An Update to My Previous Update

Wow!  You guys.... Thanks so much for the prayers!  This week has been such a roller coaster, but the Lord has certainly proven Himself faithful!

This morning, I asked you to pray for us today as we headed out with our broker in search of an apartment.  I also whined about a fantastic condo that we didn't get.  Well, we never made that meeting with our broker, and we didn't see a single apartment today.  Twenty-two minutes after I posted that first blog, our broker called....

Let me try to explain a little more about how the whole process works:  As I mentioned in the last post, a condo is different than a typical apartment building in that each condo is owned by an individual who either lives in the condo himself or leases it to tenants.  The condo building as a whole is managed by a condo board.

So in our particular situation, there are three parties involved:
-the owners (a married couple) and their agent (a real estate broker)
-the condo board (people who own condos in that building and live there) and their agent (a management company)
-us and our agent, Sarah

And the here's how the process typically goes:
-An owner decides to lease their condo
-The owner hires a broker to list and show the condo to prospective tenants
-The prospective tenants fill out an application and are approved by the owner
-The prospective tenants and owner jointly file a lease proposal to the management company for the condo board's approval
-The condo board approves the tenants

In God's sovereignty, someone made a mistake in the process and our paperwork ended up with the management company and condo board before the owners approved us.  This turned out to be fantastic for us!

In spite of all the paperwork, reference letters, pay stubs, tax returns, bank statements, and credit reports, the owners declined to approve our application.  Thankfully, the condo board and management company had seen our paperwork.  They got wind that the owners had denied us and called them to strongly suggest that wasn't a wise decision.  We're told that a representative from the management company informed the owners that we would be residents in that building one way or another, and if that owner didn't want to lease to us they could find another owner who did!

Also, on the day we first saw the condo (a week ago today), we just so happened to see a woman about my age coming out of the building pushing a double stroller with twin boys.  I stopped and chatted with her about the building, neighborhood, what she thought of it all.  We didn't know it at the time, but she is on the condo board!  So when she saw our application and heard we weren't approved, she went to bat for us, telling the owners that they really should reconsider us.

We've been waiting and praying all day.  We just received official word from our broker that the owners have decided to approve us!  We meet next week to sign the lease, and will hopefully be moved in sometime next week!  Thank you all for the prayers, texts, and comments!  We are so grateful for this good gift from our Father.  Great is Thy Faithfulness, O Lord, to us!