Do you believe in coincidence or in Godҳ perfect plan?

A year later, I told my husband I think we should reconsider downsizing….

You see, our kids are all active with sports/music/friends and we are so busy traveling with their sports and gone weekends, that this home became more than we could handle. So big. Embarrassingly big. It was so much to care for, so much to pay for (utilities and taxes alone were unbelievable). So we put the house on the market labor day weekend and it sold 12 days later. Like pending SOLD.  Boom. Done. Sold. 

Everything happened so fast. Inspection was done in 3 days, and they were ready to close a few days after that. So fast! 

We started looking frantically. We we needed to make a quick decision for our family on where to move within the same community to not disrupt the kids schools, friends, etc.

This is where God’s provision shines… 

The house that we walked through 10 years eariler was back on the market from the original buyer. We were actually looking at the rental across the street and popped into the open house for all of 10 minutes at the most. At the time, I didn’t even remember it being that house we once went through at the open house years ago. 

My husband wanted to build again, I wanted to rent. We compromised on renovating… Creating a “modern farmhouse” style. When we walked through the open house before our appointment to see the rental across the street, we thought the same things: cool vibe, open and airy. 

It’s just so funny… I would have never thought to my 26 year old self that one day you will live in this house. Isn’t that just crazy? 

Here is where is gets even crazier. We decided to rent the house across the street. And we were leaving the next day for a vacation in San Diego. While we were there the landlord was being a huge pain. They kept forgetting to call back, everyone was at a seminar, blah blah blah. We were kind of freaking out because the clock was ticking. We were about to be homeless. 

Then, boom it hit us. We need to buy this house. Sitting in our hotel at Legoland we made an offer right away. My husband decided to make a crazy offer. Low price. No Contingencies. Close in 1 week. Gave the seller a 100% guarantee of closing with no contingencies, in exchange for a less than awesome price. We did all of our negotiations from Legoland and came home to start the process of renovating the kitchen and main living spaces. Now keep in mind, we were only in the house for 10 minutes! We didn’t go back until after it was “ours”. There were rooms we didnt even see. And the beautiful thing was… every surprise was a good surprise. It just felt like the hand of God was over this decision. Have you ever felt that? Where things work out better than you had expected? Well, this is one of those cases. At every turn we were excited and surprised in a good way. 

Now it’s time to get to business. We had 30 days to be out of our house. Yes 30. The house needed to be torn apart and put back together, and moved into within 30 days. It was gnarly. My husband was their night and day while also trying to work, and pack our house. It was terrible. LOL. 

Amongst the excitement, was also a bit of pain. The plan was to stay in our last house forever… Where our family would all grow up together in. I grieved that home. It was really sad leaving. Not for the physical home, but for all of the memories and literally thousands of people that have walked through those doors. Thousands… and I don’t say that lightly. We hosted and hosted and hosted for 10 years. That home was used and gave us more than we could have ever imagined. So much to be thankful for. Team Parties, Birthday parties, church events, youth groups, baseball teams practicing in back yard, friends, play dates. 1,000s of people. We all cried a bit leaving and we for sure left a part of our heart there… but what I want you to see… is that God had a better plan for our family. A plan that simplified our life 100x… He knew we needed it more than we knew ourselves. In hindsight, our plans were really bad… and Gods provision has been really good. 

I hope I can encourage you to look at your current circumstance… or better, look back. Look back on the path that got you to where you are now. 

I don’t believe things just happen without a purpose… don’t think to yourself, we’re so lucky or unlucky. Nope. Not a thing. God is the author of our lives and directs the paths we go on. God always knows best and I’m thankful for that.

Anways, I wanted to share that sometimes things can come full circle in this lifetime and may or may not make sense. I’m thankful for this new home and the new memories we are creating.