My Snow White Cottage

We weren't looking for a home. In fact, we had all but given up the idea and signed another year lease at our apartment (not without some tears, let us be clear). We kept getting outbid on homes in the neighborhood and everything was above our price range and sure, there was a house or two that we probably could have rented but we figured that if we were going to put ourselves on the line financially then our new pad better fit nearly all of our criteria, or at least most of it. We felt stuck. We were stuck. We signed another year lease and told ourselves that we'd be good little savers and next summer we'd move out and move up.

Isn't it funny the difference a week can make? Or a month? Isn't it amazing to see how God works in our lives? Isn't it a fabulous experience to not only witness a miracle, but recognize it as such?

I like to say that we moved into Snow White's cottage. Sure, I only have four little dwarfs (not seven!) but they are filling these walls with laughter and joy and it's hard not to feel like we're living a fairytale. Tell me that this is the cutest house you've ever seen. Do it. DO IT! Then come and visit and I'll take you on a tour of the inside, then you'll really be singing it's praises. I'll show you the original hardwood floors, the curved and vaulted ceilings and the original and darling door knobs and windows. Then I'll let you see the completely updated bathrooms and kitchen, because old is charming except for when those two rooms are involved! I'll walk you into our backyard paved with brick and show you where Coco and I lay on a blanket in the grass and watch the other three kids play games with a backdrop of blooming bogenvelia. Geez, it seems this house was prayed into existence just for us.

And maybe it was?

As the story goes, I was driving T to cross country practice two weeks ago when I saw that this charming home I had long admired was up for lease. Luckily my Mom was in town so she wrote down the phone number to call, and within the hour I was on the phone with the owner. This was a Tuesday. On Wednesday we toured the house and although it was out of our price range, the owner told us how emotionally connected he felt with this property and said it was more important for him to find a good family that would love this home than to make more money. On Thursday morning we made an offer. By Thursday afternoon he accepted. On Saturday we signed the lease and one week to the day later we moved in. And as if there are not enough things to be grateful for in this story, our property manager was able to resign our lease to a group of UCLA students within two days of us telling her we had found a new abode so we don't have to pay any extra rent. And all this happened just days before a new person was set to move into the previously unoccupied unit below ours and my stress levels were high trying to figure out how to keep my circus quiet. My parents came down to help with the transition, friends came out in plenty to assist with the move, and although I am a notoriously weepy individual not a tear was shed as we waved goodbye to that apartment and said hello to our cottage--I was too busy smiling. Beaming, really.

So if you need my new address, let me know. If you need a place to stay in LA know that my sleeper sofa has your name written all over it. And if you need me? I'll be rocking my baby in my Bop's chair while watching butterflies dance and hearing wind-chimes twinkle through those single panes. I'm so glad this is my life right now.