And another one bites the dust! Foster and Summer (our down stairs neighbors and good family friends) just offered on a home and their offer was accepted. A few months ago some good friends of our who lived in the duplex next to us built a house and moved away. I'm happy for them but even more frustrated with our own house hunt. We have been saving for 4.5 years and still can't seem to find a house. These friends of ours that are buying homes are fairly newlywed and don't have children yet but are getting homes. I feel like we have sacrificed so much but aren't getting anywhere. We only have one car to help cut costs but still we aren't able to get a nice house in the area we need for the price we can afford. I've been relying heavily on the Lord. I'm sure he is exhausted and sick of hearing me begging for him to help us find the right home soon. With two kids, this two bedroom apartment is just too small. I feel like the walls are closing in on me sometimes. It is interesting how we have grown out of this place. When we moved in here we felt like it was really big and now that Addi is bigger and Xander is here and we have acquired more furniture, the place is so cramped. I'm grateful to be living here. It is a really nice place and I have excellent neighbors and have made a lot of good friends, but it is time to move on. I think it is about time that I record this experience before I forget it or appreciate it less. I feel that we were truly guided by the Lord to the place we are living now. I remember we were looking around thanksgiving time 2006 for a 2 bedroom duplex or fourplex to rent because we couldn't afford a house because the market had sky rocketed out of control. We found one pretty quick after we started looking and I thought maybe the Lord was making this process easy for us cause he new the baby was coming and we needed something bigger. So we went to the place we found on line and looked at it. I felt pretty good when I went through it. It was a good size and really close to Dan's work. There were a few things about it that I didn't like but I figured I could put up with it cause it wasn't a permanent thing. Well. We decided we would get it but hadn't talked to the rental agency yet. It was over a weekend and I started to feel really uncomfortable about it. I had a feeling that we needed to go back and walk through it first. Well. I had the worst most uncomfortable feeling when we were in there. I told Dan so we sat down and prayed right there in the duplex (no one was living there) and I still felt horrible about it so we decided not to get it. When I went to the dentist, not long after, I talked to the dental hygienist and she mentioned that she cleaned fourplexes for a guy in her ward and that I should call and see if he had any available apartments. Well. I called and he said that he would put me on a waiting list. I figured nothing would come of it and we would find something else soon. Well. Months and months went by and we still hadn't found anything. I was so discouraged cause I wanted to find something before the baby came. Well. The Lord had other plans. Addi was born and about 4 weeks later (right when I was giving up all hope of finding anything) I get a call from this guy that I had talked to about being on a waiting list. He said that if I was still interested there was an opening and I could come see. We went over that night and the second I walked in I felt great about the place and we signed papers that night. The amazing thing is that we thought the price for rent was 625 a month but it turned out to only be 525 and this place was in super great shape. It was clean and well maintained not to mention bigger than anything we looked at in the 625 range. We were so surprised that the Lord had blessed us so much and that we had a faith building experience at the same time. I'm so glad I paid attention to that feeling and that we didn't get that other place. We have made so many friends for life because of listening to that prompting and waiting for what the Lord had planned. The coolest part was that he provided us something better than we expected for ourselves. I hope that this waiting for a home to purchase yields the same outcome. I know the irritation and complete frustration with the events happening now is just a stage in the process so I'm trying to rely on my last experience to help me get through this one. The Lord sure has taught me a lot by making me wait for things. I'll share my other waiting experience tomorrow cause I'm about ready to fall asleep right this minute. I sure am grateful that I have my beautiful children and a wonderful husband and such excellent loving and supportive friends and family. Thanks to all of you who see me through these tough patches in life. I know I shouldn't be complaining because I have so much more than other people do. So. I'll stop complaining and start counting my blessings. I'll stop focusing on what other people are attaining and focus on how much I'm learning and how much my faith is growing by going through these experiences. The Lord knows best and has the best timing. We just don't get to see that till the end. The test is how well we handle things during the waiting time. I'm scared I'm failing that test so I'll try to work harder.