The Rest of the Story

While Ken was in Cleveland on Tuesday he drove to the Ammon Road house and ended up talking to the neighbors for quite awhile. The one to the left of the house is a pastor who has been praying for good neighbors and was quite excited that we had bid on the house. Before Ken left, Mark prayed with Ken and said that he'd even be willing to contribute whatever we lacked for the bank to accept our bid, not necessary, but too sweet! One odd thing that happened during their conversation was a deer walked through the backyard - in the middle of the afternoon! This property has about 400' of woods behind it and apparently the deer enjoy it. Ken also met a man who had bid on the house the day before and had been in the house quite a bit just to plan out the renovations that he and his wife wanted to do to it.

After visiting the house that the Taylors bid on Ken checked out a part-time job - since we are moving to Cleveland without yet having our full support. (We still have a full schedule of meetings through November). This job is one we had seen online back in the fall. It is with a bicycle courier company. When Ken told them he wanted to be able to ride his bicycle often and get to know people in the downtown they said that this would be a great job for him. It is quite possible that he would start in September.

Drew is in Trinidad on a missions trip with Renee's mom and dad. We'd love to tell him all the recent developments with the house but the phone number that he gave us is constantly busy.

Since we lost the first house after our bid was accepted we know better than to get too excited about getting it before all the paperwork is finished. The next step is to sign the contract, send earnest money, get an appraisal by our bank, and possibly close in early July.

Photos of the Ammon Road House

A Step in the Right Direction

Today at 4:15 pm we heard that the seller (a bank) agreed on our counter-offer. It appears that they planned to accept our bid last Friday. Who knows why they waited until today - Wednesday, to tell us! Ken went up to Cleveland yesterday to attend the "Partners in Philanthropy Celebration" at the Cleveland Clinic. When he arrived, the valets for the parking garage informed him that there had been a break in the gas line and that the event has to be rescheduled. He chose to use the opportunity of some free time in the city to drive around. (to be continued. . .)

Waiting

On Tuesday we were heading back to Ohio from a meeting in Pennsylvania. On our way through we stopped to look at another house that we had seen in the emails from Judy. Our weekend in Pennsylvania was amazing. Good friends, the Fultzes and Reichenbachs planned and put together a picnic at Fultzes creek-side retreat. Many good friends and acquaintances from Bible Baptist in Kreamer came. The kids splashed in the creek and we got to visit with lots of people. Sunday morning's meeting went well and again we were able to see friends - some of whom we hadn't seen in three years. Sunday evening we camped at R.B. Winter State Park, our favorite campground. Brian Herrold, our friend who joined us on Inspire Hope Tour Coast to Coast came to visit. Monday the kids swam and played in the sand with Jace and we chatted with Mary Fultz. That evening we had dinner with our former neighbors, the Chiarkas' and friends, the LeVans. The Chiarkas' are amazing cooks and we loved retelling the funny stories about the kids when they were really little.

Tuesday morning we packed up and headed for Ohio. We were so thankful that there was no rain while we were camping. The sky grew darker as we headed west and I was concerned that we'd get soaked while checking out another house in Cleveland. It did pour but by 3:00 we arrived and Judy gave us the code to get into the house. It has a big yard, it is brick, it has four bedrooms, it has two fireplaces, it has a two car attached garage, it has a partially finished basement, it is on a quiet street, it is bank-owned, it has central air, & it needs some work. We put in a bid $19,000 less than they were asking and our bid was rejected. Today we counter-offered and now we wait.

The Taylors also put in a bid on a house today just south of the Cleveland zoo. It will be interesting to watch God again orchestrate every step along this journey for both families.

Dreaming or "Bless me Indeed"?

A few years ago a book, The Prayer of Jabez, became wildly popular. Its premise stated that we ask God for things but sometimes we miss out on the amazing things that God has for us just because we don't ask. Our prayer for a house asks God for a two-car garage, a fireplace, air conditioning, a safe street, a big yard to play in and have a garden, four or more bedrooms, a basement that can be finished, 2 bathrooms, a company-friendly kitchen, a place to house and serve folks from out of town, and it needs to be affordable both to purchase and to maintain. In my mind that is a tall order. In God's economy it is simple. My question is, to ask God to "Bless me Indeed" do we ask for more? To ask God to work in the hearts of the people of Cleveland is asking for a miracle. To ask Him to provide an amazing house for us we are asking Him to "Bless us Indeed" so that He may be glorified and honored.