House Hunting

I'm sorry I've been absent for so long! Things are still going well for the Tarters down here in Florida. The reason for my pro-longed absence has been house hunting! When we moved down here we were going to rent...but in our searching, we've found that in most cases it is far cheaper on our monthly budget to buy! So we were able to get pre-approved for a loan and are now on the hunt.

I have dreamed my whole life of having my own home and highly anticipated the search as well. But I have to admit...it is totally physically and emotionally draining! We've had a few ups and downs in the whole process and the Lord is using it to draw us closer to Him. We're not really sure how it's all going to end up...perhaps our biggest unknown is the fact that we are getting our loan through the USDA (and their partnership with Rural Development) and their government funding is set to run out at the end of April. If an offer we submit were to be accepted, as with any government program, it would take time to process and in reality would not happen before the USDA money is thought to be exhausted. Many reports say that congress will make the decision to continue the funding, but we won't know anything for sure.

So for now we are just prayerful. Prayerful that:

1. The Lord would be pleased to allow congress to continue USDA funding.
2. We would find the house that the Lord wants us to be in...sooner rather than later. :)
3. We would not put our trust in realtors or contracts or government but in God and no matter what the outcome, we would find our contentment and satisfaction in Him.
4. The offer that we are submitting at 4:30pm today (3/22/10) would be accepted.
5. In all we do we would be most concerned with the glory of God and making much of Him. Our desire in moving here was to pay off school debt so that we would not be tied down and open to where God would have our family in the future with regards to ministry opportunities. Through much thought and prayer, we feel that buying a home rather than renting would help us to accomplish that goal and are praying that the Lord would be pleased to honor that!

In relation to #4...we put an offer in this weekend and found out this morning that another offer higher than ours was submitted as well. The bank is taking all final offers until 5:00pm tonight. Through counsel and prayer, we decided to go ahead and make one final offer and leave it in the Lord's hands. So we'll see what happens!