The House That Found Me

            The sign went up the day after I arrived, which was a few days after Dana told me what she had learned:  the blond brick house across the street was finally going up for sale.  She and Shawn had known the occupants:  an elderly man and his wife.  The couple had the house built in 1963, raised their two children there, and lived in it until they could no longer.  Over a year ago, the wife went into a nursing home, and then the husband.  Both have passed away.  The past few times I visited here and daydreamed about the future, I imagined how neat it would be to live in that house.  Crazy idea, I always thought.  I guess it was not so crazy after all.

            We arranged to see the house on Friday morning.  I silently walked through each room several times, noting details and taking in impressions.  Dana, with Joelle in the baby carrier, talked with Kathlene, the realtor, and Benjamin happily and loudly did his own house tour.  What did we see?  Spacious rooms, each with newer windows and ceiling fan; an updated kitchen and bathrooms; lots of closet storage; and an attached one-car garage.  The floorplan, though totally different from Dana and Shawn’s ranch, is nearly the same size at 1137 square feet.  520 Sooner Road has a new roof and central heat and air within the past ten years, a big shed out back, and mature oak trees in the yard.  The only drawback in my mind (besides the lack of a Whidbey Island view) was carpeting in all rooms except kitchen and bath.

            It only took an hour or so of thought, conversation, and prayer to make up my mind:  yes!  Giving up my dream of hardwood floors was not too hard with all the other positive things about the house:  excellent condition, perfect location, and amazing price.  So on Saturday morning I found myself sitting in Kathlene’s Remax office getting a contract drawn up.  Kind of strange:  I never did get to go house-hunting, because all of the other houses I had been interested in were smaller and way more expensive—and not in the neighborhood I want. 

            While I was babysitting Saturday afternoon, the doorbell rang.  It was Cheryl, whom Dana had met the week before.  She and her brother were over at the house doing some clean-up.  We talked for a while, she left, and an hour or so later she came back over to give me her contact information.  After Dana got home, I went over and Cheryl showed me what they had been up to:  adding the missing trim to the kitchen and cleaning up the garage and yard.  She continued to be a fount of information about the house, and I learned that underneath all the wall-to-wall carpeting is hardwood flooring!

            Though Cheryl countered my first offer (and I was pretty sure she would), she accepted the second, and on Monday afternoon I was back in the realtor’s office initialing the contract changes.  I still needed to make two phone calls to have inspections done.  Kathlene saw one of the recommended contractors in the room across from her office.  We called him over and got the structural, mechanical, and electrical inspections scheduled for the next day.  I decided to call and leave a message for the termite guy, who was on vacation till Wednesday.  A minute or two later, he returned my call to suggest Wednesday. 

            On Tuesday morning, I left a message for Donna Williams at Arvest Bank.  After one round of phone tag, we connected and I was applying for a home loan before lunch.  Pretty quickly I was qualified for at 15-year fixed-rate loan at 3.75%.  I got back to Dana and Shawn’s house in time to grab a quick sandwich before heading across the street for the structural, electrical, manual, and plumbing inspections at one p.m.  Those yielded some unpleasant surprises, so the next day I forwarded on the written reports to my brother Bob for his advice.

            And we prayed.  I, in particular, asked for clarity.  God gave it in Bob’s reply:  though he could not estimate costs, he saw nothing unusual in the repairs needed.  With that green light and a successful termite inspection, my real estate agent sent the repair requests and waited for the reply from the seller.

            I received that reply in person Thursday afternoon.  Cheryl, the seller, was at the house when Dana and I got back from our mother-daughter outing.  I went over to say hi, not knowing what her response to the lengthy list of repairs was.  To my complete surprise, she started apologizing for the needed repairs, saying she had not known about those problems and assuring me that she will have everything taken care of within two weeks.  Already she has a plumber scheduled for Monday.  There will be a walk-through inspection after the repairs, of course, and the tentative closing date will be September 10, which I will likely need to do long-distance.  My son-in-law has offered to start some interior painting for me (as much as I like pink, I do not want a bedroom with pink walls) and even rip out the carpeting in one or more rooms.

            From start to finish, this has been an amazing week.  God has given me so much peace and so much confirmation not only about moving to Bartlesville but also about buying this particular house.  Yes, along the way I have had, and will continue to ride, a roller coaster of emotions over leaving my Whidbey Island home, church, and friends:  I will miss my five years of life here so very, very much.  Yet, I am assured that God has a plan for me right across the street from my daughter’s family and ways to serve Him in Bartlesville, Oklahoma and in one of the local Presbyterian churches.