Change of Homestead...



The view from our back porch



Oh my. First, I am going to apologize for being away so long... Second, I am going to try to make a resolution to keep up at least weekly with our blog.... And third, well, it's great to be back on!! I missed you guys and look forward to sharing the TONS of changes that has happened in just this last 6 months for us!!

There is so much that has happened, that I guess that there is no where to start but at the top!!

So!! About one year ago, my husband and I, after feeling maybe we should sell our home, our most favorite place yet, to help us get out of debt, put our place on the market. We aren't Dave Ramsey people (though I know he has lots of great advise). We just knew that in uncertain times, we just didn't want to be stuck with such large payments on a home. We decided to try to sell and either have NO house payments, or at least a lot lower one. So, in January of 2012, with blind faith that our house would sell in a bad market, we put that sign up in our front yard.

I cried. My husband wouldn't admit to it but I think he probably cried too. We worked hard on that house and raised our beautiful boys for 5 years there... So many wonderful memories... But we felt God wanted something more for us, so we continued to pray. We started to look at repo homes, not finding much but knowing that is where our price range would be... In April, we had an offer on our home, one that offered nearly everything that we asked. We knew God had plans. So, we proceeded. With the buyers financing, we had to be out of our home at the end of June. 2 weeks before 4H fair (ugh!) and 3 weeks before our family was to go on our first mission trip to Nicaragua.

Where were we going to live? How were we going to find a home? There weren't but a few repo homes on the market and we had already put in 2 full offers on 2 homes and got outbid!! The stress was really on but again we knew God must have plans.

My husband's sister and her family were actually going to stay in Nicaragua the whole summer and needed someone to take care of their home and dog. So the day they left, was the day we needed to be out of our house. We took a few things with us and moved the rest into a giant storage garage.

Within the first few days, our realtor called us with a house to check out. It sounded a little higher than our price range but could still be do-able if there was less work to be done... We went and checked it out... And fell in love!! Could God really be answering our prayers with this place? The place came on the market during 4H, we put in another full offer, and heard a few days before we left for Nicaragua that our offer had been accepted!! We had a home!! BUT, all the financing still had to go through... So we got home from 9 days in Nicaragua and had to wait. Ugh!! We absolutely HAD to be out of my sister-in-laws home before they came back mid-August!!

One week before we had to be out of our "summer home", as we liked to call it, we signed papers and had the keys to our NEW homestead.

That only meant one thing... We had ONE WEEK to paint, floor and move our stuff into our new place!

But with help from our awesome friends and family, we did it!! In one week, we prepared the home and moved in! We were close to a lake ( a beautiful blue lake with lots of fishing).  We are now on a SMALLER property than we had before but alot can still be done on one acre.... 

That's about where we are now... 

Next post, I will be sharing with you the BIG changes going on here and what will be coming up next!!

If you are still around, we would love to hear how things are going for YOU!! 



Sunset over the lake