Becoming Johnson Acres

Let me tell you the story of how we were blessed with our house.

In July of 2013, we put our house up for sale and found a buyer, all within a week.  Thinking we would only be out of a home for a few months, we put all our stuff in storage and moved our 6-month-old son, our three dogs, two cats, and ourselves into my husband’s parents' attic space.  It was a bit cramped, but we were all together and happy with a roof over our heads.  We prayed daily for God to send us a house, and although we doubted at times, we believed in His promise.

A certain scripture kept coming back to me, over and over.  Jeremiah 29:11

And when I say it kept coming back to me, I mean I would randomly stumble across these words while perusing the “everything” section of pinterest, or our pastor would quote it during his sermon, or someone on facebook would draw up a poster featuring this verse.  It seemed to be everywhere I looked.  Almost like God was patting my back and saying, “I got this. Just TRUST Me.”

There is something I haven’t mentioned that occurred around the fourth month of living with the in-laws. 

I got pregnant.

Can you see where the uncertainty would really begin to grate on you at this time?  Waylon was a miracle – I was supposed to be infertile .  We assumed a second baby would be just as hard to conceive.  Surprise!

We also choose to birth our babies at home, in a pool, with a midwife.  Leaving our first home, where Waylon was born, to pursue a ministry position, was so heart wrenching for me.  And the way things were looking, we were not going to find a house before this baby came.  Renting a new place, buying a temporary home, or birthing at the in-laws seemed to be our only options.

Then one day while checking out Zillow (something Patrick and I did daily) a house dropped $25K in price.  INTO OUR PRICE RANGE.  I immediately sent the link to Patrick and called our realtor.  I had looked at this house a hundred thousand times over the past two years and dreamed.  It was huge, with some land, in the exact area we wanted to be.  But way over budget.  It seemed like dreams could be coming true.

First hurdle.  There were some financing issues.  Second hurdle.  Our realtor was not comfortable dealing with this type of foreclosure.  Third hurdle.  We lost the house.  Before we could get our offer in, someone else offered above asking and got it.

Heartbroken does not even begin to describe our feelings.  When we heard the news, Patrick and I wept openly with each other, thinking our chance for a home had past.  Back to renting or birthing in an attic.  We pulled ourselves together though, and put our faith back in God.  We knew that if this house was truly meant to be ours, then it would come back to us.  Even if the other offer was cash and over the asking price.  We were at nine months living with Patrick’s parents.

We decided to leave our current realtor and look for a house on our own.  Another foreclosure property came up, a little further out of the area we wanted.  While looking at that property with its realtor, we learned she was the original listing agent for “our” house before it became a foreclosure.

That next Monday, she gave Patrick a call.  The offer on “our” house had fallen through.  Within a few hours, she had our offer in and the bank had accepted it. 

We closed on May 1^st, and we moved in on May 8^th. 

So blessed and happy to be in OUR HOUSE and to start growing God’s Kingdom around us.