Ultrasound today and its a....

BABY! Yay!

That's right! For all of you out there who keep asking what we're having... it's official.... we're having a real human baby. No more wondering if its a giraffe or porcupine or whatnot. Rest assured, I saw the critter squirming around in there today and its a little baby person of some kind!

All joking aside, baby looks good and we did not find out the gender. I initially decided against having an ultrasound for this pregnancy.  However, over the course of the last week I wasn't feeling a lot of movement from babe and a spirit of fear crept in. I made the appointment, just for peace of mind, I reasoned. Of course, since the scan this morning the baby has been more active than ever before. Kicking and punching, rolling around, going bananas! Tonight, for the first time, I could feel movement from the outside of my belly. So, I don't know... It's like the babe is telling me that the nosy old ultrasound wasn't needed, "if you want movement, well, here ya go!"

We are really so excited and thankful to meet this new little member of our family in March. Strangely, I feel more sentimental, emotional and excited about this baby than during either of my last two pregnancies. I can only imagine its because I know and understand the joy that lies ahead (unlike my pregnancy with Elijah, my first) and I am not scared about how I will handle another (unlike my pregnancy with Adah, my second). I am just, plain and simple, happy to be pregnant and grateful for this gift! So, please keep praying our little baby in the belly, there are still 20 weeks to go.

Here's a pic of how we're growing.
(I am working on scanning an ultrasound pic. I've yet to figure out my scanner.)

Sorry for not posting in a month. I've been debating about shutting the blog down. The day may be coming soon. Despite having a lot on my plate right now, I just don't feel like I have much to say.

We are still sorting through the details of buying the house that I told you about last time. So many details! If all goes well, we will be in the house before our lease runs out here at the end of the month. It looks to be about a 50-50 chance that it will work out that way. We appreciate all prayers on this matter, too. :)

I'll try to post more, thanks for hanging in here with me.
And thank you all for your friendship, love and support. Love you all!

Under Contract

After 6 months of diligent house hunting, Gabe and I are happy to say that we are under contract to purchase a house!

The house is in the Fairview area. It is a foreclosure and we think we got a pretty good deal for it. Its in  good condition, though it needs some updating, mostly cosmetic. Its on almost 2 acres and is about 1700 square feet. There is a small finished area in the basement that will be our homeschool room and a huge detached garage with electricity that will be Gabe's workshop.  The lovely large living room has a fireplace, big windows and nice hardwood floors. The bedrooms are small, but the common spaces are spacious and the yard is huge. The majority of the property feels private and enclosed with nice trees.  There is a little swing set for the kids in the backyard and plenty of space for gardens.These are all the good things about it.

There are a few downsides, too, because nothing is perfect in house hunting. We learned that quickly.  I blogged a while back about being prepared to make compromises; we did make a few. But, I am still satisfied with our decision. One down side: the exterior of the house was recently painted a deep "marinara sauce" reddish-orange from top to bottom and we hate it. It will take a lot of time and money to repaint, so we will have to live it with it for a while. We have an interesting neighbor situation, too. Its not terrible; though it will require a bit of landscaping to carry the private feel around to that side of the property .

There are many hoops to jump through before the house is officially ours, but we are hopeful that everything is going to work out. Especially because we had to give the required 60-day notice to the lovely Eastwood Village Apartments that we will not be renewing our lease. In other words, 60 days from today, we have to be out of here. Closing on a house can sometimes take 60 days or more. Therefore, we are praying for a speedy, smooth closing process. Ideally, we would close a couple of weeks before we have to be out of the apartment giving us time to paint and clean the new house before moving in.

Here is a link to the listing... notice the lovely chocolate brown and orange paint inside! We have our work cut out for ourselves, but hopefully, it will pay off.

Bittersweet

Tonight is the last night we will call this house "home".   We are off to our "Summer Home"- the apartments up the hill from Gabe's work. We will continue to search for our long term home while we enjoy the pool and the air conditioned, low maintenance convenience of apartment life. No doubt our new home will be all the more sweet after 6 months in the apartments. Along with no maintenance we will have no yard, no view, no privacy. No matter! We are going to make the most of this- its a short term adventure in our long lives together!

And life is good as long as we are together.  

                                                  
Elijah sleeps soundly.

Perhaps he did not care to hear the 6:30 am train,

blare past our house, one last time.

Adah, asleep with her pocket new testament,

psalms and proverbs. Bless her little heart:)

Plan B

19 days. 19 days until we need to be out, so they can move in. How did this happen? How is it that our house sold in a blink of an eye, but despite our relentless searching, we have yet to find a new house to call home?

Its on to plan b. We need somewhere to go. Even if we found our dream home tomorrow, the bank would need 30-45 days to close our loan, leaving us homeless for a month or more. On top of that, we just seem to be running into a variety of other barriers, impediments, hurdles, potholes, etc. It seems that Gabe and I mostly want different things. For instance, different houses. Financial frustrations abound. It doesn't help that Gabe only has one day off a week to go look at houses.

I would be disappointed and defeated if I didn't have such a Mighty God.

I am really not worried, maybe a bit wearied, though. 

As I write that, Galatians 3:9 comes immediately to mind, and I am encouraged:

^"Let us not become weary in doing good, 

for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."

 So, yes.  Lets not become weary, but lets also be real. We can't be homeless.

We could stay at Gabe's mother's house, she has an extra room. My parents have offered their camper to us. Maybe we'll rent for a while, a long while, and save some more money. Maybe we'll just rent short term while we continue to house hunt. I am sort of dreaming of an apartment, of all things. I like the idea of no maintenance and most of all, a pool all summer long. Am I crazy? I hate apartments.

A house I rented many years ago is up for rent again. It sits at the end of a dead end road that backs up to Pisgah National Forest. I loved the summer I spent there. I often reminisce about that summer for many reasons, it was truly a great summer. One of my favorite memories of the house is of sitting on the deck at night listening to the coyotes and the katydids fill the night air with eerie music. And look, today its on Craigslist for rent. What of that?

I really just want to be settled somewhere with a break from the tumult and upheaval. I think we need to catch our breath for a bit and reevaluate. But what do I know? We truly are just taking it day by day and trying not to make any huge mistakes.

An update and a ramble

We made it  through the very stressful trial of the home inspection and the subsequent price renegotiations. Over the last few weeks of anxiety and fret, Gabe and I have looked at each other, at different times, and said, "please make this stop, make them (the buyers) go away, lets just stay here and call the whole thing off."

Unfortunately, contract signed, that option is impossible for us. The buyers, on the other hand, can call the whole thing off.  For three weeks, they are given the opportunity to inspect the house and to negotiate repairs. They have until May 14th (tomorrow) to cancel the deal based on what they find in the inspections. Barring some MAJOR change of heart on the part of the buyers, who really want our house, this deal is going through. 

Therefore, in one month, we have to be out. Can you sense my excitement? No? Well, its because we have not found a house for ourselves. We have searched daily for our new home. And what we want just isn't manifesting. Our first dilemma came when we realized that what we want can be found, rather easily and affordably, outside of  the county we currently live in. Meaning, we can have our dream home but it would require a 30 minute or more drive to and from Gabe's work daily.

It was not an easy choice.  When committing ourselves to such a major financial burden, we want to do it because we LOVE the house we are buying.  However, Gabe is still working 14 hour days, to that we hate to add an hour or more round trip commute. That's thirty less minutes with us in the morning, his only time with the children. And instead of getting home at 11 or 11:30 pm, he'd be getting home after midnight. It doesn't seems worth it. So we have decided not to look outside of the 20 minute mark for Gabe, which is the greater Asheville area.

And since our price range is low for the Asheville area and we are faced with another dilemma: a nice house or  lots of land. You can have a nice house on a tiny lot in a crowded subdivision. Or you can get a dumpy house or trailer on a big beautiful piece of land. We realize that we might have to make compromises. We know we might not get our dream home this time around. However, we refuse to buy a house out of fear. The compromises we are willing to make must be accompanied by peace and a feeling of satisfaction with our choices.  If and when, we sacrifice our vision for this next house, we insist that it be for a very close 2nd best; and though a compromise, that we still LOVE it!

So now, we are just praying and waiting for the LORD to absolutely THRILL us ( a great prayer, prayed for me by my good friend Jennifer). We may be waiting for a while. That's okay.  In Ephesians 3, we are told that God "is able to do exceedingly abundantly more than we can think or imagine".  By golly, I believe it!

So this is our prayer, though by all worldly accounts, we won't be able to find this. We are not looking to the world for our provision!  Can I get an AMEN?

 Lord, If its Your Will for us, We would like a three bedroom, 2 bath house. A good sturdy house, it doesn't have to be new. In fact, preferably would be an old house, recently remodeled. It doesn't have to be so very large, but we would like room to grow into it for a while. Perhaps a basement that could be finished or a room over a garage? I would love a small, upstairs room with lots of natural light and nice view to make for a studio space and Gabe needs a garage or a workshop.  Please, please, a large-ish, mostly level, sunny lot for gardens and lots of outdoor play with dogs and children.  We don't mind painting or freshening up, but this time around, we need a break from a house in need of total rehab. We want a feeling of seclusion, but not isolation. We don't mind neighbors, but no subdivisions. We simply want a bit of land that gives feeling of peace and privacy.  And lastly Lord, we know where this gets tricky, but we need it to be close to town. No more than 20 minutes from Gabe's work and preferably, in the Fairview area. Oh yes, and can our monthly payments actually be LESS than what we pay now?  AMEN!

Under Contract

We put our house on the market last Monday. On Saturday, we received an offer to purchase our home from the second set of folks to tour our house. Six days! I can't say I am totally surprised. ( though I am feeling more and more stunned as the reality sets in). We really pushed hard to get our house ready and on the market by the end of April. There is a first time home buyer credit of $8000 available to home buyers who are under contract by the 30th.  We knew that first time home buyers were really our market, so we were prepared for the possibility that our house might sell quickly. Not to mention that Gabe did such a great job with the remodels and we priced it really well.  Tomorrow our house will be inspected, and if all goes well with that, then we are officially set to be kicked to the curb on June 15th. Six short weeks from now.

We are really excited, but also very anxious about what will happen next. I have very, very high and specific hopes for our next home. We are praying hard that we will find what we are looking for in the next two weeks. If we don't, then we will be looking for a temporary home while we keep searching! I'll keep everyone updated on how the inspections go and better yet, how the house hunting is going. Check out our MLS  listing for a great look at our finished product:)