Our journey...finding our home!
A look into our lives...
We are a ministry family. We have lived in rent houses from Hempstead to Albuquerque. We moved to Anderson in 2008 and landed in a tiny town with almost zero rental property. Our first home was thankfully soon very close to the church (across the street), but it was really small for a family of 5. The old 2 bedrooms and 1 1/2 baths was a far cry from the 4000 sq ft Mc Mansion we rented in ABQ just prior to our move. We stayed there for over a year and moved into an even smaller house a few blocks away. That move was a fun one...no insulation in the house made for a couple of $600 light bills. Ah Hill Street...2 bedrooms and only 1 bath. We were moving in the wrong direction!
At the end of 2009, our church purchased a gutted out old home adjacent to the church property. We began the process of remodeling/ rebuilding this beautiful home and it was a joy to watch and work on. 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths, a large living area , big and new kitchen, separate laundry room...it was so nice! We moved in in January just before my birthday 2010. We spread out and enjoyed the space. Almost right away, we took in a church member for 3 months that was having a little trouble at home. The guest room of our new house was put to use right away! At the end of May that year, we got a call that changed things for our family and our house. My mom was ill and would eventually move into our house with us. The current guest had to leave, the room was re-set for a permanent resident and we became a family of 3 generations under one roof.
Living in the parsonage has never been dull. Living right beside the church makes for a really convenient commute. We are almost never late for church, at least not because of traffic! We have been known to "run over to the house " for everything from sugar to toilet paper. Being close was great....except when it wasn't. Being close has been so convenient, but there is definitely a lack of privacy involved in being right next door. Any staff church member will understand. Your trash is scrutinized sometimes. Your yard is looked at closer than other church members. Your pets are under so many watchful eyes. It is rent-free living, but there are other prices that you pay than money.
After being here for almost 7 years, we began to look for a move. God should probably be ready to have us go somewhere else, right? Things had been really hard here and in the summer of 2016 we almost left the ministry all together. So much pressure and no outlet...we were done. God wasn't done with us in Anderson, though. We stayed and felt led to make some changes. We decided that even though we really couldn't afford a mortgage, we had to find a place of our own. We are middle aged (49 and 52 now) and have no place to call home outside of the church provided housing. So began the search...
We talked to our banker and were approved for a loan plenty large enough to buy a little piece of land and a house. We looked everywhere from Waller to Willis. I drove past property after property, ruling them out by the dozens. Too far away, too junky, too expensive, too many neighbors, too much traffic...nothing was quite right. I had Zillow notifications set up to alert me of any potential properties. I searched Craigslist and FSBO sites. We met with Greg Hoffart, a friend and realtor in our area (the best ever, by the way) and he guided us through lots of places. He knew where to avoid and where to look.
Somehow we stumbled across 10813 CR 446, a 5 acre tract only 8 miles from the parsonage. It was one acre wide, 5 acres deep. It was mostly cleared already, a huge plus for us since we didn't want to have to clear a ton of timber. There were no utilities on the land yet, but it was just so perfect! The first time we went through the gate to see the land, I was struck by how many blackberry vines there were! They were everywhere. There were lots of flowers and butterflies and tangled vines and scrubby trees...the land was not too wild, but in need of a family to take care of it. We scraped together the down payment and closed in October. We have never built a house from the ground up before, but here we go!
At the end of 2009, our church purchased a gutted out old home adjacent to the church property. We began the process of remodeling/ rebuilding this beautiful home and it was a joy to watch and work on. 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths, a large living area , big and new kitchen, separate laundry room...it was so nice! We moved in in January just before my birthday 2010. We spread out and enjoyed the space. Almost right away, we took in a church member for 3 months that was having a little trouble at home. The guest room of our new house was put to use right away! At the end of May that year, we got a call that changed things for our family and our house. My mom was ill and would eventually move into our house with us. The current guest had to leave, the room was re-set for a permanent resident and we became a family of 3 generations under one roof.
Living in the parsonage has never been dull. Living right beside the church makes for a really convenient commute. We are almost never late for church, at least not because of traffic! We have been known to "run over to the house " for everything from sugar to toilet paper. Being close was great....except when it wasn't. Being close has been so convenient, but there is definitely a lack of privacy involved in being right next door. Any staff church member will understand. Your trash is scrutinized sometimes. Your yard is looked at closer than other church members. Your pets are under so many watchful eyes. It is rent-free living, but there are other prices that you pay than money.
After being here for almost 7 years, we began to look for a move. God should probably be ready to have us go somewhere else, right? Things had been really hard here and in the summer of 2016 we almost left the ministry all together. So much pressure and no outlet...we were done. God wasn't done with us in Anderson, though. We stayed and felt led to make some changes. We decided that even though we really couldn't afford a mortgage, we had to find a place of our own. We are middle aged (49 and 52 now) and have no place to call home outside of the church provided housing. So began the search...
We talked to our banker and were approved for a loan plenty large enough to buy a little piece of land and a house. We looked everywhere from Waller to Willis. I drove past property after property, ruling them out by the dozens. Too far away, too junky, too expensive, too many neighbors, too much traffic...nothing was quite right. I had Zillow notifications set up to alert me of any potential properties. I searched Craigslist and FSBO sites. We met with Greg Hoffart, a friend and realtor in our area (the best ever, by the way) and he guided us through lots of places. He knew where to avoid and where to look.
Somehow we stumbled across 10813 CR 446, a 5 acre tract only 8 miles from the parsonage. It was one acre wide, 5 acres deep. It was mostly cleared already, a huge plus for us since we didn't want to have to clear a ton of timber. There were no utilities on the land yet, but it was just so perfect! The first time we went through the gate to see the land, I was struck by how many blackberry vines there were! They were everywhere. There were lots of flowers and butterflies and tangled vines and scrubby trees...the land was not too wild, but in need of a family to take care of it. We scraped together the down payment and closed in October. We have never built a house from the ground up before, but here we go!
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