A Tale of a Hand-Picked Home

So we left off the adoption story with God saying that He wanted me to adopt and promised He would be with me.

The next few weeks was a flurry of telling my boss what was up, talking to our district leadership and our church leadership. I told the story a dozen times.

What was amazing, is that none of my fears were realized in all these conversations. Cade, my boss, said that he thinks it is great to have a Spiritual Formation Pastor that is a single mom. We would be able to connect with a community of people, single moms, in a whole new way. My district superintendant said that if I didn’t follow through with adoption, he would take my license away, because it is so evident that God is in this. I was also supported by our church leadership. I was getting green lights all the way.

In the middle of all these conversations, I was doing research to see what my first steps in this whole process. I found that one of the first things necessary for adoption was going through a home study. A home study is a huge application (took 20 hours complete) submitted to a licensed agency that sends a writer to interview and check out my living space to see if I am qualified to be a mother and if I have an environment suitable to raise a child. There are stipulations for both areas. In doing some research one of the qualifiers for living space is that the child needs to have their own living space. In my situation, this means I would need to move from my studio apartment to a 2 bedroom place.

I knew I couldn’t even apply for a home study until I had the address to a place that qualified. I had my work cut out for me, as apartments are expensive in Ketchikan. That is part of the reason why I lived in a studio. My rent for a 600 sf. studio was more than my mortgage on a 1500 sf. ranch home I owned in Oregon. I knew that it would be difficult to find a place that I could afford that would meet the criteria. A two bedroom in Ketchikan is anywhere from $1200-$1600 a month. That is way more than I can afford, especially when I need to save money each month for an adoption that is going cost around $30,000.

I started to freak out. But God said He would be with me, so I decided to make my need known…and then some. It was a Tuesday morning, my day off and I decided to pray. I asked God to provide a 2 bedroom apartment for $1000 a month including tax and utilities. I knew it would be difficult to find a place for that price so I had better start praying. However, I didn’t stop there.

I proceeded to ask for a place in downtown Ketchikan so I would be able to be close to my friends. I also wanted a place that would accept pets, because I did not want to part with my buddy Myron – a 75 pound black lab. And while I am asking, could I please have on site laundry, a dishwasher and a walk in closet? Continuing to indulge myself I asked for laminate or hardwood floors because carpets in rentals creep me out. I would also like a great view – please - after all I live in a beautiful place so it would be nice to enjoy it. Oh, and one last thing – I want a place that will let me paint. I really don’t like white and I love to paint!!

Six hours later I was checking Sitnews, a local online posting site, and I saw a listing for a 2 bedroom, downtown with a phone number listed. I decided to call because there are not very many rentals for downtown ever listed. I call and the guy answered. He said he could meet me at the apartment in 15 minutes. I stutter a bit because I wasn’t really prepared to sign my life away to a new place. I really didn’t want to move yet. But I thought to myself “don’t worry, like this would be the place. Just check it out to get your feet wet in the whole search process.”

So I agreed to meet him there. He gave me the address and before I hung up the phone I asked if they accepted pets. He said no, but then asked what I have and thought maybe it could work if it was a small dog. I told him with a chuckle that it is a 75 pound black lab. He paused for a moment then shocked me by saying – “we could probably make that work!”

Really? No place in town takes pets let alone a big dog!

I pulled my shoes on and walked from my place to the address he gave me and was delighted to find that it was less than a 3 minute walk from my current place and only 2 blocks away! And the view! A straight look at Deer Mountain, Ketchikan Creek, downtown and a little bit of a water view.

Interesting. So far so good.

The gentleman arrived and we walked up the steps to the second floor entrance. As soon as I walk in, there sat a washer and dryer. In the kitchen – a dishwasher! And as I make my way through the apartment on all laminate floors, I get to the master bedroom and, you guessed it, a WALK-IN CLOSET! I am completely flabbergasted – 7 for 9!

I met the gentleman back in the living room, still a bit shocked that it has all these things and proceed to ask if they let tenants paint, to which he replied with a flat “no.” I said, “OK, I understand.” Then he paused, looked at me and said, “You look like you would be a good painter (as if looking at someone determines how well they pain?!?) sure, you can paint!

Again, flabbergasted.

So I venture to ask my last and most important question – how much?

“$1000.”

I probe further, trying not to get my hopes up – “does that included tax and utilities?”

He replies with a chuckle – “no.”

Bummer. That would bring the total bill somewhere between $1300-$1400. No deal. Absolutely can’t afford that. But I don’t tell him that. I just said thanks for showing the place to me and I will be in touch. Thinking to myself “Good try, God. 8 for 9. A good first effort! Way to boost my faith.”

But God wasn’t done.

I made small talk with the gentleman for a bit longer and then he asked me the sudden death question – what do you do for a living. I pause thinking, do I really tell him? Before I had the chance to wonder further, I blurted out – “I’m a pastor.”

“Really?”

Here we go, I thought waiting for the myriad of responses I get to what it is that I do. Here it comes…

“That’s awesome!”

My turn – Really? That is not the response I ever get. I looked at him quizzically as he proceeds.

“That’s great! My wife and I go to the Lutheran church and we just love people who work in ministry. We have always said that we want to support them in any way that we can. How about this: you name your rent. You tell us what you can afford and we’ll make a deal.”

WHAT?!?!?!!!

I’m sure my mouth was gaping. I was dumbfounded.

I felt that flutter in my spirit – “See, I said I would be with you.”

Unbelievable.

A few weeks later after doing some research finding out what utilities and tax would cost – I told him what I could pay to bring the rent right around $1000. He said that would be just fine and we signed papers. I started picking paint colors and all the while my head was spinning about the direction my life was quickly going.

Here are some pics of the new place

I am on the top floor


The VIEW!!




The Living room - come for a visit!


And a wintery view





So I have a place. Now I need to figure out where and when this child is coming…