The Tingle House and Halloween

     I didn't know what to call this post.  It is a mess of things.  Where to start.  I guess I will start where we left off...the house.  We are here.  We closed on the 16th of October.  Many small miracles led us here and all I can say is that I feel deeply grateful to be here.

     A short story to document the finding of our home.  The week before we went house hunting for the first and only time, Nate gave everyone a blessing for the beginning of the school year.  I also received a blessing that day, in which Nathan said that I would know the right house when I saw it.

     Now, to our day of house hunting.    Sandi had a nice list of houses for us to look at that day.  The house we bought was on the list as a frivolous addition.  We just had to walk inside and see it.  It was out of our price range and I couldn't see how it could possibly be the one.  After all, we were trying to remain frugal in this hunt.  But, the house had everything we wanted in a home...so it qualified as a home we could stay in permanently.  None of the other houses had that.  Anyway, despite that, I really didn't think it was the house.

   Ok...we start looking.  We looked at about 5 houses prior to this one.  I didn't have a bad or good feeling about any of them.  I thought I could live in any of them.  However, in my heart, I expected more.  Heavenly Father said I would know the house when I saw it.  That's what I was expecting.  To know the right house when I saw it.

     So, we drove up to "the house".  I was thinking, why are we here?  There is no way this is the house.  The neighborhood is too nice.  The house is too big.  The house is too expensive.  This is not the house.  We walked inside and I was  just standing by the back door.  We might have been in there for a total of three minutes before I knew this was the house.  Literally, I suddenly had tingles wash over me from the top of my head down to my toes.  I looked and Nate and said "Oh no."  That's how I felt.  Of all the houses, how could this be the house.  The one house that I would never have dreamed of making an offer on.  The house that seemed out of the realm of our possibility.  The one house that it would take true blind faith to go after.

   Small miracles led up to us actually making it to closing on the house.  I won't go into all of those.  We are here now.  It is a wonderful place to be.  I look at my neighbors and think, I will probably still know you and live by you 20 years from now.  We are excited to be here and be here forever..ish. :)

   So that is the story of the "tingle" house.  Here are some pics. There was no editing done to prevent the view of any messes. ;) 

The Office.  I love this room.

Laundry

Kitchen

Kitchen dining area

Main Floor Family Room

Sarah's room

David's Room

Play Room

Master Bedroom

Master Bath

Master Closet

Ben's room

Down stairs Family Room

Down Stairs Kitchen

Girl's Room

My sewing room/exercise room/whatever room

   We love the house and I feel a little spoiled.  Especially since I have a big left over room to just have as an extra.  Life is good here and we are so happy.  Halloween was superb.  I have never had so many kids trick or treat at my house.  It was super fun.  Ben, Rachel and Emily brought home a huge load of lute without too much walking so they loved that.  Sarah was nothing short of adorable as she trick or treated.  Nate said she was too scared to say "trick or treat" but when people put candy in her bucket she looked at him beaming and said "They gave me candy!"

     Done.  Whew! 

Where we are headed....(assuming everything goes as it should.;)

     Well, we searched , we saw, we made an offer.  Today we will sign the contract solemnly declaring that we want to by this house. I would say it was a long road to get here...but it was actually quite short.  Almost too fast.  This house is in a super lovely neighborhood where we will be the poorest people on the block.  It has .43 of property so Nate can build his dream in the backyard.  We will stay here for a long time....which is the best thing about the house.  No more moving...assuming Nate never changes jobs causing us to need to move. We are going to christen it the "tingle" home.  The story about that I might share after everything goes through and we move in.  We will close middle of October.   
    Our current house is scheduled for it's closing September 30.  So, we will be living in my parents house for a little while.  Lucky for them, they are going to be on vacation.  They won't actually have to deal with us. Let's hope everything goes as planned. 

I'm Scared of the Dark

     So, this is a "need to be documented" moment in my family's life. I'll just start at the beginning and go from there.
     My neighbor down the road sold her house. She had a very similar house to mine. As I was talking to her about it I whispered.."So, do you mind me asking how much it sold for?" When she told me my jaw dropped. Crazy thoughts started swimming in my head. As you may remember, we bought this house on short sale and during the worst market drop in years. Well, lately things have been improving. So, after 2.3 years in the house, our house has gained a bit of equity.
     I went home and told Nate.  I mentioned that maybe we should think about selling the house. His response. "You're crazy!!!!!" Now, I know why he said that. We spent the first 18 months painting every room in the house. Ceilings, walls, trim, floor boards. And we didn't paint it a neutral brown. I ain't like that. Colors. I love them.
 Old Front Room

New Front Room

Old Kitchen

New Kitchen

Old Family Room

New Family Room

Old Bedrooms

New Bedrooms

     Then, for the last 7 months we (and I really mean he) have put our blood, sweat, tears and money into the basement. Yes, it is finally finished. Anyway, it turned out really cute. The three older kids are down there, which I LOVE! At night, when it is time for bed, instead of going up stairs and being super noisy so as to wake up the babies, they all go down stairs.
Old Basement

New Basement

      Ok. So, back to the story. His first response was "You're crazy." But, I don't give up easily.

     Here is where  I get a little too honest. Whenever I am blogging I debate in my mind how much honestly I should put into a post.  More often than not it is edited...you know...to make me look better.  Well this is not edited.  I read one of my friends blogs this morning.  She said she always tell her kids to own their faults.  There your's...so just own them.  It's ok.  Everyone has them.  Thanks to her wise words I decided to just own it.  This reveals one of our worst faults.  I told him "You know all that debt we have had to suffer with from our university days. Maybe this was Heavenly' Father's plan to help us."
     Now, I won't say how much it is. It is enough to embarrass me. I will just defend myself by saying...one year we actually made less than $12,000 as a family of 4. When I think back to all those years and mounting debt I want to go back to myself then and fix things...but honestly, I don't know what I would have done differently. Worked and put the kids into daycare...which wouldn't have been that helpful.  Besides, even knowing what I know now, I probably wouldn't have done that.
      So, before you judge me for all that, just know that we were doing the best we could. We were living way below a good wage and trying to get Nate through school. Since then, we added three more kids and plenty of other expenses. So, even though Nate finished school, got a good job, and we no longer use credit cards...we still have to pay them back.  Five years we have been on that road. It's painful. So, when you think we are crazy for selling a house we love and that we just put so much time into, maybe you can imagine the options.  I truly do feel that Heavenly Father made this happen for us. He knew our house would quickly gain equity.  Short of planting a money tree in our back yard...he couldn't have done much better than he did.
     We thought about this option for awhile. We went back and forth. We really didn't want to sell the house. Like I said, we have loved it here. Our kids are happy. We were at the point in our remodel in which we could have put all new flooring in the house or remodeled the kitchen or bathrooms.  In the end, the answer kept coming up the same. Sell the house. Sell the house. Sell the house.
     We put the house on the market 3 weeks ago. I showed it about a dozen times. Torture. I am not a slob, but getting the house showroom clean for people is a pain. Then leaving so they can look at it in peace..well, Mcdonald's made a few extra bucks from me. :) Once school got in I had to show it almost daily. But, let's be honest, three weeks is nothing. We got two offers on the same day and came out with everything we were hoping for, which is saying a lot. Again, Heavenly Father knows what he is doing. We signed a contract to sell last Friday. The family is coming from North Carolina and want to close Sept. 30. Umm...that's three weeks for those of you who can't count. (HAHA)
      So, once people found out we were selling our house their next question was "Where are you going?" My answer..."I have no idea." Nate and I could only focus on one problem at a time. First problem, sell the house. Check. Next problem, find a new house. (Insert blood curdling scream here.) I don't know where we are going. I don't know what we will do in three weeks when we have no home. I have debated living in a hotel. Renting an entire house and paying deposit, first and last months rent, etc...is not very attractive if we only need it for a month or so. But, in my heart I know that miracles will occur. Just as they already have. Blessings will happen because Heavenly Father loves his children. Deserving or not, he has taken care of my family through thick and thin. In good times and bad. He never fails. I'm scared of the dark but I know he is in there with us and he will flip on the light when the time is right.

To Be Continued......

Jordanelle 2013

 Here is how David spent his time.....or asleep....or in Grandma's motor home.

 Here's how the kids spent their time...along with a bunch of other things.

Here's how I wish I could have spent all my time.  Most of it was spent babysitting babies.  :)
In the end, every year is wonderful at Jordanelle with my awesome family.  I rented a cabin this year to sleep in. I know, what a whimp...but I had to take care of the baby...so I will be whimpy. It was funny. I listened to the kids in the cabin next door ooh and ahh at the outdoor movie night we had. Back to the Future in the great out doors. Such fun. Not to mention great food, paddle boarding, swimming, relaxing, and the kids doing all their scooter/bike/crazy stuff. Loved it all. Wish I had taken more pictures. Thanks Mom, Dad, Sandi, Scott, Nikki, Sid, Conner, Rick and Eryn. I am so glad to have such fun and fabulous family.

Basement Bonanza!

SO, here we are, months later. Our basement is almost finished. I mean...we are just so close. We (when I say we I really mean Nathan ;) finished up the sheet rock about a month ago.  After some soul searching we decided to hire someone to come in and do the tape, mud and texture.  Best money we ever spent.  They did such a good job.  The walls came out looking nice smooth, ready to be painted.  So, we (and again, I really mean Nate) tackled the paint job this week.  Ceilings and walls done.  Check.  Lights wired and working.  Check.  Plugs working.  Check.  Seriously, Nate is a miracle worker.  :)  Next on the list....doors , trim, and shelves in the closets.  Then we get the flooring and install the sink and toilet for the 1/2 bath. 

What an experience. Our goal is to have it all done in two more weeks. Then....we will be making a bold move. :)