I called my friend Melody to tell her what had happened and she asked if I would like her to bring the classifieds to church with her. I said sure, I need to find out how much a 5 bedroom goes for. Although I was very thankful for the house God had provided for the last 3 ½ years I had thought about how nice it would be to have a 5 bedroom house some day but never thought I would move from where I was. Sunday evening as we walked into the church building, Melody handed me the classifieds and I opened them to 5 bedroom houses. The first one I noticed said it was a Victorian house and gave the address with no price. I jokingly told Melody that is my house right there. I have always loved Victorian homes and dreamed of having one some day but never thought it would happen.

The next day I began calling on the few 5 bedroom houses that were available. I knew there was a certain price range that I would qualify for and also knew that there was certain criteria that needed to apply because I was on the Section 8 housing program. I called on the Victorian house but the price was higher than I could qualify for because I knew it was an older house. The other houses were way out of our price range. I started calling all the Property Management places in Bellingham and no one had anything in my price range. I was also told that I would have to fill out an application and pay a fee to each one in order to view a house.

All along I felt in my heart that God had something wonderful planned for us because of the wonderful miracle he had provided 3 ½ years earlier to live in the house on Martin Road. I realized that I had time to look but felt unsettled without knowing where I was going to live and did not want to leave it to the last minute.

By the second day I was calling on all the 4 bedroom houses. I started getting the newspaper and checking all the places online that I could. I told a few people at church and asked for prayer. A few days later it had gotten back to Pastor and he asked if it was O.K. to announce it and ask for prayer and of course I said “Yes”.

During the next two weeks the kids and I looked at a few houses and they got excited over every one but all of them were too much money. On Friday May 5th we had a HomeSchool field trip that I planned at the Whatcom County Museum. By this time even though I still felt that God had something wonderful planned for us I was starting to feel depressed and that it was hopeless to find a house in our price range. The Whatcom County Museum had a slide show and a room dedicated to all the Victorian Houses in Bellingham. The houses were beautiful to look at and very unique. I jokingly told Mrs. Shaver (my Pastor’s wife) that I needed everyone to pray that I would get a Victorian house.

The next day was Saturday and I drove by the address where the 5 bedroom Victorian house was and looked through a basement window to see that it had been renovated and it had a big room that was carpeted. After that I viewed a 4 bedroom house that was in my price range. It had a basement and small rooms but it had a piano in the living room and new appliances in the kitchen. The biggest problem was that it only had one bathroom. The lady was open to going through the many complicated procedures to qualify for Section 8 housing. She did not have any applications with her. She said there was a bunch but someone had made off with them all. The plan was for me to pick one up on Monday morning and drop off some Section 8 housing brochures for her. All day Saturday and Sunday I felt very uneasy and unsure. I just felt like God had something better planned but I didn’t know what it was.

Monday morning I decided to call on the Victorian house again and ask if I could view it. At first the property management lady (Pam) did not have a time to show it and I asked if I could just apply for it without viewing it and she said “No, I don’t do things that way.” She came up with a time I could view it and I took my parents only with me. I did not want the kids to get excited and then disappointed again. As soon as the front door was opened I was awestruck. We went upstairs first and I loved it on sight. It was much more beautiful than I had imagined. We went through the rest of the house and I knew that I wanted it but figured it was not feasible. At the end of the tour I asked if they would accept Section 8 housing and Pam said “Yes.” I asked if there were other applications pending and she said “No.” I immediately filled out an application and gave her the application fee.

As we left the house I went immediately to the Section 8 housing office to find out the procedure to rent another house. I was told that I needed to have a “moving appointment” and it could take up to two weeks. I also needed to give them formal notice that I was moving out before they would make the moving appointment. I felt like I would never get into the house because they would not hold it that long. I was also leaving on a vacation in a few days time and would not be able to attend the appointment if it was during that week.

I called my brother-in-law Charlie and asked him to sign the paper saying I was moving out and he met me on that Monday to do that for me. I took it right back to the office and they said they would call me with an appointment time. There was nothing more I could do at that point except go home and try to call my leasing agent. I called her and left a message.

I spoke to my friend Elisabeth and Melody and told them I would need at least 5 miracles to be able to rent the Victorian house and asked them to pray. The next morning I called my leasing agent with the Section 8 housing. I was calling to ask if I could expedite the “moving appointment” she told me she could see me that day and asked what time I would like to come. I made it for an hour later. I got off the phone and gave a great whoop and jumped around. My kids had never seen me act like that. I told them God had performed the first miracle, only four more to go.

At this point the kids still did not know which house I was trying to get. I went to my “moving appointment” and got the paper work I needed. I was told that the rent amount was probably higher than I qualified for (which I knew already) but they would calculate it and call me. I called Pam, the property management lady to fill in some of the papers. She informed me that my application had been approved which was another one of the miracles I needed. She said that she needed a deposit as soon as possible. I called Charlie and he agreed to meet me at the bank and give me my deposit back from the house I was living in even though I had not even moved out. Another miracle, one I had not even thought of. I got the money from Charlie and handed it over to Pam (she met me at the bank as well). I gave her the paper work regarding the Section 8 housing and she said she would have to fax it to the owners and would send it as soon as possible. She then informed me that they were already approved for Section 8 and that the house had been inspected before and passed. Another miracle! The next day we met again at the Section 8 housing office and handed in all the paper work. You have to understand that all of this usually takes weeks to complete, God was performing miracles.

Then the biggest of all miracles, I was told that the rent would need to be lowered by $47.00 a month and the owners had agreed to it! Praise God! At that point, I knew I would be in that house soon! The house needed to be inspected again but I knew that it would pass because God had performed all the rest of the miracles for me. I went on my vacation and when I got back I found out it had passed inspection and I could get the keys on May 25th.

On Saturday August 20th I informed the kids that it was a 5 bedroom house we were getting. They asked if we could drive by. When we stopped to look in the windows there was a Russian lady there whose husband was repairing the house, and she asked if we would like to see inside. I told her I was the one that was renting it and she said she knew that. I had my friend Elisabeth bring the two kids she had with her and showed the house to all the kids.

God is so good, what an added blessing to be able to show it to them before we moved in so that we could arrange all the bedrooms. Even the choosing of the bedrooms went smoothly.

There was one big family room in the basement that I decided to split in half with shelves as walls so that each of the kids could have their very own bedroom. There are three full bathrooms, one on each floor of the house. I can’t begin to tell you how excited I was about all of this. God keeps his promises to take care of the widows and fatherless.

My next concern was moving. I knew it would be a big job but I also knew I would have help from people at church. The kids and I packed things up over the next couple of days. Bro. Murphy had the idea of renting a big Uhaul truck instead of everyone using pickup trucks and having everyone pitch in for the cost. Pastor rented the truck and we had several men and boys meet at our house at 8 a.m. Friday morning May 26th. A couple of the men took time off of work to help. I know God will richly bless all of those that helped us.

We made two trips with the Uhaul. The teens all helped to unpack that evening as well as some of the ladies from church. There was still some stuff left at the garage at the other house but Pastor and another man from our church made trips to the dump for me and helped to get the rest of it before the end of the month. We were settled in the house within a couple of days. Amazing!

Mr. Gavey, another man from our church offered to patch all the nail holes etc. in the previous house and my Mom and a few of my aunts completely cleaned the other house for me. What a blessing! Of course I am hoping I don’t need to move again any time soon but if I do, I KNOW that God will be in it.

I thought we might miss our 12 acres since we only have a postage stamp size yard but we haven’t. We have a school with a baseball field only a block away with a play ground. I have had so many more people drop by and visit now that I am so much closer. We met some of our neighbors right away and they are very nice friendly people. God is so good to us.

If you would like to read our 2008 family update and see some other photos click here.

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