Dear Mom,

As I write this, it is my 24th birthday and I am sitting in the house I now own with my husband. Let me explain.

Michael proposed to me in March of this year. Throughout our engagement, we discussed where we should live after we got married. I still lived in Kearney while he lived an hour away in Aurora. Driving an hour to and from our dates throughout our relationship was growing exhausting and decisions needed to be made soon. After nights of prayer and discussions with people he trusts, Michael decided to sacrifice the comfort of his hometown and move to Kearney. It wasn’t easy and he hated to leave the only place he had ever lived (besides college), but he had to follow God’s will for our marriage.

The problem was that we didn’t have a permanent place to live in Kearney. My apartment was small and expensive. Besides, it was already bursting at the seams and would have a hard time stretching to accommodate me, Michael, our pride of three collective cats, and all our stuff. Michael’s duplex was a much better choice. So, we began to plan for a scenario where I would move to Aurora with Chester and Eloise (my two cats) after we got married. We would try to buy a house in Kearney within a year.

During our engagement, the two of us attended premarital counseling with Roger and Janel. They live outside of town in a little neighborhood surrounded by nice neighbors and picturesque countryside. Once, while driving through the neighborhood after counseling, we happened upon a “For Sale” sign.

The house was within our price range. It had three bedrooms, a finished basement, 2.5 baths, and a large yard. It even had a Jacuzzi bathtub in the master bath, something we had talked about wanting someday. The property is far enough out of town that it reminded Michael of living in the country, while I felt close enough to town. Who am I kidding? Close enough to Target. There were some issues with the house. It was priced nearly twice the tax estimate value, had been on the market forever, and was kind of ugly. Plus, it had bright Husker red carpet in the main room of the basement. This was seriously the brightest red a human being has ever managed to dye carpet. Regardless, we asked Rhonda (my step-grandmother’s daughter-in-law and real-estate extraordinaire) if we could see the house. She asked to meet with us in person.

When we got to her office, she said emphatically “No.” She explained the house was not a good choice for Michael and me. I won’t bore you with details, but let’s just say we would have had a difficult time finding someone who would give us a loan on the house, the house would be hard to insure, and it would need a lot of significant repairs over time. It had that many issues. Rhonda instead gestured to her monitors where she pulled up listings for much better homes inside Kearney, that were still in our price range. A couple homes she told us about seemed really promising. They seemed to have everything we wanted, especially one. We decided on a day to meet and look at these homes.

I poured over those homes, dreaming of the life I could build in any one of them. After moving so many times, I wanted nothing more than to move into a home and just stay in it. No leases, no endless cardboard boxes, just a home. Buying a house seemed like the perfect way to get that consistent home I desired. I pestered Michael for days, asking if he felt like one of the houses would be good for us. I asked if he thought we should buy a house now or wait. I felt bad trying to skip over living in Michael’s home town, as if I just didn’t want to live there, but I didn’t want to move an hour away, just to move right back less than a year later. Michael prayed and felt like we would have the answer the day of the showing. I tried (unsuccessfully) to be patient as I waited for that day. I felt like one of the houses in particular was just right for us. Michael repeatedly had to remind me we should probably see the inside of the house before committing to it. Begrudgingly, I said he was right.

As I went to bed on September 10th, the night before the showing, I prayed for a sign. I prayed for something clear. Boy, did God show up. That night, I dreamed about a blue Ford F-150. You, Mom, were also in the dream. My dreams are often strange, but this one was so specific. Unlike the majority of this great state, I have never dreamed of a Ford F-150, much less a blue one.

Michael and I met with a banker about an hour before the showing on September 11th. We were told this pre-approval meant we might possibly be able to close on a house before the wedding. This meant no move to Aurora, but also meant the time between September 11th and October 26th (the wedding) would be absolutely insane. While talking with the banker, she said Rhonda had let her know to send us to a house she had just decided to show us. The house had been on the market for less than a week and we hadn’t specifically said we wanted to see it, but she felt like it was worth a shot. I was still most excited to see a different house, but we drove to this other one anyway. We pulled up in front of the house, right across from a blue Ford F-150.

Part 2 here…

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