We were checking out some homes on Saturday; first Long Beach then Irvine; we stopped by LB first. We came up to the first house and the neighbor had their Odyssey parked on the curb, three blond little sisters were out playing in the van; running back and forth between the front yard, living room and street. They were very welcoming and welcomed us into their home to check out their remodeling.
At the end of the conversation, after about 25 minutes; we were already joking about setting up their youngest daughter and the kid who were about the same age. We were finally able to check out the house; afterwards, waking in the opposite direction; an older gentlemen came out of his house, as we walked by; started waving to us, we waved back, he said, something, and we stopped. He confused us for another couple down the street, but invited us in anyways; we took a tour of his house, and another 30 mins later, we got the full scoop of his house, life and people living there. We like to say that this is pretty spectacular, but frankly these things happen ALL the time in Long Beach.
We finished up and went to Irvine, saw a house there, couldn't get in; and the streets were empty, lonely and desolate as usual. At best there was a garage open, and a white father & high school son were washing their car.
We had lunch and meet up with our broker friend. It isn't difficult to see what we liked, but it is difficult to follow God. It isn't difficult to live very comfortable and grounded in LB; but it is very difficult to love those not like you. The wife and I both know what we want, but our house isn't going to be ours, it is our ministry. We can easily live in LB and never leave our comfort zone, but we probably never grow and be stretched. I'm not saying Irvine needs or want the RC family, but Irvine does need a family that will open up their house and show them a bit of Long Beach. Every neighborhood does, and with that, we signed a back-up offer for Irvine and you can make out some tear drops on the paperwork.