A LONG STORY -- PART 1

Guess I better start at the beginning. Evan and I have been talking/dreaming about building a "homestead" for our family out of town. We've been praying about different land options for some time now. My main prayer focus has been that no matter what, God will lead, and we will be in His will. With the desire to homeschool our children, we would love to raise them out in the country with room to roam, animals to care for, and a place where they won't get bored too easily.

One of my main fears is that I will get sucked back into my old mindset of materialism. God took me through a tough season to teach me that wood, hay and stubble are not what is important -- it's people's lives, salvation and all things eternal. Because of this, we are taking this one prayerful step at a time and asking the Lord to show Himself each step of the way.

We currently live in a two bedroom ranch. (Yes, it IS possible to have 3 children share one small bedroom!) :) We had big plans of finishing off the basement when we first moved in here, but due to several different occassions of water seeping in and being unable to "fix" it without some MAJOR overhauls that just aren't worth the little bit of extra space we'd get, we decided we need to pursue something else. Waiting on God can be tough, but patience is one thing I ask Him to give me, and I know learning to be patient is a process.

I started chatting with a good friend of mine about our needs and desires and crazy enough, she started chatting with her husband as well. They also decided to start pursuing some different options as they have a house back East that they are planning to sell and needed a place to invest. They had checked out some property just out of town here, only to find that it had sold the day prior. Well, the SAME DAY that this friend had called on this property, Evan went to his men's Bible study. He walked in and one of the gentlemen there said to him the minute he walked in the door, "Hey Evan, you know that land south of town, I bought it!" Yep, it was the SAME property. Evan came home and said, "Ya know, I think God is up to something, but I have no idea what!"

To be continued....