House.

So, many people have been calling asking about the house we supposedly have bought. I say supposedly, because the offer was accepted, but of course we still have to go through inspections and all that fun stuff. We don't anticipate that there are any problems, but we are trying to be cautious...IT'S SO HARD TO CONTAIN OUR EXCITEMENT THOUGH.
Here are some of the details...
It is a cute brick bungalow on Keswick Blvd. The best part is that is is right next door to our friends, Josh and Beth Pace, who have 3 wonderful little girls, all right around Ellory Sue's age. (Ellory is especially excited that the Pace's have a "pay-gound" aka swingset.)
The house has a beautiful front porch with a nifty mail box that emptys into the house. A perfect place for a swing and rocker.
Inside, there is a living room, followed by a dining room, that opens into a small but effeciant kitchen. I can see Ellory from the kitchen all the way to the living room! off the kitchen you can go up into a finished attic space, or into a hallway that is anchored on each end with a bedroom, and has a bathroom in the middle.
There is also a basement, that has a family room, 2 rooms that have really tiny windos, so will be maybe a playroom or guestroom/office and laundry and a bath.
I should let everyone know how blessed we feel. It was last year at this time that we realized our home would be tight as we grew as a family down the road. We also saw that we had a lot of bills--Car, truck, house--no more than anyone else, but a lot considering that we desire to adopt a child from Ethiopia in the future. In a brief conversation with my amazing mom, she quickly offered up her home to us to live in so we could pay off our cars, and save up for a home that we could grow our family in. It's been rough at times, mostly because I am impatient. I've missed walking to the coffee shop, being so close to our church, Sojourn. But I always remind myself how incredibly blessed we are. There are people all around the world who have no home--complaining about a completely finished basement is silly. There are people who don't have moms who sacrifice--my mom has been nothing but AMAZING--people are always surprised that there have been no riffs between any of us. There are people who have no real friends--how selfish of me to whine that my countless friends were a 30-40 minute drive.
Around January, I started to get anxious...looking at homes on the MLS each morning. Lachlan kept telling me to wait, we needed to do what we set out to do. (pay off our car/truck)...but then another good house would come up (few andfar between) and we'd go out looking again. We saw a lot of duds, and we saw several that we were hopeful about--putting in offers on 2, and almost on another...but the never worked out. We told the Pace's we were looking at a house around the corner from them, hoping to put in an offer...(we heard that 4 other offers were coming that day, and decided to bow out gracefully on that home.) Beth said their neighbors werre thinking of moving but still were not sure.
A couple weeks past, and during that time, Lachlan and I sent off the last 2500 bucks to pay off our truck and Lachlan went on a Men's retreat at church where he felt a little "push" to start getting more serious about looking for a home and working hard to make it happen (Lachlan has worked his butt off working 40+ hours at his regular job and painting houses on the weekends) On Sunday, I ran into Beth at church, and she asked what the update was on the house search. I told her we were going out that afternoon to see some open houses. She said her neighbors had mentioned to her again that they might sell, and that she'd ask them if we could see it...they agreed to let us in that afternoon. We loved it! We brought our realtor the next day and put in an offer. Thankfully, the sellers accepted!
If everything goes as planned, we could close anywhere from 30-90 days...because the sellers had not even looked for a new house, we wanted to give them as much time as they needed to find a really great new house for themselves. I am praying that they have open doors and great opportunities.
All this to say, God is good and faithful. Even when we push or complain, or grow impatient. God is constant. We are so thankful that he prevented us from jumping the gun and buying a house that wasn't what our family really needed. We are also so thankful that we were given the opportunity by my mom to pay off our cars, and get a step closer to growing our family through adoption.
We are most thankful for Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior...whom without, none of these things would matter.
If you are a believer, would you pray for our home process, that it would go smoothly. Would you pray that we can be good neighbors not just to the Pace's but to our street--teamed withthe Pace's that they might see our love and know the love of our Lord Jesus Christ. Will you also pray for Ellory Sue as she transitions to a new home, without the constant companionship of her Nanny...(who is considering filing for joint custody!) Will you also pray that Lachlan and I will ust be faithful to use our home to serve our church, friends, family, neighbors and community?
I will try to keep you updated...this blog thing is all new to me, so I will do my best.
I love you friends.