Hunting for a House

Our rental has been a gift in many ways, but the mold has gotten me down.  It's a strange thing to feel depressed every morning, go outside and feel encouraged (because the air is not tainted), then go back inside and be depressed again. Environmental illness is real. Our lease is up soon, and we need to go somewhere else.  Somewhere with clean air, not in a river valley, and preferably with sheep nearby, grazing calmly.  Glossop seems the right place for more reasons than the landscape.

We've seen seven houses. Every house we've toured has seemed SMALLER than I thought it would be.  Yet we have to make a decision.  I've been worried that we could make the wrong decision and be stuck with a house with a myriad of problems.

Some of the houses we saw seemed perfect on the inside, but cars whizzed past at high speed on the road outside. Sometimes the location was perfect, but the house needed work.  Mat and I have learned that having a demanding full-time job and trying to fix up a house with four small children living in it all the time is not best for us in this stage of life.

Once I realized this was a hunt, and not just a choice between one house or another, my attitude changed, and I've found it's not as scary as I had made it out to be in my mind.

We've learned about our needs, what we really love and what we really hate.

We've learned that no matter how big the space, you still need to heat it, so having a large conservatory with a ceiling with double glazing windows is not practical.

We've also learned that just because a house seems priced right, doesn't mean it is.  People exaggerate, brag, and even lie to you to get you to buy their house for more than it's worth.

I've been learning about my desires for a pet-free, mold-free house with space and newness, and how I had assumed that denying them just for the sake of humility isn't wise.  

Questions such as, "If this is the house we are meant to have, will I accept that it's not exactly what I was hoping for?" or even more surprising, "What if the house we are supposed to get is MORE than I dared hope?" have me realizing there might be more to this hunt than just finding a place to live.

We keep walking and trusting, and we see our kids happy with simple things. They are excited when I am excited. They follow my lead when I start to voice or show my fears.

Having a bit of grass big enough to host a trampoline is their dream right now.