Firsts - Installment #4

We are in the process of selling our first house.

(Yes, the sign is crooked. We had a TON of snow and Jason just went out yesterday since a lot of it melted and fixed the sign with a borrowed sledge hammer!)

We are very excited to be moving, although the timing was completely not what we had planned.

Flashback to two years ago...Jason and I sat in our car driving up the street to this very house for a showing. He asked me if we should forget about buying a home and just pack up and move to the city we knew we wanted to make our roots in. We had looked at SO many houses and none were what we wanted. We knew it was a pivotal time - move to desired city across the entire state, or stay here and buy a home to make an investment. We ended up liking this home (finally one we liked - the poor Realtor showed us over 40) and decided that it was God's way of showing us that He wanted us here. Jason also felt that he needed a little more experence before he could look for another job. We did not know how long we would live in this town, but we assumed it would be at least five years or until our kids started school.

Back to the present...After Evelyn was born, I desperately missed my family. They are a 5 1/2 - 6 hours drive away. It was very hard for me that they weren't around. I have also always felt bad that I don't ever get to see my little brothers and sisters in their school programs, dance competitions, etc. Jason saw me shed many tears in my hormonal flux postpartum period(moms - you know what having a baby does to your emotions!) And, he had been hoping for some changes at work that he did not see occuring. Jason told me that he was going to start networking in the city that we wanred to move to - change up our "plan" a bit and look at moving within the next year or so. I was thrilled! One thing led to another and Jason actually went for an interview. He accepted the position in mid-December and he starts on January 21st!

We put our house "for sale by owner" for about a week immediately after and then got realisitic and started working with a Realtor. If we had more time to wait, we would have stuck with FSBO, but we want to move as soon as possible. God did work out the detail though that she is not charging a full commission, just a flat fee for listing and assisting us. We host our own open houses and schedule our own showings.

We really had no action at all until last Sunday's open house where seven couples and a Realtor came through. One couple did a second showing last night and they are very interested but not quite ready to put in an offer, as they are just putting their own house for sale. We hope things continue quickly as I will continue to live in our house until it sells. Jason has arranged through contacts from his new company to stay at a B&B during the week. Oh how we will miss him during the week!!!

We are starting to look online for houses in the new city and think we might be able to find something for less money and thus allow me to quit working! That would be SO awesome! The city/area we are moving to is about an hour's drive from the border of my home state and is the perfect halfway point between both Jason's parents who live in the middle of our state, and my two sets of parents that live in my home state. I also graduated from college in the city, so I have four years of experience living there, friends there still, and know of at least two churches there that we would love to attend! Plus, I am excited because, unlike the small town we live in now, the new city has: a mall, TJ Maxx, Borders, a theatre that has traveling shows come through, a great community theatre group, a dinner theatre, the University - which offers so many entertainment opportunities, and much more! Plus, there is virtually no traffic! I always said that you can always give yourself 15 minutes for driving time and you can be anywhere that you want to in that city!

We are also looking forward to family being able to more easily come see us - less bag packing and more nights in our own bed! We are putting roots down and are extremely excited about it.

So, thank you to all who have already been praying for us. Please continue to pray that our home sells quickly, for us to find a new home at a great price, for Jason as he travels during the interim, and for me as I hold down the fort alone.

A major "first" this is!