Fimiliar territory...unfamiliar result

Those of you who have been following me from the beginning know that we are living in a little house that my sweet Jesus has turned into our home. You can read the full story here. We bought this house almost five years ago in hopes of getting rich quick. That, of course, backfired as it sat on the market sucking us dry for three, long years until finally God put us in it. It's all a crazy story. I moved in kicking and screaming, but 18 months later I've become a little attached to the place.

We live in Saraland, a little town outside of Mobile, Alabama. It's at least a 30 minute drive to get anywhere, but it's just become normal. We have grown into a rhythm and our small floor plan works well for my little ones. In fact, I assumed we'd be here at least until Toby finished school in a few years. This past Christmas we had lots of family visiting and things were cramped, but we all made due. I was caught off guard when Toby came up behind me as I was working feverishly to entertain our family and whispered, "Next Christmas we'll be in a new house." What? What are you talking about. I actually like it here now. I'm not sure I want to move yet. The idea fell away as I was still convinced we were going to be here for at least another year. After all, we'd just put in new stainless appliances and a beautiful master shower.

During the month of January our church spent 21 days in prayer and fasting. On the first Monday of this season, Toby drove down to West Mobile for an hour of prayer before driving on to work. After leaving the chapel, it took him a beautiful 15 minutes to get to work...he was thrilled. He called me that morning, excited about the day we would move to West Mobile. I dismissed the thought with an absent minded, "Yeah, that will be nice." Toby's pattern continued all week...drive to West Mobile early in the morning, prayer for the people of Mobile, short drive to work. Each day his heart broke a little more for the people of West Mobile and each evening he came home more excited about what God was teaching him and showing him.

By the second week of prayer and fasting, Toby was convinced that it was time to move to West Mobile. Not completely sold on the idea, I agreed to pray over it and be open. After a few days I began to get a little excited myself...being close to our church, our friends, and Toby's work. It was definitely appealing, but a piece of me didn't want to leave our little house that I had come to love. At the end of the second week, I came to Toby with my response, "If it were up to me, we'd stay here. However, I know that you have spent countless hours with Jesus in the last two weeks, and as the head of our household, I will trust and support whatever decision you make." He was so sweet about controlling his excitement until he knew I was on board, and so we prayed through the weekend. From there, my Jesus took over at lightning speed...

Wednesday, January 25
We met with our realtor, Elaine, to list the house. We gave her pictures of my pretty house, signed the necessary paperwork, and prayed for God to be glorified through this process.

Friday, January 27
Our little house went live on MLS for all the world to see. Now we just wait...

Sunday, January 29
NOON - Our prayer for our house changed from "let it sell quickly" to "let it sell quickly to the perfect buyer." We envisioned "perfect" as a sweet family who loved Jesus, would take good care of our home, and would love on our neighbors.

2:30pm - On my way to the car I noticed a red mustang sitting in front of the house. It was an awkward moment...I see you, you see me, do I pretend you're not there?, you're not driving away...uh... So, being the nosy person that I am, I decided to walk over and say hello. After all, if I were looking for a house, I'd love a chance to chat with the owners. Inside this shiny, red mustang was a sweet, young couple. We'll call them Ben and Kristy. They had just gotten engaged the day before and were driving around looking at houses after church. Kristy commented on our South Coast Church sign in the yard and asked about our pastor...by name. Weird. She then told me that they were actively involved with a church here in Saraland and they knew our pastor's brother, who is on staff at their church. Huh, small world. They were clearly in love with each other and my Jesus and seemed interested in seeing more of the house.

5:30pm - We got a call from Elaine. Ben and Kristy wanted to see the inside!

Tuesday, January 31
I worked until after midnight the night before...cleaning, scrubbing and straightening. God had made it clear that my job in this season was to work on selling our house and I wanted to do it to the best of my ability. Two hours before our first showing I put apples sprinkled with cinnamon in the oven and oh how they smelled delicious! At 3:50 I loaded the kids in the car and off we went. At 5:00 we drove through the neighborhood, only to find that they were still touring our home and had called Ben's dad over to see the place. Elaine told me later that the first time Kristy walked onto my back patio and saw the inscription, she was sold. Our Jesus is so good! They stayed until after 6:00 and prayed with Elaine in the front yard before going home. They promised to call the next day.
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
Toby and I checked our phones every ten minutes...willing it to ring. But Elaine didn't call. There was no word from Ben and Kristy. Honestly, I was bummed. But what are you going to do? You can't force somebody to love your house. We'd been here before. The real estate market is one of those things that we have no control over...only my Jesus does.

Another showing was scheduled for Saturday afternoon, but just a bit before their appointment the buyers cancelled. He had been called into work. The waiting continued...

Sunday, February 5
This is the two year anniversary of when God stopped us in our tracks and called us back to Mobile. A fork in the road for the rest of our days. If you haven't already, I hope you'll take a minute to read about that day here...it was amazing! We went to our Sunday service with an excitement and celebration over all that God had done in two years. We also thought it no coincidence that our house was in limbo again on this very day. He's so fun like that.

1:00pm - Elaine called and, as usual, my heart skipped a beat at the sight of her name on my caller ID. Another showing was scheduled for later that afternoon. Initially I thought it was the couple who had cancelled from the day before, but after making Elaine repeat herself three times I finally understood...it was Ben and Kristy! They wanted to see the house, "just one more time." Ahh, the excitement was crazy. Toby and I did a huge happy dance...and then promptly rushed home to pick up the toys, clothes, and dishes that were littered all over our house. Oh, and we baked some more apples...couldn't hurt. :)

6:00pm - Elaine calls again, "Where would you like to meet to discuss this offer?" NO WAY!! Jesus gave us an offer ON our two year anniversary of the fork in the road and after only one buyer and 10 days on the market! How big is He?!? He's bigger than the real estate market...that's for sure. So we met with Elaine that night, made a counter offer and went home floating in God's faithfulness.

Friday, February 10
Yes, FRIDAY! We heard nothing back all week and I was so frustrated and so anxious. Anyway, just after lunch Toby's phone finally rang. Ben had been really busy with work that week and extended another counter offer. Toby accepted it and it was done!! We had a contract!

The selling of our home is not only a blessing and answered prayer for me and Toby, but it's a beautiful blessing for Ben and Kristy and for our neighbors. We had prayed for God to give our house to someone who loves Him, someone who would continue to love on our neighbors and I know they will. Through this process my Jesus gave a sweet gift of confirmation to Kristy. During their second visit to our home, Kristy and Elaine were standing in the kitchen chatting. Kristy shared that they had set their wedding date for June and she's already picked out the flowers she would carry...white hydrangea. Elaine said, "You mean like those?" as she pointed to the fresh, cut flowers on my kitchen table. I love fresh flowers and made a special trip to Fresh Market to pick the perfect ones for my table. I debated between the hydrangea and a bouquet of mixed flowers. In the end, I remembered carrying white hydrangea in my wedding and thought that was special, so I went with them. Little did I know that my Jesus would use those same flowers as a sweet gift of love for our buyers...He cares about the little things and knows just how to speak to our hearts.

My sweet Jesus laid a move on our hearts and in a month our house was sold. We were forced to watch our house sit on the market for three, long years when we tried to sell it in our own strength and with our plan. But when God says, "Move" you better start packing! And packing we have started. Ben and Kristy want to close by the end of the month. Hooray! But wait...where are we going? We've got three weeks to find a house, close on it, pack, and move. We may be a little worried, but He's not pressed for time. I can't wait to tell you what He's got up His sleeve...

Neighborhood Cookout

With God's prompting, we excitedly prepared for a cookout today...having invited the entire neighborhood (at least 150 houses) to attend. We had no way to know how many people would show up, so we prepared mountains of food...hamburgers, hotdogs, pasta salad, asian slaw, chips, cookies and brownies. Needless to say, we weren't going hungry.

Me and my bestie, Sara, enjoying the sunshine during the cookout

Our first guest was a great little guy, a 5th grader who Toby had seen earlier riding his bike and invited to join us. He threw the football with Toby and some other friends who had joined us and seemed to be thrilled to be included with "the big guys." As lunch time progressed we had a steady stream of neighbors grace our yard...some familiar faces that we had met before, and other faces were new. We heard repeatedly how great it was for us to organize this. Two families even mentioned that they have lived here for about 15 years and there had never been anything like this in our neighborhood. Both of these families were so precious to help out...one gave us a $25 Wal-Mart gift card toward the expenses, and the other brought a lemon cake. Both gifts were totally unexpected and a blessing to my heart.

All in all we fed and chatted with about ten neighbors and made a good start at building new friendships. Having prepared to feed close to 100 people, I have to admit in the quiet places of my heart that I was a little disappointed in the turn out. As I drove around this afternoon collecting our signs and balloons, I allowed myself to say it out loud to my Jesus. His answer was sweet and compassionate..."you did what I asked you to do." And that's all I needed to hear. We had a really fun day with Toby's parents (Pop and MiMi visiting from out of town), several friends from west Mobile who were sweet enough to help with the set up and mingling, and several new neighbors. So whatever Jesus' goal was in our hosting this cookout...it looks like we accomplished it. I'm sure He'll reveal the fruit in time and I know it will be good!

Sweet gifts from Jesus

During the months leading up to our move from Tennessee to Alabama, God showed me five houses that I was suppose to go to and begin forming relationships. You can read here to see how it went - phase 1, 2&3, 4 & 5. It wasn't long before my next assignment came clear. As I met our neighbors I observed a common theme, most of them didn't know many other neighbors...ding, ding, you guessed it...we need to remedy this. God has clearly told us to possess this land (aka our house), but that includes our neighborhood, but how would we do that if we don't know anything more about them than the color car they drive?

So we are planning a neighborhood cookout for this Saturday. It started out with an idea of inviting the five houses I was assigned to, but then it grew to the whole street and neighboring cul de sac, and then up to the entire neighborhood. I'm not sure of the exact house count, but there's likely close to 150 houses in these parts. Now, I know this may sound a bit ridiculous, but we are totally going out on faith here and trusting that God will never ask us to do something and then not provide what we need to do it. So, this week I will buy mountains of hamburgers and hot dogs and should we require more, I am trusting for frozen hamburger patties to miraculously appear in the box. (Secretly, I'm kind of hoping we run into this challenge just to see how God meets the need and takes the credit!) Last week I stuck 45 printed invitations on mailboxes on our street and today we put four signs up...the front of the neighborhood, our front yard and the two ends of our street.

On to my gifts I referenced earlier. Our dear friend and beloved babysitter from Knoxville is on fall break from school this weekend and chose to spend her time off with us in Mobile...a great honor. Nicole flew in on Friday and she has been wonderful company and help this weekend. Haley has really loved having her here and catching her up on all that she's missed and showing her around her new big girl room. Nicole has been a great help in finishing our signs for advertising our cookout. I will (hopefully) use these signs for years to come, and they will always serve as a reminder of our fun weekend together.

Nicole and Haley boasting our sign in the front yard

This weekend held another cool gift that Jesus dropped in our lap...Toby signed up at the last minute to play in a church golf tournament yesterday. Because he hadn't played in over a year and a half, he didn't expect much from his skills, but was looking forward to a day outside with old friends. On hole 7 (ahem, the number of perfection), Toby shot a hole in one. That's right...a hole in one. Toby has never taken formal golf lessons and barely plays often enough to play with dignity. He even confessed that his tee shot was ugly, but still miraculously ended up in the hole. Because of this great shot, his name ended up in the "closest to the pin" drawing for the grand prize of the day...a gas grill and tons of grilling accessories. You guessed it...Toby's name was pulled from the pot and he brought home a huge, new grill. Now, let's count up the unliklies here...1 - Toby decided to play in the tournament just before the deadline, 2 - he hit a crazy, awesome shot which put his name in the pot, 3 - his name was chosen in the drawing, 4 - we have a neighborhood cookout scheduled for seven days later!! Coincidence...of course not! So, while Jesus is certainly in the business of spiritual gift giving, He's also in the business of grill giving! He told us to have this cookout for who knows how many people may show up. We planned to use two of our little grills to meet the demand, which would have been sufficient, but here's a little confirmation and preparation. Whoa! Let's get grilling!

our Jesus grill with all the trimmings

We would really appreciate your prayers for this event in the days to come. Specifically we are asking for doors to open to build relationships with those living around us, for Toby and I to be prepared to share Jesus' love with every person who walks through our doors, for the house work, organizing and food prep required to pull this event off, and for follow up opportunities to encourage these new relationships in the weeks to come. Thank you friends...and you know I will let you know how it goes!

Cookie house #5 and bonus cookies

As I've mentioned, months before we left Tennessee, God specifically pointed out 5 houses in my mind that are on our street. I was suppose to knock on their doors and start building relationships. Armed with the scripture that was repeatedly given to me before we moved, "Be strong and courageous," (Joshua 1:6) I started knocking on doors...armed with chocolate chip cookies. The first four houses went well, but I had tried house #5 twice to no avail. This weekend we were finally able to catch her. The mom and youngest daughter were setting up camp in the front yard, preparing to paint a new piece of furniture. This family has two young girls and have lived in Mobile County most of their lives. They were friendly and offered the details on the families surrounding them. She also shared a little history about our house...we have not received a very favorable picture of the previous owners, but as I've said many times...God has redeemed this property and is now using it for His glory!

Our first failed attempt to meet house #5 resulted in meeting the kids belonging to the house across the street. They were playing the back yard and Toby yelled, "you guys want some cookies?" They came running out, but quickly replied, "we don't have any money." This statement made me sad...to think someone offering a free gift is such a foreign concept. We chatted with those boys for a while and I have been able to cross paths with them a few times since our introduction. The rumor around here is that these boys are responsible for some mischief in the neighborhood, possibly including throwing a brick through one of our windows earlier this summer. If they are responsible, I'm hopeful that our presence and interest in them will help to deter their mischievous behavior, and maybe we could even build a relationship and encourage them to find more productive things to do with their free time.

On Friday I tried to meet house #5 for the second time, but again they were not home. Their neighbor was having a yard sale and I had another plate of cookies in my hand, so we headed next door to meet a bonus neighbor. This young girl's grandmother has owned the house for many years, and she's grown up in this neighborhood. She had just moved back into the house a few weeks ago as her first place on her own. She was very sweet and a joy to chat with. As with the rest of our neighbors, she had a story about our house...as a child her sister was friends with a boy who lived here. His grandmother was handicapped and they did some work on the house to make it handicap accessible. Ah, this explains the crazy bathroom and shower handlebars.

In the past few days I've pondered God's command to "possess the land." To think that this house has been here for 30 years and has likely seen countless families come and go. I'm sure these walls have some intriguing stories. Each of the families have carried away their own memories as they lived here for a season of their lives. Now it's our turn. Just as the Israelites were to push out the seven nations from the promised land and possess it for the God of Israel, we are to possess this house and devote it to His kingdom. My prayer remains for all who enter this place to feel His presence and to be drawn closer to Him.

We are thrilled to get our furniture from Tennessee this week and once we get settled, we plan to start inviting these neighbors for dinner. At the end of October we are planning a neighborhood wide cookout. You know I'll keep you posted!

Operation Cookie Dropoff - Phases 2 & 3

First of all, thank you for being my accountability. Having said out loud (well, typing...you get the idea) what God has asked me to do, really helps to motivate me in following through with this assignment. As I was spending time with Jesus this afternoon I thought about this task. A few years ago, knocking on some stranger's door and attempting to build a relationship from scratch, with nothing in common but a property line...that would have been incredibly intimidating. So I was pondering today, why is this so much easier now? The answer was simple...this wasn't my idea. My Jesus asked me to do this. And because this is His assignment, I know that He will work all things for good. I don't need to worry about impressing anyone or wondering what they think of me. All I need to do is bake cookies, knock on doors, and share His love with the people He brings in my path. It is now His opinion that matters to me and He wants to use my hands and my tongue to love on the people who live on my street. Who am I to deny them that love from my sweet Jesus?
So anyway, I watched my next door neighbor's driveway throughout the day and a truck stayed in the drive all day, so I figured someone was home. After Haley's nap, she and I walked next door with our cookies. We waited on the porch for a bit and when the front door finally opened, it was clear that I had just woken up this poor man. He explained that he was working nights and had been asleep. I felt terrible, but he was incredibly gracious about it and even tried to make me feel better by saying he needed to get up anyway. I had met his wife and daughter in May when we were in town for interviews and doing repair work on the house. This family seems sweet and I hope we have another opportunity to meet up in the next few weeks.

As we were eating dinner, I saw our neighbors across the street working feverishly in the front yard for what seemed like several hours. I wanted to drop by while they were outside, but didn't make it on account of dinner time and Haley's bath. But I still forged ahead and made another batch of cookies anyway. By the time I made it over there, they had migrated to the back yard. This neighbor has her daughter and grandson living with her. They were very warm and friendly and invited me to join them in the backyard. I spent about an hour talking with them about the neighborhood and the city happenings. Again, I was amazed at how much people are willing to share when they just have a listening ear available. The grandson is a year older than Haley, so I hope there will be common ground to build on there while we love on that whole family.

I also learned from this neighbor that the man who owned our house before us had a grown son living with him with a drug problem (not the first time we've received this report) and said they "tore up that house." Well, she's right...when we bought this house there were huge holes in nearly every wall and door. Again, a few years ago that information would have scared me, don't ask me why, but it would have been unsettling. Now, I know that my Jesus has redeemed this property! He has great plans for this home and will use this property over the next few years for His glory! It is our prayer that He post angels on the four corners of this property to protect it and that all who enter our front door will physically feel His thick and sweet presence. We want no guest to leave unchanged. So we praise Jesus for the redemptive work that He has already done with this house and I can't wait to see how He redeems the lives of those around us. Pouring out His love to my neighbors and testifying to His goodness is a task I am excited to take on and I can't wait to watch Him work miracles. The one common thread I've noticed so far is that my neighbors are nice people, but they are missing out on the beautiful blessings God wants to lavish on their lives. Not necessarily financial gifts, but invaluable things such as true peace and everlasting joy. He is good, all the time and I am honored to be trusted with this assignment. On that note, I have two more houses to meet. We'll see how it goes!

Operation Cookie Dropoff - Phase 1

Of course I started with the one neighbor we had already spoken with, but I still did it! My sweet, elderly next door neighbor was so excited to have the company. After pulling her garbage can back up to her house, I put Haley down for a nap and took my monitor and plate of cookies next door.

She is divorced and has four grown children, lots of grandchildren and even more great-grandchildren. All but one live within a 10 mile radius of her house. One of her granddaughters and her son were there when I came to visit. As Jesus would have it, she is about my age and her son is one year older than Haley. They were so sweet and welcoming to me. I visited with them for a few minutes before she ran off to do other things and then had a chance to chat with my neighbor for awhile. I am always amazed at how easy most conversations are. I've learned that the trick is to keep asking them questions about themself...most people are really comfortable talking about themselves and will often volunteer much more than you asked for. On occasion, they will return the questions, but not usually. And that's okay too. My sweet Jesus has taught me over the years to simply be a good listener...pay attention to the details they share, remember names, don't interrupt and take interest in what they have to say. This is such an easy way for me to show love to someone...new and old friends alike. Everybody likes to know that someone is interested in their life.

So that's one down. God gave me five houses to start with. I saw another set of neighbors out on their porch this afternoon and another checking her mail as we were leaving the house. Instead of my usual smile and wave, I forced myself to cross the street, shake her hand and introduce myself. I think that was a good start. So now, I have four more plates of cookies to deliver...

Who have you loved on this week? I'd love to hear!

p.s. I know my comments function is having issues, so if you're having a problem leaving a comment on this blog, you can comment on Facebook or send me an email at soakinginlife@gmail.com. Also, if you would like to be added to my email list to receive a notice when a new post is published you can email me that request as well.