Koda's Corgi Tales

We have a house to move into next month (thank you Lord!). We're just going to be renting until we decide if we want to buy, but for a year, because of our lease, we won't be able to buy which is good, gives us a chance to look over the area, see if we like it and see if we want to buy.

Rents are A LOT cheaper on the other side of the mountain (yes, we do drive over a mountain to get there) than on this side since we pay for being so close to the beach. You can get a 5 bedroom 2600 square foot house there for what we are paying for 1300 square feet here.

But we don't need a 2600 square foot house at this point in our lives and we would get lost in a house with 5 bedrooms and who wants to spend all their free time cleaning?

So we decided to go smaller and also less expensive and hopefully save the difference in rent money every month.  We had a low range of what we would pay based on what we saw were going rates and a high range.  My husband was looking more towards the low range and was hoping we could find something within that range.

We had a few requirements; needed at least 3 bedrooms since we're not 100% sure my son is coming but even if he didn't, we wanted an extra bedroom for company or whatever. And we wanted a bigger back yard for Koda than what he has now and grass. Poor guy, he has no grass in our backyard and he really likes the feel of grass on his paws. When we take him for walks, we make sure it includes walking on grass and he really perks up during those times of the walks. And of course, the house had to take pets.

We went over the mountain this past weekend and looked at two houses. There were tons more, but we thought we would start with just those two. Plus I had been praying about it and asking the Lord to guide us to the house he wanted us to have. The first one we looked at was in the lower part of the range of rents and was 1322 square feet, 1-story, 3 bedrooms, nice backyard. It was a bit cramped but we could have made it work.

The second one was 1814 square feet, in the middle of our price range, 2-stories, same size backyard, big kitchen, nice sized rooms, lots of storage closets.

The minute I walked into the second house, I knew this was the one. As I'm walking through the rooms, I'm thinking "how can I make a few hundred dollars more a month so I can convince my spouse to go higher than the low average he was shooting for". Meanwhile, he's thinking he likes this house better than the other one.

So when we came back together again after exploring the house, we both said "this is the one" and started the renting process.

Since my son is now an adult, we had to set up an application for him too in case he decided to move with us. So these past few days we've been filling out credit applications, faxing over pay stubs, bank statements, etc and last night we got approved (which I knew we would, but they had to check with the owner if a dog was okay, they said "would consider a pet" but each pet had to be run by the owner).  So our tentative move day is around May 8th.

I realized driving home that day that I needed to be part of the process of finding the first home we rented down here. I sent my husband and son down to find a house and said I'd be happy with whatever they found, but I thought it was important for my son to see where he would be living and of course my husband to go since it was his job that was moving us down. The company would only pay for 2 people's travel to find a house and at the time I didn't want to spend the money for an extra ticket nor did I want to leave my son home while my husband and me went (long story, even though he was 17 at the time, it was better he was not left home alone) and of course it would have meant I got onto a plane, something I'm not fond of. So I sent them and I didn't complain about the house they rented, although it would not have been my first choice.

I realized because I work at home and I am literally home 90% of the time, I needed for myself to have an input of where we live. This place here where we live now doesn't have many windows; I like windows and like to look outside when I'm working. I have one window in my office area that looks out to the side yard, but this house we will be renting has windows galore; in the kitchen alone, at least 4 windows. I haven't figured out yet where my computer space will be for my work, but for sure it will be by a window.

So, got to get those boxes going and start packing.

Lord, go ahead of us and help us to fit into our new neighborhood, to meet people, to connect with them and to share you with them. In Jesus' name, I pray. amen.

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• #31 Comment from ekgillen 
  4/22/08 2:52 PM | Permalink

  How exciting!  A new (though temporary home)!! :)
  I didn't know you worked from home~what do you do??
  Gillie
  http://journals.aol.com/ekgillen/Gillie/
• #30 Comment from ksquester 
  4/21/08 10:46 PM | Permalink

  I love all of your pictures of Koda.  If I need a smile in my heart it is seeing a pictures of a sweet baby dog!   Hugs to you and Koda.   Anne
• #29 Comment from inquestoftruth 
  4/19/08 9:20 PM | Permalink

  Oh....this is good news.   Look how it all falls into place!  We know Who is behind all that, don't we?
  I guess I don't understand the process...but I don't think that we have to do a separate application for an adult child moving in with us.....
  ~Meg
• #28 Comment from fasttrack58 
  4/18/08 5:25 PM | Permalink

  I'm so glad you found something you both like....
  Happy Packing!
  Linda :)
• #27 Comment from adonnainparis 
  4/18/08 4:58 PM | Permalink

  Congratulations on finding a house!  I have never lived anywhere that you had to use your credit application.  Good thing, too.  Sorry to say, mine is not great.  I hope you will be very happy in your new home.
  Donna