Moving Pieces

The New Olsen Home

It even has a small porch for the 

swing Karl made and proposed to me on!

One of the reasons we sporadically update our blog is to tell the story of what God is doing as an avenue of reminding ourselves of His faithfulness, His timing, etc. We want our family to be able to look back and see God's fingerprints. Speaking of His fingerprints, I'm not sure I can say I've had many moments of literally feeling like you are sitting on the sidelines watching Him move pieces into place but that's exactly what these particular circumstances have felt like.

If you know us well, we always have our eyes on the housing market. Is there another good investment that can be used for community, supporting people, and creating income for the later years?? Back in January, we learned some friends, Jeff and Bri, had posted their home on Craigslist since they weren't in any rush to sell and were curious if they could do it on their own. We really like their place so we prayed and thought about it and then let them know we were interested yet did not want this to come between a friendship. We let that thought simmer awhile....

In the meantime, I received a facebook note from a friend, Erin, at church getting married this summer asking if we had any two bedroom places. Unfortunately, I had to respond that we did not. It was a good situation - an "Ugggh! This is exactly why we'd love more places!" And thus....we kept waiting and praying for God's will in whether we were to proceed on Jeff & Bri's home. 

As we were waiting, our friends, Derek and Jessie, that live in the bottom unit of our duplex, found a home they decided they wanted to try to purchase. This meant there could be a possibility of a "two bedroom" home for Erin and her fiance, Eric! Derek and Jessie put an offer on the home and accepted a counter-offer, which made it very possible to offer the bottom unit to Erin and Eric.

As these events unfolded, it had been about three weeks so we decide to follow up with Jeff and Bri and what they thought of our offer. Karl caught Jeff as he was headed out over the lunch hour and Jeff said they'd been thinking about it and were going to go look at a place over lunch and that he'd be in touch. Later that afternoon, Karl received a phone call from Jeff letting us know they really liked the house they saw and wondered how interested we were about their current home. We. Were. Very Interested!

In a matter of 48 hours, we sat down, talked details, Jeff and Bri's offer on the house they liked was countered and they accepted, and we were all moving forward!

I then had to break the news to Erin that we would be moving. We had all been excited about living in the same place over the next year! Little did I know that the night before I told her the news, she received a text from another friend, Jessica, asking if they would be interested in renting a house together the next year - two married couples living in one home - talk about community, huh! (Note: In our university town, this idea would have been cost effective for both couples and they could have gotten a better place to live!) 

When I told her the news that we'd be moving, she had a slight smile on her face....and she proceeded to tell me about the text and how Jessica and her husband, Jacob, were looking for a place as well. "You're kidding me?!", I said. I had to shake my head in amazement because as God provided a home for Derek and Jessie to purchase, He provided Jeff and Bri a home they were interested in as well, which opened up an incredible next step home for us, which then opened up our duplex for Erin & Eric and Jessica & Jacob that both needed places for the following year.

Five couples. Four Homes. One Amazing Provider. I am awed every time I think about it.

We are all very excited for the homes we are moving into over the next several months and how we've seen God provide what was needed for each couple!