Until a few months ago, we had never thought we’d be purchasing a house. Yet, as we found God clearing the way for our move to Fort Wayne, it seemed home ownership would be a wise financial decision. Thus began our search for a house. A few days ago, I began writing an extensive post about our personal journey of hunting a home during the early months of 2017 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It’s been an experience! We’ve learned such a good deal. This real estate business is kind of whack and the housing market is not friendly to buyers at the moment. Today, I’ve scrapped that post and want to share a simple truth that’s begun settling on me.

At the end of January I posted about our return to Indiana and the many things into which we were headed. Let me first give a brief update on that list.

  • a move from Minnesota to Indiana – ✅
  • transitioning from one job into others – ?️ slowly
  • establishing Typewheel as a business – ?️ also slowly
  • purchase of a new home – ? ? ? ?
  • finding health insurance – ✅
  • purchase of a new car – still ?
  • arrival of baby – ⏲️ under two months!

In many ways, that last one feels like a deadline for the others. Only God knows. We’re learning again to trust and wait.

So, back to home lessons. I (along with my wife, our realtor, and our kids) have invested thousands of hours in search of a house for our family. It should not be this difficult to pay someone $100,000. I have countless messages like the following…

We’ve learned a lot through this process and have come up against such challenges and discouragement. Through it all, you have surrounded us with encouragement and prayer. We thank you! We have had such wonderful opportunity to connect with our pastor’s family as they graciously house us in their basement. We recognize that God is using this time to work good things, even if it may not always be easy on us. The kids have been troopers. I can’t imagine how they process and handle marching in and out of countless homes. This week, after our fourth offer being rejected, we finally decided that I would alone begin visiting with our realtor. This resulted in a fifth offer that is currently pending. Sounds as if it may be up against six other offers or so. We expect to hear the seller’s decision tonight. We appreciate your continued prayers.

It can be so easy to get caught up in the hunt, in the market, in the game, in the bidding wars, etc. Now … to the truth that has taken such time hit me … a thing that was once so clear and has bee made clear again. We have not been led here to purchase a house nor make some financial investment in a property, but to establish a home and nurture a place of living and life. Five or ten years down the road, should we look to sell our house, I will not be concerned as to whether we’ve lost 5-10 thousand dollars. However, I will look back and ask whether we’ve found ourselves settled for a time, healthy, and home.

Such things are worth a little wait.