Hello Home!

Hello Home! You read that right... after a grueling year of heartache and challenges, victories and valleys, we FINALLY have a place to call home! The last few days have been somewhat of a blur, and I'm still trying to catch my breath. Let's catch up!

We've been in this process for a year, and had grown weary of the house selling / building / buying cycle. The market in our area is SUPER VOLATILE! It's basically like a cattle auction... goes to the highest bidder with the most due diligence, and earnest money not needed. After multiple failed attempts to get an offer accepted, and the devastation of losing out on our DREAM home - the Heath Dairy House on 9 acres - back in April, we were just DONE. We needed some reprieve. So we took a much-needed vacation, and it was exactly what we needed! When we got back home, instead of jumping full force back into the home situation, we just decided to coast for a week or two.

A few months ago, we looked at a house in the next county over. We loved it, but ultimately decided against it because we reallllllly wanted a few acres of land. About 3 or 4 weeks ago, my husband was back over that way for our son's baseball game. He had some time to kill so he drove through the neighborhood, and noticed one of the builders we met with & loved was starting a new house on the same street, but the foundation had just been laid (in more ways than one, apparently. lol) On Sunday, he told me about the house and said he wanted to drive over to see what it looked like framed up. When we got there, it had a country style, farmhouse porch... I'm a sucker for a great, southern porch so we stopped to walk through it! It was really rough - just a frame, windows, and a roof. However, as we walked through, we could see the potential and this house is quite something! The floor plan is wonderful, and would be super functional for our family's needs. It reminded us so much of the Heath Dairy house that we loved so much.

So that night my husband reached out to see what the price was, and if it was even in our budget. We were not really hopeful based on our estimate of the sq. footage and with the current market trend in our area. Surprisingly, the next day when the builder's grandson (who happens to be his office administrator) got back to us, and it was within our range! We scheduled a meeting for later that afternoon to walk through it again and get an idea of what had already been chosen. As we walked it with the builder we found that nothing had been chosen yet, and we would get to design it from the ground up! The timeline also worked, which was huge! So after a little chatting, we had peace... this was it! Our realtor got the paperwork together, and as of Tuesday we bought a house!

Finally, a light at the end of the tunnel! There was no bidding war, the process was simple, and we'd still get the benefit of building but not have to carry the construction loan! There will be lots of new opportunities for our family, we'll actually be centrally located to all of our friends, and we can still attend our church!

Here she is!

I can already see it... a white farmhouse with chestnut/walnut beams, topiaries flanking the door! A few rocking chairs on the front porch, and maybe a swing! Wouldn't peonies look beautiful along the porch? A garden and a picnic table around back. The possibilities are endless.

The estimated completion is Sept 1st, and we are closing on the 15th, leaving a little wiggle room to finish early or push back a few weeks if needed.

I've always been told that God works in mysterious ways, and that seems to be true from my experience. He had plans for us that we could have never imagined, and had finally answered our prayers for a home in a much different way than we expected. While we fail Him often, the Lord has been so faithful in caring for us, and to Him be all the glory. I pray that this home will be bathed in prayer and that when others walk through the door, they immediately feel His presence.

• Kimberly •