Picking up where I left off....(Part 2)

So, as I stated before, our house was sold, and the truth that we are possibly homeless was sinking in. Our realtor emailed us a list of 13 houses to check out. We also searched (separately) and came up with a combined list of 22 houses we wanted to explore. Matt and I took a Friday night to compile a list (based on internet information only) of our top 5. We called our realtor Saturday morning to give him the list and were in those houses on Saturday afternoon. We walked into the first house and we both said, before getting out of the first room, "We are done." Here is why:

However, both the realtor and Matt suggested we look at the other 4 houses just to be sure. We went through the rest and each had their high points and low points. By the end of the day, we were pretty sure we knew what we wanted. We went back through the house on Monday evening and wrote an offer. During the next few days there were a few counter offers going back and forth and we came to an agreement. Now, the only hurdle left was the dreaded inspection on a house built in 1930. That inspection occured last Friday. It was everything we expected ~ 11 fairly major things wrong. We asked the buyer to fix 9 of those things. He agreed to fix 1 of them and to give us an "allowance" to fix the rest, we are guessing this is b/c he has already relocated to Florida and didn't want the headache of scheduling all of it from down there. After negotiating the amount of the allowance we are now happy to say that we believe the last hurdle has been jumped, however, we've been warned to not breath too deep until the appraisal comes back.

We took the kids to the inspection to see their new house. This is them outside of it...it's really very spacious and I think they will both fit just fine :-) Kidding, that's not the actual house....it has an adorable little playhouse that with some TLC is going to be SO cute!!! I can't wait to put on old clothes and have them help me paint it both inside and out!!! Delaney has decided it needs some flowers on the front porch (that's my girl!!). This will be their "project" at the new house and I can't wait to see what they do with it.
The appraisal was done yesterday afternoon, so now it is the waiting game to see if every i has been dotted and t has been crossed before our hopeful June 5th closing.

I'm finally ready to share.....(Part 1)

As most of you know, we put our house on the market in February. We had a "perfect" house in mind that we would be buying when ours sold. The "perfect" house sold approximately 2 weeks after the sign went in our front yard. I refused to look at houses b/c I didn't want to fall in love with another one, only to lose it too. So, we sat, we waited, and we got discouraged when our house wasn't selling. Then, it happened...the dreaded 60 day phone call....it goes something like this, "So, your house has been on the market for 60 days now..." "Yes." "Have you guys thought about lowering the price in order to keep it competitive?" "No." "We just listed another house in your neighborhood for the same price." (And who's fault is that?!?) "Okay." "Maybe you guys could talk about it over the weekend?" "Oh, okay." We talked about it, we got more discouraged, and we finally decided to lower the price, but not by much. I called and left a voicemail to get those changes going. Meanwhile, they called to show our house 3 times in 2 days. Our agent called to let us know he'd need the price change in an email b/c he couldn't change it based on a phone conversation, he needed it in writing. I tell him we've changed our minds, they showed the house 3 times in 2 days, seriously?!? He says to see the feedback and then decide what we want to do. All of the feedback says "over priced" or "needs new appliances." We agree to come down the cost of new appliances, send the email, get a phone call..."Hey there, I'm not going to lower the price of your house." "Huh?" (seriously here...it took me a week to decide this was a great idea, what are you doing?!?) "We have an offer for you." (maybe should have started with that....). "Can you be here at 5pm?" "Yes." Offer is good, 1 counter offer, house is sold!!!

Hi there....I'm homeless...and mildly frightened by that thought.

Our realtor sent us 13 homes to evaluate online and see if we wanted to see the inside of them. We liked 5 of his and found 2 of our own. We do some serious house hunting one evening. We decide to make an offer on a 4 bedroom ranch on 1.67 acres. The house needs lots of improvements to make it what we want, but we agree it has great potential (I now HATE that word....don't say it around me and definitely don't ever describe my house as having it!!!!). The night we made the offer we agreed that if they came back at full price we would walk away from it, the house needed too much work to pay full price for it. So, we make the offer, we give them almost 48 hours to reply b/c they have already relocated out of state. We hear nothing, we get in bed at midnight, I FREAK out....actually, the word FREAK is really an understatement. I lose all control of the ability to talk without crying and the ability to just be quiet and go to sleep. Matt is up until 2:30 trying to convince me we made the right choice. I am convinced we didn't and can't get control of myself....I believe I finally passed out from dehydration :-)

Drum roll as God teaches me a GREAT lesson in faith, trust, self control (tongue biting!!), and, most importantly, His ability to care for me even when I'm trying (and failing miserably) to "take care" of myself.

The next morning I wake up still crying (I'm not joking here people, it was awful!) I sit down to eat breakfast with the kids. Now, mind you, Matt is already at work and doesn't know I am still crying hysterically. The kids are inquisitive, "Mommy, are you having a bad day?" (Carson) "You cannot go to school acting like this!" (Delaney....think she's heard that before?) "This'll cheer you up..." Carson proceeds to tell all of the corny jokes Matt has taught him. The phone rings, I hold my breath as I look at the caller ID, it is the realtor. "Good morning. We have a counter offer here for you." "Okay." (It's taking everything I have to not jump through the phone to see what he's holding.) "They came back at full price." Not joking, I immediately didn't want to cry. I wanted to dance around the house singing praise songs....and so, I did!!! The kids thought I had lost it, I had kind of, in a good way!!!! Before my dancing escapade, I did mange to tell the realtor I'd talk to Matt and we'd call him later.

Doesn't God work in mysterious ways even when we don't put all of our faith in Him to provide? And doesn't that make you love Him even more, that he's protecting you even when you don't think you need it? Even when you are sure you have it all figured out.....and you don't!

Catching up before the BIG post

Grandpa Bub (Matt's dad) gave the kids Easter baskets the Saturday before Easter. While he was here they had egg hunt after egg hunt. They had SO much fun and rehunted for empty eggs for the whole next week....SO fun!

EASTER MORNING....wow, we were NOT being agreeable!!!

Carson warmed up a little for the pictures at my parent's house. He at least was smiling by then, even if it did take some effort.

All four of the adorable Tooley grandkids.....Delaney is, of course, being the mother to Luke, he's too young to know to run away from her, poor guy, he'll learn!!! And by this point, Carson has turned on the charm...look at that face!!!!