Another long post, for the family history...
It was a remarkable experience--one for the books. Or maybe just the blog.
In our search, we had some obstacles to deal with:
Obstacle #1: Brian will be operating out of many, many hospitals in the metropolitan area, so there was no clear "right-by-the-hospital" place we should look.
Obstacle #2: We had only vague recommendations from people regarding areas to live.
Obstacle #3: We had some strict criteria for a place to rent.
Obstacle #4: Most homes that met our strict criteria were significantly out of our price range.
Obstacle #5: We would have precisely 36 hours to find a home.
In preparation, I spent at least fifty hours--and easily more--on Craigs' List in the weeks preceding our trip. I had a huge stack of printouts for rental homes, complete with home information, pictures, school test scores & demographics, emails, maps, and so forth. I had made numerous phone calls and sent endless emails.
I thought we were as prepared for the trip as we could be. But I was still nervous about finding the right place.
And then, a few days before we left, more obstacles came up:
Several of our "top choices" rented to other people shortly before the trip.
Several people asked how many kids we had. I answered honestly: Five. Their reply: "We don't want to rent to a family with five kids. Goodbye."
By the time we arrived in Minnesota, my short stack of twelve homes to see had dwindled to seven homes. And while we were at the airport, with the clock ticking on our 36 hours, one appointment cancelled--bring the list to six homes, most of which I guessed would not really meet our needs.
I was panicking. Right after we arrived, I started calling about the homes that had been in our "Reject" pile.
But I still had one glimmer of hope.
The day before we left, I had called to confirm appointments. During one phone call with an exceptionally kind lady, I discovered that she and I attend the same church. And that her husband is doing a dental residency. And that we shared a few other commonalities.
We saw this home first, on Friday afternoon. And then on Friday afternoon and all day Saturday, we walked through a whole bunch of other homes, some of which were downright terrifying, and a couple which would have been doable.
We quickly realized that, compared to the others, the first home was almost too good to be true. It was old, to be sure--built in the 1890s and completely renovated. But it had charm, in spite of the dungeon-like basement. The school (a good one!) was two blocks away. The park was one block away. It had wide sidewalks out front. Plenty of storage space. Enough bedrooms. And bathrooms. A big kitchen. Fenced-in yard. Good neighborhood. Garage. Lawn mower included. Kids next door. And on and on.
Then we looked at a map. The house was perfectly central to the entire metropolitan area. And 2.1 miles from the main hospital. And it was in our price range.
And then I realized that the house had been inadvertently listed in the "wrong" county on the Craigs' List housing section. It should have been listed under a neighboring county; I had been looking for a home in an entirely different area and hadn't considered this county in my extensive search.
In short, we never should have found this home.
We began to wonder if Heavenly Father was telling us something.
By Saturday afternoon, we were set to apply for a lease for the home, but we wanted to see one or two more places, just to be sure.
The final home we saw, on Saturday night, was absolutely perfect. It was huge. It was gorgeous. It had everything...plus some...and it had been listed for rent at a price far less than it should have been. But it was 30 minutes outside the city. And the kids would have had to go to three different schools. But the house was oh-so amazing. And we knew it would rent very, very fast.
We felt some significant pressure to make a decision, right then and there. We stood in the yard of the amazing house and talked. And prayed. And debated and looked at a map and talked more.
And then we realized: We had known the answer all along.
We called the landlord, set the wheels in motion, and the next morning, we climbed on a plane to go home.
We felt as though Heavenly Father had pointed a finger at the house and said, "There. There is where you need to live."
That kind of thing doesn't happen too often, but in this case, it did.
And then, to make the miracle even more complete, two hours after we arrived home, we had an offer to buy our house here in Virginia.
By Tuesday morning, everything was set. We had a lease in Minnesota, and we had a contract on our home here in Virginia.
By Tuesday morning, I was emotionally exhausted. But grateful, so very grateful.
