time to start packing

The house has been found. The contracts have been signed. The date has been chosen. Now the packing begins!

I can’t wait to share with you this story. It’s totally about God and his faithfulness.

Two weeks ago I was starting to feel a little discouraged. A little overwhelmed. And a little weary. Yes, we got a contract on our home 30 days after we stuck a sign in our yard. We had the inspection on Tuesday and things went great! But Monday I was pessimistic. Andy and I have driven down every road you can imagine. Looked on the MLS every day to see nothing change. Been in every neighborhood. Checked out every “for sale” sign. There was a house we had our eye on and honestly for a moment I thought this is the one. But…the house needed ALOT of work. It was owned by the bank, we thought we could possibly offer low and get it. That was the plan.  We talked to neighbors, we went inside the house twice, we had a builder friend go through it with us to help give us an idea of what needed to be done and what kind of $ we were looking at, we sat in the driveway and prayed. And then…something changed. I think Andy was up for it, but I was not. I just didn’t have peace. Didn’t have a great feel about it. So the journey continued. And let me tell you we have probably looked inside 15 homes and have been on the house hunt for a few months now, just to get an idea of what was out there.

Let me back up more…in May, Andy found a house in a neighborhood that was owned by the bank. It’s a great neighborhood, right by the high school. Easy to get to. Not far from his office. So we put an offer on it based on the contingency of selling our home. There was another couple interested and they did not have a home to sell-they also had an offer on it-and they go it. We were bummed but we just new that it was not part of God’s plan. So we spent the summer, loving summer. We went to the beach. Andy took kids to camp. Celebrated Boone turning one! Had the best YL assignment ever. Rejoiced in our 7 years of marriage. And didn’t think too much about the house.

Then, while on our assignment, we got a call from our realtor saying the contract fell through with the people who had made the offer on the house. The bank called our realtor to let us know it was still available!

We felt the Lord stirring something within us so the de-cluttering and cleaning began on our home. We were not really sure if that was the house we were being led to or the other home {the one that needed so much work}. We just wanted to be obedient to the Lord.

Let me also say that we love our home. We have always said that we just wished we had one more room and that it was in a different area of town. Our home is all one level living. I love that I don’t have to go up any stairs to bring my groceries in {we’ve had a house like that before, so I know it’s not fun}, or laundry to go up and down {been there done that too}, the yard is just the right size with our busy schedule, that it only takes Andy about 45 minutes to an hour to cut, weed-eat, and blow the grass clippings away.

And you know, I think the Lord just knew the love we have for our home. I think we came to a place this summer that we knew we had to be content if this is where the Lord was going to keep us for awhile longer.

The story behind this house was the owner past away a few years ago while the house was being built so the estate owned it. The house has been sitting empty and not complete for about 2.5 years. The bank has been representing the estate, and a month ago…the builder bought it back. His plan was to finish it and then re-sell it.

We had heard through the grapevine that so many people were interested in it, that really we thought we just didn’t have a chance. We thought that by now, someone had an offer on it.

But…the house was still on the MLS and we decided to drive by it and it was still all overgrown.

We decided to give the realtor a call to find out what was going on.

So glad we did.

The realtor was so kind and said there was a verbal offer…but he had nothing on paper. The builder still had plans to finish it and sell it at the price they were asking. Which was mega lower than the original asking price. Mega. We knew. We just knew this was it. It was the first home we completely agreed on. We loved it from the time we walked in. We knew. We had peace.

We got on the ball. Made an offer {the second offer, first in May} the next day and they accepted.

God is so AWESOME. This story is about what HE did. There was nothing we did, but to obey Him. We stuck a sign in our yard, one at the front of the neighborhood and two at the major intersections. We did not put it in the paper and the people who are buying our house didn’t even call….they came and knocked on our door.

What is even MORE cool is that this house, from the outside, looks just like our house now. The Lord knew the desires of our heart and He has blessed us. The house is all one level living with a bonus room. Remember, we just always said we wished we had one more room!!!

{new home!}

We are still in AWE. In awe of His faithfulness, His goodness, His answer to our prayers, His sovereignty. The glory COMPLETELY goes to Him.

This will be a busy month with Fall camp, Andy officiating a wedding, birthdays, Fall Frenzy, packing, unpacking….but we are extremely grateful and excited to hopefully settle down….for awhile. :)