About Us
Our Background.
Covered By Faith was established in 2017. Darin and I (Jessica) came to Rochester in 2000 after graduating from college at Bethany Lutheran College and at Minnesota State University of Mankato. We both come from small towns in Minnesota. We lived in California for two years from 2001-2003. We purchase our first home in 2003 in Rochester. We joined a church the same year. I also started my own online book business that same year as Darin continued working in the technology industry. We had our first child, in 2005 and the blessings of children began and so did my second job of being a stay at home mom. We had our second child in 2006. My health wasn't in the best shape to continue having children. When I was able to, we decided to try for our 3rd child and in 2010 she arrived. In 2011 our 4th child completed our family. She began Kindergarten in 2017, so it was my time for my next adventure of care taking by starting Covered By Faith short term living.
Blog post done by James Rabe a local radio icon. https://fun1043.com/a-peek-inside-a-rochester-airbnb-and-what-i-found-in-a-drawer-video/
This is how we acquired the Storybook Home.
This is the story how God gave us this house. Darin and I had been looking at houses for a year. At the end of April 2017 the Storybook home came on the MLS market. Once I saw the location and price, I knew I had to put an offer into the home. We called 3 agents to show us the house, none of them could, so I called the listing agent to show us the home. We got in that day and went to put an offer in the next day. The agent said “What were you thinking on price?” We gave him our price and he said you are not even close. We went up another $5,000; he said we were not close. I asked about another $5,000. We still were not close. There were 6 people bidding on the house. There was no way we were going to go that high on a house that needed as much work as it did. So we walked and never put in an offer.
A week goes by and I was watching a YouTube video from LifeChurch. The pastor, Craig Groeschel, on there said “You should pray for something specific. Don't be so generic in your prayers.” I quickly prayed to God, “If I am suppose to start this new business and help others, I am going to need a house.” Two hours later I received a phone call from the sellers agent stating if I wanted the house it was mine. This started my new full time job and gave us the name for our company.
Family House
We received a message on a Facebook group we belong to that there was a house coming available in a great location so we inquired about the house and was lucky enough to be the only ones interested. We were able to work out an agreement.
Trust House Story
2019 we acquired the "Trust" house. The house came on the MLS and it looked like it had a nice unique character traits but the price didn't fit our ability to make it viable option. So we went on vacation and when we came back we saw the listing had been removed. So I called the owner and left a message to see if the property was still for sale. She called back 15 min. later overwhelmed by me calling her. See, she told herself she was going to sign with one of the two contracts she had in front of her within a couple of hours. And here I come with another option to purchase the property. She then proceeded by asking me how much we would like to offer her for the property. I of course asked if we could go see the property since I was right here in Rochester. She refused. She said she was done and wanted to just sign with a contract in front of her. I then told her I would offer her a little more than her highest contract in front of her. You see the place needed work and I knew this from the pictures and from the price going down over time on the MLS. She then said she would need a bank letter to prove we had the funds. She said we had a deal and would sign papers that night. During this time frame the seller talked with her sister who was very doubtful about us. The seller then called our bank a little after 5 when all the majority of workers had went home. But low and behold who did she get a hold of? The bank president who we work directly with. We got told our banker could not talk more highly about us.
So we call it the "Trust House" because we trusted God everything was going to be ok when we didn't even get to see the house. God lined up the timing of everything from my phone call to her getting the banker. Thanks God!!!!
Blessing House
The "Blessing House" is directly across the street from the Trust house. So it was a blessing it came up for sale while we were working on the Trust house and we could afford it at the time it came available.
Renovation.
The house taught the whole family many important lessons. The children learned what real work was. There is no more complaints about chores around the house much anymore. They were able to earn money that summer when they did work on the house. Darin and I put our skills to the test and realized we can do just about anything when we work together.