The Way My God is Set Up: The Houseful Is Building A House

Yep. You read that correctly, and let me tell you, I’ve been sitting on this news for a LONG time. Mostly out of nervousness, and mostly out of not believing it in the first place.

Two years ago, I started a semi-bucket list of sorts, and each time that I go back and can strike something off, I literally gasp. Under finances, I stated that I wanted to build a house from the ground up. THAT is happening.  I know it’s not just the work of my husband and me, but the divine timing of God. If you don’t agree, I’m okay with that, because we’re the ones living our dreams out loud.

I’ve spent many a night on Pinterest and even Instagram looking at houses of others. Of course, living in a city like Chicago, you tend to give up huge houses with large floor plans. No super wide homes built on acres of land – unless of course you’re a millionaire. Now, I’m not keen on moving out of the city, so I had to take a deep breath and realize that we had to change what we were looking for. When I did, this fell into place.

Our Houseful is pairing up with Habitat for Humanity to build a four bedroom, two bathroom home in the city of Chicago. It will be mere blocks from where the cellist will hopefully be attending high school (post on that later too – talk about blessings raining down) It will have a backyard, a garage, a basement. A guest room – for guests – to sleep in.  A kitchen big enough to fit all of us in comfortably, and floorS – as in more than one.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m extremely grateful for the home that we are in now. I love it. It’s an old mini-mansion building that was converted to condos, and the ceilings are high, and the rooms are HUGE. Unfortunately, it’s not MINE. It doesn’t belong to my husband and me. It’s been lived in by two other families before we moved in, and I know this because the building belongs to my parents. They have been nothing but a blessing when it comes to our family growing and living here, and I love them for it, but it’s not the same. I’m sure that many families can relate.

I’ll have space for the kids to run around without disturbing anyone who lives above or below us. They’ll be able to go OUTSIDE and play in the safety of their own backyard, instead of us having to walk blocks to a playground, or get into our car to trek to one.

For a bit of time, I tried to wallow in self-pity because we were leaving one side of the city and moving to another, but once again God decided to show me that He knew just what He was doing. Before we applied to high schools for the cellist, we were trying to figure out exactly where to apply. You see, in Chicago, you get to choose which high school you want to attend, instead of being told where to go.  With the state of the Chicago Public School system being what it is now, we wanted guidance about where we should send the cellist. I wanted a school that would challenge him, and that would give him all of the attention that a child deserves at this stage in life. He wanted a school that had loads of fun things to do that didn’t only have to deal with sports.

We found it in a private school. That cost $23,000

But let me tell you how MY God works. Through the very school system that I’m not friends with right now, favor was shown through an internship program that students in the upper grades can participate. We were given paperwork to apply for a scholarship. Yesterday, we found out that the cellist secured the scholarship.

*please hold as I dance like David danced*

So, let’s recap shall we?

We’re building a house.

The cellist will hopefully be attending a private school come August of this year.

My God is awesome.

I can not WAIT to share more about Habitat for Humanity and the brands that work with them. I can’t wait to share more about the journey to college that the cellist will be on. I can’t wait to share more about what God continues to do in our lives.

In all of the times of depression, and uncertainty, He continued to hold us in the palm of His hand.

I’ve wondered quite often WHY He chooses to do things the way that He does, and while I can’t figure it out completely, I know that His timing is perfect, and if any of these things happened out of sequence, it may have messed up everything for a future.

I’m going to leave you with a photo of our floor plans, and let you know once again that God is good all the time!

Please know that I am definitely going to be sharing as much as you all can deal with, and probably a little bit more. Then there will be the decorating posts. I’m so excited, and I know that there are some of you all that will be just as excited for us.

We’ll share tidbits of information about the Habitat for Humanity program as well. I had so many preconceived notions about it that when someone mentioned that we should apply, I immediately thought “for what?!”  I’m so glad that I listened, and that Mr. Houseful didn’t look at me crazy when I passed on the information.

So, please, pray for us as we take this journey, and join us as we share with you.