OUR FIRST NEW HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't think I can put into words how wonderful and abundantly the Lord has blessed me and my family.  You have to understand, I never DREAMED of owning my own home nor of a house this wonderful.  If you know anything of my background you know how I grew up moving around a lot and some of the hard times my family has had. And when I did think of us buying a house it was always in terms of a small fixer upper. In 4 years the Lord has taken my family so far in both our walk with him and us having a life full of joys, hope and peace. We have gone from depending on food pantries and church paying our rent to Josh becoming a Journeymen Painter and earning very good wages.  I can only lift my hands up in praise to HIM and cry tears of joy and thankfulness. I marvel at how he has taken care of us and provided for EVERY need and how it seems like he has opened this window of heaven on us and let the blessing rain down.

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.   John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have [it] more abundantly.   3 John 1:2 Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.

 If you have been following my journal at all this summer you have seen all the ups and downs we have gone threw searching for a house and how almost by accident we stumbled on this deal.  A newly built stock home in a brand new development that had been unoccupied and they wanted to get some one in there like yesterday.  The sales lady Holli was the most nicest one we have ever met (and we have met several now).  When we thought we were going to go with a different, smaller house we still wanted her and her company to know how well she treated us and our family and how she went the extra mile for us.  But it seemed like God kept directing us back to this house, for he knows the plans he has for us.  They dropped the price, paid ALL of the closing (we did not pay a dime and in fact we are getting money back from them on the closing) the financing worked out so we could get the monthly payment we felt we needed so I would NOT have to go back to work just so we could live in that house.

A house that we all fit in and are not on top of one another.  All these extras that blow me away.. the master bedroom is bigger than our current living room and I have never had my very own bathroom, having a dishwasher is also a first for us. For now until the subdivision is built up more.. we own the Biggest house on the block! A house where we will have a feeling of community with neighbors and streets and side walks that the kids can ride their bikes on or just go for a walk with out worrying about heavy traffic. We are not in between two fire departments like we are in this house so we will not hear sirens all day and night.. it is VERY quiet out there. I am told the schools are very good and has a gifted program that Zane can get tested for.  It is like God read my wish list and checked it off one by one and handed it over to me! 

We met our neighbors and they seem very nice.  An older couple with two girls, 10 & 12 and a dog.. named Lily (will ppl please stop naming thier pets after my children!lol)  They have been waiting for new neibhors with children so thier girls could have someone to play with. They are from Minnasota but have lived in Wisconsin before (close to the town I was born in) so we share a Northern Accent that Josh loves to tease me about sometimes.  And upon talking to them I am glad to hear they are pro-life also.

Yesterday my emotions were like roller coastering.  I woke up waiting and waiting for a call about when the close would be.  Loan Lady called Josh at about 10:30 saying it was set for 3:00 and they would call us with how much we needed to bring to close. We didn't get our van out of the shop because we thought we were going to have to pay at least $300 when we went in for close.  Time kept on ticking away slowly and we were getting nervous that we had not heard back yet.  At 1:30 Josh called the title company.  Title Company Lady said she was sorry that Loan Lady told us it would be at 3:00, the paper work was not all ready just yet and she would call us back when it was all set.  I was almost certain that the close was going to be moved AGAIN and was ready to explode!!  At 3:30 she called back saying we could come in when ever we were ready to sign the papers and we DID NOT need to bring a cashier's check.. we owed NOTHING for the closing costs. I am not exactly sure how it worked out but we were also going to be sent a check for $100 (that about covers the deposit we had put down). I later asked her how often the seller pays all the closing.. she said almost NEVER and it is lucky for us how it worked out that way.  (if you have noticed ppl have been calling us lucky left and right but I say LUCK has nothing to do with it.. IT IS ALL GOD!!!)

I tried to get Josh to dress up better for the closing but he didn't see the point of it.  I at least got him out of his work clothes.  I put on my pearls and wore my fav lime green shirt.  I reasoned that if we are going to sign on such a house we should at least look nice too. Since we did not have to bring any money we went and paid for the van and took all the kids with us to the close.  I am glad they had a box of toys to keep the kids at bay while we signed that mountain of papers.  You think they had to use a whole tree to make all that paper???  As we were signing I could not take my eyes off the Title Lady's wrist.  She was wearing a bracelet similar to the one I had put on my wish list in my journal a few months back (can't find that entry right now)  As we were leaving I asked her where she got it from and told her that it had my fav colors in it and I saw something like it on the net but it was like $30.  She said oh just go to one of the China stores they are very reasonable there.  Then she said, better yet.. here.. and took it off and gave it to me!!!!  Do you see what I am talking about?!!!  Do you see how these blessings seem to be just pouring down on us?!

After the close we drove out to Troy where our house is.  We stopped in town at the grocery store.  We figured we could just pick something up to microwave since there was one built in to the house to use.  As we entered the store Holli our sales lady spotted us. She was doing some of her own shopping and was just leaving.  How funny that we ran into her!  We hugged and she said welcome to the neighborhood and how happy she was for us.

So for our first dinner we had chicken strips and chips and pudding.  Josh and I did get a cheap bottle of Arbor Mist but I can't wait till we do the final move in and share a nice bottle in our Grand Master Suite bedroom lol. Josh has enrolled us in something like a wine of the month club and we just got two very good wines from France and Argentina.  Any one want to give us a wine rack for a house warming gift??

OK.. I have TONS of packing to do.  I tried to put off most of it till I knew 100% that we were going to move.  It seemed iffy for awhile to me and I didn't want to have to do all that and not end up moving.  Josh is going to his mom's this weekend with a truck to bring stuff she is giving us to the new house and some stuff she wants to keep in storage.  I am sure I am going to be taking boxes and things to the new house over the next week or so but the BIG finnal move is set for the weekend of the 12th.

And I also wanted to say  THANK YOU to all my friends who have been cheering me on threw all this with your comment and prayers!!!!!!  I wish I could have you all over for wine and cheese or a BBQ.