God's Hand on our Home, Part 1

It’s neat to see God’s hand at work.  I thought I’d record some of the ways God has allowed us to purchase our first home in Hawaii.  The process has been remarkable and almost unbelievable at times; through it all, my husband continues to astound me with his diligence, urgency and work ethic. 

I do understand, however, that everything we have is God’s.  Every penny to our name, our good health, family and friends who are loving and supportive—it’s all from God Almighty.  I pray that Mike and I would never take our blessings for granted, and remember to bless his name in all seasons of life.

To start things out, I need to go back a year or so.  It was May of 2012, and we decided to start looking for houses in Hawaii.  There was a month or two where we went to open houses every Sunday afternoon scoping out the market.  We didn’t know if we were in a place to buy since we had just paid off our student loans, our wedding, and our honeymoon from the previous year.  We decided to apply for a pre-approval from Navy Federal just to see our chances.  When we were denied, we were pretty frustrated.  We felt entitled.  How was it that so many people around us, people who made much less than we did combined, own a home?  We wrestled with the “whys” for a few weeks, but considered this closed door God’s answer to our prayers.  

During the time we were going to all these open houses and checking OahuRe.com four times a day, Mike came across a property in Makakilo that had a lot of square footage.  The pictures looked ok, but we wanted to check it out for ourselves.  It came up so often in our searches that we went to look at it twice.  The house was in pretty bad shape.  The hot water heater had been leaking for some time and mold had started cultivating on the walls in the closet, creeping across the laundry room through the stairs and into the kitchen.  Rat droppings littered the countertops and fungus dressed the kitchen floor.  Three to four years-worth of hair, dust, and buildup was pasted in a thick layer across every surface of the house.  The upstairs in particular hadn’t been vacuumed in years; the kitchen appliances untouched for this same amount of time.  The backyard seemed big, but the jungle growing in the pool and on the side of the house didn’t look very welcoming.  My first reaction was disgust.  The smell was dank, and if I’m honest, I was pretty uninterested.  Here are some pics.  More of the story to come…