We are currently in Colorado, spending the holidays with John's family. In less than a month, we went from stifling heat in Natal to bitter cold in Golden. The kids have especially enjoyed the snow. While we're here, we're facilitating a long-distance closing on a house in Boca Raton, Florida. We spent our first two weeks in the States searching for a house to be our new home. We found an excellent real estate agent through the Dave Ramsey Web site who began showing us properties that matched our criteria. After much fruitless searching, she informed us that our expectations might be a bit too high. On one level we had to agree with her, but on another we were sure our expectations were very reasonable. You see, we had been praying fervently for God to lead us to just the right house. We were sure that if He were calling us to Florida, He knew right where He wanted us. So we continued our search.
Just days before we left for Colorado and just when we had decided that a temporary apartment might be in our future, a promising new listing came onto the market. Our agent took us to see it but the owners weren't home and we ended up standing in the driveway while she spoke with their visiting relative. As she set up an appointment for our return, we felt a little disappointed and prayed that God would make Himself clear to us and help us to know what to do. Then something amazing happened.
Jonah pointed up towards the sky and yelled, "Look, it's a J." A skywriter was just starting the first letter of what became "JESUS LOVES U". As he was finishing the U our agent informed us that we would have to wait a day to see the house. On our way out of the neighborhood, we stopped by a Brazilian bakery where John ran in for some bread. In the time it took him to make the purchase, the kids and I watched the skywriter spell out "TRUST GOD".
The next day we saw the house and fell in love with it; it suited us perfectly. Though we had been avoiding foreclosures and short sales because they have been averaging several months to close, we made an offer on this short sale property. Despite our agents justified warnings that we might be facing a long and tedious process, we received notice from the bank that we could close during the first week in January.
I can't predict what will happen next and I don't know the mind of God, but I do have a hunch that we will soon be blogging to you from our new home in Boca Raton, Florida.
