First off, let me state that I know how (selfish, self-centered, ungrateful, spoiled and anything else negative that comes to mind) this story makes me sound. But it’s true. I’m only human, but I am trying to work on it! And plus, this is part of mine and Aaron’s journey in life so I just wanted to share a part of the roller coaster ride we’ve been on since being in Oklahoma
FLASHBACK TO YESTERDAY
JANUARY 2012-
Our lease is coming to an end in July and maintenance has been so bad that 3 months after signing our 1 year lease we started looking into other housing options in order to get out as soon as our lease was up.
We started to go to different rental companies to get a feel for what our options were once we were able to move. Our adventures went a little like this…
Aaron walks into a realtor’s office, gets a list of homes, comes back to the car and we both go over it. WE end up marking half of the listings off the list as “no go’s” because they’re not in our prices range. We find a few houses, Aaron checks out the keys, we log the address into the GPS and start out on our journey.
We’ve already seen the first 3 houses in our price range. They were run down and in unsafe neighborhoods where we almost didn’t get out of the car to look at the inside for our own safety. So here we are, driving to the last house of the day. The houses start out decent in a nice neighborhood and then the GPS says “Turn Right”. In a matter of seconds the neighborhood takes a turn for the worst! We passed by cars that looked like they were striped of parts, houses and cars with their windows smashed in and missing. Some houses were stripped of paint and shingles…everything!
As we continue towards the house I start sliding down, shrinking into the passenger seat wanting to cry, but yet too afraid we’ll get shot just for driving by some of these houses that all I can do is hold my breath as we pass. Aaron and I decide not to get out, it’s not even worth looking at the inside because neither of us would feel safe living in this area. Our hopes get pretty low..
As we head away from the bad neighborhood and back to the land of the living to grab some lunch, Aaron's phone rings. He asks me to answer it since he’s driving…
“Hello?” I answered.
“Hi, I’m looking for Mr. or Mrs. Henry?”
“I’m Mrs. Henry.”
“Mrs. Henry, I’m with Fort Sill Housing Authority. You’re number one on the housing list and I’m calling to offer you a house on post.”
**SHOCK, DISBELIEF, RELIEF…All rush over me at once**
“Really?!” I skeptically, yet excitedly asked.
“Yes ma’am, we currently have a house available for you and would like to set up a time for you to view it.”
God’s surprise blessing!!
Just when I was discouraged beyond belief at the only houses in our price range, because of the low Basic Housing Allowance Fort Sill has, we reached the top of the on-post Wait List! Talk about answered prayers!!
Sadly, we had to decline due to our lease. However, we would still be #1 at the top of the list, they would just pass us up until our lease came up. We were told they would call back at the end of May. Praise God! Our disappointing house search was over and we were excited that we would finally be able to live on post.
FAST FORWARD TO JUNE:
We got called back about housing and set up an appointment for June 6th to see the
house. They said it would be a 3 bedroom 2 bath and I was very excited! I, of course, was hoping for the newer modeled, upstairs neighborhoods, but Aaron told me not to get my hopes up. I still did though because I had been praying for our on-post house, for when we moved to Oklahoma, even before I left to go meet Aaron in New York in 2010.
June 6th.
We arrive at the housing office. This young guy, very nicely dressed and talking on the phone, waved us to have a seat. The office was very nice and had a friendly environment. We were offered cookies, coffee and fresh lemonade. We both politely declined. We were really anxious to know what house we were going to be offered.
The guy had someone cover the front so he could take us to the house. He drove a really nice, grey, new-looking sports car. We followed him for what seemed like FOREVER, since the speed limit was only 15, and it was at least a 10 minute drive away from the housing office. He turned into the nice E6-E8 housing that they just started building. When we turned our cars onto a fresh, smooth, tar road, leading us through the newly built, two story homes with bright beautiful colors. One beautiful, big house after another slowly passed by. We grew more anxious by the second!
Then, just like our house searches in Lawton, the black smooth, tar road STOPPED!
We began a bumpy journey to another neighborhood. Our neighborhood. Waaay past the newly built E6-E8 housing. As we bumped and slowed, to miss huge pot holes, my heart started to sink. Every time that grey sports car started to slow (usually just to miss another pot hole), I cringed as I saw the neighborhood we were heading towards.
I saw these ancient-looking, tiny, old houses with chipped paint, or faded paint…in major need of a new coat of paint. These houses, built back in the 50s, were part of the neighborhood we were being offered. Then the newly looking, grey sports car pulled into the driveway. It was looking very out of place in this neighborhood of “old”.
The out of place sports car pulls into the driveway of a “puke green” colored house (or so that was my initial impression of the color). I almost cried right then and there. We walk inside and everything seemed to shrink! We were looking at a 3 bedroom, 1 bath house that only by some act of God had managed to keep standing this long!
Needless to say with my high hopes, the only positives I could see out of this house were: 1. The tub was clean; 2. The stove was newer than our last; 3. There was a carport; 4. The fridge was so much more spacious than our last, and 5. There was carpet.
We walked through the house and the first thought I had was “We have way too much stuff, it’s not all going to fit!”
The first two bedrooms were tiny. When I walked into the “master bedroom,” I was so overwhelmed. Tears welled up in my eyes, threatening to pour on through. Aaron and I couldn’t see any way that our bedroom suite would fit in there. We could barely imagine our queen size bed fitting, let alone the dresser. The nicely dressed, sports car driving, housing guy suggested we could make one room into our “changing room.” We could put the dresser in one room along with all our clothes (since the “master” bedroom closet looked too tiny to hold but a couple of shirts).
I’m sure the guy saw the disappointment on my face. When he noticed Aaron’s Sargent rank he made a remark about it being strange we were assigned this house because “these older houses are usually for the fresh out of basic or first duty station, lower ranking soldiers.” After saying that, he then suggested we talk to housing to see if they could do anything for us.
We attempted to talk to someone at housing but they said that what we saw was the only one available. We mentioned that we had initially been told we would be getting a 3 bedroom, 2 bath house, but they still insisted there was nothing they could do- even at the exact time, a lady one cubicle over was calling another wait list person letting them know there was a house available for them. (“There’s nothing else available” mmmmhmmm…). Our only option would be if we declined the house and wait again for another house to open up, which would put us back on the waiting list but that didn’t guarantee us anything by August.
We had 24 hours to accept or decline. The clock was NOT my friend! I needed time to think and pray about it and I only had a day to decide…Well, we all know, God doesn’t work on our timeline….
Aaron had to go back to work that afternoon so we weren’t able to talk things out until he got home. We went back and forth with pros and cons. I admit I shed more than a few tears over our situation. After going over everything over and over again, Aaron was falling asleep and states “we should just take it”, and not two seconds later he was sound asleep. (HA!)
Needless to say, with so much on my mind, I couldn’t sleep. I spend the whole night up, until 4 a.m. researching good storage ideas and different ways to make rooms look more spacious, painting ideas…anything to give me a way to turn this house that was offered to us into something bearable for me to come home every day.
The next morning we went back to see it once more, and there were bunnies in our front yard. What a sweet surprise! We ended up telling the nicely dressed housing guy that we would accept it, and began the hour and half process of signing the lease and going over the rules and such. After that we went to transportation and set up a date for them to come pack and move us to our new house. (I’m very thankful the Army paid for that!)
ARRIVE AT TODAY:
The movers came and went and boxes filled our on-post house. The day after everything was moved in, I got all the important things unpacked such as the living room stuff and the kitchen stuff so that by our 2nd night we were able to have a home-cooked meal and watch a movie.
(pic of me getting ready to start unpacking boxes)
(Got the whole kitchen unpacked and organized (day 1) and was able to have a home cooked meal)
I wasn’t happy about our house and the fact that (as Aaron says) “[He’s] a Sergeant living in a Private’s house”, I had expected a better house due to his rank and the fact he deserves better. He’s deployed before and I think he’s earned a nice house. HOWEVER, in all honesty, I am so thankful to have a roof over our heads and now that we’re moved in I actually LOVE this house. Home is where the heart is, and as long as Aaron is by my side, I’m happy.
A surprise blessing is that we were able to arrange our furniture to fit all in our room, the bed and the dresser!! (God’s little blessings, just when you need it!!)
I’m thankful for the soft carpet, after a year of hard wood floors my feet sure are happier! It is the perfect house for us and I now have to eat all my negative comments about it.
God really showed me a lesson in this whole roller coaster ride of housing dilemmas. He showed me how materialistic I’ve become. Like a slap in the face I realized it and very quickly have tried to change that attitude. I kept pointing out all the bad, all the while, my other half would try and give me 2 positives for every negative. Thank goodness I married “Mr. Positive”!
With that slap in the face, God showed me my answered prayer…The prayer I prayed back in 2010 before going to New York, the prayer I prayed in New York all the way up till we moved, the prayer I prayed in New York all the way up till we moved to Oklahoma, up till the day we signed the lease on this on-post house. He answered my prayer for a good home that Aaron and I could find. And, ironically, we have a green house. My favorite color is green, I can’t help but laugh at God’s sense of humor. It may not be the house I dreamed of, but it’s the house God wants us in for whatever reason . And he even provided the one in my favorite color (I no longer think it looks puke green ha-ha). I’m now ready to let go of my materialistic attitude and enjoy what I have, with the man I love by my side!
I read in a devotion something that helped change my attitude and help me see the light…
Jeremiah 29:5-7
Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters;…Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.
Through this verse, I see that the Lord had spoken through a prophet and told the people to live as through their situation is permanent, not temporary.
When we were discussing taking the house on post or not, I remember saying “As long as it’s just temporary!” But now, this is my new goal…To settle in for the long haul in this perfect house God has provided for me and Aaron. We are so blessed that God provided a house for us (and I am thankful and do feel blessed that the Army provides housing for us). I know God has a plan and reason he wants us living in this exact house and I’m looking forward to unraveling the details of that plan.
P.S. Have i mentioned how much i LOVE THIS HOUSE?! :)
