How God Moved the Wiebes to Arvada

Some of you that follow my (extremely neglected) personal blog may recall this post where I started the story of how God moved us to Denver. I noted then that the story was just beginning, and I'm sure I still don't even realize how true that is.

As you know from previous posts, we've been planning to head up north at the end of this school year and have been focused on some of our last steps in the church planting mentoring process. Our Arvada community group is going great, and we're busting at the seams of the house we meet in up there. We've been praying for God to provide a 2nd home as an option to further grow the group somehow. Be careful what you pray for!

We engaged a realtor a couple of weeks back to start looking at housing up north. We weren't in a hurry by any stretch, but we wanted to start thinking about what we could afford and which neighborhoods we were interested in. The next house is one we're hoping to stay in for a long time. Because the market in Highlands Ranch (where we live currently) is so hot, our realtor advised us, as we expected, to find the next house first. We'd plan to put in a contingent offer on the sale of our house before even putting ours on the market. Average days on the market in our neighborhood is about 7 days, so we knew it would likely go quickly. (Plus - let's be real. James and I whipped this place into lovely shape when we moved in.)

We went to look at a few homes a week and a half ago, and at the end of the trip our realtor, Kevin, said he had a nephew who was looking for a house just like ours. Kevin said he'd just started a "Coming Soon" listing and told us the starting price he'd put on it which significantly exceeded what we had thought the house was worth. He asked us if that number was ok, and of course we said it was. (And yes, for those parental types out there, we did go home and read over the comparable information to make sure we weren't crazy high or leaving money on the table.) We set up a showing for the nephew the following week.

Given that our house wasn't even listed yet, we had to be home to let the nephew in. They had their own realtor (the wife's sister), and they were right on time. Ellie met them out front and told them they should buy the house. (Thanks, Ellie.) They toured the house, asked us a few questions about the neighborhood (which we of course RAVED about - will SO miss our neighbors) and commented on how great the basement was.

We got the call two hours later that we'd have a full price offer in hand by the end of the night!!!!!

We were stunned. And overwhelmed. And humbled. And literally moved to tears. Apparently, God wants us to go plant a church up north! So much so, that he's just going to swoop in and sell our house for us months before we'd planned to. Seriously. Why do we even make plans?

God is really amazing, though. It's been an internal struggle on when to move, because things are going so well up in Arvada and are slightly hindered by our not being there yet. Not to mention, we spend a lot of quality family time in the car driving up there right now. It's a sacrifice I'm happy to make in the short term, but the sooner it ends, the better. I love that God just came in and solved that question for us!

So, now what? The original contract had a 45-day timeline, but we countered with 60 days, and they accepted. As I write this today, we have 58 days to find housing. Obviously, we're hoping and believing that God will help us find a house that will suit our family for many years to come. The thought of moving twice (again) makes me sad. BUT, we know for sure that he has a plan. Whatever it is, we will walk through it.

Also not sure what we'll do about the girls in school. We'll talk to their teachers once we know where we're going and will continue to pray and make a decision when the time comes. Commuting them back here is on the table, but we're also fans of them meeting friends there as long as the academic side isn't to their detriment.

We are definitely sad about leaving Highlands Ranch. It's a great town, our neighbors are amazing, and our church family here is also amazing. In the end, it may only be a difference of a few weeks, but it feels like a lot just because it was so unexpected.

Please be praying for us as we look for houses. It is definitely a seller's market up there also (although not quite as bad as down here). Pray that God makes it clear to me and James where we are to go. And pray for our kids and also just that all will go smoothly with the sale of this house. Off we go!