Our House Story – Part 5

Things were going swimmingly, until a curveball came our way and presented a major setback. As we budgeted, we included our KiwiSaver funds in the budget because we thought we met the criteria to withdraw the money from those accounts. Turns out, Matt never had a KiwiSaver (he thought he did) and our settlement date was one month shy of me reaching my three-year anniversary of having a KiwiSaver, which was one of the stipulations of being able to withdraw the funds. We allocated those funds toward the installation of a new rug throughout the house, so finding out we wouldn’t be able to withdraw at all felt like a terrible blow. It ended up working out in the end though. Although we didn’t want to, we financed a portion of the rug. We paid close to half of the price of the rug in cash and the rest went on to a finance plan, which means we are temporarily back in debt. Rug debt. But we are paying it off fairly quickly and should be out of debt within the next few months at the most. We are grateful that although the journey wasn’t totally smooth, we did overcome the setbacks thrown our way. God got us through, and He is still carrying us financially! It’s really cool seeing the ways God provides for us. We could write a book with all our stories!

After our setback, we realised that we might not be able to afford one big item on the wish list for the kids – a 12ft trampoline. At that time, we had a really small trampoline that we were given by a friend. My kids loved it, but it was falling to shreds. Every time the kids jumped, material from the spring cover would get everywhere and the protective netting was loose and coming undone. We knew we couldn’t bring the trampoline with us because it had reached the end of it’s use. I looked online but couldn’t settle on one. I wanted a good quality trampoline that was 12ft in size but also affordable. I found that I could either purchase a small, high-quality trampoline or a large, low-quality trampoline at our price point. I didn’t want to settle, so I held off on making the purchase until after we were moved in.

Speaking of moving in, we were actively going back and forth with the sellers, trying to land on a settlement date that worked for us all. Initially, it was going to be Friday 30^th September, then it was moved to Monday the 26^th. None us realised, however, that the 26^th was a public holiday so we couldn’t settle on that day. Since we already had the rug installation scheduled for Tuesday the 27^th, the sellers agreed to let us have early access on Monday the 26^th so long as we had our insurance start on that date. That’s exactly what we did – we amended our coverage start date to include the day before settlement day so if anything happened, it would come under our insurance and not theirs. Everything from there on out went down without a hitch. We got the keys on that Monday, the settlement went through Tuesday afternoon, and the carpet installation was quicker than they anticipated, so the rug company was out of our house by Wednesday afternoon. We had a village of friends who helped us move and we are forever grateful for everyone who jumped in to help us in one way or another – whether it was moving boxes, cleaning, or helping to rip up the old rug before the carpet installation.  

Once we were moved in, we invited friends to come see the place. Our pastors, John & Kiri, came to pray over and bless the house. While they were over, I mentioned to Kiri that I still hadn’t bought a trampoline but was keen to start searching again now that we were in the house. She mentioned that our mutual friend had a trampoline she was looking to give away. At first, I told her I wasn’t interested because I really wanted to get a new trampoline for the kids. I didn’t want to take on another trampoline that would fall apart as the kids jumped. But as time passed, I decided there would be no harm in checking out the trampoline, so I reached out to our friend to see if I could stop by with Matt. She said yes, so we scheduled a time to go to her house. When we got there, we went to her backyard where the trampoline was. It was a 14ft trampoline, which was a bit big for our yard, but the base was really solid and it was a great brand (Jumpflex), so we decided to take it. When we got home, we purchased the netting, padding, and a new jump mat from the manufacturer’s website. The accessories came within two days of purchasing and just like that, we had a brand-new, 14ft Jumpflex trampoline in our backyard! The best part is it cost us less than the price of any of the trampolines we looked at online. That was all God!

Fast forward to October and we had a massive housewarming party – our home was flooded with friends celebrating with us! We had a great time and got to show everyone what God had blessed us with. We threw that party to celebrate God and His goodness more than anything, and we all had a great time. Shortly after moving in, I switch Jack from Milson School to Hokowhitu School and enrolled Diane there too, who just started school this past week. Needless to say, we are absolutely enjoying our house. It’s beautiful, spacious, and we have already hosted many gatherings. We were able to host Matt’s parents during their stay and I have friends stay over here and there. We have another friend coming to stay with us in April for over a week (she’s visiting from the States!). And it’s all possible because we held on to a promise from God and He is always faithful to fulfil what he says He is going to do.

I hope this story was encouraging and faith-building for those of you who stuck it through to the end. I would say a little faith goes a long way, but actually stories like these require big faith. I highly encourage anyone reading this to draw near to God and see how He works in your life. It’s really that simple. When you let go of wordly ideals and hold onto what God says, it’s life-changing. Money doesn’t determine what we can do – God does.

Until Next Time,

The Cullums