The Search Continues...

We spent the majority of our Friday and a portion of today looking at possibilities for where we will live next. We're still waiting on the bank to approve the short-sale...so, it's not like we can really accept anything right now, but we wanted to get a look at what might be out there in our price range.

We had 4 appointments scheduled for Friday and another one scheduled for today. We met a realtor guy at Publix at 10:30am Friday morning and he led us to two properties he had available in 2 different communities near where we live now. David fell head over heals in love with the first community we saw. While I will agree that the aminities were nice (they even had their own mini-water park for the kids), the house was a little small for our needs...or so I thought. But, if push came to shove, then I guess we could make it work. It was 3 bedrooms, 2 baths - the bedrooms were pretty small, so I was concerned about the ability to fit our furniture without being cramped, but David seemed to think it would work. The best part about the house itself was that it had a large lanai, which would give Christopher a lot of room to play outside. Another big plus is that it's at the low end of our price range. So, it's still on our possibilities list.

The second place we looked at, both David & I agreed it just wouldn't work for us - for many reasons. When we went to our 2nd appointment (3rd house of the day), we were surprised that realtor (a different one than we'd met this morning) wasn't there to greet us. We walked around and peeked in the windows while we waited, then decided to give him a call. He said he'd left a message on our answering machine a couple hours ago that it had been rented two days ago. So why, you may ask didn't he call us two days ago? We wondered the same question! ;) Oh well...it worked out OK. I got to fit in an AVON appointment that I wouldn't have otherwise been able to schedule that day.

The last appointment of the day was a 3-bedroom plus a den - and while it certainly has possibilities (and the owners seemed to really like us and even said they'd prefer to rent to us), David and I both have reservations about it. It just didn't "feel" right...but we haven't totally ruled it out.

Today, we went for another appointment and this time, it was my turn to fall in love. I knew the community well because we have friends that live there and we used to have our AVON Leadership meetings at the clubhouse there. There's not much available as far as community ammenities - it's a relatively small & basic clubhouse, an OK playground, and it does have 2 pools - a lap pool and a family pool, but no fitness facility (which David would really like to have). But the house, in my opinion, was AMAZING! :) The floor plan was wonderful! It has a nice, big master suite that leads out to the pool/spa & has 2 walk-in closets. :) There are 3 other bedrooms which are nice and all bedrooms can be closed off from the main living area with pocket doors. With the pocket door closed to the front bedroom, it has a private area between the bedroom and the bathroom - so Christopher would not have the bathroom excuse to come out where we were after bedtime...and it would be nice for company as well. The back bedroom also leads out to the pool and is where I envision my office being and there's another bedroom just across from that that could be either David's office or maybe someday a nursery (a girl can hope). The kitchen is large and open with a breakfast nook. I'm just in love. But, David's worried about the lawn & pool maintenance and it is at the top end of our price range, so he's also worried about finances. So, needless to say, we're not quite seeing eye-to-eye on this one. Add to that the fact that there were at least 3 other couples looking at it today and we don't have any idea when we could possibly be ready to move in, and chances are very slim that I'll ever actually live in that house. :( But, I did take lots of pictures, so someday when I can afford to build my own house, I'll take the things I love most about that house and implement them into my dream home! :)

Time to Get Packing!

It's almost surreal. We've only had 3 couples look at our house...the second one made an offer. We just barely had time to get a lock box on the door & not even enough time to get a sign placed out front. It hardly seems real...almost like a dream. But, it's real - it's very real!

The couple seems nice enough - we passed them as we went out to breakfast so they could check out our house in peace. They came early so they could see our house before they went to church (which makes our neighbors happy). They made an offer for the full asking price...which was the high end of what it appraised for. Now, we just need to wait and see if the bank will accept the short sale.

In the mean time, we're doing some serious sorting and packing. I have a feeling we might be on Goodwill's Christmas Card list after we're done - so much just has to go! A lot of what's finding it's way out are the teaching things I just couldn't bear to part with when I cleaned out my classroom. But, chances are we won't find a home with as much storage space as we have here, so it's time to let it go. This has pretty much become David's task because I just become too sentimental and still can't let it go (especially when I think of the money I put into those things & only got to use some of them for a year or less). Oh well...if God leads me back to teaching, I get to go shopping! ;)

The other thing we have to get serious about is finding a new home to live! We've only looked at a few places and only one of them is a real possibility. Thanks to a Google search, Craigslist, Needs News (from our church), and my friends on Facebook...we now have a stack of rental homes to check out in the next few weeks. I'll be calling on those places tomorrow to set up a time when we can come look at them in the next few weeks and see what we find.

When we first told Christopher we were moving, he said in his sweet little fearful voice (tears brimming at his eyes), "But...I love my house...and what about my toys?" Once we both assured him (at different times) that his toys would indeed be coming along with us, he was all about the move! Now, he keeps asking, "Today? Are we moving today?" What has added to his excitement is the fact that a few of the places we've looked at had stairs...which, apparently, is a very exciting novelty to a 5-year-old who has lived his whole life in a single floor home!

I'm hovering between excitement of a new home, nostalgia of the memories we've made in this home, and feeling completely overwhelmed by all that needs to get done! This is the home where David and I began our married life....the only home Christopher has known. The wall in the nursery has a mural of a train & bears that I painted while we were waiting to be matched with Christopher's birth parents. The wall in the kitchen has growth markes where we've chronicled Christopher's growth each year. The mailbox out front has a train & bears resembling the nursery wall that I painted when David & I bought the house. Yes, this house has held a lot of precious memories. The good thing is that while we can't take the nursery wall, the mailbox, or the wall with Christopher's growth marks with us, we can certainly take our memories. Cameras were made for capturing memories. We do have pictures of the nursery wall and I think I've got pictures of the mailbox when it was new somewhere around here. We've got the measurements for Christopher's first 5 years - so we can recreate that on something we can take with us until we find a new home we'll call our own. And we'll always remember the day we brought that precious bundle from God home...that memory is forever etched on my heart!

Please pray for us as we pack and move. Pray that we find a home that will meet all our family's needs in a price range that fits our budget. Pray that we have wisdom to know what to take and what to let go. Pray for strength as we pack boxes and prepare for the move. Just pray! :O)