Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Oh, in all the insanity of the past week I forgot to mention that I am officially in my third trimester!  Oh yeah! 

It's official, we are well on our way to buying our second home.  Well, third if you count our apartment, I was just talking about houses with mortgages attached to them.

My current house is in a sad state of barrenness.  It's pretty much just furniture sitting around.  Even my dishes are packed.  I can't wait to start unpacking and getting rid of a LOT of things; it feels like a clean slate even if it is the same floor plan. 

Monday, September 24, 2012

Lots of Answered Prayers

Allow me to sum up the story of our moving adventures.  In May, we began toying with the idea of moving to save a bookoodle of gas money.  In June, we learn that I am pregnant.  In July, we put our house on the market.  14 viewings and several flopped offers later, we have a winner and a closing date.  Oh, and no idea where we will be living... with a baby well on her way. We would be living with my parents in the interim, but I was not keen on the idea of bringing my newborn home to a house that wasn't mine, even the home of my beloved parents. 

We've looked at many houses, all but one that we loved had contracts on them.  The rest just weren't right.  It has been disheartening and discouraging, but still we searched. 

Fast forward to Friday, September 14.  We have found an incredible home in a great neighborhood. It's sprawling and it's cheap.  We put in a superb offer, and found out that we got outbid on Monday.  I was crushed.  So we prayed, again.  We took a day off from house hunting. 

Tuesday night, the 18th, our beloved associate pastor calls, asking if we'd be interested in purchasing his home.  Just one day after losing the house we thought was perfect for us.  Now, let me clarify something.  We adore our current home.  We love the layout and the size is just right.  I had put a post on Facebook in my frustration that I wished we could just pick up our home and move it to [specific neighborhood].  The pastor and his wife live in the SAME floor plan as us.  It is actually flip flopped with a coveted hall closet, but otherwise, it's exactly the same, just backwards.

So, we agreed that we were interested; when it looks like God has his hand on it, you better believe we're at least going to check into it.   So, Saturday morning, we went to see the house.  First, the neighborhood is fantastic.  Then we walk into the kitchen, and it's painted the same color green as our kitchen, the green we love so much.  Everything is done in our taste.  There's practically nothing to do to this house.  Then, we walk into the room that will be Lily's.  It's painted the exact shade of pale green that I had made up my mind to paint it.  That sealed the deal.  It was a huge neon sign from God saying, this is the house I have prepared for you.  This precious couple had done things to their home we had dreamed about doing to ours, but never did, because we knew we wouldn't be there long. 

We agreed we wanted the home, we agreed on a price, then we sat and talked and prayed together.  To hear their side of the story about how God has so obviously been working in this situation floored me. I could see perfectly how God has been working behind the scenes of the craziness of the last 4 months to prepare this home for our family, and to prepare their family for something new.  So, God comes through in incredible ways yet again, and we will move in 5 weeks before Lily's due date.  More than enough time to get her room perfect. 

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Still here!

Sunday marks the beginning of my second third trimester!  Time has flown by with the second, and now I'm ready to have my girl here.  She grows increasingly more active as the weeks go by.  I had my glucose test and passed with flying colors.  I am, however, anemic and will be taking an iron supplement.  Christmas Eve will not come soon enough!

We got a cash offer on the house and we are set to close on October 3.  This translates to the very pregnant woman and her OCD husband packing boxes and getting out of a house in a week and a half.  It's funny that Daniel's packing method is throw it in a box with no real order other than label it with what room it came from.  If I were the one doing the packing, everything would be categorized, clearly labeled and have a premeditated destination written on the box.  Both methods could be effective, I'm just nervous about what is getting put into these boxes rashly in his untameable fury to get the house packed.  (We still have a week left and he wants to completely pack the kitchen tonight, Heaven help me.)

The house hunt has been a small nightmare.  First, we didn't clearly communicate to each other what we wanted.  Then, the poor realtor was showing us houses we hated.  We were shooting down each others choices and getting incredibly frustrated with one another.  So, we sat and worked that out.  Then the real drama begins.  Every house we have loved has had a contract on it.  Are you kidding me?!  Then we found a STEAL on a gorgeous home in a good area, but we promptly got outbid by a cash offer.  Who has the willpower to save that kind of dough?  We were crushed.  We loved that house.  So, we prayed for wisdom.  We learned that God spared us lots of potential drama with a homeowner's association.  You do not want any part of those in Texas.  They're very powerful and can foreclose on your home even if you own it free and clear.  It's happened.  So, praise God for saving us from those troubles.  Now we have some homes we are praying about and waiting to go see.

So, we're packing and planning and praying for wisdom.  With the baby, house, new responsibilities at church and other big life stuff going on, we're feeling stretched.  It's like a huge checklist with nothing checked off yet.  BLECH!  I can't wait to see how this all turns out.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Updates

As of Sunday, I hit the 6 months milestone in pregnancy.  Can I get an Amen!?  Lily Grace is an active little turkey.  She rarely ever takes a break from wiggling.  I LOVE it!  She can now reach my ribs, it's delightful.  She had a little friend born on Labor Day yesterday!  My high school best friend welcomed her daughter Kamlyn yesterday evening.  Me and Lily are pretty excited about some girly play dates in the near future. 



As far as the house goes, we're up to 11 or 12 showings and 3 different offers.  All too low, all countered, and all of them have fallen through.  I think I heard wrong about God's plan for selling the house.  We're leaving it on the market until November, at which point we will take it off and prepare to settle in for a few more years.  We will do things like finally improving the yard, repainting the "nursery" for the 3rd time to get it ready for Lily, and creating a built in desk in the office to combine office with guest room.  I love our house, I just hate where it is.  It's sheltered us well for 3 years, and I'm honestly sad to leave it.  We'll see what God has in store over the next 2 months.  You never know.