We looked at a house for rent last night. It only had three bedrooms, but it's bigger than our current house. It's on a huge lot that is fenced in all the way around, had a garage with an attached (and air conditioned) workshop, and huge bedrooms. The master bath even had two sinks and *shock* *gasp* storage for towels, etc. Three beds is actually good for us, because we have 3 girls and 3 boys. Right now we have a 4 bedroom, but it's hard to split the kids up. Our oldest boy technically has his own room, but every chance he gets he sneaks in to have a sleepover with his borhters. The 3 girls already share. Of course our little nursling sleeps with me!

The owner had lived there for 18 years, but has several rental properties and just built himself a new, better house. It seemed perfect for us - a little more than we wanted to spend, but lots of room for the kids to run, a huge dining room (for our big table!) , and a screened in back porch. There was even a cat door and a porch swing.

The kids were with us and had fun running in the yard while we talked... and talked... and talked to the owner. He's chatty but nice and I think he really liked us, since he took the For Rent sign down (and took our check!). He said he grew up in a family of 5 kids and it was so much fun.

We put down the deposit on the spot and planned a move in of June 1 - just over two weeks from now.

Half an hour later, the owner shows up at our door. His partner, he explained, didn't want to rent to someone with so many children. He handed my back our deposit check.

We talked a little bit, and he decided to see if they would take a slightly larger deposit. He asked if we'd be willing to pay more per month, but I said no. The rent is already just over $1000 a month - if we're going to end up paying $1200-1300, we'll go rent in one of the newer neighborhoods that come with pool access and a gym. There's several of those communities around here - a slightly farther drive for husband dear, though. And they probably won't want to rent to us either.

I hate renting. It stinks to begin with, but add small kids in the mix and no one wants you to live in their house (but really, if you have a 4 bedroom house in the suburbs, you have to expect families with kids are going to apply!)

Please pray that we find housing before our move out date!

Labels: Family Life