DAYS OF GRACE: Our House in Atlanta

So many of you have been faithful to ask us about our house in Atlanta and have been praying for it to sell, so here's the update you've been waiting for on the house. For those of you that didn't know, we went ahead and put our house on the market in February 2011 shortly after David began his new job in Tennessee. I continued to live there through May and then it was vacant for several months. We had lots of showings early on through the spring and summer and got mostly positive feedback, but no offers. Towards the end of last year, David and I were getting a little frustrated and knew we were going to have to consider some new options, whether we look into renting it, making some upgrades to the house, reducing the price again, offering some incentives, etc. We made the decision to move towards renting it and having a rental management property handle everything for us, but decided to wait until after the holidays and the first of the year to pursue it.

The first week in January, one of my co-workers from NAMB called to tell me they were hiring a new staff member who was hoping to rent a house and wondered if we might be interested in renting our home. He was actually a church planter pastor from South Carolina and someone that I worked with often during my time at NAMB, both with semester missionaries serving within his church and summer missionaries being sent out from his church so I was thrilled at the possibility of having someone I knew and trusted living in our house. In just a short amount of time, he and I were able to get in touch with each other, talk it all over, and they agreed to rent our house before they even had a chance to come and check it out for themselves!

The timing of everything was undeniable as we'd already felt in our hearts this was the direction we wanted to take, and honestly since the house hadn't sold, we'd already reconciled long ago to the fact that God had something planned and someone specific in mind for this house, we were just waiting on Him to reveal that in His perfect timing so when this family came along, we just knew this was it. Our listing on the house expired in mid-February, we made plans to go down and move the rest of our things out over President's Day weekend, and then this family moved in the following weekend at the end of February.

Knowing this was going to be our last trip to Atlanta for awhile, David and I decided to go down a couple of days early and visit at NAMB and with some friends, and then we started packing up until several of my family members made the trip down later in the weekend to help us finish up and move everything back to Tennessee.

Although we miss our neighborhood, neighbors, and the house we had hoped to call home for many years to come, we are so thankful for God's provision in sending such a dear family to live there as they begin their own journey in Atlanta and with NAMB, and we wish them all the best as they do so.

Hope you enjoy the pictures from our trip:

Having lunch at the mall with my friend, Amy. For those of you who don't know her, I worked more closely with her than anyone during my time at NAMB. She was my biggest confidant, support, and source of encouragement these last few years. Miss her so much!

Another dear friend of mine, Judy. She was one of the first people I met when I worked at NAMB my very first summer during college. Through the years she has been like a mother to me and taken care of me time and time again. Miss her so much too!

We also spent some time with the Cox family, and this is the first time
our little ones got to play together.

Me with one of my closest friends in Atlanta, Laura. All of her family means the world to me and are like a second family to me, and I've already told her this, but she is the person I look up to and admire most as a role model when it comes to being a young mother. It goes without saying, I miss her very much and wish we weren't so far apart now.

Anthony was being a little shy, but they were so cute together.

Anthony with the girls who were our neighbors. They came over to tell us goodbye, brought us some chocolates, and gave Anthony this little lamb chair they had picked out for him on their own and wanted to give to him as an early Easter present. We miss them and their family so much too!

Taking a break from packing to sit on the couch together.

So sweet!

Stepping outside with Grandma for some fresh air.

Grandpa joins in on the fun too.

Eating supper, and Anthony's the only one with something to sit in. My cousins had just headed back to Tennessee with the trailer, and at this point, all we had left in the house were two mattresses, a pack-n-play, our suitcases, a radio, and some cleaning supplies.