Switching Gears

I don't know about you, but there's a whole lotta gear-changing going on around here. I try not to run through the list of all of the changes we've been through in the past 3.5 years because I start to feel overwhelmed. From finding out I was pregnant (halfway through my pregnancy) and then having a child (and now parenting a 3 year old!), to Rob's two job position changes (which were ridiculously stressful!) to selling our house, moving into the Airstream and living in someone's driveway (thankfully we love the owners of said driveway), to dealing with loss and heartache multiple times, to being tossed around about building a house, buying a house, buying land and now, the farmhouse I told you all about last time is hanging in the balance.

We never expected the call from Heather, our loan officer, telling us we'd been denied financing. Everything up until then had been smooth sailing and we didn't anticipate any issues. "I've been fighting for you guys for two days now," Heather informed us, "and they (underwriting) just won't budge." You see, remember that job change I just mentioned a minute ago? The super-ridiculously stressful one? Well, I guess the underwriters didn't like that we couldn't provide 2 years worth of tax returns from his current job so, even though we qualified on paper, they wouldn't approve us. We were shocked. Heather encouraged us to call some local banks because they often can provide in-house loans on more flexible terms. We called and called and called. And e-mailed. And called some more. I had never been shut-down by so many people in such a short period of time. But, like the woman in the parable Jesus told, our knock-knock-knocking eventually paid-off. Rob is meeting with a mortgage company in the morning (Monday) who says they're willing to work with us and make an exception based on the fact that Rob's been with the same company for nearly 8 years and a few other things. I'm trying not to get my hopes up but, we're really thankful to have the chance to try again and maybe buy this house.

UPDATE: Rob's meeting went very well and we expect good news by tomorrow (Friday). They were able to look at the full span of his work with the company and see his stability in spite of the job change. Thanking God for that! I'm trying not to get my hopes totally up yet though because, until we officially hear back from underwriting at this new lender, we don't yet have a deal. However, we're not anticipating a let-down this time because they were aware of the situation before it was sent to underwriting. We are also praying that we will be able to transfer the appraisal that was already done to the new lender because otherwise that's another $400+ that we will have to fork over. We would REALLY love to not have to pay for it twice! 

At this point, we *might* be able to close on the house (assuming all goes well) by late December. Um, anyone know what happens in late December? Can we say "Christmas"? Sheesh. Needless to say, the holidays could get interesting. But, what the hey?! Why not, right? Let's just go all out on the craziness. After all, I am already living with a husband, a 3 year old and a puppy in a camper, right? Right. We got this.

UPDATE: Our closing date will not change and we may even be able to close sooner, if the sellers are willing! Woo-hoo!

I have to say that I'm so thankful for a steady and level-headed husband in all of this hoopla. He keeps me from losing it completely and joining the circus. Of course, the circus probably wouldn't take me so, it would be a short trip. Anyway, we're learning to be flexible and not too attached to our own plans, which I think is both valuable and harmful... in a way. Most people can see the value in learning those lessons but, I also have to watch myself for walking in apathy as a result. It's hard when your plans keep falling through and nothing ever seems to work out the way you hoped. It's hard to walk in the valley of the shadow of death and still hang on to those promised cool waters. It's hard to feel like you're never not transitioning. It's hard to be a mom. It's hard to know which way to go sometimes. It's hard, but not impossible. We are bruised but not broken, not defeated. Surrender is not an option. And for every hard thing, I raise you two good things. I'm blessed with a family who loves and accepts me and all of my shortcomings. A son who says I'm the "best", when I know I am not. I'm blessed with a warm place to live and all of my needs provided for. I'm blessed with a hardworking husband who never gives up on me. I have it all... even when, by American standards, I have very little.

I don't know what tomorrow holds and I really don't know what this coming year will hold but, I do know that I don't have to worry about it. I know I trust the Maker and He will lead us if we will follow. I know I'm not alone in these things, and neither are you. We all have hard things and we all have choices to make. Where will we put our faith? What will motivate us? Who will we trust? We should not compare our own hard things to someone else's hard things, either. There are plenty of you whose "hard thing" looks worse than mine and so I could tell myself to man-up and deal (or not deal) but, that's not helpful to anyone. It's also not helpful to see people with seemingly less-stress (and more beach trips ;-) ) and feel all jealous or "woe-is-me".  Instead, let's just try to walk the paths set before us and find the joys that sometimes hide in the strangest places. How 'bout it?

Timing is everything.

So, remember back to the beginning of our move? Remember the reasons we bought the Airstream? All of our grand plans to build a house and buy 11 acres and live in the 'Stream while we built? Well... funny thing about plans: They Change!

They change and shift and you have to change right along with them or you get all bent out of shape! Roll with the punches, as they say. Well, after trying to buy the land and having it fall through and not really knowing where to go from there, we just sorta figured we'd just live in the Airstream where it is through the winter and then maybe move it up to my parents' property for the spring and summer and save money like crazy. We would, of course, keep our eyes open for property in the meantime but, we figured it would be spring before we really started looking again. Then, BAM! We see this house come on the market. We seriously could not believe it.

Our story with this homestead began back in 2007. We had owned our Main St. house for about a year and we were getting more into real food and fermented foods, etc... I wanted to start making kefir and so I started looking around. I found this wacky blog somehow and they were selling kefir grains. They were also selling their mini-homestead. We drove out, got the tour from the homeowners and commented on how much we would love to be able to buy their house but we just weren't in the market right then. We eventually bought the kefir grains and went on our way. Ever since then, this place has been somewhere in the back of our minds as the perfect little starter-homestead. Big enough to provide for all of our food needs and small enough to manage as newbies. It came on the market again in 2011 but, we weren't looking to move then. We had a baby and a dog and we were happy living in town.

Now, here we are, two years later and I find this house on the market again. Apparently, each time the owners went to sell (yes, the same owners we met 5 years ago) they had plans fall through. Family illness, bad financing, change-of-mind... so they just kept on living there, assuming it wasn't time to leave yet. I guess the house was being saved for us. (As long as everything continues to go smoothly.)

So, here we are. Buying a house.

It has just under 4 acres, an old barn, a milking shed, a chicken house, rabbit hutches, trees, gardens, herbs, fencing, views, privacy... it's got it all. Sure, 4 acres isn't a huge amount of land and we won't be running a large-scale farm but, I think it fits us just right.

The house is 1600+/- sqft which is almost double the size of our last house. HUGE change! It has 4 bedrooms, 1 bath and a full, dry (dry, guys, dry!) basement. It is the original farmhouse on the road and was built by the Hale family (hence, Hale Rd) in the early 40's. The house is totally outdated and will eventually need a makeover, including a new kitchen and bathroom, but for now we just plan on painting pretty much everything to freshen it all up and then live with the old stuff until we can save up some money to renovate. Lots of potential here!

There's an old, tiny cabin in the back called the "summer kitchen" where the original family lived while they built and then I guess they cooked out there in the summer sometimes after they moved into the main house. Pretty cute little place. Perfect workshop.

I could go on about all of the little gardens and everything but, I'll let you take a look at these photos instead.

Side of the house. The door goes into the "breezeway" (which is my favorite part!)
 and then into the kitchen.

Front. Will need some love but, we'll be glad to give it.

The "breezeway". Best thing ever.  

Here's the way old and outdated kitchen. One row of cabinets.
I love the bay window over the sink though!! 

Oh, hello refrigerator! Why are you all the way on the other side of the room?
No one knows. We will have to figure out how to fix this.
Wood stove = awesome.

Dining area (Dining area, people! A real one!), stairs to upper bedrooms,
doorway to family room. There's that fridge again...

Bathroom, obviously. It's not horrible... but will get an update eventually.

Upper bedroom #1.
That brick chimney will give off some nice warmth in the winter.
Huge closets.

Upper bedroom #2.
Lovely views of the pasture.

The pasture!

And if you REALLY want to see more, the homeowners have a bazillion videos on YouTube. Here's one of them. Beware, this guy just talks and talks.

We appreciate your prayers for everything to go smoothly as we still have to get through inspections and the appraisal before we can close. Closing is set for December 10th, as of right now. Just in time for Christmas! :-)

"Now, what in the world are you guys going to do with the Airstream??" you might ask. Well, I'll tell ya. As it stands right now, we plan to keep it. I just love it so much and I don't want to part with it. It's the perfect guest house and although the house will have a guest bedroom, they'll also have the option of a whole Airstream to themselves. We are also considering renting it out eventually for weekends and Tech games, etc... If we do that, we'll set it up somewhere more private on the property for a nice little getaway. Check out these! Rob and I have always wanted to run a bed and breakfast so, maybe this is the twist on the traditional recipe. ;-)

Anyway, I'm sure there's lots more I could say and will say in the coming months but, for now, we're excited and ready for our next adventure! Cheers!