Hunting for a New Home

So this summer has been a crazier summer than past summers, which makes it really hard for me to feel ready for this next school year. If you’ve been following my journey for a while, you know that I am an orchestra teacher and last year was super rough for me, so I have needed the summer to relax and rest. I still feel like I need another month to get ready, but it’s down to 3ish weeks. Not only has the summer not been as relaxing as I’d hoped, but it has also been a summer of decisions. We decided not to renew our lease for the apartment when asked last February. We were excited about the new possibilities and homes we might be able to live in and maybe we jumped in too fast, but we found a house and decided to put in an offer the first day it was online. All the rentals and houses for sale in the area were leaving the market so fast, within a day or two of being posted, and I really liked the place, so I decided we needed to act fast. So we put in an offer, got everything in line with the bank and waited for the inspection. So here’s the hiccup in our plan!

I’m just gonna be really honest now… I didn’t have a very good year teaching last year and honestly I wasn’t sure if I wanted to return. I have been teaching orchestra  for 5 years and last year for some reason was one of my harder years. I was exhausted by the time the year was ending and then I entered a meeting with my Principal in which I found out that I would also be teaching 2 reading classes next year (6th year). Because of hearing this and knowing how hard it was last year, I was in a battle with myself about whether or not to return this next year. Then it happened. Dave just happened to be searching online for jobs through the Cleveland Orchestra’s website ( one of the top 5 orchestras in the United States… it would be a dream to work for them), and instead of being terrified of thinking about moving to Cleveland if I got the job, I felt my heart getting excited!

The position was the Education and Community Programs Coordinator and as I read the requirements, I fit them all. I knew that this was something I wanted to go for. So I gathered all my energy and for two days straight I worked on my resume and cover letter to apply, and I even sought some help from my old college roommate’s mom (she had helped me with my resume and cover letters right before I had graduated from Evangel University). I hadn’t felt anything like that excitement for a while, but again, I wasn’t sure anything would pan out. So here it was the hiccup in our plan…

What if I got the job? and What if we got the house??? We would be moving to Cleveland with just having bought a new home??  So we were somewhat hoping the inspection would come back negative, since we were unsure what the future might hold. Luckily the house didn’t pan out with the inspection and we were able to get out of the contract. I waited and I waited for what felt like forever to hear anything back from the Cleveland Orchestra. I even called the HR  a couple times and emailed to make sure that my application was seen and if there was any other information they could provide me with… the first couple calls were just voicemail, but finally the last time I called I got someone. This was the last week of June and as I talked with the HR lady, I asked her when they were hoping to have the position filled by and she mentioned the middle of July. By this point I pretty much knew that the Cleveland Orchestra probably already had a candidate and I moved forward thinking about teaching reading and orchestra.

We still needed to find a place and we were running out of time. I was so nervous about the timing and finding a great place. Again the rentals we were seeing were either WAY too much money, not enough property for the money, or they were too small or gross, so I was beginning to get really nervous. Dave and I were calling and emailing management properties like crazy and beginning to book up some showings. There were a couple places I really liked, but money was still a factor. By this point we didn’t have enough time to buy, so we had to find a rental house or another apartment( which I would have been livid about).

Being Christians, we knew that God would help us find a place and we knew that we could lean on Him, but with the date of move out a week in a half away and still no place to live, fear was taking hold in our lives. We were allowing fear to stress us out and steal joy from other things in our lives. All we could think about was a place to live… I would pray about God’s will and finding a place, but I wasn’t completely giving it to Him… I said it, but did I really believe He would provide?

I have been so incredibly blessed in my life and this has been a harder time in my life to trust God ( I know I have been blessed). I thank God that I haven’t had to experience as painful of things as others, but for me this was really testing my faith. I said I believed and most of me did believe that He would help us find something, but another part of me ( the fear part) said, ” What if we don’t find anything?”  Well I am here to tell you that we did find a place and while it is more money than I wanted to spend, it was ready for us to move into and It felt like the right place. This place didn’t have a washer/ Dryer, refrigerator or a lawn mower, so we knew we were gonna have to put more money into this already more expensive place.  I posted on Facebook asking if anyone had any of these items to sell or give away, or if anyone knew of places to get these items for a discounted price and…. GUESS WHAT… GOD MOVED! I had a friend from school reach out to offer us a lawnmower and weed wacker for FREE and then my violin instructor from my Masters Degree at MSU reached out telling me his parents were getting rid of their fridge, and they gave us their fridge for FREE. Dave and I were so completely blessed and thankful to so many who reached out and completely overwhelmed by God’s provisions.

Yesterday we moved the last of our things into our new place and I can’t wait to start decorating and be able to show you all the finished product! I am so happy to be in a house… hello garage, a back yard and the cutest little front porch to decorate for all the seasons!!! I don’t know what God has in store for this year, but I can sense that He wants to do some really big things in mine and Dave’s lives and I feel as if I am entering a season of growth, renewal, and change.

Thanks for reading and supporting me, friends!

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