Hello! If this is your first time reading my blog, you best not start here. :) To catch up and get important background information, go back to the post "Come and See What God Will Do!" This is where the series begins, which tells how, through miracles, the Lord provided for my family during the difficult years of 2007-2009.
Well...I left you hangin', didn't I? Let's see - where did we leave off? Ah, yes, here it is - the last paragraph of the second half of part 4 in our series:
"We met the family for supper and told them all about the day. Sunday we made the four-hour drive home, still not knowing if Brent would get the job offer and no other details about the house."
*I forgot to share a couple details in the first half of the story:
1) We were given some application paperwork to take home, fill out, and fax back to Sigourney Tractor and Implement (STI), IA.
2) Brent was told he would hear about the service manager position in about a week.
This is what our timeline looks like as of now:
Monday afternoon - I talk with my brother, who lives in IA, about renting his flip house (joking). Start thinking about living near my family; ask children what they think; they love the idea.
Monday evening - I tell Brent about the day's events.
Tuesday noon - Brent comes home for lunch. He had looked on the work website and found three John Deere Service Manager positions available in IA. One is the perfect location.
Tuesday afternoon - I call the contact person (Bob Sinclair, owner) for the job to get information and brag about hubby's accomplishments. :) He wants to talk to Brent.
Tuesday evening - Brent talks with Mr. Sinclair. He wants to interview Brent that coming Saturday.
Friday morning - leave for Iowa.
Saturday morning - interview, tour of the town.
Saturday afternoon - While Brent is testing, some men from the store take Brooklynne and me to lunch. I talk with Jeff about rental houses. He tells me that some customers of theirs have a house for sale, but thought they would be interested in renting it to us. After lunch, Jeff takes me to see it - THE HOUSE FROM MY VISION: the white house with the big, front porch!
Saturday late afternoon - After the interview/testing process, I take Brent by the house.
Saturday evening - We have supper with family in Iowa City.
Sunday - We drive home.
Monday - I fill out the paperwork and fax it back to the owner.
*Important information you need to know about the paperwork we filled out and faxed back to STI: the application/paperwork was routine, but there was one part that made me a little worried - the background check. We had nothing on our records, except the bankruptcy. Would that show? What would the owner think? Does it hurt Brent's character? What should I do? Well...I told the truth. I wrote down our story - the bankruptcy, the sinful financial choices, the adoption expenses - all of it! I took a chance.
Now we wait...and wait...and wait. Thinking, praying, talking, wondering, dreaming.
So, we are now to the following Monday - 1 week 2 days since the interview. Brent decided to give Jeff a call. He was second in charge at STI. Jeff told Brent that he was going to get in touch that day. They wanted Brent to come back for a second interview on Tuesday (the next day) and to make him a job offer!
Brent took the next day off and headed back to Iowa. I waited all day to hear from him. Finally, late afternoon, I got the call. $15,000 more a year than his current job (salary) AND a $5000 moving bonus!!! My head was spinning. I could not believe it; but I could believe it. Ya know what I mean? God providing again.
I think it was the next day that Jeff called, and told Brent that the couple (Tim and Theresa Hoffman) that owned the country home for sale wanted to meet our family that Saturday! We were to meet Jeff and he would have us follow him to their home, where we would have lunch. Then we would go look at the house. Now remember, I have only seen the outside of the house.
The Hoffman's are one of the nicest couples I have ever met in my life. We had a nice lunch. Theresa fell in love with all of the children right away. We felt very comfortable in their home.
After lunch, we drove over to the house. It was only a couple miles down the road. I remember it to be a rainy day.
First the inside - it was an old farm house. 3 bedrooms, one "other" room, 1 1/2 baths, large kitchen, dining room, and living room, enclosed back porch, and a basement good for storage only. I loved the layout. It needed updated for sure and the main bath needed a lot of work. There was green shag carpet on the stairs and in one bedroom, and red shag in one of the other bedrooms. The rest was hardwood floors. The laundry hook ups were on the enclosed back porch. The kitchen floor needed replaced, badly.
God had truly worked a miracle in our hearts. We used to try to "keep up with the Jones's; now we didn't care - and we loved this old farm house!
Now for the outside: 50 acres: 38 timber, 10 tillable, pasture, yard, North Skunk River running through the back of the property. Also on the property was a big barn with cement floors, stalls, original milking stanchions; two other barns in the pasture, a two-room chicken coop (told it was the deluxe model in its time); a huge machine shed; another small shed; a garage.
WE LOVED IT!!!
Now, we needed to head back to the Hoffman's to discuss details. The story takes a big turn.
Stay tuned...
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