Even better than we’d hoped

As He seems to have a habit of doing, God has surprised us with a new home that is even more perfect than the one we had been dreaming about!
This last weekend Dan and I were looking at an aerial map of the neighborhood in which we’ve been searching for homes. For the first time we noticed a group of houses that had unusually large yards and remarked to each other about how incredible they were. We also determined they must be incredibly expensive and didn’t really give it another thought. Then on Monday morning I received my daily e-mail of all new listings in our city. As only God would have it, the home at the top of the list sat on one of those very lots! There were no pictures of the interior, but since it was well within our price range and square-footage requirements, we quickly went out to take a look. I fully expected it to be torn apart inside and in need of serious fixing-up money, but it was beautiful! It was the same floor plan as another house we put an offer on when we sold ours a few weeks ago, but it has every upgrade in the book, including a huge bonus room over the garage. I called Dan and told him we could put an offer on it without him even seeing it – it was that fabulous! Oh, and the yard was even better on the ground than in it looked from the air. It had a pool & spa, and then another 75 feet of flat grass before sloping steeply down to another residental street. I know that a quarter-acre is nothing in most parts of the country, but I’m telling you: to this Southern Californian it looked HUGE! Anyway, we brought Dan back to look at it Monday night, he of course loved it too, and we wrote an offer. But wait, you say, I didn’t think you had sold your home yet. Well, that was true up until about an hour after we determined to buy this one! God graciously provided a buyer for us at just the right time, and at a price we can live with. Is that amazing or what?! I’m still pinching myself that, Lord willing, we are actually going to live in that home! It is just so much better than I ever could have hoped. It’s closer to my in-laws, just a few minutes further to my family, in a great school district, on a cul-de-sac, with a view, and did I mention the pool? Parker was concerned that the current owners might be taking the (in ground) pool with them – I think he’s been a little confused and disappointed by the homes we’ve seen with backyard playsets that are not included. Needless to say, I think we’re going to have at least a couple of shrived-up kids by the end of summer! Can you tell we’re all excited?
It’s always so amazing to me how God answers our prayers in ways that we couldn’t have even imagined. We started this process with our eyes set on the house up the street, which now pales in comparison to this one. When it sold we were disappointed, but trusted that if God had something better, He would make it clear. That continued to be my prayer when our house fell out of escrow a few weeks ago. If that buyer had not decided to move to New Mexico, we would have probably settled on another far-less-incredible home – for more money! An odd coincidence is that the family we’re buying from is also moving to New Mexico. Who says God doesn’t have a sense of humor? Now He seems to be allowing us to have a home we can stretch out in and enjoy for the rest of our lives. I couldn’t bring myself to even ask for such a home because even our current, lovely house is so much more than we deserve. But He continually proves Himself to be gracious beyond all measure!

So much for "normal"!