Change of Plans

Simply put: This summer has been insane, but in every good way possible.

Literally everything that could be thrown at us felt like it’s been thrown at us. From a complete change of plans to broken down cars, and a whole lot of other things not worth getting into that challenged safety, comfort, and well-being. Yet, every single outcome has led to the most perfect situation and I am just in awe of how good God is. I want to share a story of waiting, excitement followed by disappointment, fear followed by deliverance, and God’s faithfulness through it all. I really want to share the story of the farmhouse I have shown briefly a few times on my Instagram, which we were moving into until exactly a month ago, and even though we didn’t end up moving in- it’s still a story of God’s care and faithfulness that got us to where we are now in our first home. I don’t want to not share about the farmhouse just because we ended up not moving into it. Some would decide “Well, that wasn’t the Lord’s plan, no sense in sharing that. It’s only a good story if it came to completion.” But, I beg to differ.

The Farmhouse

A year ago, I left a letter on the gate of a near million dollar piece of land with an old farmhouse that I had watched for months sit on the market. It had evidently been on and off the market for years, but I had noticed it this time around on the market and was so confused why it hadn’t sold yet. An old original farmhouse a couple miles north of downtown Mckinney Square… on 27 acres. What a dream! What gives? This small town girl who dreams of living on a ton of land again one day to raise a family was dying over the idea of 27 acres randomly in the middle of Mckinney. It was the best of both worlds for Paul and I.

So.. after a couple weeks of wrestling with the idea of leaving a note on the gate, I finally did it. I felt confidence in the scripture “Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe you have received it and it will be yours.” (Mark 11:24) Paul thought I was crazy, but he has learned to just go with my crazy dreams and they usually pan out just fine for us. (usually) I also felt such deep conviction to leave the letter that if I didn’t, I really felt I was sinning because I felt I was being told to trust the Lord and see him move. So as you can probably put together, they responded to my letter as they happened to be in town the weekend I decided to finally put the letter on the gate (come on), and for the last year we have been working with the owners of this farmhouse who, turned out to be, the original family of those who built the home in the 1800’s. This home is a piece of history in Mckinney, and I was so excited to be part of the legacy. The reason it hadn’t sold yet is because they couldn’t stand selling the land and home to commercial property developers who would likely just bulldoze the home. So, over the course of a year we had multiple meetings with the city of Mckinney and the owners, learning about their plans to build a road through the back part of the property and widening the road in front of the home, and financing the home/land, etc. All the fun stuff… haha, and we decided we were actually going to live in the home for a year or two where it was at, and then move the home to a piece of land outside the city.

It was the perfect plan, the dream, and it felt like it was all panning out to be exactly what I wanted.

Now, we said throughout the entire farmhouse process that all was a “go” unless Paul’s Uncle Will, who we both trust and respect deeply, said “Don’t do it.” He is heavily involved in the real estate business with his job, has done many house projects, and we would do just about anything he told us to. We finally got to take him out to the property, and though he saw the same vision we could see, he told us the realistic numbers to making it what we wanted/what it needed to be with baby now coming, and it just wasn’t realistic. Having a baby changes, well, everything. We couldn’t do everything we needed to fix and update in time before Baby Boy gets here. We left dejected that afternoon, actually… heartbroken. I absolutely cried, but even still, Paul and I stood in such unity that we couldn’t move forward with this plan. It’s amazing how true it is that God knits your hearts together in marriage. Our aunt and uncle encouraged us to really look at houses still and find something ready for us to move into to make the transition of baby easier. They reminded us that buying land and building a farmhouse could be just a few years down the road still. The dream wasn’t over, just on hold because life changes happen. So after dinner, Paul and I went and drove around looking at houses and half-heartedly decided to go look at one we thought was too good to be true on Zillow.

We instantly loved it. It was actually still available- only on the market two days. It was so cute. And, funnily enough, it resembled the farmhouse we literally had just decided to not go with after a year of having my heart set on it. Really God?

We emailed the realtor that night, he said he could show it to us the next day.

We emailed our lender the change of plans, and prayed they would pre-approve us for the home.

And, we waited… all but 12 hours.

We woke up to a pre-approval for the home, which we had never gotten before. We had struggled for months with lenders trying to get the loans we needed for the farmhouse, because they all said my income as “self-employed” hadn’t been solid for three years yet (I only started making money a year and a half ago…). Yet, somehow, we got approved at the snap of a finger this time around. When you are obedient, the Lord just opens doors.

We went and looked at the home, and it was anything but disappointing. It was exactly what the photos portrayed, and we were in love. We put an offer on it that day.

Then… we waited… again, about 12 hours… and the sellers accepted our offer.

Y’all, this is literally all within less than 48 hours of all our plans completely shifting and feeling like we had nowhere to live (without getting into it- we had to get out of our apartment) and no plan for our baby who was coming still whether we felt ready or not. The Lord cared so deeply for us, and he provided over and over again. Our mourning turned into dancing, our weeping turned into laughing.

He showed up. We knew he would, but he showed up big.

I write ALL OF THIS to A. fill you in on a year’s worth of stuff that I haven’t shared with you yet and B. because someone needs to hear this! Doors close, bad weeks happen, but it always is followed by the sun. We genuinely felt attacked, under spiritual warfare the week before all of our plans changed. Paul isn’t one to say “this is the devil”, because he is super rational and always has a reason for something. But the week everything was dying on us in our car- all while I was out of town (remember the time I accidentally stole a tire from Wal Mart?) and we were being attacked (literally) by people in our apartments, and we had a flood in our apartment, Paul knew this was more than just life circumstances. Something was coming that Satan was scared of, and we were excited to see what it was going to be. Even in the chaos, we knew there was something great on the horizon. Satan doesn’t tremble and send his army out to attack unless there is a battle worth fighting to him. What he doesn’t get, though, is that we are covered by Jesus and nothing is going to stop his plans for us.

Most people would probably not be proud of the farmhouse story because of the way it panned out. The dream didn’t shake out the way we had thought it would, and so many would say “God wasn’t in that. That’s why it didn’t work out.” But Paul and I kept saying how God was SO in this, and that’s why it didn’t work out. We don’t know why this process went on for a year, but it did and we won’t question it. In the last year, we have learned so much. Our faith was strengthened, I got to lean on the Lord, take crazy risks (I mean, I put a letter on a farm y’all…), we learned way more about the home buying process than we could have ever imagined, we made great relationships with people in the business, we made new friends with the sellers of the farmhouse, and the timing of the farmhouse plan being shutdown was perfect to find this amazing home I am currently sitting in and am closing on this afternoon.

It was all worth it.

We got to watch a path unfold before us that was paved for us in our faithfulness and obedience. Like, how many first time home buyers get pre-approved, put an offer on the first home they find, and get it all within 48 hours? We put ONE OFFER on a home that was too good to be true to us. We thought there was no way we would get it, but may as well try…

That can only be the work of the Lord.

I love this story. I have wanted to share it for so long. And, though it ended different than I expected, it’s our story 0f God’s faithfulness and getting us into a home. It’s one answered prayer after the next, and 100000% God. We literally couldn’t manufacture this story if we tried.

I pray it encourages you. Heck, I pray one of you goes and leaves a letter on the gate of an old farmhouse and you get to move in. Whatever you needed to take away from this story, I hope you are encouraged. Remember that God is in the darkness, and when we feel like he has abandoned us and we feel attacked, he is actually making something on the other side of the darkness far greater than we could even imagine.

Run the race, friends. It’s always worth it.

xoxo- Han