Daniel and I started house shopping this week. It seems crazy. I honestly didn't think it was going to be difficult. "I am super easy to please" I thought. "All I need is a tiny cottage." "I can rip out carpet. I can paint walls. I can tile." These thoughts floated around my head all day long, but they kept floating right on out of my ear holes and I no longer want to lay tile or rip out carpet–I want to move in furniture. It isn't possible to find that cute little cottage (like above) with shingles and panes and character. So far, what Daniel and I have experienced has traumatized us a little bit. Holes in the walls, holes in the ceilings, flooded basements, termites, scary neighbors, and cigarette smoke. I feel so petty that I can't see past this stuff. . but I really can't see past it. I want to tell you that we found a tiny little house for us to make our own and eventually live in close quarters with a pup and lots of love, but we haven't.
This is very difficult. I will keep you posted, and we will continue to pray for a house, and an open heart and an open mind, and selflessness, and humility, . . I don't need storage, right???
With that in mind I would like to present an amazing quote by C.S. Lewis, because when wouldn't this quote be relevant??
“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”
― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
Sincerly, a frazzled and distracted geekwithpompoms.
There is NOTHING petty about being unable to accept things like termites, neighbor crazininess, basement leakage issues, various stinkage, etc. Even if you don't have barbecues and cocktail parties with them, it's important to have peace with the neighbors. Whatever you do--and the realtor and/or your parents probably told you this, because it's super important--make sure you have a building inspector check the place out before you sign anything. We thought we'd found the perfect place for the perfect price before we found our current home, but it had severe termite damage/leak problems of its own. The seller refused to fix it, so we passed it up. We thought we'd looked at every home in this area and then we saw this one; loved the looks and the price. 8 years later, we still love it. Don't get discouraged; as long as the home is a good price and in good shape (and desireable location), you can make it into a unique and beautiful home that will be perfect for you, Daniel, and a lucky little pup.
ReplyDelete