This post could be forever long, but I will give the short version!! Brad and I just made our 9th move in 10 years of marriage. (that includes rent houses, etc.) Each house we bought was either in the process of being built or almost finished. The last house we lived in we built from the ground up. We bought the lot, built the house and it was....."ours." When we sold that house it was tough on me. I had handpicked everything in that house and the girls had "their" rooms painted just for them! When we sold it, we moved into a rent house that was nearly half the size of the home we just sold. And, the kicker....we had no plan of what to do next. I finally broke and became open to anything. I prayed and prayed and trusted that God would give us a direction. We looked at houses everywhere from Destin to moving back to Northwest Arkansas. Several times I felt lost and the uncertainty drove me nuts. We prayed and prayed and never felt a peace about the next step. Towards the end of last year, I told Brad I was willing to move anywhere. When he was ready to make that decision, I supported him. Then, on Christmas day he gave me my gift. He had made an offer on a lot in Benton. Which not only was great gift, but also meant we were staying put. I am pretty sure I was at the guys office the next week talking house plans. The lot was perfect. It was big and in a great neighborhood. The only drawback was although it was in Benton, it was in Bryant school district. Thankfully, we could school choice to Benton. I threw myself into building mode. God had finally answered our prayers and had given us a plan. Oh, how that plan would unfold different than I thought. All my months of trusting God and praying about His plan had gone out the window. I had in my mind that after living in this rent house, I "deserved" this and that and if I'm building my house then I'm putting it in there (notice all of the ME, MINE, I, OURS). We were ready to start building in the spring of this year. The lot, however, was not! They had pushed the date back to the summer when the lots would be ready to build on. Summer came and went and they pushed it to October. I grew ansty and unsettled. My prayers kicked in high gear once again. Then, the ball dropped. The school choice law got challenged somewhere else in the state and all of that became uncertain. I remember many sleepless nights worried that my kids might get transferred in the middle of the year with no warning. Towards the end of the summer Brad and I talked...serious talk. He mentioned to me that he never felt a peace about the lot and building on it. And, that was it. We changed direction and began looking at houses. We looked at more than 10 houses and never felt settled. We decided we needed to stay in our current elementary school so Megan would not have to change schools in her kindergarten year. But, we had looked at every house in this school district, or so we thought. Our amazing real estate agent called one day and said there was a house for sale by owner we should look at. We knew the owners so she said to just call and see what we think. It was awesome!! And, several things had to fall into place for it all to work out and it did!!!! God answered our prayers, not in the way we thought He would or how we thought He would. He used that time in the rent house to teach me humility, to not put my identity on having a place to have showers and parties or a house to decorate. He used that rent house to make me grateful. It's not about me!! He used that rent house to remind me that HE is in control. He taught me patience. What we have is HIS!! And, although God is not finished with me yet and I never want to become complacent, I am so thankful for the months to learn and grow. With that being said, I am so thankful we are finally settled into the home God had picked for us!
