The search is over!!

Praise the Lord!!   Finally, after continuously praying for God to close the wrong doors and open the right ones, yesterday we found the right door!  We signed the lease on an apartment yesterday!!

Over the past few months, we have looked online/or in person at about 30 houses.    We've sent our information out to so many people, it makes me jittery thinking about identity theft!   We've dealt with numerous realtors, toured countless houses, been beaten to the punch by other eager home-seekers.    Doors shut.    Smiled at the homeowners who were home during our tour.  Warned the kids about touching people's furniture too many times to count, and dodged curious cats wondering who was in their house.  We even had someone ask for a pint of blood before signing the lease.  (Ok, just kidding about that one!)    

So we begged asked Nana to watch the kiddos and we took off to go try once again to find a new home!   Our first stop yesterday was actually an apartment complex that wasn't at the "top of my list."   But, they were the only ones who emailed me back, responding to my interest in one of their apartment floorplans.
When we showed up, we both really liked what we saw.   There is a great pool, and it's only 3'6" deep.  That's wonderful news to me, because I DON'T SWIM.    But, I can WALK in that much water!    While my kids love to play in the pool, I was having nightmares about being able to keep up with all of them in an Olympic size pool.    God answered that prayer with a smaller, manageable size pool for us to enjoy.   

Next, we went to go see the apartment.   It just so happened to be the only 3 BD/2BA, ground level, with a sunroom that would be available within our moving date time-frame!   All of our criteria, met in one place.  Hmmm, coincidence?  

We took their application and said we'd have to go look at the others on our list as well, but we both had a really good feeling about it.   The next few places either had no 3 bedrooms available, or they weren't open, or they were rude, etc.   We actually never set foot inside another apartment....   Finally, the one house we went to see that afternoon was, in a word, horrible.  While the square footage was certainly big enough, the postage stamp yard was on a very busy highway, and the house was directly under the flight path for George W. Bush Intercontinental Airport.   Can you say LOUD?   

The absolute deal-breaker was the current tenant status.  (They were home by the way.  We smiled politely.)   Liquor bottles filled a dining room table.   A loud, obscene video game was being played.  Upstairs, another mini-fridge and more liquor bottles.   Trash, huge carpet stains, incense burning in an empty room upstairs....  Lots of negatives for me.  We walked outside with the realtor, who seemed kind of embarrassed for his homeowner and discussed what we thought.     It was a resounding NO.   Later, Hubby & I both agreed that we felt the Holy Spirit telling us we would be doing a lot of casting "things" out if we were to move into this home, and that we should completely avoid it.   

So, back to the first apartment complex it was!  When we got there, the (very pregnant) leasing agent was super nice.  When I walked in with Baby Z, she smiled and asked how old he was.  Then exclaimed, "Oh that's right, you guys have the 4 children!  My husband and I would love to have a big family!  I told him I wish we could be as big as the Duggars!"    (Um, what?   You don't think my family is a strain on the environment, you aren't making condescending remarks??)

Encouraged, we filled out all the paperwork, and within literally FIVE MINUTES, she asked, "Ok, so when do you want to move in?"     Finally.  Open Door.    She then proceeded to waive administrative fees, cut our garage fee in half, etc. etc.   We were in a little bit of shock!  It's going to cost less to get into this place than ALL of the other homes we checked out.    Wow.  

I'll keep you posted as we get ready to go!   We've got ONE MONTH LEFT.    (Anyone who helps me pack or comes to load up the moving truck can count on some PIZZA or some sort of bribe free meal!)