Big News (Monday and Tuesday, March 12th-13th)

I thought about leaving this one for last. It is the most exciting part of our week. But, then I thought I would just tell everything in order.

Are you ready for it?

On Monday, Adam and I BOUGHT A HOUSE!!! We are so excited! Can you tell?

God has been so good to us in this whole thing. When we started actually thinking about where we wanted to live, I decided I wanted to live on S Drive. Now, S Drive is in my parents' neighborhood, and pretty much out of our price range. Also, as we started thinking about what we wanted in a house, I thought I would like to have a study, something else I knew we could not afford in a house. We began to look at the houses in the neighborhoods close to my parents that were closer to our price range. However, we soon became discouraged with them. Most of them were built in the 50s, the looked run down, and in the nicer ones, the bathrooms were unbearably small. So, we came to the conclusion that we are newer house people and needed to look at houses built more recently than the 1950s.

We looked around in the neighborhood where I grew up, a subdivision built in the 80s. Unfortunately, not much is for sale there. We were able to see one house there, but it didn't fit us. We also checked out the new construction in town. The houses there were significantly smaller and only a tiny bit less expensive than the houses we were looking at close to my parents.

In all this looking, a nice little house on S Drive had come for sale. We drove past it, week after week, noticing the sale sign remained. Then, on Sunday the 4th, the house was open. Well, Luke was ill that day, and the rest of my family had gone to my grandmother's for the day. So, I told Adam, "I will go look at the house while you stay home with Luke. If it is something special, then you can go when I get back while I keep Luke at home."

I was shocked at what I found. This house, built in the 50s, is well kept and well updated - new carpet, new tile, new thermopane windows (something Kirsten can appreciate), new gas line, new electric line. The bathrooms are big enough for two people to stand in without touching each other or infringing upon personal space. Both back and front yards are beautifully manicured in such a way that requires little upkeep (I am not a yard person), and there are plenty of big, old, mesquite trees in both yards. (I have learned that you have to be a West Texas native to truly appreciate mesquite trees.) And, to top it all off, as I round the corner of the kitchen, I came across a comfortable little study.

When I got home, I wouldn't tell Adam anything other than he needed to go check it out himself. He came back impressed as well. So, we sat on it for a week, praying about whether or not this was the house God has for us. I wanted to jump on it and make an offer right away, but I knew that if this was God's house for us, then he wasn't going to let someone else buy it. And, if it sold while we were praying about it, then it wasn't meant for us.

So after a week of growing excitement through prayer, we went to the bank on Monday the 12th to apply for a loan. We were approved, through the grace of God. We then headed to the realtor and made our bid. Monday night, we came to an agreed price with the seller. We spent Tuesday going back and forth between the bank and the realtor to continue moving through the paperwork. We will be able to move in at the end of April, so long as everything else checks out. We meet with the inspector on Tuesday.

We are so excited!