the miracle house

And so the adventure continues!

The same day we “landed” on “it’s a boy!” in this game of life, we also made it here: “buy a house.” It was quite a day, bustling out of my ultrasound with the newly discovered boy brewing, to see the house that basically stepped out of my dream Pinterest board into reality. This crazy story is one for the books; one of those thousands of books that couldn’t even contain all of God and His good deeds (see John 21:25).

Rewind to Friday evening, the day previous: I had been idling away the day checking and rechecking the home sites for anything, SOMETHING new to pop up on my search. I had seen 10 houses in the course of four or five days and nothing met the bill. Literally. They were all priced way too high for the needs and improvements required to call the place “home.” I knew God could make it happen: bring us a home within our budget that would meet our needs. But I had readjusted myself to the idea of something that would need more updating and work. It seemed inevitable and I was okay with that. Merely the idea of a place to call and make my own excited and inspired me.

After a day of nothing, my friend texted me a newer listing. I think I had even glanced by it in my searches initially thinking the area of town would be off. But I opened the link. I found myself flipping through photos of one of the most tastefully put-together, updated, craftsman-style homes that I could even think possible in this town. But what I could never imagine was that it fit right in our price-point! On the edge of my seat, I immediately texted our realtor knowing we had to see this house ASAP; it was not going to last long on the market. She was out for the evening so I knew I may not hear back from her until later. Danny came home that evening and I eagerly showed him this miracle-house. We waited to get a response from our realtor about setting up a time to view it.

Then I got an unexpected text from yet another friend: Jenny. I had just texted her a day or two previous that Danny and I had begun our house-hunt. She was contacting me to say that her dear friend and her family were selling their house for which she shared the listing link. It was the EXACT. SAME. HOUSE. My excitement couldn’t peak more, until she responded again saying that that very friend WAS SITTING ACROSS THE ROOM FROM HER. I eagerly told Jenny to relay to her, “I want to see her house!” Her friend’s husband was the agent for their own home and we were able to set up a time the next morning to see it before the other four showings (eek!) Once our realtor responded we got it all settled to meet the next day.

Adding to the backstory: our friends Jenny and Phil had moved down to Medford right before we ventured down there back in 2011. They set us up with our apartment there and were basically our sole acquaintances upon making the excursion to Oregon. When we became carless, Jenny helped us get around. Jenny and Phil had bought a beautiful, older home in Medford that they were remodeling and Danny helped them with some of the work early on. Part of that “reno” involved gutting and building a brand new kitchen. It turned out so beautiful with white cabinets, white quartz countertops, Jenny’s fun, vintage decor and touches, and beautiful lighting from the big window above the sink. Jenny and Phil, their family, were part of God’s sovereign hand going before us on our Oregon adventure.

Because of Phil’s work, their family later moved away from Oregon to a new state. I didn’t even know if we’d see them again. It was pretty wild when, in the midst of our then “new” discussion to move back to Spokane, Jenny contacted me with the news that they had moved back to Spokane themselves!

We haven’t always kept in touch perfectly, but it’s so funny how God weaves them into our lives at the most pivotal times. When Jenny shared about her friend’s home, she added to the crazy story; while they had been remodeling their kitchen in Medford, her dear friend (miracle-house’s homeowner) was simultaneously redoing her’s. They would bounce ideas off each other and picked similar finishes based on their akin tastes. Funny how when I first viewed the home, I thought of Jenny and her tastes, her Medford kitchen. Hearing her connection to it all later just floored me. Who could do this but God?

Jenny shared more about her friend and her family. They lived in this house with their four kids, and (if I have the details correct) this gal had actually grown up two doors down where her mom still currently lives. The homeowners are actually only moving around the block to a bigger home! The family that lives across the street are Christians who homeschool their young kids and had been praying fervently for their new neighbors to be Christians as well. It was all rather remarkable. (Crazier still is when we happened to see the guy in passing only to discover he’s a guy Danny worked with at Red Robin who also went to high school with Danny’s older sister. Could this get nuttier!?)

That night I couldn’t sleep. I knew there wasn’t any guarantee that this would be our home. But I was in tears of joy; disbelief that God would even put something this wonderful in our path at all. It was the anticipation of Christmas morning on steroids. I was getting to see my baby, know the gender, and step into a potential dream home… all in one morning.

When we saw the house, it was even more than I expected. The rooms were beautiful. The natural light was amazing. The cellar basement had been so cleaned up and put together for storage; it boasted a newer furnace, showed off the new plumbing and electrical. There was even a beautiful, big play set in the fully-fenced backyard. How could we not move forward with this home?

Another offer was already made before we could even blink. We knew there could likely be more over the course of the day. We offered our best (which wasn’t a whole lot higher than the asking price as is.) Based on the hard evidence, it looked like a slim chance for us to come out for the win. We had to trust God in moving forward with our max offer, knowing he would continue to be the provider for this next big adventure. He has never failed us. Ever. And we waited.

Those 48 hours contained the full spectrum of emotions; from excitement and disbelief, to panic, to second-guessing, then peace. I was plugging away on pure adrenaline and praying for continued wisdom and guidance. The next day we found out our offer was likely to fall short of the others. So we waited. I knew that if God wanted us to have this home he would tell the homeowners. I knew that they would be talking to Him about it all too. It was all His.

Our realtor texted me saying she’d like to talk when Danny and I had a chance. I didn’t know for sure what it would be about; maybe something else came up with the offers that she wanted to discuss? When Danny got home we called her. She then shared that ours was not the highest offer. Okay. We probably didn’t get the house. Alright. But then she went on to say that the homeowners accepted our offer anyways! Wow. God. Only Him. We didn’t even know how to process…

Later that night, after attending a Super Bowl party at our friend’s, we drove down the road to pass by this miracle-home. We saw the other surrounding houses with their lit porches, went up a block to discover a look-out point over a bluff. It was amazing. This beautiful home was going to be ours. Reality started to trickle in the cracks past our shock. God just did this.

This story continues to stun. Our lender contacted us the next day to share that our rate dropped resulting in a significantly lower monthly payment (WHAT?!) We locked in the next day to find it went up (only slightly), but left us with a lower payment still and (surprise!) an extra lenders credit that (surprise again!) doubled from what our lender banker even thought it would be. Wow. Seriously God? The week went on and we came to inspection time. Our inspector was amazing and walked us through the home educating us along the way. We chose to have another sewer line inspection done due to large-rooted trees out front. Our realtor knew of a reliable place with a current discount on that very work. Set up the appointment for the following Monday (this week) only to find out that (surprise!) the sewer lines went to the back of the house and not even near the huge trees with their intrusive roots. Didn’t even have to pay the extra little chunk of change for that job.

There have been other sweet provisions along the way these past couple weeks for our family life, for our marriage, for our personal growth. I’m soaking in all of it. God continues to provide extra savings money-wise. And only today we heard back from our realtor that the homeowners agreed to do all the fixes we requested post-inspection (all mostly small, but one that was a little more costly). Praise Jesus.

This new season is like riding a wave. I could cry now as I look back on this insane narrative; only one of many in our adventure with God. It’s amazing how He so cares for us. That care doesn’t always equate “getting everything we’ve ever dreamed of.” Sometimes it’s looked like keeping us hanging on when we feel like we don’t know how to anymore. Sometimes it’s meant assurance of His presence when the darkness draws in and we feel completely out of control. Sometimes it’s looked like believing that He has to be bigger than the chaos and the impossibilities we face as people; that, if He’s God, He can actually do that. We’ve come out of a lot of that this past year (me, in particular.) And now stepping into this bombardment of blessing leaves me speechless. He is the same. He is just as good and cares just as poignantly in my seasons of doubt and in the dark as He does now. He is my perfect provision when my health is volatile and my mind is raging. And He doesn’t withhold anything good. Yet He redefines what “good” means to us. It rises above the self-fulfillment of “having our ducks in a row” and things running smoothly and to our liking. Good is exactly what we need and God, in all His infinite mystery, is the sole source of that knowledge. In fact, He is that. He is the sovereign mystery that frustrates our desire to know everything and have the control. But when we settle into the fact that He is good, faith forms. And life’s craziness becomes less of a tidal wave because of His constancy.


He is good, guys. He is real. He is perfect. He knows everything. He loves us. And He is good.