The Cupp Crew: November 2009

The dirt Road

Driving up into the land off of the road

This is from the land facing southwest over the road

This is on top of the hill facing due south

On top of the hill facing east

facing due south..you can kind of tell the valley below of pastureland that it overlooks...

Pasture land to the southeast down in the valley.

The boys having thier snack in the back of Mr.Mervyn. "Rosco" the dog thinking about joining them :)

Yes, I know it has been waaaaay too long since I have blogged but we have been hanging on tight to this abundant life and most amazing ride that God is taking us on here lately!! I am unsure as to where to begin and at the same time know that I should probably be choosing to fold the mountain of clean laundry that has overtaken my bed however I just wanted to share with you a little taste of God's goodness and what He is up to in our lives!! Amazing....simply amazing. Truly what an awesome God we serve! So we went during OSU Homecoming and stayed in Cushing, OK (our soon to be home!) friday night in late October. On Saturday morning we went with a realtor there to preview some homes to see what the market was like and what kind of homes were for sale in this small community. It was an interesting day. We found two homes that were really nice and pretty big but they both only had three bedrooms. Dustin and I both just thought okay, Lord whatever you have in store is fine. We can fit into anything that you provide for us and make do. The following week we began to seek the Lord earnestly as to when was the right time to sell our current home. I had been feeling like maybe the Lord was leading us to do that the week before. To go ahead and put it on the market and if it sold and we needed to move to a temporary place before Cushing then God would provide for that as well. I told Dustin (of course it was the craziest of weeks (work wise) and it was the week our sweet golden retriever Eddie died) that I really felt like the Lord was confirming to me that we needed to put our home on the market. For some reason I really thought the stimulus deadline of November 30th may have played into the new buyers decision to buy our home. So, I continued to pray and pray for my husband to listen to the leading of the Holy Spirit. As the week continued Dustin told me that he was seriously praying about putting the house up for sale. I continued to pray. I started to organize and pack up closets. I touched up the walls. Deep cleaning at its best to prepare the house. I went to Lowe's and bought a For Sale by Owner sign and begin to compile pictures to make a flier. I talked to my very good friend who is a realtor and she agreed to run a CMA for our neighborhood for us. Dustin and I continued to talk about it and pray over it and wait on the Lord. Tueday morning Dustin called from work and told me that he had been talking with a co-worker about a mutual christian friend of ours who had a home on the market and were having problems selling it....they were thinking about renting it out for the winter. Dustin asked if I thought maybe we were sapossed to sell our home and be able to minister to this dear family by renting thier home during this difficult time for them in trying to sell thier home. I was unsure. We continued to pray. I asked him on Thursday morning if today was the day that we were to put the sign out and he told me that he would call me later and let me know. I really felt like the Lord was telling us to just trust Him and obey.....put the sign out!!! I decided to put the sign in the yard. That morning I cleaned our master bath and vacuumed. Andrew and I had just sat down for lunch, less than 1.5 after putting the sign in the yard and while Andrew was praying (a really long prayer....he loves to ramble to God, I am sure that God just loves it :) ).....I saw a car stop, a young man jumped out and got a flier. He stood there for a few moments looking at the home and then got back in his car. Andrew was finally done praying.....my phone was ringing. I let the voicemail get it.....It was a realtor in the neighborhood with her clients and they wanted to see the home right now......now!!! I called Dustin and asked him what I should do (mind you I still and in my pjs and no shower yet...meant no makeup too!...but the house is clean!)...he said show them the house!!.....so I called her back and in less than 5 minutes I met the new owners of our home. I greeted them at the door and thier first question was "How long has your home been for sale?" I chuckled and said and hour and a half!!! They absolutely loved the home and they love the Lord! It was so neat! Thier realtor ended up being a member of our chuch....we had actually taught her daughter in Sunday School two years ago! I got to talk with them and show them the home that God had provided for us during residency....and it dawned on me. This is thier home. All the things we chose they loved and said they wouldn't have done anything diferently....this home was really thier home that we were able to live in for two years! Thank you Lord! Oh thank you Lord! They asked why we were selling and what our time frame was and again I just laughed....we actually don't need to be in Cushing until August 1st but I was able to share with them that the Lord had been confirming to us again and again that now was the time to put the house up for sale for its new owners were close at hand! They were amazed. They were indeed house shopping and needed to find a home by November 30th to apply for the stimulus rebate....they just happened to be in the neighborhood looking at another home for sale when they saw our For Sale by Owner Sign and decided to call....they saw that we had a third car garage and they had really thought they would like one. What a neat time! Loved meeting them. A sweet young couple that loved the Lord, were looking for a home to open up and minister to those around them, and were expecting thier first baby in April....loved them! They left and I was shaking....so stunned. I knew that this was thier home.....they were the new owners! Within an hour thier realtor called and let me know that she would be bringing us an offer on our home that evening!! Praise the Lord!!! The offer was great but they wanted it in 25 days so we got to packing and quickly. Obey. This is one of the many lessons that God taught me through this experience. Obey. When He is leading us and telling us to do something....We need to Obey. If Dustin and I had not listened to the Holy Spirit leading us to simply put a sign in our yard we would have missed out on this wonderful blessing of selling our home quickly, profitably, and now we have a whole new vision for what God may have ahead for the Cupp Crew. Trust Him. Time and time again we are learning to truly lean on His everlasting arms and trust Him and he continues to provide for our family as we seek Him and serve Him!! Thankful. Oh my stars....we are filled with an overwelming amount of thankfulness! Thank you Lord that you continue to bless your children...thank you Lord that you speak to us and guide us if we are willing to listen....thank you Lord that you are the master planner....Lord, even when we think that our plans may be good you go far beyond our wildest dreams....thank you Lord, that when we delight ourselves in You, You truly do give us the desires of our heart!! Sold. God Provided. That is the sign we posted on our For Sale By Owner Sign that very next day. What a testimony to our friends and neighbors of God working in our lives! Moving. So we needed a place to stay for 7 months before we moved to Cushing. God provided. He provided a really nice and affordable rental only 3.5 miles from our home! So later that week as we were sharing with a friend some of the houses available in Cushing....he looked at us and said, "Why would you not build?".....hmmm....with all that had happened we didn't even think about this option. Building. So I began to pray. and pray. And research about builders in the area. Land in the area. I spoke to a very reputable builder that we had actually seen one of his homes in Cushing but it was about 2000 sq ft. We found a plan that we really like, actually smaller than most of the homes that we saw but more functional (1 living and 4 bedrooms). We drove down to meet him on Saturday and then on to Cushing to look at some land. Land. So we drove out to see this land 6 miles north of Cushing and were really unsure as to if we were on the right land and how far it went. You could buy 5,7 or 10 acres. After driving around a little on the land we saw a white suburban driving slowly past us and then it came back and stopped. It was the owner of the land!! So neat! We got to speak with her and she told us all about it....a few pics above. We really loved this land. It has a gently sloped hill that has a beautiful view with pastureland all around. Her and her husband farm all around there but are getting older and thus have been selling of parts of the land that they no longer farm. The land we were actually looking at they just baled hay off of. Very neat meeting. Divine appointment for sure! Monday....two days till we move to the rental house. The builder calls to set up an apointment to go over specifics with us over the plan and price it for us. Talked with the Bank of Cushing (knew absolutley nothing about Constuction loans and how that process may work)...no problem they say, just let us know when you know the specifics and they are already working with our builder on two other custom homes so he would know all the paperwork that they would need. Wow! Really! Tuesday...last minute packing up the kitchen and the builder calls and needs to move the meeting if possible to Wednesday night....that is moving night....we agreed. Wednesday. Thank you Lord for Mimi. Dustin's mom came and helped, helped, helped. What a blessing! Movers came and we were moved in by 3pm. Dustin came home at 5 and shortly after we were off to the "old home" for the meeting with the builder. Amazing! The builder, Eldon Carter...truly so thankful for Him! We were able to share what God has been doing with us and he in turn shared what God was doing with him. We never thought we would have the opportunity to build right off. That we would potentially have the funds or the land to do that on and yet here we were talking specifics with the builder....a builder that loved the Lord!! Amazing.....what does God have in store? Boy, we are not 100% certain however what we do know is that He is faithful, that He can be trusted, that He is the abundant provider and the All Knowing Master Planner!! We will wait on him and we continue to pray and seek His will for the Cupp Crew....what an exciting adventure with the Lord by your side. Overwelmed by His goodness! Thank you Lord!!