The Journey of the Houses

The Journey of the Houses...

I read the ad in the paper...rustic, house to be moved, make offer. I thought about it off and on, and finally told Benny I was really curious about that house, I wanted to see what it looked like. He laughed at me, but two weeks later, he came in the house and said we had an appointment with the real estate agent.
We met at her office, and drove out of town, down a long unpaved road, and turned into an area where men were working putting up 10 foot high fencing all around the area. The new owner had bought many acres, and I think he intends to turn it into a hunting area from what I can see, we have several of them around here. The house was what I call a "shotgun house"...nothing much to look at, needs a new roof, but built well enough to be moved and brought back to life with a new look. I can see possibilities in it. As I opened the back door, I was surprised to see a beautiful deck. It also goes with the house.....I could just picture a young couple sitting out there on it drinking coffee in the mornings. I did not say much, then the agent said, "And now I will show you the smaller one that is also to be sold and moved."...and off we drove down the road,we waited as she used the combination on a locked gate to let us in to see it. As we drove down the winding road, I loved looking at the mesquite trees, the swaying wild grasses, and there it was, a beautiful little house in the middle. As she opened the door and I went inside, I could not believe my eyes. The walls were made of the most beautiful wood I have ever seen, the ceiling was vaulted, and beautiful fans with lights came down to give it a beautiful homey touch. A wood burning stove was in the center of the room to keep it warm...the rooms went on and on as I walked down the hallway...to a bedroom that had another wood burning stove built into the wall, making it look like a fireplace. The man who lived here was definitely a hunter, deer heads with antlers were all over the walls, everything in it was western style, and I was in love with a house to be moved. I really wanted it. This house just exudes a warmth of "take me home with you" and "love me forever" touch about it. We looked all around and really wanted this one, but what about the other one, and if the owner really wanted them out of his way, maybe he would consider us buying them both, but what could we offer? We came home, all excited about the little western looking house. I really wanted this one, Benny called the other one a "cozy little house" but I was not as impressed. We added all our finances up ,tried to figure about what moving them would cost (we are DUMB on this !) but we would just "guess-ta-mate" it, and see how close we would come. We called the next day and made the offer, and were told the owner was out of the country, and would be awhile. Several weeks passed, and I assumed someone else had got them, and then the phone rang yesterday morning....the owner had accepted our offer out of all the others and we could have the two houses if we would move them off ASAP. We were in shock. As we arrived at the office to go out to see them again and make a payment down on them, a man who MOVES HOUSES was there in the office, so out to the place we all went...now we have a mover....we know we have some extra hurdles to work out...we have to take the deck off the "cozy house" which will be the last one to move. The western one will really take alot of work, I did not realize until I opened the back door, it has a beautiful porch built all the way across, and this has to be taken off, so I am mulling all this around in my brain, we go back to the cozy one again to look at it. In the meantime, the owner calls, says he will need us to leave the cozy one there a little longer as the men are using it for living quarters who are building the fences, I tell the agent we will work with him on his time limit, and help in any way to help him as well, and he offers me THE BARN for free that is there since we are buying the houses. By now, I am jumping through hoops...YES.... YES.... YES... I want the barn. Benny thinks I am crazy now for sure, now I need someone else to move the barn. Last week a house was moved down the street from me...they amazed me by using a goose-neck trailer and a pick-up, and lots of my prayers went with them....we had this man go out and look at the barn..YES....he will move it, in two pieces, and will help with taking off the porch and the deck to help the other movers. I am amazed at how God works, He knows my heart, everything is happening as it is supposed to...now I need to have a place to move the houses and the barn....We have been trying to buy the lot by our house where the house burned down last month, but no one has returned any of our calls on it, but we did get them information on how much it would cost to bulldoze it down, and the price of dumpsters to load all the burned material in...seems a no- go on the lot, so...........what else can we figure out?..
We decide we will move Hombre the LongHorn down to our little place, and use the four lots there for the two houses, bring the barn here for him, and now I need the trees cut down by the four lots to bring in the houses....YES...my renter cuts trees for a living ! We can make a barter, trees cut for rent...YES...he is willing, he will start cutting them down tomorrow...Isn't God great....look at how this is all coming together...I am in awe, and just praising Him for all this joy in my life. I cannot wait for the journey of the houses to begin !


August 26th......Eric and Sam are here early...they are ready to cut trees and haul off brush, so they go down to the cow lot to begin...Eric calls me..."Hey....there's a HOT wire...(fence)..."How do I turn it off?"...I had to laugh about this....Benny left to turn off the hot wire fence, then came back to get the tractor to begin to push the bigger pieces of trees out of the way and help load with the front loader.By noon, the trees are cut, Eric and Sam have just filled my shed with cut oak for winter use, and all is quiet....and the phone rings.....the people who own the burned house and lot are trying to get in touch with us, and for some reason, we cannot talk to each other...they leave a message, we leave a message...just have to be patient. I am leaving all this up to HIM....He will decide what I am to have, so I am just trying to leave all my eggs in my little basket and let HIM do the hatching....what an amazing journey this is !!

August 26th....9:30 PM...the phone just rang.....it was the owners of the burned out property by us.....we have come to an arrangement, and maybe my little western house can be right by me, I can see it from my porch if it is His Will....this is all going so fast, my head is spinning....I want to jump up and down, doing the Happy Dance !! I can just see that darling little house sitting there in the trees...now we will need to rush to get the land cleared off of all the burned debris...Wow, I tell you that when the Lord moves, you just have to stand back and keep praying....now we are putting in the call to get the guy out to start bulldozing down the old burned out house...WOW.....Lord, give me wings to keep me steady on my feet...I am flying off the ground tonight !! Now to call in the morning to get the big dumpsters in place for all the debris...YES...YES.....YES....it is all coming together....I feel like I am in a dream...PINCH ME...No, I don't want to wake up from this dream yet....it is so wonderful...LOL