Here is what I have learned about shopping for a new house:
1. Norman is expensive
2. You get pickier when you are moving to your second home
3. It's hard to house hunt, move, and think about unpacking with a baby and toddler underfoot
4. God's timing is better than ours
Now about that 4th point, of course I already knew that but sometimes we do forget and God reminds us in His gentle, loving way. Brad works in Ardmore, we don't want to live in Ardmore or really anywhere near Ardmore so Norman it is. When we started looking at houses we wanted to be in south Norman to cut down on Brad's drive time, but we found out that south Norman was either a) too expensive on the west side or b) not an area we wanted to live in on the east side. So we stopped looking south and started looking in north Norman. There are a TON of houses in Norman and I think I've seen most of them now! There were houses we liked, houses that "would work", and even a house I loved that we made an offer on. But that last house was bank-owned and turning into a big ordeal and we needed a house ASAP! After Ben was finished with tax season I told him we needed to start looking at houses again so we went out on Thursday to look at a few. I found a brand new home in our price range on the north east side of Norman that I liked and I knew "would work" for us. That evening while Brad and I talked I couldn't help but feel unsure and discouraged. This is not what we wanted, this would not help Brad save any time on his commute to work, and we had not heard very many positive things about living on the east side of Norman. As we talked I was online looking at houses again and I saw that two houses were on the market in the exact location we wanted to be in. When we first started looking at houses we came across a neighborhood called Remington Place out on highway 9 and Penn, each house is on an acre or 1/2 acre, it's a Norman address but Newcastle schools and it is a really pretty neighborhood. The houses is this area go fast in our price range or they are way above our price range. So while Brad and I were talking I realized I had just found TWO in Remington Place in our price range. Brad called Ben and we went to see them the next day. One of the two is the house we have a contract on! It is just over 1800 square feet, four bedrooms, 2 bath, on a half acre. It's very pretty and pretty much move in ready (other then the pink bedroom that will be Aden's room, we will be painting that immediately! ha!) We made an offer Saturday morning and by Monday morning we had reached an agreement!
Isn't it funny how we think that God doesn't know what He is doing, or we question what He is doing without even realizing we are doing it? We doubt God by rushing and making decisions without prayer and waiting on Him. We get discouraged, give up, question, make hasty decisions, and think that we know best. I knew God had given Brad this great job and that He would in fact lead us to the home we were suppose to be in, but He wasn't moving as quickly as I thought He should. Little tip, don't put God in a box, give up EVERYTHING to Him and He will show you His amazing plan for your life. I did not know a house like this was even an option for us in our price range and now here it is, ours in about 30 days. Lord willing, everything will go smoothly, the inspection will go well and we will definitely be able to close on May 25.
Thank you for your prayers and interest in our house hunt! I can't wait to have everyone over! If you want to help unpack boxes just call!!
