Accepting “No” for an answer

No.
We got a “No.”
Not from the seller, but from God.
Once we realized that all the doors were being closed, and reasoned out that we should just stay put until we feel God moving us, we had so much peace.
In fact, we met our landlord for the first time today!
He was wonderful, and he and his dad kept talking about how well we have cared for the house. He was very excited to see it in such great shape (even though to my standards, it wasn’t clean) and asked us to please stay as long as we can. He told us he will be very flexible with us as far as rent goes–allowing us to pay late, or with several payments, etc.
It was a great meeting, he and his family were very nice.

Sometimes God says, “No,” because he wants to bless you!

Ready to give up

I never knew buying a home would be such a struggle.
Just when everything looks perfect, our legs are cut out from under us.

Twin Hurricanes

Check this out: The Miami Sun-Sentinel has great imagery on Gustav and Hanna.
Check out their “Hurricane Central” page and click on ‘cool map’ for some really cool weather predictions.

Making an offer

Today we found a house. It’s not a huge house, actually, it’s rather modest in size.

BUT, I love it. Big garden bathtub, and a separate shower in the master bath. Nice kitchen. Tile in the kitchen and baths.

Nice price tag. We put the bid in today!

Count Down to Home Ownership

Well.
We got our pre approval today.
And a deadline.
In order to get the down payment assistance, we must have an executed contract to our broker by August 31st.
Yep. Sunday.

AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!

Okay. I am picking up my realtor after an appointment in the morning and going to look at 6 houses in one subdivision. I like the subdivision, and the houses are priced very nicely!

I’ll update in a day or two.

The search continues…

Well, I thought we were going to put in an offer on a house this week.

However, the more I thought about how far out of town the house was, the more emotional I got about it. I called Ronnie crying and saying, “I don’t want to live out there!

So, we continue the search. I am exhausted. I am beginning to hate looking at houses.

This is such an emotional process as well. I had no idea it was going to be so overwhelming and frustrating.

One house has everything we are looking for, but in the wrong part of town. Another has almost everything we are looking for, but it’s too small. Then there are others that are just out of our price range or someone has just snatched it out of our hands. It is a relentless, exhausting process, and if I never do this again for the rest of my life, I will die a happy woman!

So far, no house and PBJ Butterflies

Well. It’s been a long, exhausting week. I’ve been all over town to look at houses and we haven’t found the perfect one yet. I can feel we are getting closer, but we haven’t gotten there yet. So, please keep us in your prayers.

Yesterday Melody asked for a “Butterfly sandwich” for lunch. I told her I couldn’t do that. Then, my creative brain took over, and this is what emerged:

PB&J Butterflies!

Directions:
1. Make a sandwich (any sandwich on loaf bread will do).
2. Cut on the diagonal, both ways.
3. Cut desired cheese into long sticks.
4. Arrange cheese and sandwich pieces in a butterfly shape as shown.
5. Use writable icing for the antenna!

You could also use the writable icing to decorate the top of the sandwich as well. IF you want to load your kids up on sugar, that is!

It’s a Big Big House…

Well. I looked at the house today, and I love it.
It is really ridiculously huge, with plenty of room for the kids to grow up in.
There is a place for everything, with some minor adjustments.
Please keep us in your prayers as we go through the financing.
It is a bank foreclosure–the builder went bankrupt–so they are kinda particular.
In our favor is that the house has been on the market for over a year!
They are ready to get it off their books.

Light at the end of the tunnel

Well, through my frustration with the broker, we may have found a home. I decided to just communicate with the broker through our RE agent. She is much nicer and a Christian, even praying with us at one house for God’s perfect will, not His permissive will.

After Sunday afternoon house looking, I came home to find another home listed on the mls. It’s big, and in our price range. AND, much to Ronnie’s liking, it’s new, never lived in! So, I go today at 1:30 to take a look at it. If I like it, I have Ronnie’s permission to put the ernest money down. Wow! This could be it.

Keep praying!

At a Loss

Well, our home search is going terribly.
Our broker-if you can call him that-hardly answers any questions for me. I’ve emailed him and asked several times about specific things, and he never answers.
The house I really liked is option pending. We looked at one yesterday that I like, but now I’m nervous about the loan process, down payment assistance, etc, etc, etc.
This is all so overwhelming.