Moving...

Many of you are already aware, but I thought I'd share with the others, that we are moving- but only a couple of streets over from where we live right now. Our potential new home is above. We are still in negotiation, but everything is looking pretty good. Why you ask? Good question. We're buying the house together with our good friends Tom and Cassie. All four of us will share in the ownership of the home. We'll split all of the regular homeowner costs and we'll all be on the title. We've all made an agreement that neither couple will vacate the home or stop paying mortgage payments until it resells or until the other couple refinances it in their names only if one couple decides they want to stay longer than the other. As it is though, we're all committed to being here for at least 2 more years. It quickly turned from a "ahh wouldn't it be great" conversation to reality as we researched the idea and pieces of the puzzle kept falling miraculously into place. Our current home sold before we even put a For Sale sign in the yard; anyone who has tried to sell a house lately knows how miraculous that is. Then, after some explaining and re-explaining, we got approved for some really good financing- another miracle since only 2 of the 4 of us have full time jobs and even those two jobs don't pay a whole lot. Not to mention the fact that we found a 2,900 square foot house in Wilmore that is in our price range to begin with. It just seems that God has gone before us at every step of this process.

We didn't enter this decision without much discussion, and financial aspects aside, the primary reasons for living together are as much spiritual as they are financial. We all have a desire to live simply, in community with others. We want to provide housing for international students or others in need with some of the extra space that will be in this home. If we all live on the same amount of space we are currently used to, there is still space left over to minister to others. We all recognize the growth that occurs when you live as a part of an accountable community. You learn to share, to give of what you have, to be more self-less, to appreciate the gifts and talents of all kinds of different people.

As the authors of the book Simple Living put it, "While many Americans remain attached to traditional standards of material progress, others are examining their values, their priorities, their lifelong goals, and are choosing to measure gain not by what they have, but by who they are, by how they live." OR, as my friend Cassie put it yesterday, "It's like buying in bulk."

We are so very excited! Certainly there are going to be minor conflicts as we all learn to live together, but we're all committed to making it work, we all believe that the personal benefits will outweigh the difficulties in the end. So, that's our adventure! Moving date will probably be May 1st, so if you're free that weekend and in KY, let us know! And, Olivia, can you believe our new address will be 102 Olivia Court? Crazy huh.