A Wish List of Sorts

When we moved to Ohio, we knew we were looking for more temporary than long-term housing.  Matt needed to find a place for us to live in a price range that would not quickly deplete our savings if the house in FL stayed on the market for awhile.  It was not the time to be particularly picky.  It meets our basic needs?  Great, lease it!  And that's what he did with God's provision.  We are currently in a 2 bedroom townhouse.  It meets ALL our needs.  We and Asa each even have oversized bedrooms--ours is big enough that 1/3 of it is crafting/sewing space for me!  There is a full basement, 1/2 is finished as our guest bedroom and 1/2 is the laundry room with TONS of extra space storing the boxes of things we didn't have room for now that we lost a bit of living space, a garage, an attic, etc.  We are SO thankful for the way God provided for our needs. 

We also developed a kind of "renter's wishlist" the longer we lived here.  As in, "When our lease is up and we're looking to rent elsewhere, what kinds of things do we miss from the FL house?  What features would we like to have/have again?"  I felt very convicted that instead of worrying about where we'd end up, we needed to make a "wishlist" and prayerfully submit it to God.  One weekend we sat down and wrote down our wishlist.

Beginning March 1, we are renting a different home!  It's actually the first rental we looked at, but it meets our needs and soooo many of our wishlist items.  We couldn't pass up trying to rent it, and God opened the door for us. We are excited to have a dedicated guest room and rooms for both Asa and Anna Reaghan.  We'll have a yard for Sammy (and Asa) to play in!  We'll have a garage again, which will certainly be nice next winter and on grocery shopping days.  Laundry is on the main floor of the house--no more lugging clothes from the top floor down 2 flights of stairs to the basement and back 2 up flights of stairs.  Woo hoo!

I thought I'd share our wishlist and how God met these desires.  When we made the list, we trusted and prayed that God would either blow us away by providing a home with these features OR showing us He knows even better than we do.  We were amazed when we went down our list and compared it to this home:

• single family house, Matt preferred a house built in 2000 or newer
• it was built in 2003!
• 3-4 bedrooms
• 4 bedrooms!
• basement (partially or all finished)
• the basement is the full size of the house and 1/2 finished!
• 2 car garage with room for tool chest and double wide driveway
• it's actually a 3 car garage--plenty of room for that tool chest ;)
• 2 full baths minimum
• 2.5 baths
• prefer not laundry in the basement unless home is 1 story
• 2 story home with laundry on main floor
• non-smoked in
• check!
• separate living room and family room
• this home has only a living room, but the 1/2 finished basement and loft upstairs will be great additional play spaces for our family and friends
• separate dining room
• check!  With a beautiful bay window!
• eat in kitchen we can really eat in/space for Sammy
• there is just enough room for a table in the kitchen, and the laundry/mud room has room for Sammy's crate
• decent appliances, kitchen storage space
• the appliances are new from when the house was built.  The kitchen space isn't huge, but it will do.
• fenced backyard--no neighboring dogs
• not fenced, but plenty big for Sammy to be out on a stake.  In fact, the landlord had the same set up for his dog
• kid friendly neighborhood
• we are close to the Y, a park, and we have seen signs of kids in other yards :)
• pets allowed
• check!
• we set a price limit
• it's a couple hundred below our budget AND they landlord knocks $50 off each month when you pay on time :)
• back patio or porch
• nice back patio with room for our table + chairs and the grill
• decent utilities
• landlord's bills seem in line with friends'
• prefer location close to what we know
• we're in about the same area, just the other side of the interstate.  I can shop the same places, use the same doctors easily, get to church easily, etc.
• doable commute for Matt
• it's 2 minutes longer than where we live now
• good landlords
• he seems very reasonable
• our furniture would fit
• looks good :)
• we had a sq. footage minimum hope
• it's just over what we were looking for
• pantry
• no pantry, but we'll put shelves in the mud room across from the kitchen to store canned and dry goods
• good closet space
• every bedroom has a large walk in closet!!!  Unfinished basement + extra garage + storage shed in backyard!
• decent yard with some trees
• check!
• good neighbors, neighborhood (quiet, safe)
• seems very quiet and safe
• craft space
• we plan to put my sewing machine in the guest room.  But if we had long term guests, I could always put it in the finished basement
• allowed to paint
• we'd like to have an accent wall in each of the kids' rooms.  We're going to ask about it after we've moved in and shown ourselves to be good tenants. :)
• our washer/dryer work with the space/hook ups
• check!
• SUPER DUPER WISHLIST ITEMS (super spoiled things we miss about FL)
• primo fridge (freezer bottom)
• nope, but it IS a side by side with ice/water through the door.  A HUGE improvement from the 30+ year old fridge that freezes things we currently have
• glass top stove
• nope, but it IS a gas stove!  Yea for cooking even if the electricity goes out!
• deep & double sink
• I think it's normal depth, not extra deep like in FL.  But it IS a double sink.
• kitchen sink sprayer
• I have missed this so much for spraying off dishes and for washing my hair for a quick rinse.  This kitchen sink has a sprayer!

How amazing is that?!!?