It's Ours! Part 2

Read Part 1 Here.

~It really is amazing how God can work in such quiet, yet amazing ways that if you don't pay close enough attention you don't even realize He had His hand in it all along.~

It's Ours! It is really ours! I'm typing this blog from the kitchen of our new house. Here's the story of all the God things that happened in the process of us getting this new house.

On March 31st as my mother happened to be driving past the house, she saw the sign go up in the yard... remember we'd been waiting and waiting MONTHS for the sign to go up and she just happened to see it the moment it happened. She immediately called me and told me. We called the realtor and he said we couldn't get in yet. Well then our realtor, my Aunt Brenda... who is amazing by the way, called and convinced him to let us in that night. So we got in to the house that night. It was perfect. Just perfect. sigh.... I knew the list price was probably way too expensive at this point. Brenda then told me that the list price was yet to be determined. She figured it would be around $225,000. There was NO way we could do that. We drove home with such mixed emotions. We loved it, but knew it probably wouldn't happen.

My mom came and looked at it with us. When she arrived home she got a call from my grandma in Virginia. I had talked to my grandma about the house when they visited in September and also at Christmas, but I hadn't spoken a word to her about it since then. She called mom just to ask if Andy and I had heard anything about the house. She had been praying for us and was thinking about it... God moment? My grandparents are two of the most spiritual people I've ever known. I have no doubt their prayers had a hand in this whole situation, along with the prayers of many others- thank you all.

The next morning I woke up and got a call about the price... much lower than we'd expected... $160,000. Brenda was shocked, as were many other realtors in her office and in town. There was no explanation for the price being so low. I truly believe God has his hand in this as well... he wasn't going to give us more than we could handle. We had to move fast to make an offer. Other realtors in Brenda's office had clients making offers which meant many others in town probably did as well.

The timing of the house going on the market was perfect for us. Back in September when we'd gone to the courthouse stairs to try and get it, the time wasn't right. It would have been a real stretch for us financially... no matter the price. The house went on the market just a few days after we'd gotten back our tax money and built a bit more of a savings cushion. We were in a much better financial situation now, then we were back in September. God knew we couldn't afford it back in September.

We had to have an inspection before we could make an offer. So just two days after seeing the house we had a friend of my parents come and do an inspection on the house. It was a yucky cloudy day, but while we were at the house the sun came out and shined for a while. Everything just felt so right that day at the house. Also, while we were there I noticed one yellow tulip growing in the backyard. I know it was spring, but this was the FIRST tulip I'd seen this spring. It was beautiful. Also this day I noticed the flowers and the hummingbird on one of the ceiling fans in the bedrooms. I knew if we got the house, that had to be Luke's room. Sure enough it was the one he wanted. :)

For some reason, we decided we wanted to go to Town Square Bank where Andy's cousin is the VP to talk about how much we could finance. We could've gone with the bank our current mortgage was with, or gone with financing that our realtor's guy could've gotten us, but Andy felt we needed to go with Town Square. I told my parents the name of the guy Andy was going to meet with at the bank and they knew him from church. The banker knew exactly the type of financing that HUD (who was selling us the house) would want and we qualified. I am so thankful that God lead us to go with Town Square instead of our other options. I feel very sure that because of the way Mr. Burton did our financing, our offer was accepted.

Some other small things- Andy's parents knew our neighbors', the man was the father of one of Andy's dad's groomsmen. The church we were married at is now behind the fence in our backyard. Each time we came to look at the house the neighbor on the other side would come out and talk to us... it all felt so comfortable.

Throughout this whole process I truly believed God was calling me to this house, I just knew he wanted us here for some reason. I had dreams about the inside of the house before we saw it, and when I went it the house for the first time it looked a lot like it had in my dreams. Throughout this process I prayed a lot... praying for God's will to be done, not necessarily for us to get the house.

I remember waking up the day we were supposed to find out which offer was accepted. I woke up really feeling at peace... either way. I knew God would take care of us and if He wanted us at the new place we would be at the new place.

My mom called me and said, "Do you think we got it?" I said no. The she screamed, "YOU GOT IT!!" So exciting. She explained there had been a higher offer than ours and one right near ours, but ours was accepted... God moment again. I remember feeling a calm peace when she told me. When we got off the phone I just cried. I knew God wanted us to move and He had taken care of it all.

God gave us this house and we will do His will with it whatever that may be. We will use this house for whatever He has in store for us. Thank you God for this wonderful blessing.

"Mommy, My ear is cracked!"

Yesterday was the first rainy day in many weeks for us, so Yaya came over and helped us hang a few pictures and rearrange some furniture. Luke and Emma were running around in the house when all of the sudden I heard a big bang right behind me and then Emma started to cry. I knew it wasn't going to be good. I ran over and picked her up. I didn't initially see anything wrong... no bumps or cuts. She had fallen and bumped into an end table that Yaya and I were moving into another room. In the midst of moving it we apparently left it right in her path. After holding her for a few moments I realized there was blood coming from somewhere. I noticed it was in her hair, then I saw her poor ear. She had fallen ear first on the end table and cut her ear pretty good. Yaya again... like she'd done last week when Luke busted his tooth.... went and got me a wet wash cloth. Lots of blood in this family lately... sigh. I tried to clean it off as best I could but I could tell it was hurting a lot. I examined the back of the ear and noticed another cut on the back as well, but it had not got all the way through. It was cut, swollen and very bruised... already. I didn't think it needed stitches, but I thought I ought to call her doctor just in case. Considering it was her ear, I didn't want to take any chances. Her doctor told us to come on in and she would check it out. Emma by this time had stopped crying and seemed to be feeling lots better, but her ear just kept looking more swollen and bruised and was still bleeding. As we were leaving for the doctor Emma said, "Wait Mommy. I want to get teddy." Teddy is a white bear that Molly and Chad got for her when she was born. She has just recently become attached to it.

At the doctor Emma was such a little champ. Dr. Ogden was able to get it all cleaned up and she had to put three layers of glue on the cut on the back and the cut on the front of the ear. It took about 45 minutes and Emma just laid on the table very still the whole time clinging to teddy and holding my hand. She never cried and hardly moved during the whole process. The nurses and Dr. Ogden all bragged about how well behaved she was during the whole ordeal. She got 8 stickers and 2 lollipops from the nurse. The nurse also gave her some stickers to bring to Luke because I think he felt pretty bad that Emma had gotten hurt.

After the Dr. we went and got some purple dinosaur ice cream at Bruster's and we brought Mr. Luke some home. Emma seemed fine. Once we arrived home I showed her her ear and she had a very concerned look on her face and said, "Mommy. My ear is cracked. Put a band aid on it!" Love her.

We have to keep it iced and keep it dry for 3 days, but the Dr. said it would heal quickly. So it will only be "cracked" for a few more days!

*WARNING- These pictures are not for the faint of heart*

Her cracked ear.


again.


Icing it before bed. Luke readin her a story and Daddy yawning. :)

All I want for my birthday is my 2 front teeth!

Luke lost both his front teeth for his 6th birthday... in a semi-dramatic fashion. Tuesday, the day before his birthday, Luke, Emma, Syd, Bruce and Shelby were all playing over at Yaya and Grandpa's house while Jennifer, Dawn and I were at Bunco. When we came to pick the kiddos up, they were kind of rough housing in the backyard. Luke already had a top front tooth that was very loose and the other that was kind of loose. Well in the midst of the rough housing, Luke took an elbow in the mouth from Syd. His tooth was bleeding like crazy and he starting crying. Luke NEVER cries unless he is really hurt. So I ran over to him and saw the blood. I then looked for his tooth, it was barely hanging on. Yaya ran and got a wet towel and we stopped the bleeding. When the bleeding stopped, the crying stopped. I think it really scared him to see all that blood. poor kid. Then we Grandpa came out and pulled the tooth out. The other tooth was knocked pretty loose, but Grandpa thought it was still not ready to pull, so we left it alone.

The next morning, Luke's birthday, he was eating breakfast and his other tooth came out! The tooth fairy is now broke after two nights in a row at the Johns' house! haha!! But Luke has no more loose teeth right now, so she can have a break for a while! :)

My boy is 6!

Last Wednesday was Luke's sixth birthday. We had his birthday party down at Granny and Papa Johns' farm again. He had lots of friends and family there and we went on the "spooky trail," the "grass maze" (which was a new addition that Papa made for this year's party), played on the merry go round, played games in the big yard and had a wonderful time. For party favors, we had clay pots for each kid to decorate and them they got to plant a petunia in their pot and take it home with them. I think everyone had a good time with it! :)

For his birthday Luke requested plants and flowers. After last year's party Luke said, "Mom why did everyone buy me toys? I wanted flowers." Well this year he got tons of flowers and we just got them all in the ground here at the new house. We actually needed some flowers here. Luke was outside at about 8AM the morning after his party figuring out where to put all his new plants and he has watered them every day since. Love that kid.














The farm truly is the perfect place for a party! It was such a fun day!

Luke's last day of kindergarten!

It's hard to believe my little boy is done with kindergarten. It seems like time is going by so quickly. I mean people always tell you it will... but really... so fast.


Here is a picture of Luke of his FIRST day of kindergarten:


And here he is on the LAST day:


I can't get over how grown up he looks. He looks like such a little boy in the first picture. He learned so much in kindergarten. He is reading quite well, but I am most impressed with his ability to write. He wrote some "short" stories and he is sounding out words so well. He is also excellent at math. :) I am so proud of my sweet boy after his first year of school.

I absolutely loved his sweet teacher. Luke wanted to bring his teacher a calla lilly as her end of the year present. She just loved it and said it was the perfect gift from Mr. Luke.



He had a wonderful year in kindergarten and is already looking forward to first grade.

God is good.

I am seriously overwhelmed by all the people who are praying for us. My former high school teacher told me my cousin had put us on her prayer list at church and they were all praying for us. Mom's teacher friends, so much family, and friends tell me all the time that they are praying for us. People I run into at Wal-Mart that I know and have seen my posts on Facebook and told me they are praying for our house to sell. I am so thankful for each and every one of these prayers. Prayer is so powerful. Thanks to each of you for all your prayers. Please know I am praying for you as well.

We have so many wonderful friends and family as well. My cousin Carol has been at my house almost everyday for two weeks now helping (actually doing most) paint each room. She has been such a blessing. I am not sure any of that painting would've been done without her! My parents have helped me every day... move boxes, organize the new house, watch the kids, pick Luke up from school... whatever I need. I am so thankful for them. So many friends have stopped in to see the new place... some have helped move some boxes, some even helped with the painting. Andy's parents helped us move some furniture out of their basement. move stuff out of a storage unit, and then bought us a new riding lawn mower. They are the best.

Moving Day is Saturday... we've had countless offers by people to help us move, let us borrow trucks, watch the kids while we move etc. We are so fortunate to be surrounded by so many wonderful people. God is good.

I can't wait to share this new house with ALL these wonderful people God has put in my life. so blessed. :)