The Story

I said I would come back and tell the story of why this whole thing is God Showing Off (or at least, why it's clearly meant to be). I cannot overstate how blessed we are that just about everything is is just...working out.

For starters, I had an "open schedule" during the time Patricia was preparing for her interview so that I could allow her to focus on that, especially in the first two weeks of January.

My "open schedule" allowed me to plan/coordinate her surprise 40th B-day party in February, along with some very crucial friends and family (thanks again)...which came right after she had been turned down for job (but was asked to stay in the running)

April 5...got the call to offer her the position

I went down to interview for a position at CofC as well on the 3rd Friday of May after having a phone interview 2-3 weeks prior. I was also turned down for the position (something else Pat and I now have in common), only to have it offered to me a month later (the Monday just before we went to go look for housing on the last weekend of June). Turns out the other candidate had, um, "HR issues" .... who says clean living doesn't pay off?

So...we looked at, like, 9 houses in two days working with a realtor. No dice. Everything we were interested in was truthfully either two high, had a contract already, or was too small (my mother called one place, which was our last-ditch back-up, "the doll house"). On Mon. June 28 (next to last day), approx. 3:30 PM, we went on Craigslist to see some other options and I just happened to be the one who saw the posting for the house we have now. It had been posted on Sat. June 26, the day we got there. We were able to get a 6:15 showing (squeezed in after a 6:00). The guy who looked at the house right before us came out after about 5 minutes, which was pretty encouraging....and left. (Turns out there's a 2-pet limit and he had 2 dogs and 2 cats. We have one of each. How convenient!).

So we went in, trying to act all non-chalant and detached (even though we had "cased the joint" an hour earlier to see if it was worth keeping the appointment). After we walked through, the only question was "how do we seal the deal?" .... which we did by signing the contract immediately after following the realtor to her house for the paperwork. Put down deposit, etc and signed the lease the next morning.

As an aside, for those wondering how soon theyd like to come visit, I want to point out that the drive to the beach is estimated at less than five minutes...not mention that the grocery store and Target are across the road (literally) from the entrance to our development. Honestly, if this place had 4 bedrooms and a den, I would consider trying to buy....but that's another chapter....

~T