Well, here we are knocking on a month of being in our new-to-us house. I really can’t tell you a whole lot about the last month, to be honest. We’ve worked hard (some of us harder than others considering the 20 week state some of us are currently in). I told someone I was going to start a “This old house” segment on the ol’ blog…. Don’t put it past me JUST yet. I’ve failed to take my camera out at certain stages to photograph the progress/process, but I’ll try to do better. You know, since you care so much, but it will be fun to look back on when we are retiring and we
FINALLY have everything like we like it.
So, this will likely be a longer post than I had intended, so let me see if I can hit the high parts. Basically, the Lord very much went ahead of us and moved mountains so quickly that we just looked eerily similar to bobble heads for a good, solid month. We listed, had a contract and had to be out of our house in about a month.
Cue the hysteria .
Let’s back up, we built our house right after we got engaged.
We loved it. We loved the neighborhood. We loved the location. LOVED LOVED LOVED our neighbors.
However, it wasn’t zoned and meant we needed to choose a private school (let me say, we have NO problems with private schools and thought LONG and hard about what we felt was best for our family before we listed our house). We also knew we had a while before all of that….Well, along came EB. So, it was incredibly bittersweet to sell that house because it was “ours.” We put our big boy/girl panties on and did it.
Late last summer, we found this house. It needed some major work, but I loved the idea of it. I loved the potential. I loved that it could be LOOOOOONG term for our little family (even including Gus Black). However, the fall is insane for both of us and listing then just wasn’t even an option. We decided to watch it and if it was meant to be, it would still be around in January. Low and behold, January came and there it sat. A relocation company had taken it over and had done some of the work that was on our “immediate” list. We got our contract, made an offer and there the drama alllllll began. We fought them…withdrew….rates dropped….fought them some more… went a week without hearing anything. Oh that’s right, the week BEFORE we were supposed to be out. It became a joke that we were COMPLETELY and TOTALLY homeless. Battled some more. Demanded answers. Got none, of course. Finally, got an approval the SUNDAY before we closed on Wednesday. No pressure. In the mean time of all of that drama of not knowing what this relo company was doing, we looked at EVERY.SINGLE.HOUSE. in our price range in the area we wanted to be in as back up. Whew. We looked..and looked..and looked..and guess what? Looked some more.
There were options. We made a couple of offers, but we were late to that party and they were already under contract and/or they couldn’t meet us at our price point (really, this was all the Lord's hands at work teaching us to be patient). While the frustration grew, my visionary skills of looking at older houses and seeing their potential was becoming a little bit fuzzy. At one point, I COMPLETELY refused to look at another house. We took a break (it lasted a weekend, but it was a BREAK).
This is long, so to make a longer story short, it worked out.
I could see us there, felt like that’s where we needed to be, but just needed someone higher than us, our agent and that company to work it out. He did. We closed on our beloved little house on Tuesday (I may have wept at the table when the couple asked me about our neighbors), closed on the new house Wednesday and moved in. Woke up in a new world on Thursday morning. So, to break this down, we listed, had a contract, bought, sold, moved and woke up in a new house all within a month’s time. I loved it so much, you see, I didn't even take a final picture like I had planned... I was inside crying while JB was growing very impatient with me sitting in the moving truck. It may have been the wee hours of the morning..say 1:30 a.m.
Sigh…..and so it begins. A new life. We are MAYBE five miles from “home.” MAYBE?! I’ve had to go back twice and I cried both times. That house was just special. We started our marriage there.
We brought our dog-child home to that house-
Who proceeded to chew up EVERYTHING we had worked so hard to build. We brought our baby home there.
We celebrated SO many holidays, “rights of passage,” fun times, good times, our first marital bliss arguments….. MEMORIES!!
(Evie's last morning in "her" house)
It’s alllllll good. We are SO thankful for this “new” home (I laugh so hard saying ‘new.’ If YOU only knew), new community, new neighbors, new streets to ride a bike on or to chase walk Gus. This house will be special too. Right now, we are just very very very thankful and in awe of the blessing. We are adjusting, settling and processing. I CRIED about EB and Gus. I was SOOOO worried about her. I was SOOOO worried about explaining our new “home” to her. Wouldn’t you know, she transitioned better than the dog, the ADULTS and anything else that came along?! She hasn’t missed a beat.
And this weekend… I picked out (maybe?) baby bedding to bring a new babe home to a new house in just a few short months (gasp). And so it all begins…again…. Does ANYONE know where I put the box of plates and eating utensils? Kidding.
And.... You don't get a picture because, afterall, this is the blog..and...well...that just isn't safe is it. Stick around, I just may do a "This old house" series... Just think mid-70's and you'll have visions of our project list.
