The House-hunting Frenzy

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I have a character flaw.

Okay, okay. I have more than one. But there's one in particular that I'm gonna tell you about today. I'm not exactly sure how to describe it and have it make sense, but I'll do my best.

Ya see, when I know that something needs to be done, I have to get it done. Right that very second. And I HATE when there's something I need/want to do and I have to wait to do it. Take, for example, picking up dog poop in the backyard. This is a poor example, but it's the only one I could think of :). I go outside armed with my plastic bags only to find out that it's raining. I can't pick up soggy dog poop, and so I'm going to have to wait. Darn. It makes me twitch.

An even better example is house-hunting.

Chuck and I are trying to get into our own home before baby Hannah comes in November. Gee wiz. The race is on. We only started this race a couple weeks ago when some additional information was revealed which rendered our basement apartment somewhat less desirable after November comes around the mountain. Don't worry about what that information was-- that's not the important part. The important part is that we need to find a home el pronto.

I gathered all the paperwork needed to get pre-qualified at least a week ago, and it's been waiting patiently on the couch in manila folders for its time to shine. I'm an "all-or-nothing" sort of person sometimes. . . and this is one of those times! I have the hardest time in the world being laid back and 'chill' about this whole situation. I have a tendency to want to march out the door at 8:00 am with a stapled list of 95 houses to look at and not return home until I've done all I can do. I want to sit down with a loan officer/broker-dude and plop all our information on the table and get a ball park figure of what we can afford, only to turn the information over to a Realtor 5 minutes later and set him lose on the valley.

"Find us a house, dude. And make it snappy."

But life doesn't work that way. Life (and house hunting especially) requires patience and faith in the timing of the Lord.

Take yesterday, for example. I had a list of about 4 homes worth looking at in a certain city. The hubbs and I decided to take an afternoon drive and hit them up. The first one we came to I had just found earlier in the day. It was in a small, secluded gated community which had two playgrounds and a pavilion.  It was located at the end of a dead end road, which meant only two other people had to drive down the road to get to their houses. . . perfect for busy little kids who love to play outside. It faced east, and had a flat driveway (shovel/snow blow snow on an extremely slanted driveway for even just ONE Utah snowstorm and you'll kiss flat driveways from then on!). It had a beautiful yard. It was 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. . . this thing was amazing. The sweet lady was outside doing yard work when we drove by and she was kind enough to give us a tour.

Well, the only bad thing with that was that I couldn't fall asleep for hours and hours last night because my brain was busy going over the house. Over. And over. And over.

My character flaw flares up in this instance and my armpits start to sweat because I think, "We really liked that house. What if someone else is already making a bid? What if it's going to be purchased before we can get around to it (should we decide it's the one)? We have to get going on this! We have to decide if we like it enough to buy it right now before someone else beats us to it! Ahhhhh!"

It's a vicious cycle.

Thankfully, I can remind myself that "What's supposed to happen will happen when it happens." If it's the right thing that we should get this house, then we will get it. And that goes for whichever house we end up buying after this is all said and done. It will all turn out okay. There's no sense in ruining the armpits in all of my shirts stressing over something that I have very little, if any, control over. I can camp out in front of that house to make inventory of all the people who come to look at it, but what good will that do? It will just give me a hole in my stomach.

The Lord has mercifully reminded me that He is in charge and I don't need to worry. That's not to say I don't have to do any work. . . but the work I do will yield the greatest fruits if I turn it all over to Him.

And that's just what I aim to do.

Wish me luck. . .  :)