My Beautiful Children

Here is just one of the photos we had done of the kids recently. In these the kids are 12 1/2, 28 months and 8 1/2 months old...I will post the rest when I get the disc in a few weeks..

Two Houses for a family of 5!!!

Yep you read right. We are about to be the owners of two houses. We decided almost 2 years ago to start looking for another house, after placing our house on the market for over 6 months, we had to take it back off the market to make some necessary repairs caused by water damage, then it was the wrong "season" to list the house again so we waited. In May of this year we place our house back on the market and waited, and waited. Last time our house went on the market we were flooded with showings, this time not so much. I decided after last time of finding our dream home only to lose it that I wasnt going to be really gung ho about looking this time around. We went and looked at a house here and there but no serious looking. Well a few weeks ago, I found two houses that I LOVED and that were in the same sub-division. (Showings had finally picked up on our house, since two price drops) We decided to go look at them, well there were things about both that we loved. The difference was the almost $40,000 price difference in the 4/2 and the 4/3.5 homes. Then they dropped the price by over 15k on the larger house. OK lets go look at them again and see if they will take a contingency contract(basically wait for a contract on our house before we buy thiers). After looking at both houses, we decided to make an offer on the larger of the two. Now picture in your mind, me and Randall complete with measuring tapes, measuring the size of the rooms to make sure our tables would fit and everything.Keep in mind that the larger of the two houses has an ESIK(eating space in kitchen) and a dining room, while the other only has a ESIK. So Friday a week ago, we sit down and decide to put an offer on the home, the sellers accepted the price but not the contingency part of the contract, along with some other things, so we decided to counter-offer. We lowered the price offered by 5K(now 31K less than original asking price) and made some other amendments and dropped the contingency part. THEY ACCEPTED!!!! We signed the final contract on Friday, and are waiting to get it back from the sellers(this should be Monday or Tuesday) and then the ball will be really rolling. For now the closing date is November 30th. Yep, just 4 short weeks away. We have an Open House scheduled for next Sunday the 7th, for our current house, so keep praying that we get a solid contract so that we can avoid paying two mortgages. The good thing is that our two mortgages will still be what most people pay in one mortgage...So two houses for our family of 5...

Wasn't I Here Last Year?

Ok, so this time last year, we had our house on the market and were very hopeful that it would sell quickly. Not so much though... We had found a house that we LOVED and WANTED, but it was not to be. It was about this time that we found that our entryway/foyer was rotting and collapsing. Sad as it seems, we took our house off the market and began a year long project of renovations to our house. So here we are a year and some major thousands of dollars later and guess what.. Yep our house is back on the market.. The difference this time, well we haven't exactly been gung ho about looking for houses. I am too scared that last year will repeat itself. Meaning I will find and fall in love with a house that will not end up as mine.(I might note that the house from last year closed only 3 short weeks ago).. I know through belief and prayer that we were not meant to get that house, or things would have worked out.

So here we are again. Our house is on the market(with a GREAT agent)and we have looked at exactly 5 houses so far. I won't lie, I have found one that I love, but the difference this time is that it is in a new subdivision that is just now being built. So it is entirely possible that we may end up with this house. Our house has been back on the market for exactly 9 days and we haven't received a single call about the house. Maybe the realtor has, but we haven't shown the house even once. With that being said, I am not at all discouraged, if anything I am encouraged. God is finding the perfect family for our house, just as HE is finding the perfect house for us. This new subdivision would require a move to the other side of town, the plus side of that is that it is closer to our Church, closer to Randall's job, and has TOP RATED Schools. The downside, we would be away from our parents(aka the babysitters).

Anyway alot of rambling to basically say that GOD WILL MAKE A PATH AND BY HIS HAND IT WILL BE SHOWN..patiently, prayerfully waiting for GOD to move.