This is it . . . we've found "the house"!

God is always at work - always moving, always showing us His ways.  And His ways are so much higher than ours!

Last time I posted that we had reneged on the house we had been planning to buy.  That was a Wednesday. Two days later, we were signing a lease for a home.

On the Sunday before we backed out of the house, David was looking through craigslist to see what was available since we hadn't kept our eye on the market as much recently.  He came across a home that was listed to be sold "as is" or to be fixed up and sold for a higher price.  He called the owner, and it turned out to be a relative of our sister-in-law, who buys homes like that as a business.

We are going to buy the house but it needs some major (cosmetic, not structural) renovations before we will be approved for a loan.  Fortunately, a lease to own program was available, and David and I decided to go that route.

So, we are knee-deep in our home renovation project.  David has done similar things many times, but never on his own home; I have never been a part of such a huge undertaking.  We are so excited to be able to make this home our own, and it even has room to grow in if we stay for several years.

I can't wait to post lots of before and after pictures and will start doing so as soon as we get some rooms finished!  We are working on the bedrooms and a bathroom right now and plan to move in as soon as those are done.

Thank you all for your continued prayers!  It has been a very exciting several months and we expect nothing less for the future

A Big Decision

Ohhh, the mysterious ways of our all-knowing God!

Last weekend was long and emotional as David and I felt we were wrestling with God's will for our future.  It's kind of a long story, but all in all, we prayed and sought counsel and came to the conclusion that our God is not a God of confusion.  As I alluded to in my last update, we seemed to be met with nothing but confusion throughout our buying process.   We also feel we've had a real wake-up call in regards to taking care of our family's needs and being very wise in our spending, as we've had two friends unexpectedly die, leaving a wife and children, within the past four months.  It has made us take a second look at making the most of what we have - time, money, and resources.

On Monday we signed a rescission form releasing us from all responsibilities and obligatins we had made to the house we had been planning to buy for the last two months.  We thought we'd be heartbroken, but instead we both have complete peace with it, and our parents agree that it was the best decision.

We covet your prayers, friends, as we contemplate our next steps.  Thank you to all of  you who've followed our progress through our move, for all of the prayers and encouraging words thus far.  I will continue to update as we seek God's wisdom for the placement of our family!

Housing Update and Patience Lesson

Did I pray for patience?  I don't remember doing so, but God certainly is teaching it to me! 

An update on our housing situation:

We are still waiting on the house that we signed papers to buy clear back in mid-April.  We didn't realize, first of all, how much work a realtor does to make the buying/selling process go so smoothly.  David and I have been on the phone countless hours working out details, and have spent lots of time e-mailing, scanning, signing, faxing, and the works. 

It seems like the theme for this process of buying a home could be described by one word: delays.

Everywhere we turn, we are waiting on someone or something!  We had multiple misunderstandings from the start, from attorneys to bankers. 

As of now, everything has gone through.  Our loan is approved, all the paperwork is finished.  We were supposed to close last Friday the 31st of May.  On Thursday, we received a long list of fixes that needed to be completed before closing.  Obviously we were thrilled with that timing (note the sarcasm). 

We were quite nervous, because we had already decided that we could not invest any money up front on these fixes, and so the conclusion was that if the sellers would not take care of them, we would have to back out.  We were struggling to be content with that decision, but just trusted that God would lead us through that as He has during this whole moving process.  David visited with the homeowners as soon as we got the list and they said it seemed quite "nit-picky", but we didn't even have to ask them to fix anything; they offered to do it all but the electric work.

I had a great time on Saturday while David and his dad worked to fix the electrical issues - I got to go through the house and take measurements and pictures of everything! 

Right now we are waiting on the appraiser to finish his paperwork (par for the course to wait again!) because he has the final say on what actually has to be fixed.  As soon as he submits it, we think the sellers will only take a few days at most and then we are praying that we can close and move in quickly!

We are so thankful that we're in the situation that we are, so that we aren't in limbo somewhere else while we wait on all of this to go through.  I am glad not to be alone with the kids in North English, without David, or that we aren't renting something. 

We are hoping to be able to spend most of the summer in our new home, which has plenty of space for guests and barbecues!  For now, we just keep praying during the process and appreciate friends who are joining us in prayer.

Sneak preview:

Dining Room view from the Living Room - yep, that's a breakfast bar coming from the kitchen!!

Living Room view from the Dining Room

Other Half of the Living Room, looking out to the deck and yard