So I started off not writing because the whole buying a house thing almost broke me. I admit, stress turns me into the Hulk. I like change, but the actual changing process freaks me out. This is the only reason we haven't started trying for a baby; my hubby new that me+house selling/moving+baby=CRAZY!!!!!! Let's be honest, me+house selling/moving=STRESS BALL OF EMOTIONS and the baby would have probably gotten me committed. I joke that at least I would have had a place to sleep!
Anyway, the hubby and I prayed that we would see God in this, know it was His plan, and I kept praying to learn how to give up control. This started back with the PE exam, but I knew I hadn't conquered it yet. The last few weeks were full of "God, I totally trust you, I know you are in this so all is okay" AND "GOD! What are you doing to me? I can't take this one more minute! I'm going crazy!" I knew He was just putting things in the way so we would know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was Him.
You see, the whole selling a house thing went more smoothly than I could have imagined; God answered my every prayer and worry so quickly and perfectly that I knew it was in His hands. I didn't worry. I now know that God was also answering my prayers perfectly on the buying side, but since it wasn't how I originally thought, I just started to fret and worry. I tried to let go. I sang "I surrender all" as my prayer many times. I told God I didn't know how to surrender, and then my mantra became "Pray and let God worry" - Martin Luther.
A couple of weeks ago at church, we were talking about prayer, and a member said something that stayed with me (I am sure I have heard it before, but the timing was perfect), "God answers all prayers." He truly does. Maybe not always in the way we expect, but He does answer them all in the perfect way and the perfect time. I kept praying for each house we put an offer on, but I would also pray that if it wasn't the right house He had for us that He make it perfectly clear. And He kept doing that. I prayed that He would lead us to the right house, and He did. It looked like it was falling together, and then it fell apart. I was still trusting God, and my heart knew He was in control and all would be fine, but often times my head gets in the way of me heart (doesn't that happen too often?)
So long story longer (but I will try to run through the details quickly), we found a house that wasn't even on the market yet because God so perfectly planned it out (more on that in a second), in our dream neighborhood, the right foundation, 4 bedrooms for all the future kiddos (hopefully) finally got a contract signed, scheduled inspection, all went well, appraised for $35000 more than we were paying for it, scheduled closing, our old closed early, began ordering things for new house (major DIY project for us), and then the poo hit the fan.
First, my husband is very involved in our local chamber of commerce and has made many great friends through it. One is a realtor. He talked to some people about potentially listing their house on Tuesday night. The next morning, he and my husband were both at this networking thing and somehow conversation went to us looking for a house. Realtor asked hubby where, he told him our dream neighborhood, and that's right, that's where this house was located. The skies opened up and the angels sang. Literally, they did in my head. We knew it was God. We also knew the house needed a lot of work, but God had provided the right house for much lower than we were planning and we had equity from the sale of our house to fix it up. He was in all the details.
The poo hit the fan when we found out the sons controlling the trust that the house was in had never had their Dad's will probated when he passed back in 1973, and that basically meant that they only owned half of the house (the part their mom owns). Long story short on this one, it was a painful, stressful week of little to no action and many tense phone calls, but it got sorted out and by a miracle, seriously -from God, we got the call at 1 PM on Friday (last week) that we were set to close at 1:30 PM. Oh, and this whole time we were finishing up packing and loading a truck because we had to be out of our old house on Friday, no matter what. We started the day not knowing where we were going, and by the end had keys to our new house. I kept saying on Thursday and Friday, if it was going to happen, it would only be by God. He came through!
So, we have a new house that is currently not livable because it had not been updated pretty much ever (and it was built in 1963). It also may not have been cleaned recently either. Originally we thought we didn't want another project house, but I think it is in our blood, and we plan to stay in this one for at least 20 years (I actually plan to die in it, I hate moving that much!) It has already been a lot of work, and I'm exhausted, but it will be worth it. We have also had the most amazing family and friends helping us. We are hoping to be sleeping in the house sometime next week while we finish up the other projects. In the meantime, we are staying with our awesome family.
I'm not sure if it has hit me yet that we don't own our old house and will never go back there. Since we are in transition, it doesn't really feel like the new house is ours either. I'm sure one day it will hit me and I'll cry a little because I loved our first little house, and we went through a lot there in 5 years. However, hopefully we'll be making many great new memories (babies) in the new house :)
So as your reward if you actually made it through all of that, you get new house pictures! Don't get too excited, it is pretty gross and old, but it will all be gone soon (some of it already is). Be warned, this blog may become house DIY heavy for the next couple of months. All I can say about all of this, thank you God - You are amazing!!!
Anyway, the hubby and I prayed that we would see God in this, know it was His plan, and I kept praying to learn how to give up control. This started back with the PE exam, but I knew I hadn't conquered it yet. The last few weeks were full of "God, I totally trust you, I know you are in this so all is okay" AND "GOD! What are you doing to me? I can't take this one more minute! I'm going crazy!" I knew He was just putting things in the way so we would know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was Him.
You see, the whole selling a house thing went more smoothly than I could have imagined; God answered my every prayer and worry so quickly and perfectly that I knew it was in His hands. I didn't worry. I now know that God was also answering my prayers perfectly on the buying side, but since it wasn't how I originally thought, I just started to fret and worry. I tried to let go. I sang "I surrender all" as my prayer many times. I told God I didn't know how to surrender, and then my mantra became "Pray and let God worry" - Martin Luther.
A couple of weeks ago at church, we were talking about prayer, and a member said something that stayed with me (I am sure I have heard it before, but the timing was perfect), "God answers all prayers." He truly does. Maybe not always in the way we expect, but He does answer them all in the perfect way and the perfect time. I kept praying for each house we put an offer on, but I would also pray that if it wasn't the right house He had for us that He make it perfectly clear. And He kept doing that. I prayed that He would lead us to the right house, and He did. It looked like it was falling together, and then it fell apart. I was still trusting God, and my heart knew He was in control and all would be fine, but often times my head gets in the way of me heart (doesn't that happen too often?)
So long story longer (but I will try to run through the details quickly), we found a house that wasn't even on the market yet because God so perfectly planned it out (more on that in a second), in our dream neighborhood, the right foundation, 4 bedrooms for all the future kiddos (hopefully) finally got a contract signed, scheduled inspection, all went well, appraised for $35000 more than we were paying for it, scheduled closing, our old closed early, began ordering things for new house (major DIY project for us), and then the poo hit the fan.
First, my husband is very involved in our local chamber of commerce and has made many great friends through it. One is a realtor. He talked to some people about potentially listing their house on Tuesday night. The next morning, he and my husband were both at this networking thing and somehow conversation went to us looking for a house. Realtor asked hubby where, he told him our dream neighborhood, and that's right, that's where this house was located. The skies opened up and the angels sang. Literally, they did in my head. We knew it was God. We also knew the house needed a lot of work, but God had provided the right house for much lower than we were planning and we had equity from the sale of our house to fix it up. He was in all the details.
The poo hit the fan when we found out the sons controlling the trust that the house was in had never had their Dad's will probated when he passed back in 1973, and that basically meant that they only owned half of the house (the part their mom owns). Long story short on this one, it was a painful, stressful week of little to no action and many tense phone calls, but it got sorted out and by a miracle, seriously -from God, we got the call at 1 PM on Friday (last week) that we were set to close at 1:30 PM. Oh, and this whole time we were finishing up packing and loading a truck because we had to be out of our old house on Friday, no matter what. We started the day not knowing where we were going, and by the end had keys to our new house. I kept saying on Thursday and Friday, if it was going to happen, it would only be by God. He came through!
So, we have a new house that is currently not livable because it had not been updated pretty much ever (and it was built in 1963). It also may not have been cleaned recently either. Originally we thought we didn't want another project house, but I think it is in our blood, and we plan to stay in this one for at least 20 years (I actually plan to die in it, I hate moving that much!) It has already been a lot of work, and I'm exhausted, but it will be worth it. We have also had the most amazing family and friends helping us. We are hoping to be sleeping in the house sometime next week while we finish up the other projects. In the meantime, we are staying with our awesome family.
I'm not sure if it has hit me yet that we don't own our old house and will never go back there. Since we are in transition, it doesn't really feel like the new house is ours either. I'm sure one day it will hit me and I'll cry a little because I loved our first little house, and we went through a lot there in 5 years. However, hopefully we'll be making many great new memories (babies) in the new house :)
So as your reward if you actually made it through all of that, you get new house pictures! Don't get too excited, it is pretty gross and old, but it will all be gone soon (some of it already is). Be warned, this blog may become house DIY heavy for the next couple of months. All I can say about all of this, thank you God - You are amazing!!!
Front of house, obviously, pretty crepe myrtle tree :)
Kitchen - all is being gutted and reworked a bit
Master bedroom; the door to the old closet is gone, we are opening that up to the room and making the little master bathroom a bigger combined closet/bathroom suite (still won't be huge)
Master bathroom - this has been completely gutted
Formal Living room and dining room
Hall bathroom, will be completely gutted
I won't lie, this has been a hard process for me. We are doing much more in this house than we did with our first. While it is kind of fun, it is a lot of hard work, and I get easily discouraged (remember that whole thing about the process of change killing me?) It feels good to do the work ourself, and it is worth it, but I really do wish it were done! We have a family vacation in a couple of weeks so we want to be done enough to live in it by then and I want the rest of the interior work done by the end of October when my parents come to visit. I think these are completely attainable! Thanks for stopping by :)
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