Buying a House--Status Update

So, we are putting a contract on a house today. Repair costs are at $20,000. We are praying that the bank is motivated to get the property off their books and will accept our offer.

Put on your prayer socks, good vibe hats, and wish us luck!

Chills and Thrills--Speed Style, Again

Still busy. Still seeing houses. Right now we are deciding between two different ones. Very different ones. Well, they are both on corner lots.

Merritt is still teething and is now practising his crawling skills in his crib. Makes for very unpeaceful nap times.

Everett has regressed to being 10 months old, unless he feels the need to pinch Merritt, then he is his regular toddler age.

Erik is slammed at work and home.

Sheila is still crazy, neurotic, obsessive, and wants resolution. Nothing new here.

Chills and Thrills--Speed Style

We are so busy right now. I have several posts that I need to finish and several I should start and finish. I just don't have the time right now.

The boys are growing. Merritt is 6 months. Whooo-hooo! He is so much fun and is all over the place, constantly getting caught under the couch and other weird places. He is teething major something right now.

Everett is feeling some tension. He has had a rough couple of days. He just went poop in the potty which is great because 1) he has been constipated and 2) I stopped potty training him because he just ended up losing interest. He was very interested in making sure his poops got in the potty today.

Erik is busy with a new calling of ward employment specialist. It is one of those ambiguous but extremely key roles in our ward right now. Our ward is suffering from some pretty severe unemployment, every week someone else loses their job. He is also busy with several initiatives at work.

I am freaking crazy trying to find us a place to live. Sometimes I feel like Goldilocks without the "just right" in sight. We have a place to stay in a smaller apartment when we need to vacate this one, just signed the lease yesterday. But, we don't really, uh, have furniture or dishes or towels or pots or pans or an iron or a toaster. We have a blowup mattress and the boys each have their own beds. That's it. So, I am eager to find a place to live so that we don't have to rent a storage unit for the mondo loads of stuff we have in storage. I am pushing for one move. period. for. all. that. stuff.

We are working on seeing houses as much as we can. Family is filling in as much as their schedules allow to help with watching Everett.

I am ready for transition time to be done.

Squealing and Running

This is of the boys yesterday afternoon. Everett is trying to run off some energy, I think. Merritt is screaming right along with Everett. They started doing this in the living room while I was finishing up something in another room. In one piece of this, you can sort of make out Merritt's belly laugh.

Newest News and Decision

I once had someone tell me that reading this blog was interesting due to the fact that we always had something going on in our lives. I figured that once we ended up in suburbia that our lives would become boring and readership would drop. Well, we've got new drama, so to speak.

20% of Erik's division was laid off today. That is one out of every five people, people. They lay off by seniority. Erik has been there 3 months. Unbelievably, he was not cut. Whether he'll be kept long term is going to be decided in the next 6 months. AND, we have 30 days to find a place to live, pack what belongs to us here, get out, and be reunited with the belongings that have been in storage. (leaving me pining for the other 45 days that were cut)

So, do we turn to looking at rentals with the knowledge that we'll have to move 2 more times instead of once more? Or do we take the plunge believing he won't be cut and buy a home RIGHT NOW resulting in possibly only one more move in our immediate future. I don't know.

I guess we have to figure it out pretty soon, huh?

We are grateful to have a job.

Dallas Zoo With Gramma and Poppa

At Play . . . With Goodbyes

When Daddy travels, things become rough around here. Dada is the early morning playmate, the evening playmate, and the ever present night-time book reader. Everett has a difficult time when Erik goes away . . . far away.

In order to alleviate some of that sadness and "missing" feeling, we have started sending messages with magical balloons. You know the kind, the ones with helium. We write our message on our balloon and send it off. It will go where-ever Dada goes. And I mean, where-ever.

This week, Erik was in RURAL Iowa.

This was the scene at 4:30 in Texas (Evy chose red, Mommy and Merritt chose white):

At 4:45 we were at the requested release site (playground near work---per Everett):

Release at 4:50:

Bye-Bye, Balloons, (jibber-jibber) Dada!

At 5:10, a call from Erik: Hey Guys! Two balloons, a red one and white one, just showed up and gave me a special message. Thank You!

Everett was delighted and talked of the balloons and the special message for the rest of the week instead of his sadness.

Buying a House--Foreclosures

Foreclosures make me sad. We have seen several, and if you look carefully, you'll see past the mess that most of them are in and see the investment that many families had put into their homes.

One home had young fruit trees in the back with garden plots. In several years, the trees will be bulging with fruit and the owner will be able to take advantage of those trees. I bet the trees' original gardeners had no idea that they would never see that day in that home.

Some foreclosures are dirty with the typical dirt that comes with people moving and not sending in the cleaners. Some foreclosures are showing signs of extended neglect from not having occupants to care for them with weeds crawling everywhere, leaves settling in places that should be clean, and mounds of ant hills in the back (I'm in Texas, people). Some foreclosed properties were abused and show terrible signs of anger and sadness--holes in walls, walls burned above the fireplace, banisters blasted from their supporting places, and blatant physical abuse and neglect.

Some of these properties are in such disrepair and need so much help that I am afraid it will be a long time before someone has the vision and bank to buy, clean, heal, and rebuild those homes.

I think I am drawn to foreclosures because of the sadness I feel for these properties and some sadness for those that lost their homes. Homes have always have held a human personification for me. I don't know why. Maybe it is because when you walk into someone's home you can immediately get a sense of how happy the homeowners are . . . .

I am drawn to foreclosures party because I want it to be a happy home. I want someone to take care of that home before it rots away becoming the haunted house of the neighborhood overrun by plants, rodents, and other pest-y creatures.

Today I saw a foreclosure that has great potential for our family. (Don't get me wrong, we are seeing lots of homes, just not foreclosures.) It is a bit further out in the country than I am currently comfortable with . . . a kind of discomfort that comes from moving from a BUSY part of the world to a not so busy part of the world. A bit of sadness though, as I opened the door to the garage and saw a Radio Flyer red wagon all alone in the middle of the floor like it momentarily abandoned by its owner who will return shortly.

I hope the reason they didn't take it with them was because the kids had outgrown it.

Maybe it is a sign that the home is right for my boys--and, wouldn't you know . . . we don't have a red wagon just yet.

Merritt Road

Someone in Iowa inspired enough to recognize an awesome name.

Movin' Movin' Movin'

Merritt has been rolling and rolling for a couple of weeks now. He has added scooting on his back to his movement. He is also pretty good at pulling up his legs while he is on his belly. I LOVE it!

Not to compare my kids, but it was ages upon ages upon ages before Everett got moving. I am grateful we won't have the same issues with Merritt.

I'm A Model

Happy Mother's Day

My Self Portrait-The Only Picture That Was Taken

Night Time

Evy for the past couple of weeks has been sleeping in a tent that fits nicely on his toddler bed. Every once in awhile, he'll decide to sleep on the floor. But EVERY night we have the night wanderings. You know the kind--where you have to walk him back to his room 400 million times.

Tonight, this is what I found at 9:00. When I saw him, he said,"I brought my animals." As if that would entice me to comply with his request of,"I wanna watch the show."

Buying a House--Huh?

So we are looking to buy a house. One of our options is to buy a foreclosed home and repair it. Foreclosed homes make me so sad.

Anyway, I've been doing some research on some of the more major issues that are common with foreclosures . . . one of which is cat pee. Doing the research I came across a guy who did find a great company to get rid of the odorous issue. In his explanation to give credibility he says, "……they used the same method on my house that they use when cleaning up after the human corpse had been in the house for a long time………"

WHAT? A HUMAN corpse was in your house?

I'll be sure to be more cautious when going into homes now.

Peeking

I know that I've been under a rock for several months now. I don't watch the news. I don't read the paper. I feed baby and toddler, potty train toddler, and try to get as much sleep as possible. Last night I turned on the television to a non-HGTV station. (gasp, I know)

Who gave Jimmy Fallon a late night show? Is this really a good idea? It was clear last night that he needs better writers for his monologue. Serious. I miss his news anchor desk.

And what does it say about me that out of all the things I've been missing this made the biggest impression?

THANK YOU!

Weak Link, newly strengthened

This is a written account of what has occurred over the last little bit, or couple of years; it encapsulates a more detailed account of our transition to Texas and the sale of our house. It will probably be boring, but I need to catalogue it.

Long ago, a friend of mine said that he once thought that the weak link in the gospel of Jesus Christ was faith.

Around two years ago, something was pushing me. Something was off kilter, and the feeling left me feeling like I wanted to go home. Turn the clock to around six months later, and I was pretty miserable. I wanted, needed, nay, craved a change. For me, that ended up recognizing through prayer that we need to go home to Texas.

To get us there, Erik had job leads, interviews, verbal offers, and then nothing. n-o-t-h-i-n-g. We met with our realtor to get a sense of what it would take to sell the house. It was going to take a lot of money. The real estate market was not like it was when we bought our place. We didn't buy at the height of the market. We saw an increase of $100,000 in appreciation for our townhome as we lived our lives there, and then we saw a loss of $100,000 in depreciation. And, realtor fees. . . . 6% of a lot of money is a lot of money. And, since we lived where we lived, there were other fees, costs, expenditures, and more ways that required more money than I could count.

So, we saved and sacrificed and saved and sacrificed and saved some more. When I quit my job, we needed to draw on those savings to make ends meet. I was angry sometimes when we had to use our savings to take care of daily living when those savings were earmarked for getting out of our house. I almost felt like I was trapped. What if we used all the savings before we had a chance to move? I knew that our family needed to get back to Texas. I just couldn't figure out why accomplishing that was so hard.

It was made very clear to me that part of what we needed to do before leaving DC was to go through the fertility process before moving. In fact, we started the process several months earlier than I would have even considered if I hadn't had that strong prompting that we needed to move. Later, it became clear that being in DC for the pregnancy was the best situation for all of us.

When the stars aligned this January, and it was clear that we were coming back to Texas with a job, the cost of selling our home was going to potentially put us in a situation that we might have to short sale or foreclose. GASP! Shudder! Vomit! Faint and pull my hair out! All that planning and all that work. All that prayer and all those sacrifices.

At that point, I told Erik that my faith was weak and that if we came out of this okay I would need to stop questioning my Heavenly Father so much. God and I had many a heated conversation . . . okay, maybe I was the one that was mad and He just listened.

At every point that we had to spend more money to sell our house (because it all had to be picture perfect in this market), I just saw our savings dwindle away. I saw our car fund fade into dust and then fly off particle by particle. I saw any leftover money for our next home move over into the "sell Reston house" pile. I saw our emergency money go to the "sell Reston house" pile. I had to start counting on our devalued retirement accounts as money to get rid of the house. We were going to have to get rid of all our assets, and I was sick and upset.

I had no idea that I was that emotionally tied to money. When we ran the numbers and the reality of the situation hit us, I felt like there was a death in the family. If we didn't sell the house before our property lost further value, then our credit would be crushed. Yes, there are worse things, no doubt about it. The issue is that we had worked so hard to avoid that situation. We had made sacrifices to prepare for the move back to Texas.

There were moments when I felt foolish and questioned our decision to buy when we did and to sell when we were selling. Self-doubt can be so exhausting.

We had prayed about buying the townhouse in 2004 before we bought it, and it was clear that it was the place to live and start our family. Through prayer, we knew that it was time to get back to Texas, now. Why were we to sacrifice so much to get into a place and then feel the exquisite financial pain to leave it? I don't know. There were plenty of moments when I doubted the process, where I doubted the Lord's plan for me and my family. Life just doesn't follow logic and I was struggling with that.

All I could do was put my big girl pants on and pray, oh, and whine to my family and beg for their good vibes and prayers. (THANKS, Family!) And to top that off, I was totally sleep deprived, a shadow of my physical and intellectual capabilities because I was taking care of a newborn.

So, we spit polished the townhouse, put it on the market, hoped for the best, and moved to Texas.

Through the process of selling our townhome, we were calmed by the fact that we had tons of foot traffic going through the home. We had priced it well.

Since we were one of the first townhomes on the market for this season, all the other houses for sale used our mark as one to beat, including two other townhomes on our street. Talk about competition. At one point, as the season started to heat up, over 25 townhomes in our demographic went on the market in 10 days. A couple weeks into the process, we dropped the price by $10,000 to undercut that competition.

It showed EXTREMELY well. But, buyer after buyer gave feedback that they just wanted two bathrooms on the top level, not one. (BTW, the townhouse already had two and a half baths.) So, we brought contractors through the home to see how much it would cost. Several years ago, we were told that would cost close to $20,000. Let me tell you that I was apoplectic about the fact that we were going to have to add a bathroom to sell our place.

The contractors varied in price, but we were able to settle on a contractor who could do the work for around $6,000. I called Fairfax County to see what permits we would need.

We would need five permits. And, no, I can't apply by phone or fax. I, being the homeowner, have to go in person to apply for the permits ,and it would most likely take several trips to the permit office to get everything in order.

This was it. The end of my rope. We waited a week to make the decision. Our realtor contacted previously interested buyers letting know of the drawn bathroom plans and cost. "We'd put the money in escrow, etc." No contracts came through in that week we waited. We were going to have to make a decision. And, it would have to be that we were going to put the dang bathroom in . . . sigh.

The same day that we were going to call the realtor and go ahead with the construction and work out a return trip with babies in tow to get the dang permits, our realtor called us. There was an offer on the house. He then called a second time, another offer. And, a third time, another offer. By midnight, we were on a conference call with our realtor and the buyer's realtor working out the contract details.

Our house was going to sell WITHOUT that stupid bathroom addition. Thank Heavens and Glory, Alleluia!

My faith in the process, my trust in His plan was starting to firm up again. My daily scripture study topic of PEACE was going to get me through this.

The next steps were agonizing probably because I have a tendency to agonize.

• House inspection: went super well.
• Funding hurdles for the buyer were being overcome (yes, we had to consider the lender's stability when we were deciding which offer to take and, no, we did not go with the highest bid).
• No termites: check.
• Radon: not a problem.
• The property assessment went through appropriately.

And I actually started to relax somewhere in this process. I actually started to accept that I had no control and even if it all went to pot before we made it to closing that it would be okay. (and probably getting more sleep helped the situation)

In fact, one Sunday as we were driving back to our apartment from church, I had this peaceful feeling come over me that it would be OKAY. That we wouldn't have to foreclose or short sale. I can't tell you how much relief this brought.

This process, the sale and the transition, has been a struggle. There have been very tenuous moments where I just didn't know how point A was going to match up with point B. And then just when you come to terms with the big challenge, daily life happens like an expensive car repair or a serious illness with an infant. Things can always be worse because they did get worse, but we managed to come out of the daily life challenges, too.

The buyer completed the final walk through yesterday with the dogwoods and all of our climbing clematis in full bloom. When I heard that, I was a tad jealous. It is a great home. Better than that, there were no major issues in the walk through . . . next step--closing.

Erik is on a flight home from DC right now. We sold the house. Done.

In all, Erik was offered a job around Christmas time. We worked for six weeks to ready the house. We moved on February 8th. The house was put on the market on February 10th. We signed a contract at midnight on March 20th. Closing was on April 30th.

Sweetness, it is over.

My heart is full of gratitude.

My faith feels firmed.

My trust newly strengthened.

During my daily scripture study on peace, I kept being rounded each time to 1 Nephi 13:37 in the Book of Mormon. Now, I was looking for peace in my daily life type of stuff, not the enduring to the bitter end type of stuff. But this element kept coming across my studies:

1 Nephi 13:37 And blessed are they who shall seek to bring forth my Zion at that day, for they shall have the gift and power of the Holy Ghost; and if they endure to the end they shall be lifted up at the last day, and shall be saved in the everlasting kingdom of the Lamb; and whoso shall publish peace, yea, tidings of great joy, how beautiful upon the mountains shall they be.

And it seemed I heard a heavenly giggle each time I read it since this experience has been a trial for me to learn, yet again, perspective.

I am grateful for the teachings about food storage (we have almost pounded through our entire food storage--guess we'll need to build it again), tithing, fast offerings, self-reliance, the power of prayer, and the support of family. I've tried to highlight the major aspects of this experience. I needed to highlight it for myself. I needed to write it out for my boys to read through later.

And, no, I never imagined that it would sell as quickly as it did. I also could never imagine how much work it would take from us while living in DC and living here in Texas. And, yes, we had to bring a huge-o check to settlement. And guess what? A couple of realtors bought the items I used to stage the home so that they could stage other homes on the market--like they bought the entire house and put all the furniture in an empty house. HA! My own version of "rooms to go."

Now, we forget about the pain of paying out and start anew ready to build our lives here in Texas, express our gratitude to our Heavenly Father, enjoy the company of our family, and provide for our boys.

I'm in the mood for a great backyard. Don't worry, you'll be invited to our first barbque.