This is the story of God's plan for our family and getting our new house read Part 1 and Part 2 if you wish to.
So we started moving into our new house on Monday night. On Tuesday I ran over to the old house to do laundry and get a little bit of stuff that I could fit in my car. Including food that didn't need to be kept cold and didn't need to be cooked in a stove. We had bought our own new appliances and the ones that came with the house we had sold to the appliance company. The only thing was that with the closing date change our appliance delivery date had to change too. They couldn't bring us our new appliances and pick up the old ones until Friday. It wasn't a big deal, it just meant I had to think about what we were going to eat and use the old house if I needed to cook something.
On Tuesday afternoon I was working on unpacking a little bit and Jeff's Mom came over to begin painting. Jeff came home early from work and helped paint and got a couple more loads of stuff from the old house in his truck. Jeff had made arrangements to stay home from work on Wednesday morning and his brother was planning on coming and helping move the fridge, freezer, washing machine and dryer, but his brother had hurt his back and wasn't going to be able to help that day after all. So Jeff and his Mom worked on finishing up the painting and then he stayed home for the rest of the day to move whatever he could move by himself. By Wednesday night or Thursday morning both Jeff and I were beginning to wonder how we were going to get everything moved by Saturday, which was when we needed to turn the keys over to the new owners and be out of the old house.
We knew that many of the people who had planned on helping us move originally weren't available to help on the Saturday that we would be trying to move. Thursday morning while Jeff was at work he was getting ready to send an e-mail to the friends who helped us move on Monday night and see if they were free to help us again, but he stopped and decided to pray. He said he decided that we've been trusting God this whole time, why should we stop now. A little later he sent a text to the same friends to see if we could borrow their trailer or if he could help for a little while that evening. God worked it out that we could borrow their trailer and they were available to help. Then Jeff contacted another friend who lives close by to see if he could come around the same time and help move some heavier furniture. The friends who had the trailer also contacted some other friends from our Bible Study Group and they showed up to help us move and clean, too. We moved a lot of stuff on Thursday night. Thanks God for providing for our needs again.
On Friday Kaomi and Katy weren't feeling that well, so I didn't get over to the old house to work on bringing anything over during the day. Friday night Jeff and his Dad were going to hook up the appliances and almost everyone who came on Thursday night came over again and helped hook up appliances, assemble furniture, and unpack several boxes. Thanks again, God. On Saturday several of Jeff's siblings and his Mom were able to come help finish packing, moving, and cleaning the best they could as we had the electricity shut off on Friday. Thanks everyone for helping. God is so good. He knew exactly how much help we needed and when we would need it so we could be moved out on time. Now we know why our closing was delayed. It was so we could have a whole week to move and trust God even more. Jeff finished loading up the last load just before 6:00 on Saturday, just in time to hand over the keys to our old house.
Lessons Learned: Trust God completely, He know what is best. Pack like you are going on vacation, then live in a hotel while you hire someone to pack your house. As much packing as we tried to do ahead of time, their was still much to do, come moving day.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
The Story of Our New House, Part 2
If you haven't read Part 1 you may wish to do so before continuing with Part 2.
We thought the easy part was over. We sold our current house, we were renting it back from the new owners and we thought we had a closing date on our new house.
We were still trusting God, but it seemed like everything had fallen into place. One week before we were supposed to close we were getting mortgage paperwork finalized and had our walk through of our new house. Our builder said we needed to call and make an appointment time for our closing, so Jeff proceeded to call and try to get that set up right away. We found out that we couldn't set the time until all the paperwork was turned in and processed, we turned in everything that we could, but had to wait on two documents that were coming through the mail to us. We got them and sent them in. Then they said we have everything, but we need one more piece of paperwork from the USDA and that usually takes 2-7 days to process. That meant that maybe we would close when we planned and maybe not.
We contacted our realtor, he contacted the new owners of our home, and they were going to graciously let us rent our house for one more week if we needed to. Our original closing date passed and so did the next day with out anymore word on when we would be able to close. We knew there was a reason, why we didn't close when we were expecting to, but we didn't know why, we just chose to trust God. The Saturday that we had many people lined up to help us move came and we had let everyone know that we appreciated their willingness to help, but they could have the day to do something else fun as we weren't going to need them that day. That Saturday morning the guy Jeff had been working with through the mortgage company called and said, we got the paperwork in last night and you will be able to close on Monday. We will let you know what time as soon as we can. Thank you God!! That was a relief just to be able to have a few more details. They called us later and told us what time and we were able to arrange childcare, while we were closing.
On Monday, we went to closing. It took about 45 minutes and we had the document that would let us pick up our keys for our new home. We were praising God on the way home as we now could begin moving into our new home.
Jeff picked up the keys and we went back to our old home and decided to take a load of stuff over with us when we went to see our new home for the first time that day. Then we had some friends call and ask if we had closed and they wanted to help us begin moving that night if we wanted them to help. Of course we said "YES!". So they came over and brought their trailer and helped begin moving things. They brought our beds/mattresses over, so we spent our first night in our new house right away. We were going to be painting the boys and girls rooms, so Jeff's Mom and Jeff worked on getting the rooms ready to paint right away that evening.
Part 3
We thought the easy part was over. We sold our current house, we were renting it back from the new owners and we thought we had a closing date on our new house.
We were still trusting God, but it seemed like everything had fallen into place. One week before we were supposed to close we were getting mortgage paperwork finalized and had our walk through of our new house. Our builder said we needed to call and make an appointment time for our closing, so Jeff proceeded to call and try to get that set up right away. We found out that we couldn't set the time until all the paperwork was turned in and processed, we turned in everything that we could, but had to wait on two documents that were coming through the mail to us. We got them and sent them in. Then they said we have everything, but we need one more piece of paperwork from the USDA and that usually takes 2-7 days to process. That meant that maybe we would close when we planned and maybe not.
We contacted our realtor, he contacted the new owners of our home, and they were going to graciously let us rent our house for one more week if we needed to. Our original closing date passed and so did the next day with out anymore word on when we would be able to close. We knew there was a reason, why we didn't close when we were expecting to, but we didn't know why, we just chose to trust God. The Saturday that we had many people lined up to help us move came and we had let everyone know that we appreciated their willingness to help, but they could have the day to do something else fun as we weren't going to need them that day. That Saturday morning the guy Jeff had been working with through the mortgage company called and said, we got the paperwork in last night and you will be able to close on Monday. We will let you know what time as soon as we can. Thank you God!! That was a relief just to be able to have a few more details. They called us later and told us what time and we were able to arrange childcare, while we were closing.
On Monday, we went to closing. It took about 45 minutes and we had the document that would let us pick up our keys for our new home. We were praising God on the way home as we now could begin moving into our new home.
Jeff picked up the keys and we went back to our old home and decided to take a load of stuff over with us when we went to see our new home for the first time that day. Then we had some friends call and ask if we had closed and they wanted to help us begin moving that night if we wanted them to help. Of course we said "YES!". So they came over and brought their trailer and helped begin moving things. They brought our beds/mattresses over, so we spent our first night in our new house right away. We were going to be painting the boys and girls rooms, so Jeff's Mom and Jeff worked on getting the rooms ready to paint right away that evening.
Part 3
The Story of Our New House, Part 1
We've been thinking of moving to a bigger house for a while. We looked at building a couple of years ago and it didn't feel like the right time. We started looking again toward the end of last summer, we thought we were ready to build, but the builder wasn't ready for us so we waited and prayed. Then Jeff noticed that another builder in the area where we were wanting to build had some new floor plans, we took a look at them and both of us felt that the time was right to try again. We put our home up for sale in late December and signed a contingency with the builder, saying if we didn't sell our house we would default our up front costs to them. We felt like this was what God was wanting us to do, even though neither of us are keen on taking risks like that. We had a peace from God about this and decided that we would be trusting him to do what was best for our family.
For the first 2 months that our house was on the market, we didn't have anyone look at it. Jeff was praying that we would sell our home and I was praying that we would sell our home and be able to stay in it until we could move into our new home. We still felt like this was what God was wanting us to do. We both struggled with trusting him and trying to see if there was something we could do, but we both understood that it was going to have to be God who did what we needed. He knew best anyway.
It was coming right down to the line and we hadn't had very many people look at our home, but we kept praying that God would send "the one" who was to buy our house. We had about 6 weeks to closing on the new house and still no bites on our home. Then we had someone scheduled to look at the house and they canceled. Then they rescheduled and two days later we had an offer on our house. It wasn't just any offer though. They offered us less than we would be able to accept, but they also offered to let us rent it back from them until we could move into our new home. It sounded perfect, it was just what I was praying for, but would they come up on their price? Jeff and I sat down and figured out what the lowest price was that we could accept, then we counter offered. They accepted our counter offer and we were set to close about 1 week before the closing on our new house. Then we found out that if we closed on our home before May we would actually save a little money, so we asked if they would be interested in closing earlier. They were and we had it set up to rent the house for the next two weeks. We closed on our home less than 30 days after we received their acceptance to our counter offer. How good God is and he knew exactly the timing of all of this.
Part 2
For the first 2 months that our house was on the market, we didn't have anyone look at it. Jeff was praying that we would sell our home and I was praying that we would sell our home and be able to stay in it until we could move into our new home. We still felt like this was what God was wanting us to do. We both struggled with trusting him and trying to see if there was something we could do, but we both understood that it was going to have to be God who did what we needed. He knew best anyway.
It was coming right down to the line and we hadn't had very many people look at our home, but we kept praying that God would send "the one" who was to buy our house. We had about 6 weeks to closing on the new house and still no bites on our home. Then we had someone scheduled to look at the house and they canceled. Then they rescheduled and two days later we had an offer on our house. It wasn't just any offer though. They offered us less than we would be able to accept, but they also offered to let us rent it back from them until we could move into our new home. It sounded perfect, it was just what I was praying for, but would they come up on their price? Jeff and I sat down and figured out what the lowest price was that we could accept, then we counter offered. They accepted our counter offer and we were set to close about 1 week before the closing on our new house. Then we found out that if we closed on our home before May we would actually save a little money, so we asked if they would be interested in closing earlier. They were and we had it set up to rent the house for the next two weeks. We closed on our home less than 30 days after we received their acceptance to our counter offer. How good God is and he knew exactly the timing of all of this.
Part 2
Friday, May 20, 2011
Our Anniversary 2011
Our 8th anniversary was Monday. This year we got a new house for our anniversary. Jeff took me out to dinner for a wonderful evening on Sunday, as we knew that we might be kind of busy on Monday.
So this is what we were doing Monday evening:
I guess I didn't get any pictures of Katy that day, I think she was busy exploring upstairs. This was the first time the kids have been in the house where they were allowed to look around on their own. We hung new, fun shower curtains in all the bathrooms, had Sonic for dinner on the floor in the kitchen and Jeff and his Mom began getting Kent's and the girls rooms ready to paint.
So this is what we were doing Monday evening:
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| First load of stuff for new house! |
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| Kaomi helping keep and eye on Felicity in new house! |
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| Jeff and Kent taking first boxes into our new house. |
Swap Sister Gift
Picture Recap
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| Daddy occupied the kids on Mother's Day. |
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| Felicity, my snuggle partner on Mother's Day. |
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| Felicity eating a pancake last Saturday. |
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Moving into Our New House
We are finally moving into our new home. We were able to close on it yesterday after a few days delay and we got to sleep in it last night, thanks to some friends who said can we help you move tonight? Of course we said yes and they helped move beds and other stuff. We won't have appliances until Friday, so if I need to cook something I will do it in our old home. We have until Saturday to be completely out of the old home :( and into our new home :)
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Steps
Felicity took her first 3 steps last night. She picked up a book off the floor and reached out with it like she wanted to show it to Jeff and I, then she took 3 steps. After that we kept trying to get her to walk, but she would only take 1 step before sitting down. It won't be long now before we will be chasing her even more. She will be 15 months on Friday this week and she is the latest to begin walking of all our children.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Momories
I thought in observance of Mother's Day I would write about a memory from each of the mom figures in my life.
My Mom: She loves me and taught me much knowing what was best for me in spite of the fact that I didn't always agree with her. I'm so thankful that she had the wisdom to do what was right. Thanks, Mom. I love you!
Jeff's Mom: I love that she is a quiet inspiration to me to have a gentle and quiet spirit. Something I struggle with, but I know through Christ I can come closer and having someone who I can see do what I should do helps. Thanks, Mom.
My Grandma Pete: I loved spending time with her, whether we were visiting her at home or at her cabin. She tried to make it fun for all of us. I have many great memories of things she has done in my life. I loved telling her when the apple trees were blooming. Thanks, Grandma.
My Grandma R.: I loved to go visit Nana as a child. She makes the best cookies and sloppy joes. I also loved having her and Pop-pop visit at our home, snapping beans and listening to her talk or sharing Christmas Day with her. Thanks, Grandma.
Nannie (Jeff's Grandma): I love to listen to her stories of when her kids or grand kids were young. Thanks for sharing, Nannie.
Donna: My mentor from church. Thanks for meeting with me and being my friend. Having someone to talk to and spend some time with has been a treasure for me. Thanks, Donna
Happy Mother's Day to each and everyone of you!
My Mom: She loves me and taught me much knowing what was best for me in spite of the fact that I didn't always agree with her. I'm so thankful that she had the wisdom to do what was right. Thanks, Mom. I love you!
Jeff's Mom: I love that she is a quiet inspiration to me to have a gentle and quiet spirit. Something I struggle with, but I know through Christ I can come closer and having someone who I can see do what I should do helps. Thanks, Mom.
My Grandma Pete: I loved spending time with her, whether we were visiting her at home or at her cabin. She tried to make it fun for all of us. I have many great memories of things she has done in my life. I loved telling her when the apple trees were blooming. Thanks, Grandma.
My Grandma R.: I loved to go visit Nana as a child. She makes the best cookies and sloppy joes. I also loved having her and Pop-pop visit at our home, snapping beans and listening to her talk or sharing Christmas Day with her. Thanks, Grandma.
Nannie (Jeff's Grandma): I love to listen to her stories of when her kids or grand kids were young. Thanks for sharing, Nannie.
Donna: My mentor from church. Thanks for meeting with me and being my friend. Having someone to talk to and spend some time with has been a treasure for me. Thanks, Donna
Happy Mother's Day to each and everyone of you!
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
How should I clean?
I don't usually link to others blog, but I thought this was worthy of sharing.
How to Clean a Room was written by a mother of 15 children and what she says about cleaning a room makes a lot of sense and to me seems to have a pattern that will help you to actually be able to get the room clean.
How to Clean a Room was written by a mother of 15 children and what she says about cleaning a room makes a lot of sense and to me seems to have a pattern that will help you to actually be able to get the room clean.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Jeff's Birthday!
This year Jeff didn't really want to go anywhere or do something for his birthday, so we stayed home.
I made him blueberry muffins for breakfast. Jeff mowed and did some yard work, which he enjoys, while I went grocery shopping in the morning.
In the afternoon, he got to attempt taking a nap :) Then we packed a few boxes, Jeff's mom and sister came over for a little while and helped and wished him a happy birthday. Around 5 pm we celebrated as a family and gave him his presents and had cake (Felicity was napping, so she couldn't personally be in the picture).
After we had cake I order stuffed crust pizza, as that was his birthday meal request.
I made him blueberry muffins for breakfast. Jeff mowed and did some yard work, which he enjoys, while I went grocery shopping in the morning.
In the afternoon, he got to attempt taking a nap :) Then we packed a few boxes, Jeff's mom and sister came over for a little while and helped and wished him a happy birthday. Around 5 pm we celebrated as a family and gave him his presents and had cake (Felicity was napping, so she couldn't personally be in the picture).
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