And now for the rest of the story...

A few months ago Chris and I found a house that was amazing. Truly beautiful. We laughed when we saw it, it was that nice. We gave them our best offer and waited. We ended up in a bidding war and lost. A month later that deal fell apart and the house went back up for sale. So we re-submitted our orginal offer and the bank agreed to our lower than they we're asking purchase price AND they would give us 15,000 dollars to go towards closing costs and buying down our interest rate. We locked in a day before the interest rates went up putting us 5% with a 30 yr fixed. It was unbelievable. Could we really get into a 3100 sqft house like this at 5% for 30 years and actually afford the payments? It was a dream come true. The house was upgraded till the hilt but that wasn't what I was most excited about. We have long dreamed of having a house big enough to open it up to one of the singles in our group. In this case the single was all ready to move in and just waiting for the word. Also I have always dreamed of having a house big enough to host large groups, hospitality brings me so much joy. Chris and I both dreamed of having a sunday night at the Daukas' for any singles in our group wanting to come. This house allowed for these sorts of things.

We had arranged for some friends who were coming out here for an internship at our church to rent our current home. In God's perfect timing, the week we were scheduled to close, serious conversations began about Chris planting a church. We had talked about it for 4 years and thought it was a distant possibility, but God had other plans. It was decided the time was right and we would be sent out to plant a church!

We were faced with a decision - to buy or not to buy. At the end of the day, it didn't make finacial sense to invest in a home we wouldn't be able to stay in long term. What about the couple all set to rent? Well our dear friends the Hansenshad a house they needed to rent to go to the PC. There went our renters.

I cannot tell you how much grace there was for that week. I had already moved a few things into the house, had the place sprayed for bugs and yet there was no looking back once the decision to plant a church was made. I still do not know why the Lord even allowed this house to come into our lives- but maybe it was just so that I could experience God's grace in letting it go for the sake of the gospel.

So since May I've been processing with the select few who've known, all my excitement and sadness. As my husband said last night at our church's Family Meeting where the announcement was made, we have no desire in our hearts to leave the church and people we love but we do have a desire to go and see the Gospel mission of Christ continue in the planting of churches. We are humbled to be apart of the mission.

Peoria, AZ here we come :-) More to come.