It’s happening – we’re going fulltime

After we all agreed to go, we let some time go by and kept asking every week if we were all still wanting to go. We discussed what it meant, what our options were and how crazy it would be. We began to think about all the places we’d want to see. And then of course, would we come back? We’d thought about moving, nearby, but not that seriously about moving anywhere else. But some friends we began to get close to suggested they might move to Texas. And some other friends of ours moved to Florida. But us, no, for now, we’re planning to come home. Unless for some reason, God calls us all somewhere else. But for now, we need to see about just going.

So, we prayed about it. We’d have to sell the house, find an RV and figure out what to do with all our stuff and how to manage the pets. Since I didn’t have a job, and those doors weren’t working, we began to think seriously – this might be the best time to go.

One day a realtor was canvasing and knocked on our door. He looked a bit like a friend of mine, so instead of shooing him away, I listened to him. He asked if we had thought of selling. I told him we were thinking about it, but not sure. There was still work to be done on the house and we weren’t sure if we were going to sell or rent. He checked in every once in a while, but just to take our temperature. We still hadn’t decided. We talked to others who had rented and some had difficulty with a seller who stopped paying rent. If that happened to us, we’d be in big trouble.

After weeks of trying to figure things, out, still applying for jobs, this time with NO responses, my wife and I prayed that “THIS WEEK” God would do something. Within 2 days, I had a response from a job and the realtor called back. He said he had just showed house down the street from us to a couple, but it needed way too much work. They were renting a house the size of ours and it might be a perfect fit. I told him we’d clean up and he could bring them by on the weekend.

In the meantime, the job fizzled out and we were discouraged. The realtor called and told me he showed the house and wanted to talk to me to hear our thoughts. When we met, he told me that the couple had looked at several houses without making an offer. But, they made an offer on our house – a good offer. They were a very qualified buyer and could close quickly. Amazing. My wife and I discuss it and pray about it, worry about it, but decide we’ll trust God. We agree to the price and the house is in escrow – without even being listed.

My wife and I were worried about the appraisal because you just never know. We prayed that it would come in at the right price. But before that, we had to have the inspection. We prayed about that, too.

Then we began looking at RVs just in case. And then the inspection report came in. All good, but some minor things. Then sitting at the RV dealer, we prayed about price and the dealer finally came back within 2k of our price which was $10k less than their lowest wholesale price. We asked for a contingency that in case our house didn’t close, we’d be off the hook. They said they never do that –  but they did it, even ended up extending it 2 more days. And while we were in the middle of all that, I got a text that the appraisal came in at our asking price.

In the meantime, we knew we had to be out of the house in 30 days. Where were we going to stay? Especially during Thanksgiving and Christmas! We want to stay local so my daughters can finish the semester and so we can have the holidays with nearby family. We called everywhere and no one nearby had space. But we stumbled on a nice RV park not too far that had openings both times!

So today, our final approval for the RV came in – just minutes ago – and now we need RV insurance – so we can pick up the RV on Wednesday.

So there it is. We’ve decided we’re going fulltime and well, it’s happening, faster than we thought it would if we did it our way. But God, being generous and opening the doors, has allowed it to happen in a way that is quick and probably wouldn’t have happened if we made the plan and tried to do it our way.