we’re moving to Texas: part 2

[if you haven’t yet read Part 1 of our journey, please do! :) all of what follows will make most sense in context to it!]

last Monday - July 8th - Matt, Callan and i flew to Texas. our goal? to fall in love with a home and buy it! a tall order for less than 72 hours in the state…

we landed early on Monday morning, grabbed breakfast, dropped our bags off at my parents’, and got ready to head out. we were scheduled to see 6 homes that afternoon. Matt and i were hopeful, excited, but i’ll admit - i wasn’t so sure we’d find our new home this trip. we’d “hearted” about 54 homes on the MLS and narrowed our “let’s go see it” list to 11. i liked a lot of the homes, but didn’t necessarily LOVE any of them but 1. 1 out of 11 i thought to myself…that’s not a great probability…Matt and i met Austin at the first home we were scheduled to see. before we hopped out of the car, we lifted up a quick prayer together: that God would guide our search and lead us h o m e .

as we approached the front door of the first home, Austin let us know that it had - within the last 30 mins - gone under contract. my heart sunk a bit as it was a house that wasn’t our number one, but was definitely within our top 5. in that moment, though i think both of us realized that this was an answer to prayer, really - closed doors are clear signs! we checked the house out nonetheless and chatted through what we loved/liked/didn’t love so much and moved on to the next one.

we saw our 2nd, 3rd, and 4th homes. the 4th home we saw was actually the #1 home on our list. turns out - we were wrong. we walked in and it felt…gaudy. i don’t know another way to say it, lol. like it wasn’t our home. as Austin, Matt and i walked around it, i could barely find the words to articulate what it was about the home that didn’t feel right. REGAL was the best i could come up with. “old world” is how Austin described it, and we thought that was pretty accurate, too. funny how what you think you want - from a surface or aesthetic level - turns out to be exactly the opposite of what you really desire…

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Matt and i have been praying to find a home that would be a great ‘hosting’ home. a house that would provide a peaceful place to land. we prayed for a 4 bedroom, 3 bath. a separate space for a prayer room and an office as we’ll both be working from home. a closet in our primary that was bigger than the one we have now [currently bumping booties when we’re both in there together lol], a place for Cal to play + create + spend time with friends, a kitchen that could accommodate many people at once comfortably, and my bougie self really wanted a stand alone bath tub, too. it felt like a reasonable order coming from the Denver market, but it also felt like a stretch of an order with the 72 hour timeline we had.

by the time we were leaving the 5th home for the day, and driving to our last and final home - Matt and i had started talking about the reality that maybe we weren’t going to find our home this time around. so, renting would be the route we’d take. we were feeling pretty discouraged by this point, but prayed another prayer as we pulled up to our final home for the day and gave it all back to Him - that whatever His will for us was, we’d follow.

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as we walked up to the 6th home, i felt…at home. it’s such a surreal feeling walking up to a place you’d never been before and feeling like you’d been there before. from the dormers to the Adirondack chairs in the yard to the big trees in front to the huge windows and stunning brick…h o m e.

something that came to mind as we approached the front door was this: the words that God continued to speak gently to me over the course of the past few months - “I have gone to prepare a place for you” and as were about to step inside - those words hung near to my heart.

Austin led us inside and it. just. made. sense. to our left, the prayer room. to our right, the office. a living room and huge windows. a beautiful kitchen at which 6 people could sit around the counter. a place for a table that could seat another 8. a blank canvas for a backyard. a stand alone tub and primary closet in which we wouldn’t have to bump butts. Cal’s bedroom along with 2 others for guests. a jack and jill bathroom that she’s excited to share with our family when they come to visit. a loft space that we can turn into whatever we need it to be for her + the friends she’ll make. every space had a function for which we’d prayed. and it was better than we’d ever imagined it could be.

i caught a glimpse of Matt as he walked around - subtly rubbing both hands together with a sweet smile on his face. for anyone who knows Matt, he’s a man of few words and few reactions - unless he truly has something to communicate. it’s a characteristic i’ve always loved about him. i knew, just by looking at him, that he knew, too.

we were standing in an answered prayer.

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before we left the house, we knew we were going to put an offer on it. we’d agreed to meet up with Austin the next afternoon to do so. nervous nelly me was worried that someone else would put an offer on the house and have it accepted before we could do so [we knew that there had been 5 showings that day]…another opportunity to remain patient and trusting. that whatever happened - whether it be this house or another - it would be good because all that God is capable of giving is good, even and especially when we are unable to see it here in our physical reality.

fast forward to Tuesday afternoon - we sat down with Austin at his office to write our offer up. he shared with us that earlier that morning, another offer had come in on the house. oh LAWD, i thought to myself. and another opportunity to loosen my grips on the control i wanted to have and remain open handed and hearted to all that He had promised - whatever it was…

we wrote up our offer and submitted it at 2:15p that afternoon. and we were off again to check out 3 more homes. we walked in and out of each of them, but felt nothing. we knew that the offer we’d put in was for the only house we wanted.

once we were done with showings, we’d made plans to hang with Austin, Kimee, Eric + Jamie that evening at Austin and Kimee’s home. Matt and i swung by Whole Foods for a couple of bottles of wine, and then over to the Adoration Chapel at St. Ann’s.

as we walked into the Chapel, i looked around and there weren’t any 2 seats right next to each other aside from in the very front row. so, Matt and i slowly made our way to the front of the Chapel and knelt. as we knelt there, my mind and heart swirled - it was like having a tornado within your own body. i was nervous, filled with anxiety, trying constantly to ward the “what if’s” away, and couldn’t piece together any sort of prayer aside from His name: Jesus.

i repeated His name over and over again because it was all i could string together. after 10 minutes or so, a little boy - probably around 12 - walked right up to the Monstrance and knelt in front of Jesus. i smiled automatically - what a sweet moment. after a minute or two, he stood up and walked directly in front of me and Matt the left. because we were so far in front, i had to turn to see where he’d gone. and there he stood - in front of a statue of our Blessed Mother with his hand on her own. he paused for a moment, made the sign of the cross, and then walked back in front of us and to his seat.

i smiled the whole time - the Faith of this child!

and that’s when it was - i sensed in my heart our Father say, “I want you to approach me like he did. I want you to approach me as your Father as My child. With confidence and expectation. With the knowledge and belief that I want to hear what you want and need. Just as Callan comes to you and you know her needs before she speaks them to you - but delight in her desire to inquire - I want you to come to me just the same. I want you to approach me like a child because you are Mine. I will provide. I will do it.”

i took a deep breath in and a few tears slowly slipped down my cheeks. P E A C E . in that moment, all i sensed and thought and felt was peace. and it wasn’t because He promised me exactly what i wanted, but because He promised to hear me and see me and provide for my needs always. He reminded me that He is my Father and fathers know what their children need. fathers delight in hearing their children’s requests. fathers love receiving the trust of their children. it was a moment of pure surrender for me - one i’ll never forget. that so long as i remain childlike, as long as i remember Whose i am and live from that place - i cannot go astray. perhaps one of the places He’d prepared for me was this moment in the Adoration chapel with Him…to surrender. to trust. to remain with Him regardless of outcomes or circumstances…

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Matt and i left the adoration chapel and just sat in the car together for a few minutes. we prayed. i cried. it was all just so much - these last few months coming to a head so quickly. so much change happening in such a short amount of time. it’s as if life has been in fast forward since March 19th. we hugged and then we were on our way to Kimee and Austin’s.

when we arrived, Austin brought us into the backyard and let us know that he’d heard from the other realtor. the very long story short: they wanted to accept our offer so long as we came up to asking price. after chatting it out with Austin for a few minutes, Matt and i looked at each other and knew: we were going to be under contract by the time we flew home the next day.

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to say all of this was surreal would be a complete and total understatement: we sat around the table with Jamie, Eric, Kimee and Austin and talked about how wild it was - all of this. how God’s hand has been so evident within each and every step of this journey - from CO to TX. the fact that we found out that we were under contract surrounded by these couples in particular wasn’t lost on us. what a wild, wild 48 hours.

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SO - what’s happening at the moment? we officially close on our new home on the 25th [did a 2 week close], our moving truck comes on the 31st, we’ll spend a couple days at Matt’s parents’ and will drive down to TX on the 3rd. we’ll spend a couple days at my parents’ until our moving truck arrives - anytime between the 5th and the 8th.

we are SO grateful for your prayers most of all. we are so taken aback by all of you who’ve come out of the woodwork to connect us, introduce yourself to us, welcome us, and make us feel that much more at h o m e.

and a reminder: it’s okay to be little. it’s okay to have needs and desires. it’s okay to tell Jesus you’re not quite sure what to say or ask or do. it’s okay to lean in. He’s with you. He sees you. He hears you. and He will provide in His perfect time in the most perfect ways. do not be afraid of the future He generously offers to you.

see you in 2.5weeks, TX!