23 January 2013

The House

We signed for a house...
Did I just say that? I don't feel old enough to sign for a house.

Here in Durham we live in college accommodation in our first year, live in a student house for our second year and then get to choose in third year. 

I was either naive or optimistic that finding a house in Durham would be easy. I am going with the fact that I was optimistic! We knew there were a lot of students and a lot of houses. We were assured there were more houses than people, that we would know when it was right.


If I am honest all the above are true. There are enough houses to go around, please don't ever think I was destined to live in a cardboard box! What we hadn't counted on was how quickly everything moved.

A week ago we started looking. We hadn't counted on every other group in Durham looking too. We came out of one viewing to find two groups waiting to look around after us. We got to one house and found that the contract had already been given and the group were ready to sign.


It was such a strange environment to look around in. We tried searching online but the sites couldn't keep up to date with which houses had been taken. We went back to basics, wrapping up warm, donning the wellies and walking around the big student housing area. It felt like an adventure, walking along the streets looking for the signs in the windows, phoning the landlords and crossing our fingers that the house wasn't taken.

Sometimes it was hard, Sometimes it was disheartening and sometimes it was funny. We trusted that we would find a place to live, but sometimes holding onto that after ringing the tenth landlord is tough.

Towards the end of the week God threw a curve ball in our direction and our house situation changed. His plan was ultimately greater than ours had been.

Two hours after the change in plan we found a house. It was sweet and cosy with a nice lounge area and decent sized bedrooms. It was cheaper than any others we had found and best of all it was available!

I am still in awe of how quickly the situation spun around, how events moved, how we found a house we all liked and how God worked in it all.

Last night we put pen to paper and signed. Our house. For a year. Doesn't that sound grow up!

13 comments:

Maria Ontiveros said...

Putting your trust in your faith never fails!
Congratulations.
Rinda

Ruth said...

And what a house it will be! You'll never forget it. How many of you are sharing? I also meant to ask which college you're at, as The Brainy One was at St Hild Bede many moons ago.

humel said...

That's super news, Abi - an answer to prayer indeed :)

scrappyjacky said...

Great news,Abi....and it certainly does sound grown up......I'm sure you'll love it and many memories will be made there!!

Abi said...

Hi Ruth, I am in St John's. On the Bailey!

K said...

Oooooooooo, how exciting! Bet you cant wait to get your stuff in & make it a bit more your own.

Sian said...

Oh, brilliant! You'll have a fantastic time living out. The friends I made when I shared a student house are still great friends now - and you can tell how long ago I've known them when I tell you that the first of the next generation started university this year. Here's to lots of new house memories

Sinead said...

Yay fantastic news Abi! I lived in student accommodation (apartments) for the majority of my time at uni but did live in a house with two other girls in my final year and it was a brilliant experience - definitely a grown-up feeling:D Enjoy it! xxx

Karen said...

What fun it will be! We had to live in student housing until we were seniors, but I lived in it all four years. Must admit, however, my senior year we were in super wonderful housing!

debs14 said...

Well done! Now you can relax! My two children were polar opposites when house hunting, daughter went for a brand new 4 bedroomed flat to live in with 3 friends and son went for the most basic accommodation he could find! For his last year he shared a 7 bedroomed flat on the first floor of an ENORMOUS 21 bedroomed Victorian house.

Sinead said...

I DID IT!!!!! I finally took the plunge and made a blog :D Kinda scared and I have no clue what I'm doing but I did it anyway :D Would love to know what you think, and thanks for the encouragement xxx

Lorraine said...

Congrats Abi

Missus Wookie said...

Congratulations on signing - hope you have a wonderful time there and that lounge continues to be cozy :)