We have been praying for the last year about what we should do with our house. As with most people in this economy, we were severely upside down in our home all of the sudden. When Nathan took the full-time position at our church a year ago, we also had a large decrease in our income. We were able to decrease our budget and live within that income, but we weren't able to save much anymore. The one thing we kept coming back to was our mortgage payment. If we could somehow decrease that, it would be huge. We talked with our lender multiple times, but we didn't qualify for any modifications.
So, after much prayer and seeking the Lord, we finally sought the advice of a lawyer back in February. He was a believer and we laid out our situation and told him we wanted to use wisdom and integrity in any decision we made. He looked over everything and ended up telling us that he agreed we shouldn't be staying in a house that was so upside down and paying as much as we were. He recommended we attempt a short-sale. It wasn't an easy decision (at least it wasn't easy for me), because we have been in our home for 6 years and have remodeled every square inch of it. It is where I brought home my first baby and raised him for the first 2 years of his life. It was my home! Nathan and I talked a lot and prayed even more and eventually came to agree that it is just bricks and mortar and wisdom was to take the lawyer's advice.
So, that is what we did. We got in touch with a real-estate agent and two weeks later we had our house on the market. Amazingly enough, within 2 weeks we had a full-price offer on our home. Then came the agonizing wait of submitting this offer to our lender and seeing if it would be accepted. It took 3 months, but we finally got an approval with no strings attached. We should have closed on our home in the end of June, but unfortunately 2 weeks before the close, we found out the buyer did not actually qualify for their loan. So, after all that, our house is back on the market. If it doesn't sell, then we will be foreclosing on our home.
In the midst of all of this, we knew we would move on to a rental home somewhere. We really weren't in a rush to start looking, but I contacted my friend Melody because I knew back in the fall they had mentioned that they were buying a new home and wanted to rent their current one. I figured since so much time had gone by they were all moved and done with this, but when I spoke to her, she said no and in fact they still had no renter lined up. We went and met with them and because of Nathan's ability to maintain and fix the home himself, they gave us a break on the rent.
We really couldn't believe how the Lord had lined everything up for us. We couldn't believe how the timing of it all worked out. By the time they finally closed on their home and were ready to move, we were ready to move in. So, we packed up our beloved home and moved into what we consider to be such a blessing of a home. It is actually larger than the home we left, and we are paying less than our previous mortgage. It hasn't been very easy for me to leave the area of town and the friends we were close to there, but we aren't too far away, and again, we are in a beautiful home. I feel so blessed!! And yes...we made this move when I was about 29 weeks pregnant! Crazy I know, but we couldn't have done it without the help of our friends!
So, let me take you on a tour of our new home...
From this view you can see the front door on the left and the hallway to the right leads to the guest bedroom/office, guest bathroom and the laundry room and garage entrance.
Above is the guest bathroom next to the laundry room on the bottom floor.
Looking from the bathroom into the hallway. (Laundry room is to the right, office/bedroom is to the left)
Our dog Maverick definitely loves the cool tile throughout the house!
The above two rooms are our office/guest bedroom. We didn't have room for our guest bed, but we were given the leather fouton you see, which folds down into a full size bed for any guests.
This is our front room. I love the vaulted ceilings and large windows. It makes it feel so large and filled with light!
After coming in the front door and walking through the front room you get to the back of the house, where we have our living room, dining and kitchen.
When you go up the stairs, you will see the three bedrooms. This is the room which will be Audrey's. (Judah was napping when I took these pics, so I will have to take pictures of his room for you later. The two kids rooms share a Jack-N-Jill bathroom.
This is our bedroom. For the first time in our lives, we actually have a large master bedroom and bathroom. I think this is Nathan's favorite aspect of this house!
The basinet is ready and waiting for Audrey to arrive!
This last picture is the view of the front room from the landing just outside our bedroom.
Judah has done an amazing job adjusting to the new home and has been having fun learning to navigate the stairs. I'll be honest and say I wasn't too excited about the prospect of a two story home, but we are managing pretty well.
Oh, I did forget to mention, what is probably Judah's FAVORITE part of this home. We have a great backyard with an awesome playset that the owners left for us. If Judah could live outside, I think he would do so!
(I did not take the following pictures...Melody took them last Summer. I didn't feel like going outside in the heat to take pictures! A couple of the trees and bushes did not survive the winter, but otherwise, everything looks pretty much the same)...
So, for now I will leave you and will post further pictures when I get them of Judah's room.
(Hopefully my next post will be soon and it will be announcing the arrival of our precious daughter!)
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