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......