Mazur Manor: Move-In Day

Jessica Mazur
May 18, 2017
3 min read

Updated: Apr 24, 2019

May 18th, 2017: Head on toward the wilderness!

Mid May of 2017 - we bought our very first house! We've been cooped up in a little attic bedroom in Olathe, KS for a little too long! Now we've got more than enough space to frolic about... 1.5 acres of it.

It's move in day and rain is on the way. I've spent most of the week packing up our fun-size bedroom, along with the various collections of Austin's toys and trinkets (AKA tools, work material and Craigslist finds). We're blessed to have lots of help from the Dailey's (my parents and sister) and Jon (my sister's boyfriend), who will be meeting us at the house about noon.

Over this past Spring, I've been Nursing at KU Med and Austin's been taking on various remodeling jobs. We've been living with Austin's mom, Laura, and her three boys, TJ, Ian, and Samuel, for about 5 1/2 months. Bless her heart... her garage and basement are stacked full of Austin's work stuff. As someone who grew up in a house of all ladies (plus dad), living with the Jones boys was a bit of a culture shock. Props to you, Laura, for rolling with the tumultuous boyhood waves (even the odorous ones...).

We prayed heavily during our home search that the Lord would lead us to the home he planned for us. We asked, "Lord, if this house not be your will for us, place a barrier in our way and don't let the sale go through." After placing our offer on the house, three days after its listing, our realtor called to tell us the seller had accepted our offer (for $15k less than asking), because of our story; we shared that we were a young Christian couple, looking to find a home to fix up, start a family and make memories in. Leading up to the sale, we were contacted privately by the seller, and it turns out I knew them in a round about way from church when I was younger. They remembered my family and were pleased to be selling us their home of many years. He told us about several of the known issues with the house, so we'd have a heads up before we arrived (unfortunately, I can't say that prepared us much).

But, here we are. The Lord has purposed this property for us. Pray for us as we discover God's plan for us here!

SO... Here we go.

The Good

We only had to load up a truck bed or two, cram a bunch of stuff in my little ole Hyundai, and mom and dad brought a few things in their truck as well. All-in-all, not a bad start to the day! It only sprinkled a bit, and God held back the rain until I got my mattress inside. We finished the day eating Pizza Hut at our little dinner table in our little yellow kitchen.

The NOT-SO Good

Well, Mindy, the little dear, decided she was pooped from all the unpacking and ran in to sleep on our bed, which then was covered in muddy pup paws - time to change the sheets!

The downpour finally came. And it came HARD. Winds, hail, lighting and thunder - perfect sleeping weather... until you hear that little trickling noise from somewhere. OH, and you remember that you don't have a garage (Please, Lord, no hail damage!).

We left our little cozy bed, separated from the dusty floor by a couple of box springs, to find a stream of water leaking from the ceiling in the kitchen and down the wall. The trickle became a whooossshhh-like sound... which we found to be a miniature waterfall in our cellar (the floor was literally mud, people).

Fast forward (because there's nothing we can do about it tonight)... YES, my car had hail damage. YES, our roof was further damaged (as it clearly already had a leak). The old (non-functioning) chimney was absorbing moisture and practically crumbling apart... And NO, our foundation wall was not holding back rain water, or earth, from sliding down into our sump pump (which was now pretty much inoperable).