Our House

After the Roller Coaster of Pre-Approval we were so excited to start looking for houses.

But, the very next day after we got pre-approved Aubrey went on a canoe trip for the weekend. So, I researched houses with my dad. We looked online and made a list that eventually ended with 8-10 homes that we wanted to go look at. Aubrey got home Monday from his trip so I showed him the fruits of all our hard house-searching work! That night we were sitting around talking and he called me over to look at a house that was listed on Craiglist, for sale by owner. I hadn't even thought to look for any for sale by owners! We immediately loved it. They were having an open house the next weekend, but that wouldn't work for us to go because I would be gone that weekend. We called that night to see if we could get a private showing and scheduled one for the next day during lunch.

So the next day we all (Aubrey and I, along with my parents) went to look at the house. We loved it. Scott and his sister, the sellers, had bought it to flip it, and they did an amazing job. After the tour Scott informed us that there had been an offer placed on it that morning, so if we wanted to act on it we would need to put an offer on it that day.

We really loved the house, but it was the only house we had looked at and we would need to place an offer on it in a few hours if we wanted it. We decided to each go back to work and pray and think about it and call each other that afternoon to see where we were.

Three hours later Aubrey and I talked. We were still both really in love with the house so we decided to put an offer on it. When Aubrey called Scott, he let us know that there was someone scheduled already to look at the house the next day and that he would let us know if they accepted our offer after that.

That night and the following day was torture! Aubrey called me while I was driving home from work. He had heard from Scott... and that they had accepted our offer!

So, 5 days after we were pre-approved we had an accepted offer on a house! Apparently we don't mess around with this house business!

We closed on November 15th and still can't believe this is our home! We are so excited that we have this amazing house to make a home with our kids!

Here are some pictures!

Us thinking, "Oh my gosh, we just bought this house!"

Kitchen -view from the front door

Dining room - view to the right of the front door

Living Room - view to the left of the front door

Den - view from the living room

(Yes, that's a ceiling fan on the floor. As you may have noticed in the kitchen there is no light fixture... the fan will {eventually} go there....)

Living room - view from the den

Upstairs Landing - view from half way up the stairs

Guest Bedroom - first room on the left upstairs (Ready to receive guests! Come on over!)

Bathroom - Second door on the left upstairs - view from the landing

Bathroom - View standing in tub area

Bathroom Tub area - view standing in front of sink

Master Bedroom - door to the right of the bathroom - view from landing

And finally - two extra bedrooms just waiting to be filled! These are to the right when you come up the stairs. No you cannot see inside of them because they are currently storage rooms for crap we haven't unpacked yet... guess we better get started on that though! 

Yes, we do have a basement, and no you can't see it. It's seriously a disaster zone. It's unfinished for the most part, but there were no shelves or any storage options in there so everything is laying all over the floor. It's frightening. However, as part of the basement there is a second bathroom/laundry room. 

Can I just take a moment here to say that this is the first time in our marriage that we have our own laundry system. Its like a miracle. My life is changed forever. I <3 my washer and dryer. That is all.

I'll show pictures of the basement later... after we put some major hours in down there!

The Pre-Approval Roller Coaster

I took some pictures of our house last week when everything was clean for our meeting, so my post after this one will be house pictures! But, before I share those I wanted to share how we got here. It was quite the journey to get to our house and we always viewed that as part of our journey to our kids. So here you go!

I wrote this post last October:

One of the goals that Aubrey and I had before we started the adoption process was to be in a house. We have loved our apartments, they were great for the two of us, but when we decided we wanted to start the process for kids we both looked around and realized another human being, no matter how small could not fit in our apartment, we have just out grown it!

So, our perfect plan was to get in a house over the winter and start paperwork in the spring. Sounds like a perfect timeline right? If only it was so easy...

We did know the process would be more complicated because we own our own business. It adds some nice loops and twist to the roller coaster that is the pre-approval process. And while I love twists and loops on real roller coasters, these twists and loops made me sick to my stomach.

Our first problem, in retrospect was that we were trying so hard to make our plan work that we were trying to do it all on our own. With no thought or prayer to God about his plan. We both felt so sure about the timeline leading up to kids that we assumed God must think our plan was looking pretty good.

The first bank we sat down with said, No. And not a, "well its a no, but lets look at what we can do to make it work." More like a, "No, and I don't know of anything I can do to help you and your situation." It was crushing. We both were set back. So, it looked like our timeline was going to be pushed back. We had some things we could do to put us in a more appealing spot for banks, but the new timeline would have us starting the house process next April, which meant kids would be pushed back to an unknown time. I was scared and frustrated.

So, I did something we should have done before sitting down with the first bank, prayed. I asked God what his plan was. I told him that we both felt like he had told us Spring was the time to venture into the kid process, and now we felt confused. But I eventually found rest in Him (of course, why am I always so surprised..?) We found ourselves praying for His will and His plan for our family. We trusted that he would guide us on the right path if we stayed close to his voice.

So, that was our prayer when we decided to sit down with the next bank. While waiting in the lobby I prayed that His plan be made clear to us. If it was a no, that we would have peace about it. Going into the meeting I did have the peace that God was in control.

The meeting felt surreal. From the get-go the guy we talked to (Jeff Sproul at RCU GO SEE HIM! He's great) was positive and excited about helping us get into our first home. Everything that had been an issue with other banks was apparently not a problem at all in his eyes. We looked at each other halfway through the meeting like, "is this really happening?"

The next morning we got an email from him with our Pre-Approval letter! I stopped everything I was doing and prayed. Thank you God for YOUR perfect plan.

It was such a reminder for us that we can do nothing without him, and I'm glad, what an amazing peace that we are afforded knowing that He is the one in control. Why do I waste so much time worrying when I should rest in his promise to take care of me?

So, with our Pre-Approval letter in hand we began house hunting!