There has been a whirlwind of things happening in our family the past few weeks that is very exciting! We have been waiting for direction in terms of our housing situation and knew that it was time to start finding our own place to live. We were not sure where to live and were considering all the options. We really miss our church Stanton in Florida and we knew that we could not replace that church and we can' t replace our friends there. We had been going to church with my parents but niether one of us thought that God was calling us to be there for the long term although it is really nice and Z loved it.
So we visited a church just to check it out and not really thinking that we would find a church home there. When we visited ,like any church, there were things that could give you an excuse not to go like the fact that there is no nursery for kids. But, Travis and I got in the car and we looked at each other and I forced him to tell me what he thought first but he did not really have to say anything. This church just made us feel at home and it combines a lot of the things that we both really care about. Having the opportunity to talk to the pastor further in the weeks following and others in the church just confirmed our initial thoughts. We were really caught by surprise and we have been going there since.
We are very excited to have found a church family and it helps us to start to feel like we acctually live here rather than just visiting my parents. You can learn more about our new church home at http://www.newhopeneighbor.org/
The church is very involved in the community and even purchased a nusance bar that was on the street corner near the church and turned it into a coffee and gelato shop. Here is an article about that http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07120/782127-53.stm
They are very focused on reaching the community and most of those that go to the church live nearby.
AND we are going to be living near the church! AND in our own house! After visiting the church for a couple of weeks one day we were driving home after the service and we saw a sign for an open house so we stopped just for fun. Most of the houses in the neighborhood need a whole lot of work but this one was great! It is a really old house so it does need some work but the person who lived there before was a contractor and he did a lot of work to it. We are so EXCITED!!! I will let Travis tell the story of the process of getting the house and the price and everything which was pretty amazing too. We really prayed over this house and if we were supposed to go for it and it just seemed obvious. We can walk to church, walk to my brothers house, walk to the grocery store, it is a 5 minute drive to Travs work and a 20 minute bus ride and it is easy to get to the highway. The house has a lot of neat things about it that I have always wanted like a wooden staircase and stained glass. We have already gone through the inspection and the house has been appraised and we are scheduled to close on April 17th. We are also very excited that we were able to get this house in a price range that will hopefully give us a lot more flexibility in the future once we sell our condo. We have had our condo listed for sale for a little while now and are continuing to pray about that. You can see our house at http://www.pittsburghmoves.com/property/propertydetail.aspx?property=3cef1ccb-227f-4eb7-ba23-e9a3c96298d9&WT.MC_ID=091810000000000
One of our favorite parts is the back yard and there is no picture of that but soon we can post our own pictures. The back yard is fenced in and has a fish pond with coy in it and a waterfall and it as a nice little back deck. There is also a one car garage behind the yard which faces another street that runs behind our house. Thank you all for praying for us! We still need your prayers but we are so excited about how God is working and we know that it is only HIM.
