So, Thursday evening we noticed ants gathering around the left side of our kitchen sink. So I wiped them off and sprayed near the door and within a short period of time I turned around and saw a whole new army of ants again. So I did the same thing with them, and a little while later, another army appeared. So it's getting close to bedtime and we started realizing they were in the food cabinets above the sink and the stove. So Nicole and I started emptying out the food cabinets and it just turned my stomach to see so many ants. Here's a picture we shot of one of the cabinets:
It was so disgusting - I so wanted to just pack up everyone and go to a hotel, but by the time we got everything out of the cabinets it was 10:30pm and the thought of spending another 30 minutes or so getting everyone and everything together for something like was too exhausting to think about. And thankfully, the ants weren't going anywhere near our beds. So needless to say, when we went to go look at houses Saturday I was HIGHLY motivated. In fact, the first house we went to I said, "We'll take it!" It was an amazing 5 bedroom 4 bath house in a very nice neighborhood in Riverview. We all loved it, but we went ahead and went to the next several houses just to complete our planned day. The last house we looked at was a brand new house that Tim absolutely fell in love with and the rest of us liked a whole lot and only $5000 more than the 1st house. So it became a battle of both houses. Our realtor sent us a market analysis of properties in the area of the 1st house, and it turns out they were asking $27,000 more than it is worth due to what they owe on it. It would be hard to get a mortgage for what they are asking, but they can't ask for less if they want to avoid the whole short sale problem. So that was disappointing. And the builder who showed us the last new house sent us the tax information for that house, and it was almost $4000 with another $1400 CDD! Ouch! I still wasn't giving up on the whole thing even after I had those pieces of information (as I said, I was HIGHLY motivated!), so I sat down last night and listed pros and cons for both properties. When I got to the end I realized I could not have a peace about either of them. So this morning when I woke up, I mentioned this to Tim, and he said he was feeling the same way, too. But we also didn't have a peace about living any longer in our camper. Do we rent? Really? After all this? I was feeling pretty emotional during Little Church this morning. My verse I shared with everyone was from my quiet time earlier this week - it was about God providing the Israelites with 'homes with good things', and I had sensed the Lord speaking to me that that was what He was going to do for us. So when our realtor called this afternoon, I just poured my heart out to her. I told her we were thinking maybe we should go ahead and rent but I felt stupid even saying that! I remember 15 years ago some friends of ours were looking for a house and they took like 9 months to find one. I just thought they were being too picky and that certainly they could have found something before 9 whole months! And here I am, something like 6 months into the process of looking for a house, and no closer to getting one! I totally repented of that judgementalism today! Anyway, our realtor sent us a list of 13 rental properties, and Tim and I sat down and narrowed it down to 3, and she met us at the 3 properties late this afternoon. The last one we added as an afterthought, but when we got there we knew it was perfect, and it was the least expensive one, too. The paperwork said they required a 12 month lease, but we asked if we could get a 6 or 7 month lease, so she called and the listing agent said a 7 month lease would be acceptable. So our realtor drove with us to Amscot where we bought a money order for the application fee per instructions, and then she came back to the Perrella's with us where we printed and filled out the application and then she drove it to the office of the listing agent and put it in the night deposit box. She said they typically do rentals on a first come, first served basis and so she wanted our application to be the first one they got in case more applications came in tomorrow. Wow - like I said, she is amazing. I begged her to let us take her out to dinner, but she wouldn't hear of it. She kept saying she was just doing her job. Anyway, I have limited pictures from the listing, but here are a few of them:
We so appreciate your prayers, and of course are asking for them again! Our friends have been so amazing and 'with us' on this journey. I talked to 2 of my girlfriends today, and they were just incredibly encouraging and supportive, because I honestly was feeling like I must be crazy that we haven't found a house to buy yet, and that I am feeling so peaceful about renting instead of buying (for now), even though it seems like throwing money away. They were in total in agreement of this, though, so it really helped me to not feel so loony! :-) Anyway, we'll keep you posted with this next saga of our journey! Blessings to all!
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