Tuesday, September 30

Moving Part 2

I wanted to follow up on my first "Moving Story" post with the second part of the story. In short, God sold our house in two weeks . . . and we're moving at the end of this week!

Now for the longer explanation . . . This whole process has been a whirlwind, to say the least. At the end of July, Josh and I started considering a move back up north, but honestly, I was way more committed to the idea than he was. He wasn't so sure about leaving Nashville or his job, but after our visit to Plattsburgh in mid-July, I felt increasingly restless here, sort of like this wasn't "home" anymore. I mentioned to my friend Stephanie that we were discussing the possibility of moving, but I told her that even if we DID move, it wouldn't be until next year. Here we are just two short months later, and we're getting ready to pack our moving truck this week!

Things at Josh's job continued to decline through the summer, both in the amount of hours and the quality of the work environment, and he made the decision to take a leap of faith on August 21st: he quit his job! Up until that point, moving to NY was still a vague possibility in my mind because I knew we both had to be onboard 100 percent and both have peace about this gigantic change in our lives. Josh called me that night after quitting and told me he had good news and bad news. And then he corrected himself: "Actually it's all good news. I quit my job and we're moving to NY!" I was kind of like..."Really?" I was shocked.

Well, we quickly moved into action and got the house "spiffed up" in one week and officially put it on the market For Sale by Owner. We didn't know at that point what God's plan was or if we were even going in the right direction. We decided that if the house sold quickly, that would definitely be a sign that God's hand was in this and that He really did want us to move. So we listed the house on Thursday, August 28th, and we had several people contact us initially. Josh took this on as his full-time job and really did a great job creating a cool website and marketing the house on Craigslist and via flyers around Nashville.

With the way the housing market is right now, we really didn't know how long our house would sit on the market. I was prepared for 3-4 months, at least, but we both believed from the beginning that God had already sold the house and had a special family in mind. We just had no way of knowing how quickly He would bring that family along, and we didn't want to try to put God on our timeline. As much as we didn't want to be stuck in between jobs or face the prospect of moving to NY and trying to sell the house from there, we knew that it was a possibility. With timing uncertain, but sensing that this really was what God wanted us to do, we prayed every day for wisdom and patience in working out the details and waiting for Him to bring the right family along. This process certainly increased our faith greatly, and it was neat because Kaden got to participate in the process -- praying in his own words and seeing God answer our prayers in a big way.

On Saturday, September 13th, the future buyers came to see the house while my sister and I were at the Music City Triathlon course scoping out the situation for the triathlon the next day. We had two showings that day, and several other people called who were really interested in the house. Josh called me to tell me that it looked like both families were going to make an offer, so that was VERY good news! The next day after the triathlon, we talked about the options we had and decided on a really sweet couple that loves our house. They're young and want to have a family soon, which is exciting for us because this home has been such a blessing to us and we've made so many good memories here with our kids. Josh called them on Sunday afternoon, and they were so excited that they wanted to come over THAT NIGHT and sign the paperwork. So we did!

We're doing a 2-year lease-purchase agreement with them, and they were ready to assume the mortgage starting in October. The timing was perfect for us because we never had to make a mortgage payment while Josh was out of work. Again, we had no idea how long we would have to carry the mortgage, but we couldn't be happier with the way God blessed us so abundantly through this whole process.

If it had taken six months or a year to sell our house, God would still be good, but to see Him work out this arrangement in two weeks and for Him to move so swiftly on our behalf has been truly amazing. We're so grateful for the way He is making a path for us. Isaiah 30:21 says, "Your ears will hear a word behind you, 'This is the way, walk in it,' whenever you turn to the right or to the left." We have certainly experienced this during this whole process leading up to our move.

So that's the story. I'm sure there will be more to tell in the future as God continues unfolding what our new life will look like in NY. Our plan is to move in with Josh's parents and finish their basement to make our own little spot for the next year or so while we get their house ready to sell. I'll continue freelancing, and Josh has some money-making ideas up his sleeve, as he almost always does. :-) Josh will be the chief manual laborer in completing the repairs that need to be done to the house, so that will keep him busy, too. Our long-term plan is to move to the family lake in northern PA, but we don't have a certain date set for that second move.

It's interesting to look back and see how God has been developing this idea of "multigenerational living" in our hearts for over a year now. We thought that Josh's parents would be the ones moving here after retirement and that we would buy a piece of property together and build separate homes or possibly one big joint home. God apparently had other ideas in mind, now that WE are clearly the ones relocating, but still, the concept is the same. I'm sure there will be lots of pros and cons to us all living under one roof, but I truly believe we're going to work it out and create an arrangement that works for all of us. This whole interdependence between generations is relatively foreign to us now that lots of families are spread out over the whole country and we've moved away from the model of families living in the same town for their whole lives, but at least for us, reclaiming that interdependence is a very exciting prospect. I have some ideas cooking in my head, like maybe a new blog or even an e-book on traversing some of the pitfalls of multigen living, so stay tuned.

God is at work in a big way in our family, and we feel very fortunate to have experienced this last year -- and particularly the last two months. I've collected some Bible verses that meant a lot to me during this time (and will continue to), and I think I'll post those separately in case they might help someone out there.

Thanks for reading this epic blog post. I know I don't blog much anymore, but I'm on Facebook a lot -- so set up an account and request me as a friend if you want to keep up with us more regularly. The next time I write, we'll be northerners again! :-)

New York or bust! To God be the glory!

3 comments:

HV2 said...

Great blog Jenn! Love,
Dad

Anonymous said...

Jenn,

I am so sad to see you guys go. You know that your "babies" have a very special place in our hearts. Not that you guys don't, haha!!

God is good and I'm so excited for your future.

I will continue to read your blog and will maybe even get into the facebook thing! ;)

Take care and God Bless,

Lori and family

Anonymous said...

I like your epic blogs. Interesting to hear more background on your decision. I hope the packing is going well, and that you have a safe move!

Love ya,
Gudie