I've been dreaming of...........

this place constantly.

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Seriously now every night for about 3 weeks.

And I dreamt about this place about 3 months ago too.

Last year in Jan/Feb we got a rent increase where we were living and we considered moving. For a while now we had thought of buying a place in the country, but within driving distance to Brissy so we could still run our business. But Jan/Feb last year we weren't yet in a position to buy and thought about making the move and renting for a while. The rent would be lots cheaper and we could save more. So we prayed over it and we got the message loud and clear to wait. Wait until after November 2008. So we started waiting & then I feel pregnant & I questioned God about His whole planing etc.

So we waited and waited, we stalked realestate.com.au & domain.com.au and we saw houses come and go and we thought "will we be able to do this in November?" Then God placed Dave Ramsey in our path and we got some serious budgeting in our lives and we started working on correcting all the bad financial choices we had made.

Then came October and as the "financial crisis" loomed the Government announced the increase of the first home owners grant & the economic stimulus package. Both those things to happen "at the end of November" when God had told us to wait!! Then November came and things started to go wrong. I started bleeding with the pregnancy, Cowper's bone marrow stopped working, Holly's eczema went into overdrive and Mark started suffering from a bad back. I had planed to spend November doing tax returns etc to get our financials sorted to apply for a loan, I now spent it in hospital. By the start of December we were "so over it" and went on our holiday, we were also saying "do we really want to move with this going on?" "Should we wait till after the baby's born?". On holidays my bleeding continued & Holly's eczema worsened and I had a bit of a "woe is me" moment. We took it to the Lord in prayer and asked for what was going on. The only answer that came to us was that the enemy was attacking us to keep us from what God had called us to do. So we resolved that when we got home from holidays we would ring a loan broker and an estate agent and find out what we could realistically do house wise.

So we drive in the driveway, open our letterbox and are welcomed with a letter from our landlord putting the rent up $40 a week. Mark and I just looked at each other and said "Do you think God is telling us something?" So we made the calls.

Last year in the lead up to this 2 things happened. 1. We were given 4 jobs to do in the areas we were thinking about buying in and did a road trip thinking we would "Scope out the land". From what we had thought about and what we saw were two different things. Towns that were one the top of our list were now on the bottom & towns on the bottom were now at the top. 2. I had a really vivid dream about a house we would buy, the house itself was too bizarre to exist (think two, 3 storey homes, 100 years old, joined together about 3 old bathrooms). But it stuck in my mind and I couldn't shake it, there were things about it that really stood out for me. Mark often asked, have you found the house in your dream yet? But the main point we took away from that, was we weren't looking for something new, we were looking for something old & that we could do up over time. Don't look for fancy, but something most people would turn from. And from our trip we knew the area to look in.

There was one house that kind of fit the bill, it was old and it was in the price range, but it wasn't something we thought "yuck" about. I had seen houses online that were more expensive and I would think "there is no way I could live with that bathroom or kitchen" or they had no bathroom, because someone ripped it out and gave up. But this one house keep catching my eye. Mark said "ring the agent, and if it's still on the market we'll take a look".

So off we go, we took Holly, Alec & Cowper with us and we went and "had a look". There were things at this house that were in my dream. A veranda that needed a wall put up to become a bedroom, a cricket pitch that you could see from the veranda, the same age, same kitchen cupboards, overgrown yard (it was when we went), water & hills to the north, the same front fence. This house just had too many similarities.

So we went home and prayed on in and the next day put in an offer. The whole time we were just asking God for His will to prevail, if this was His plan for us, open the doors, if this wasn't to shut them firmly. The counter offer that came back was lower than our upper limit, so we accepted it. On December 31 Mark and I signed a contract & after more than a month of bleeding it stopped. I have not had one niggle, spot or anything since then. His plan to use my pregnancy to derail God's plans didn't work. Since then Mark's back has been improving, and the day we got the phone call saying "it looks like you'll go unconditional on Monday" Holly's eczema has started to improve like you wouldn't believe. Oh and Cowps blood results "close to normal".

It hasn't been a completely smooth ride, I've had moments where the "not knowing" and "waiting on others" has gotten the better of me and I've gotten snappy and had a good cry. But all along I have had a husband who has been so calm and confident in God's hand in all this and has quietly waited on Him and encouraged me to take my fears to God. Every time I got fearful or afraid Mark said "let pray" and immediately after our prayer we would have an answer from a 3rd party putting our minds at rest.

I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am to finally "buy a house" and ALL of it is from God's blessings alone. He chose the time, His time frame gave us the Govt grants etc to help our deposit, and he gave us the dream to lead us to the right house. All things belong to God alone and we are just stewards of our earthly possessions. I am so thankful that we are steward of this house & I pray that we can do God's blessings justice.

The other thing that blows me away is 12 years ago Mark's parents were pressuring us to buy and we just felt uncomfortable to get a loan. We also didn't want to have repayments more than what we paid in rent & just couldn't conceive how we would ever achieve that. For so many years we've been afraid to borrow money and home loans have been a big fear in our life. This year God put in place the tools and education for us to get serious about our money and for the first time in 10 years actually budget. Rents are through the roof and what we pay now in rent would have paid for a mortgage easily all those years ago. Now we've waited, gone in with a 20% deposit (which we never thought we would ever achieve) and the weekly repayments are less than the cheapest rent we've ever paid. This is ALL because of God and his wisdom. Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

So for since we signed the contract this house has been in my dreams every night. It's constantly on my mind. Even though we signed the contract on the 31st of December, the sellers didn't get it back to the agent until the 8th of Jan, so the ball didn't start rolling until then. Today we got the news we've waited for "Finance Unconditional" there's no turning back.

So now it really starts. No more "is this really going to happen?" it's happening. All things going to plan (settle on the right date etc) we should be moving mid Feb.

In February we will start the life that God has called us for our family. We have waited 12 months for this move and I am excited beyond belief to see what God has in store for us living in the country.

I just have to keep thinking of the view that will soon be mine for paking motivation. That bit I'm not looking forward to. Hmmmm packing up a family of 7 (plus stuff for bubs) and a business, and cleaning the house that 5 little kids have lived in has kind of lost its gloss. I'm sure we'll get there, but the next month is sure going to be busy. Just another reason I'm so thankful we got the school year started early and a whole term fully planed out. I can't wait to be home schooling the kids here.

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And he're the "new" girl in colour.

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We've got a lot of plans for this place. I can't wait to share the journey with you guys.