Major Life Changes

So much has been happening in our little family lately but the biggest has been the sale of our home.

We decided to put our house on the market August 1st and a month and a half later we had it sold. Thankfully, we didn't have to move so we had the freedom to sort of relax through the process and wait for the right buyer. Well, God had the right buyer in mind for sure! The details are too personal to share here, but let's just say that we ended up having a LOT of freedom with the closing date and then even had the opportunity to rent from the gracious new owners if we hadn't found a new house by then. We felt that was totally and 100% from God and it gave us a peace about finding the right house and not just settling.

We had pretty much decided and come to terms with the fact that we were going to end up renting for a while. We'd looked at so many houses and the one seemed to be nowhere out there. We had a sort of hard wish list to accommodate and I am sure that didn't help, but we wanted to move to the next house and really settle in (for the long haul...no  more moves in the near future) so it needed to feel right and have what we were looking for.

Some of our wish list included:

Large lot (3-10 acres) - The lot we are on has 5!!!
Neighbors nearby (Shawn wanted a retreat from the city, but I am home with the kids so while being out a bit was appealing I need neighbors so that I don't scare myself and in case something happened and I needed a human being nearby...the new house has the best of both worlds...neighbors, but the backyard goes straight to a wooded area and you can't see side neighbors so it feels like you are all alone)
Flat backyard and flat driveway (for the kids a playset & for bike riding)
Basement (the new house does not have this...but after looking and looking, I decided that basements freak me out so we are going to build a storm shelter above ground)
4 Bedrooms (the new house has only 3, but LOTS of space to add on to the house and Shawn is super excited about that possibility in the future)
Kids play room/school room (we got this!!!)
Character, character, character (our first home had TONS of character...large baseboards, original wood floors, cute exterior....and our new house has these things too plus a staircase that takes my breath away!!!)
Good school district

When we pulled up to the house I just knew it was right. The space felt right. The location felt right. Plus, I adored the look of the outside. *I want to post pics, but even though all the paperwork has been signed, we haven't closed and are working through the inspection part right now. I just don't feel right posting a pic of a house that isn't ours just yet*

I kept glancing over at Shawn as we toured it for the first time hoping and praying that he was feeling the same way I was. I don't know how to explain it, but when we walked in it automatically felt like the place we could raise our kids. I imagined us coming home from ballgames, I saw our Christmas tree set up, I imagined a play-set in the backyard and saw many family dinners on the screened in porch (MAJOR bonus that we are beyond excited about!).

The timing of finding this house was absolutely perfect. Even though we found it weeks after we sold our house, the closing date on the two is the same day! Such a God thing! Also, we think we will still have the ability to rent from the new owners of our current house for a few days to a week to help with the move as well.

I can't wait to finally post pictures and I honestly can't wait to just get over there already. :) The house inspires me and the thought of spending the holidays there makes me so happy! We have a ton of work to do before we can actually move. We need to have a garage sale, finalize all the inspection stuff on both houses, and pack! So, if I am sparse on the blog for the next month, you will know why!