The latest news in the Dancer household is … a house! Yes, Frank and I are embarking on the new adventure of becoming homeowners. It is a lovely 4 bedrooom 2 ½ bath ranch house with a finished basement (and a fireplace!) and we are both very excited.
Aside from the unavoidable learning curve involved in purchasing a home (realtors, closing costs, loans, home owner’s insurance, etc.), I have been doing a great deal of reflecting on how this whole adventure came about, and the necessity of following the Will of God in all of our endeavors in life.
You see, we were not in the market for a house. Our apartment, though smaller and slightly smokey, is certainly comfortable. There's plenty of space, our pictures are up, and we even have room for two cars (though admittedly not inside the garage).
However, I'm beginning to learn that Life is definitely not about "comfortable". It seems that, whenever we finally reach that point where we are ready to settle down into the groove of things, (however long that takes us) God decides to throw something new and exciting our way, just to keep us on our toes.
That's kind of how it worked with our house. Our friends have been house hunting for more than 6 months, and Frank has been talking with them about the different things they're learning and going through with that. On January 14, Frank was looking through some home listings just kinda for fun, and saw one he kinda liked. After giving me a call at work, we decided it wouldn't hurt to check it out. "Just for fun."
That house was very nice, but smelled of covered up cigarette smoke (not something I could see myself living with for the next 5-10 years). However, the realtor told us that she had three other houses in that same price range if we wanted to look. Again, "just for fun", though slightly more interested, we signed up for a Saturday showing.
Saturday was a lot of fun, and we found a house that was in our price range, big enough for a great many of our home owning dreams, and lacking any major problems. We went to the open house on Sunday, had it "professionally inspected" by my father on Monday, and made an offer on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Frank's birthday, our offer was accepted.
Needless to say, this last week has been a whirlwind as we now need to buy appliances, apply for our home loan, and buy home owner's insurance, not to mention schedule the real inspector and begin the arduous and despised process of packing.
At various points, I would ask myself: "What are we thinking? We don't need a house!" And sure enough, the next day I would hear about Zaccheus and his hospitality or about "Holiness becomes Your house O Lord forever!" and would have to rethink my goals for home ownership in the first place. Is a house a timely investment meant to offer financial security, a stable environment for family building, and a way to impress family and friends? Or rather, is it a gift from God meant to be used for His glory, by hospitality and prayer, and for the building up of the Church of God? I would continuously come back to the realization that we (Frank and I) had almost nothing to do with initiating this entire process at all. God was definitely at work here, and we are continually humbled by the many blessings He has bestowed on us. We also realize that this new home is His gift to us to be used to glorify His name and further His work.
I'm still not entirely sure how this new home fits in with His Will for our lives (though I do take it to mean we will be living in Cedar Rapids for many more years to come), but I am very excited and pray that we will use it appropriately as good stewards of the talent He has given us.
Please check back soon for photos of the new house and updates on the packing/moving process (I will
