God is so Good

Today was a day of tremendous blessings. 

Way to finish Major Honors, Brad!

It was a last day for many things. Last class? Check. Last problem set? Check. Last paper? Check. Last chapel? Check. Last day of being homeless post-May 9th? Check.

Oh yes, my friends, we are official renters in Santa Barbara - and I have a lease that says I will be for the next year. How did this happen? Well, let me give you a little background on the adventure we have titled "we need somewhere to live."

 It all started in early March when one evening, after spending far too much time working (probably on major honors), Michelle and I decided to go on craigslist to check out the rental market in the area. What was meant to be a short study break turned into two+ hours of excitement and too many tabs open on my computer. 

Fast forward a month.

We realized near the beginning of April that it was somewhat pointless to be looking at rentals at that time because they all were asking for people to move in then, but we had already paid rent here for the month of April.

Fast forward to three weeks ago.

Finished with major honors, Michelle offered to take over the housing search that we had just minimally started, since I had to basically devote my week to completing my paper. Now, those of you who know Michelle know what a passionate person she is - and this is one of the many things I love about her, but it can make it a little bit harder for her, say when she falls in love with a house, only to discover we can't get it. Keeping this is mind (and the fact that she had massive amounts of homework) Charlotte and I became in charge of the housing adventure.

Fast forward to two weeks ago.

It can be rather difficult to try to find a place to live with someone if you never actually see that someone. Charlotte has been working quite a bit and is only home some in the afternoon, which is when I'm at work, so we kept missing each other. So I decided to make a google spreadsheet to keep track of the places we called/looked at (and I just love spreadsheets). Calling, emailing, looking at places pretty much took up that week. Then it was Easter.

Fast forward to this past Monday.

I came back from Easter with the family and had a meeting with a real estate agent to look at an apartment. An hour and two apartments later I returned to the house quite dejected realizing just how little time we had to find a place and how under-qualified we were in regards to actually getting one. So, I may have vented some frustrations to Sarah. Her response?

I wish you guys could find a place with people you knew like we did. It's so nice renting from people who know Westmont students and are ok with them.

Yeah, that'd be nice. Too bad we don't know anyone moving.

Oh, wait. I do know someone moving! I should email them because I know they're leaving their house.

Really? But I'm sure they've rented the place already.

Maybe, but you never know. It couldn't hurt. I'll just email them.

Well, I should have had more faith. The next morning Sarah forwarded her friend's (oddly enough I actually knew them too - ok, it is Westmont. I guess it's not that weird) response to me in which her friend said that they were moving and that the place was not rented, so she'd emailed her landlord about us. Then her landlord emailed me and said that if we wanted to see the place, he'd love to show it to us. So, I called him and seven hours later we were at the house.

And let me tell you, this place is fantastic. Not only is it super cute, yellow, cheery, bright, airy (any other cliche adjective you want to throw in there would probably fit), but the landlord completely understands our situation (i.e. we're recent grads - almost - looking for work and a place to live; trying to make it in the real world and we no, don't make 3x the amount of the rent, but that doesn't mean we won't pay every month). We filled out an application on the spot. When we turned it in, he said he would rather rent it to us than the other couple who had applied for it, but needed to check everything out, so he'd let us know the next day.

Today.

Just before lunch Charlotte texted me with the good news - we had a place to live! So much relief, I can't even tell you. It felt like a very large weight was lifted off our shoulders. Even when we lack faith, God always comes through, and often in ways you'd never imagine.

I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful place to live and such tremendous ladies to share it with.