on house hunting

 I've been a little absent the past week. Our computer decided that it just didn't want to work very well; half of the keyboard works and half doesn't. Such a love/hate relationship with technology. But it has also been a very busy couple of weeks at work and when my schedule fills up, blogging tends to take the hit.

First off, it's August. Can anyone else not believe it? I am just stunned that summer is already almost over. As much as I am not wanting summer to be over, part of me is ready for these next couple of months. First off, we have a lot of fun traveling coming up. We're heading to Tampa in a couple weeks, Austin for Labor Day and we just found out we'll be going to Phoenix in October. So that is all very exciting! I've never been to any of these cities and I love going to new places!

But to be real honest, one of the reasons I am secretly ready for fall to get here is because it means that we are realistically closer to moving into a house. Now, mind you, we don't have a house yet, nor have we put in any offers. But I feel like I have been thinking and waiting for the time to come when we are actually ready and in a place to do so, and that time is coming quickly.

The past couple of weekends we have looked at houses, eight total so far. Last weekend was tough. The first house we looked at was, well, gorgeous. I fell in love with the kitchen instantly. I loved the white built-ins and fireplace. The backyard was huge and it had a willow tree, too. Against my better judgement, I quickly fell in love with the house. But just as quickly as I fell in love, we had to break up. We found out the owners accepted an offer the night before. Ugh. Needless to say, I was a bit heartbroken. We were finally in a house that we could really see ourselves in. But, it obviously wasn't the house for us.

The second house we visited was out of our budget. And the third house...well, we didn't even get to see it because the current owners were home and informed us that they sold the house on Wednesday. Seriously. Talk about a hope crushing house hunt. Although deep down inside, I know that God's hand is in all of this and that He has the right house for us. And these were not it. But my humanness was disappointed and sad. I am so excited about having a house of our own. I am excited to have a yard and a place where we can settle and feel like we are putting down some roots. I know it will come, but patience is hard sometimes. God's plans are always, always better than my plans, but waiting for it to unfold can be a challenge.

Thankfully, I learned to reassess my expectations a bit about the house hunt. And my wonderful, very patient and understanding husband, gently reminds me that it's just a house. It's a material item and while having one would be great, it does not define our joy. He's a smart one, I tell you. We're off again this weekend to look at some more houses and this time I'm trying to be just a little more patient.