedroom 2 bath rancher.  We never dreamed that we would have so many children to fill it up with!  While he had about two children in mind, I knew I wanted a large family but never imagined that the definition of large was over four.  Over the 10 years we've been together and talked about our expectations for our family and future our views on what a blessing Children are, birth control, and trusting God began to change and develop into something we would have never imagined.  Never once have we ever had a conversation in our ten years that went anything like, "lets have six children!!"  It began with one, then unexpectedly we were expecting the second and then God began to change our hearts to want what he wanted for us and not just what we wanted for us.  So needless to say our home has filled up quickly!

After the third baby I began praying that God would bless us with a larger home.  For over five years I have prayed that if God wants us to have many children he would supply us with our need for a larger home.  I didn't want anything fancy just something that we could fit in comfortably, expand our family if it was God's will, and have room for homeschooling (which we believe we were called to do as well).  Once we had baby #4 I began to agonize over this home that did not look like was in our future!  I HATED our home, I could not stand to be here, it was suffocating and embarrassing that we were all shoved in here, and I couldn't invite people over because we had no where for them to sit!  Finally after four years of praying for a larger home the economy took a dive and the housing market went down with it.  We began our search to find a larger home for the same price we bought our rancher for and rent out our current home.

We looked at several homes but nothing that would really fit us.  I began looking for something around the same size as what we already had but with 4 bedrooms and a dinning room.  I didn't want anything huge just something that worked.  We quickly realized that we would soon be in the same situation as we are in now if we upgraded to only 500sq ft.  and had to look at larger homes over 2000sq ft.  Nathan would ask me "how will we know when it's the right one?"   I'd tell him "we will just know!"   We found a really nice white house that we liked, we had a few reservations about it but overall we liked it and it would fit us and fit our price range.  We put a contract on it and it was verbally accepted then 30 minutes later we received a call that they received a better offer and was going to go with that one!  We were heartbroken and I almost didn't want to look anymore!  But we kept on.  FINALLY we found the one!  It was over 2200 sq. ft, 4 bedroom, 3 bathrooms, fireplace, dining room, play room, fenced in back yard, and in a culdesac, so the kids can finally learn to ride bikes!!  It was perfect for us!  As we walked around the back yard I prayed and asked God if this was the one, and a figure came into my mind as to what to offer on the house!  The amount I felt we should offer was 20,000 less than the asking price, and 43,000 less than the assessment price of the home!  Once we found out the home was a short-sale and was owned by Indy Mac/ One West we really were hesitant it would go through.  Indy Mac/One West is known for not approving short-sales because they make more money on forclosures sense they are backed by the government.  After a three month wait we were told by BOTH selling and listing agents that they did not believe this short-sale would ever happen!

I had such peace about that house, I just knew it was the right house and could not let go of it!  So we kept our contract on that house (although it was outdated) and kept looking just in case.  We came across another home we loved and put a contract on that one.  It was beautiful but had a lot of water issues in the yard; we ended up not getting that one.  After that we had decided to give up on the house for a while.  I was so stressed at the time, being almost in my second trimester of pregnancy with baby #6, that I couldn't handle all the stress from it all.  We decided to still look at what came on the market but unless it had everything we wanted we wouldn't go see it.  We were not settling.  Mean-while, I was praying and praying for the other house to somehow come through!!  We had so many set backs with it but finally in May we received a call that they would approve and close on the home within 45 days!!  We renewed our paperwork and waited, and waited, and waited and heard NOTHING!

In the meantime I prayed, and prayed and prayed!!  We realized that if we didn't find a home before the end of the year we would have to wait several more years before we started the process again so this was the end of the line for us!  I began to understand the meaning of giving things over to God!  I would get so stressed and have to pray and ask God to take it from me, and my burdens were lifted!  I realized that there was no need in worrying about things because this house belonged to God and it was up to him if He gave it to us or not, not the bank!  So I began to pray differently and think about things differently.  I realized that our home we are in now was given to us by God as well.  Why would he give me another if I didn't appreciate the one I had and hated it so badly?!  so I began to organize our home and make things more comfortable for all of us to fit here.  It gave us so much more room and comfort that I began to really love my home!  I actually began to pray and thank God for this home!!  My prayers changed from "please I can't stand living here anymore Lord I'm drowning!"  to " thank you Lord for this house you have blessed our family with, thank you for giving us shelter and the ability to make it comfortable for all of us who live here."  I also told God that I knew the other house belonged to Him and if it was His will please bless us with it.  Once I finally realized the house belonged to God and not the bank, it made being patient (even while pregnant) so much easier!

We got word they were doing an assessment on the home to see how much they should sell it for.  I began to get nervous because I couldn't see how they would ever sell that home to us for the price we offered  (only 10k more than we paid for our rancher but 1242 more sq ft.) especially after seeing what the homes around it were worth and the house market had started to go up again.  One day we were out and about and the kids all fell asleep in the car (which is rare for all of them)!  We decided to take a drive and let them nap a while.  Nathan told me he wanted me to go over by the new home so he could pray over it and claim it as ours.  He said when Jerry Falwell wanted to buy the land for Liberty University he walked the mountain prayed over it and claimed it as his!  Now he has one of the largest Christian Universities there in the world!  So we did just that.  We stopped by the house and Nathan walked around the home and prayed and asked God to bless us and claimed it in Jesus Name for our family.

After two weeks of hearing nothing more; I became weary.  There were many things I have been praying about for many weeks (not just the house) that had began wearing on me; not to mention I was STILL pregnant!!  One night I just could not sleep so I got on my knees in my living room and began worshiping God.  For over an hour I sang praises to Him and just sat in his presence.  Finally I began praying, first thanking him again for our home, reminding him that his word says, "ask and it will be given to you, seek and you shall find" and then reminding him how long I've been asking and seeking and that I was weary!!  I needed a breakthrough!

Finally the end of August (2 days after my prayer) after almost a year wait, we got word they had approved our short-sale!  Not only had they approved our short- sale but they did not even try to up the price, we got it for the price God had showed us to ask!  Not only was I extremely excited but I felt so unworthy that God blessed us in such an amazing way!  I knew if it was God's will it would happen but maybe I just never felt it was God's will to bless us?!

We are finally in the process of closing on our home.  We have all the paperwork in order and inspection scheduled.  It does not seem real to me that we are finally moving, but I will never take that home for-granted that is for sure!  I've never been more thankful to God for showing us that He is faithful to provide all our needs!  Now if I can convince Him to let me go into labor I'll be on top of the world ;)