It is soooo exciting for me to be back doing Memorial Box Monday.  I am lovin’ it.  

Today is especially over-the-top wonderful since the story is about our new rental that we are moving in to tonight and tomorrow morning!  As I type Dw is driving a truck, the kids are driving cars and the caravan of vehicles are heading to our new home here in Arizona.  Some special friends knew there was stuff that couldn’t quite fit in the trucks so they got some time off from work and showed up at the house this morning with their truck to help with the move.  When Dw told me they would be coming with them today I could hardly contain my joy!  I have missed them so much and they are going to get to meet Ruby Grace.  {They are actually in the process of adopting a little treasure from the same orphanage!}  How cool is that?

Anyway,  on to this sweet story….

Ya’ know when God calls us to do something, nothing is a surprise to Him.  I think I am finally beginning to get that.  Not one thing takes the Lord by surprise.  

Not.one.

Knowing that we needed to be near a major medical facility for Ruby and knowing that that meant leaving our beautiful Colorado mountain home, we knew that He would provide a rental 
home for us and it was going to be gooooood.

I felt like we were on a God-hunt.

Where was that ‘perfect’ home?

And what would it be like?

As we talked about it as a family, we had some desires
 that seemed pretty reasonable to us:

a ranch style home 
{A few years back I fell down the stairs – head first- and truly almost killed myself.  We have to use 2 hands carrying Ruby, that would mean no hands on the stair rail….a ranch seemed like a necessity, but we would look at whatever.}
5 bedrooms
a pool in the backyard
{although not a necessity by any stretch, the big kids were leaving lots behind and we had had pools for many, many years while pastoring in the southeast and were extremely bummed to find that basically no one in Durango has a pool – Colorado mountain air makes for too many cold nights – and days – but finally relocating to a warm-most-of-the-year place seemed like a logical thing for the family!}

I also had my own ‘secret wish list’.
None of these things were necessities but just some treats that would be really, really sweet gifts from my Savior and best friend.

1.  We lived on 3 acres in Colorado, sure would love to back up to some ‘green space’.
2.  A gas stove {love cooking on gas}.
3.  A big kitchen {all the kids and I cook together almost every meal}.
4.  a door to the back yard from the master so I could slip out and
 have morning Bible study before anyone heard me up – heehee}.
5.  A man kitchen in the back yard for Dw to barbecue on.
6.  A pretty street name. {dumb, but just something that I love}.

And can I tell you, my sweet bloggy friends a little secret?
I was absolutely convinced in my heart that the Lord was going to give me that secret wish list.

Ya’ know why?

Cause our Faithful God just loves to bless each one of us who are seeking Him with all our hearts and striving
 to please Him above all else.  
Our secret wish lists are His own pleasure – 
‘love-that-kid-of-mine-so-much-
in-fact-let-me-show-you-all-just-how-much’
idea.

The hunt was on!

We looked at home after home, two stories, a few ranches, 
homes with pools, homes without pools….

And every house we would go in, the first thing I would look at for was if there was a gas stove.  
*smile*

Some only had 3 bedrooms, plus a den. 
 We could make it work so our agent inquired.  

Nope.  

They didn’t want us – too many kids.

We found one then that seemed almost perfect.
Just three bedrooms with a den so we could make it work – the boys would sleep in the dining room and we’d put up a screen for privacy.

Our agent called the owner.  She didn’t mind the number of kids, but there was an unfenced pool in the backyard.  She didn’t want us.

We assured her that we could put up some sort of fence.  
Nope.  
Not a chance.

And right about then, I felt like the Lord said, 
“Don’t bum out Linny, she has said ‘no’ because
 I have something much, much better.”

About that time our agent was leaving on vacation and said, “There really is nothing else.  Christmas is upon us and no one is looking to move now.”  

ugh.

And that very night that she said that we got an automatic email that another home had just become available for rent.

It was a ranch.
It had 5 bedrooms.
It had a pool.
It had a man-kitchen in the backyard for Whitey.

And in my heart I knew that I knew that I knew that 
it was gonna’ be
ours.


Our agent inquired.
We could not get in for a while because the previous renters had bolted and left it a mess.
We begged her to beg the rental agency.
She convinced them to let us in.

We got there and opened the door and I knew.

This was it.

It is beautiful!
Less expensive then some we had looked at.
It was:

a ranch
and it had:
5 bedrooms
gas stove
huge kitchen
pool in back
green space behind the house
a man kitchen in the back yard for you-know-who
door to the back yard off the master
and if that wasn’t enough – 
the prettiest street name imaginable.
{oh yes it does!}

Dw said, “Tell the rental agency we will clean and paint the crudded walls ourselves and save the owner the money.”  
{What a wise hubby – he is always such a hard worker!}

Our agent stood in the kitchen and phoned the agency.
They said, “There already is an application in on the home.”

What?

Someone had put an application to rent it without even seeing it.

The second I heard that there was already an application in on the house I laughed. 

Of course there was!!

And at that moment I knew that this was our home. 

Ya’ know how I knew?

Cause in my Memorial Box I have symbols of God’s spectacular movement in our lives.

He doesn’t just do stuff a little bit.
He does stuff up big.

And what would He like more than to show-off by having our application trump whoever elses application was already in.

And it was at that very moment that I laughed even harder.

It had not crossed my mind that we would have to fill out an application.  BUT who in their right mind would rent to us when we had no source of income?

Yup, no doubt, God was going to do the spectacular.

Our agent, who by the way is a Christian and such a sweet lady,  suggested that we write a personal letter and explain our situation.

So being a woman who loves writing, I sat in the car while the kids played outside a frozen yogurt shop and wrote a 5 page letter explaining the whole story of moving to save Ruby Grace’s life.  I gave them a link to our blog so they could see 
we weren’t a bunch of crazies. 
{I suppose that’s up for debate by some. Haha.}

I assured them that we would be good stewards 
of their beautiful home.

I also wrote, “I know on paper our ‘no source of income’ doesn’t make sense, but we have a faithful God and He is going to provide every bit. 

We turned in the application and the fee.

And we waited.

Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Monday

Over the week-end Emma said,
 “I want this house soooo bad!!”

That made me smile.

I responded, 
“Emmy, I am convinced this is the Lord’s home for us.”

And finally the call came…

They said,

“YES!”

Faithful God.

A family with 11 kids, 2 dogs and no source of income trumped another application.

ONLY GOD.

He is a.m.a.z.i.n.g.

And tomorrow morning we will move in to our new home.

Please link your permalink below.  I can’t wait to be encouraged by your stories of the faithfulness of Almighty God to you!