Monday, February 7, 2011

SOLD!




I've been waiting to write this post a very, very long time. About 18 months actually. For the last year and a half we've been paying 2 mortgage payments. And as you can imagine, it's been very difficult. You might be wondering how in the world we, as semi-intelligent people, ended up with two mortgages, so here's the short version:




Last September the Lord led Scott to serve as music man (not the official title) at a new church, 1 1/2 hours away from where we spent the first 2 years of marriage. We put our house on the market. It showed, literally, dozens of times but no offers were made over the next several months. In the meantime we found a house that we loved for a great price. Neither we nor our families wanted us to rent, so with the generosity and some help from Scott's family we were able to go ahead and make an offer on a house. We assumed the old house would sell quickly because it was a great house for a great price and it had shown so many times...but it didn't. Months went by. I got pregnant after the house had been on the market for almost a year. We had been praying the whole time but being on a 9 month deadline, we started praying quite fervently. A lot. We finally get an offer on the house. Closing date was set but was delayed several times due to issues on the seller's end. My due date and the closing date got closer and closer with every delay. And then, we get the phone call from our realtor: the closing was set and wouldn't be delayed any longer...we were actually going to sell the house after 18 months of praying and hoping.

So, 2 weeks after our little girl was born, we sold our house. Shew. Looking back, I'm not sure if we would or could do anything differently. Paying two mortgage payments isn't pleasant but God provided exactly what we needed on a month to month basis. We learned to trust that the Lord's timing is perfect. We learned to live simply. We learned that material stuff isn't important. We learned how to coupon, how to do without things that we didn't really need, and we learned that we could still be happy and content in the meantime. So even though the Lord's answer to our prayers for a long time was "Wait,"  it made it that much sweeter when He finally said "Yes." 

Despite the fact that we desperately wanted to be rid of that house, it was still a little bittersweet selling the first home that we lived in as a married couple. When we first looked at the house while we were still engaged, I emphatically told Scott that I would NOT live in that house. It had powder blue counter tops and apple wall paper in the kitchen. It had horrible wall paper in every bedroom, shag carpet, and the outside of the house was painted an odd camo-ish green. The linoleum in the kitchen and bathrooms was dingy. 

But I was sadly outnumbered by the men: Scott, my dad, Scott's grandfathers, and even my brother volunteered to improve the house (Men LOVE a fixer-upper). So we bought the house. But the men were good to their word: they tore down a wall, put a cut-out window in the kitchen, tore up all of the carpet and installed hardwood floors. My mom and I  ruined our fingernails tearing down all of the wallpaper. My dad tore out a window, installed a back door,  (there was no way access to the backyard through the house) and built a deck. In the end, it turned out so well. Scott and I loved that little house, even though we had over an acre of yard to maintain and that there was an eye on the stove that insisted on standing straight up. 

We loved our first home and we'll always treasure our memories of being young and newlywed in our first home....but even more than that we LOVE being rid of that mortgage payment. 

And on a completely different note, Baby Girl is 3 weeks old!