Off With The New And On With The Old, Or Something Like That

UPDATE!!! God sold our house in Montana and provided a house for us to buy in Wisconsin in only SIX DAYS! Less than a week after our house went on the market we got an almost full price offer with no contingencies. The day after we put our house on the market we made an offer on a house in WI that was accepted! We were literally sitting at the table writing up the counter-offer to the offer on our house when our realtor in WI called to tell us that another couple had just made an offer on the house we were going to buy in Eau Claire. We had 24 hours to remove the contingency of selling our house in MT. The people accepted our counter-offer and the necessary paper-work was in our WI realtor's hands by that evening. Isn't it just like God to throw in a curve ball at the last second just to show how Mighty He really is? I LOVE HIM!!!

I can't believe it. Our house is finally almost finished exactly the way we want it, and we're in the process of selling it to complete strangers. This can't be real.
I'm so thankful for the colors, inside and out.
I'm so thankful for the recessed lighting, and the beautiful deck where I've spent so many hours grilling and swinging on what was once a beautiful swing until Snickers got a hold of it.
I'm so thankful for all the light.

I'm so thankful for the many over-sized latticed windows.

I'm so thankful for my new chandelier and all the light fixtures.

I'm so thankful for my new banister, and stairs, and foyer, not to mention the curtains I've waited four years for.

I'm so thankful for the new lever handles on the six panelled doors throughout the entire house.
I'm so thankful for Alia's room.
I'm SO THANKFUL that the first things you see upon entering are the beautiful fireplace, and my beloved piano.

But, more importantly, I'm thankful for all the wonderful memories this house holds. God has done so much in, for, and through us in the last four years we've been here that I feel like I wasn't even really living before.

After a whirlwind of a week in which every single day we had numerous people in and out helping us pack and finish up the remodeling project, we were able to make a trip to Eau Claire to take a load out, and hopefully find a house. Even after staying up until midnight, getting up at 6:00 a.m. everyday, and hitting everything as hard as we could in between, we still had many loose ends to tie up Friday morning. Our house was scheduled to go on the market that day, and had to be ready for showings all weekend and an open house Sunday afternoon.

No pressure. :)

We weren't loaded up and ready to leave until 11:00 a.m. We had no sooner said "Amen" after praying for God to guide the weekend once again, and give us traveling mercies when our realtor drove up. We were supposed to leave a key for the lockbox in a designated location, but we had made so many last minute trips into the house that at some point Josh had inadvertently put it in his pocket. Seeing Ja'net prompted his memory and he pulled it out, and handed it to her as we all absorbed the ramifications of that one little mistake. What a waste of the prior week's frantic work, and the upcoming weekend's productivity that would have been! We then left everything in her capable hands and were on our way.

Josh pulled a jam-packed U-haul with his pick-up while I followed in the minivan with all the kids. That was an adventure. But the Lord allowed Josh to find a storage unit for all our stuff that is only $1 for the first month and there is no lease to sign! We really shouldn't need it longer than that if everything goes according to plan.

We hadn't gone 150 miles when the truck ran out of gas. What a "wonderful" way to discover that the gas gauge doesn't work. It's an old truck though so other than the gauges it did awesome.

It's only supposed to be a 13 hour trip, but given our late start and the load we were hauling it ended up taking a lot longer than that. At about 10:30 that night we had to stop to get a motel in Alexandria, MN.

Funny story...

The first place we came to was a Country Inn and Suites. Josh and I went in, and the lady at the front desk must have been drunk or on drugs or something because she was slurring her speech occasionally. When we asked if she had any rooms available with couches that could be used as a bed she said, "Oh no, I'm afraid we don't have any suites here."

Hmmm. Josh and I looked at each other, then up at the distinctive "Country Inn and SUITES" sign above her head, smiled, waved, left, and then laughed!

The next place was willing to give us a deal on two rooms with two queen sized beds each and a door connecting because business was so slow. We were completely exhausted, and our hearts profusely thanked Father for taking such good care of us! We all went to bed immediately and slept like the dead until 7:30 Saturday morning.

We were scheduled to begin looking at houses at 10:00. With three hours of driving left we clearly were not going to make it. We had to cut a list of 8 or 9 houses down to four. All the way there I prayed that Father would take us to the house He has for us so we wouldn't waste any time, and that He would make the choice crystal clear.

And. He. DID!

At the last minute we decided to take the time to look at a house for sale by owner that was on our way. The exit we took was our first clue that this was NOT the house for us. A huge billboard announced that this was the location for an Adult Superstore. I could just picture giving family and friends directions, "then take the Adult Superstore exit. You can't miss it."

Nice.

The house was in a gorgeous upscale neighborhood, but it was owned by a widow lady who had her two sons and their girlfriends and their kids living with them. They had attempted to do some upgrades in the flooring and lighting, and just ended up butchering the place. It was a mess.

I had told her not to worry too much about cleaning and getting it ready for us explaining that I have five children and I know how messy life is. When I said I didn't think I'd be shocked by anything I saw, she chuckled nervously and said, "Well, you might be surprised," but I didn't think anything of it.

When we started to go downstairs she said, "Now just bear in mind that teenagers live here," and left it at that.

I was SICKENED by what I saw. There was po*rno*gra*phy plastered all over the doors and walls. AND one of the boys was openly looking at it online as we were walking by! Praise God we had chosen to leave all the children in the van!

We promptly turned around and left.

I simply cannot fathom that. I know that I am super sensitive to that kind of thing, and it's because I am very sheltered from exposure to it, but I hope I never become desensitized to such blatant sin. I can't imagine how a holy God feels about it when every fiber of my unholy being revolts.

I simultaneously got a call from my dad at that moment so there was nothing to do except leave.

On Friday he and my mom had been transported to Oklahoma City! They weren't supposed to go for at least another three weeks!

I had talked to my dad Thursday night and he was having a rough time because of three men who were always pushing to see how far the guards would let them go without putting the entire pod in lock down. My dad was starting to get panicky. So I had prayed that God would just get them out of there SOON.

When I told my dad what an answer to prayer that was he said, "Well, that's good, Sweetheart, but there's only one problem....those three guys were the only ones who came with me!"

Ooops. It didn't even occur to me to pray about that.

My mom said that she was sitting in booking when all the men from Shelby walked through for a bathroom break. They were so excited to see each other, and the guards were gracious enough to allow them to talk a little bit, too! They were on the same flight, and my dad was thrilled to tell me that he was able to stare at the back of her head the whole way. They were also able to "talk" as much as they could read each other's lips from a distance during the flight. He said she looked really good, and so happy, but she had sprained her ankle the day before they left. It was swollen pretty badly. We're still waiting to hear the results of the x-rays. They shouldn't be there for more than two weeks, and then they will be able to settle at their respective camps.

Now back to the house hunting....

Josh was interested in an old farmhouse on 30 acres with a pond, which we ended up looking at first. The land was perfect, and definitely a good deal even without the house, but the kitchen was a deal-breaker. There were only two or three cabinets, no dishwasher nor even a place to put one. The floor and walls were bowed, and the stairs were sloped downhill. The whole house was like that. I could not picture myself living there. No way.

As we were headed to the next place we had to take several winding roads with canopies of trees overhead, and I remember feeling so relaxed, and thinking how much I would enjoy the ride home everyday if this house ended up being "the one". The driveway is long and winding, shared by two other homes that are closer to town than "ours". At the end sits a beautiful cedar chateau home tucked snugly into a secluded clump of thick woods. (How's that for a sentence full of adjectives!? :-})

It was love at first sight! I almost didn't even care what the inside looked like, but I was SO not prepared for how absolutely perfect it was! The front door is actually at the back of the house facing the woods. It opens to a large, but cozy foyer with ample room for a cute bench and coat rack, and the many shoes that will be left there upon entering. It's decorated in a north country wildlife theme. LOVE. IT.

I don't have a picture of that room, but let me tell you, the pictures I do have simply do not do this house justice. In fact, we crossed this off our list because we didn't like it from the pictures online, and we still aren't sure how it got put back on! Well, I take that back. I know exactly Who put it there.


When you turn to enter you face sliding glass doors that lead to a tiered cedar deck. I love the view and the hearts on the shelf above. It is very "me."
The paint is not really that yellow. It's more buttercream with the emphasis on the cream part.
You can kind of see the wainscoting with the chair railing and border above it.
The master bedroom has lots of light from the window and skylight, and the loft area overlooking the kitchen/dining room/living room with cathedral ceiling.
Love the ceiling fan! It has central air, but I imagine that will be nice to have on warm summer nights.
View from the loft.
I love the way they did the flooring in the picture above. It's laminate all the way up to the deck instead of carpet. Very well thought out. The island is movable, and has lots of extra cabinets underneath.
This is the rec room. The stairs come right down the middle so if you go left there's the rec room, laundry room, and new bathroom, and if you go right there is a family room that is wired for surround sound and dimming recessed lights. We're thinking about making that room into a fifth bedroom though. We'll see. There's another bedroom on that side, too.
The gas fireplace. I was hoping to not have to deal with the mess of a real wood burning stove. I'm spoiled from the one I have here. Although wood would not be hard to come by with the 6 heavily wooded acres.
I know the kitchen looks hideous, but it really isn't that bad in real life. I think the cabinets are nicer than what I have now.
We may make this the master bedroom.
And this will probably be Alia's room.
It's been on the market since November so they recently reduced the price by $10,000. We offered them $5,000 less than that and they took it. Yay!

So now it's just a matter of selling our house and we're good to go. Saturday there were 3 private showings, and Sunday there were 6 to 8 couples who came through. Two are very interested. They just needed some verification on where the well and septic are for building purposes.

It really is unbelievable almost that we found a house, made an offer, and had it accepted in such a short period of time. We looked for over a year before we found this house. It proves so many things: that God hears and answers when we pray; that God has a specific plan and purpose; that God wants us to know His will as much as we want to know it; and especially that God can be trusted to not only meet our needs exceeding abundantly, but often our wants, too.

But although God wants to give us good things, there are certain things we have to be willing to give in order to receive them. Such as our will, the forsaking of sin, and the embrace of doing what's right, even when no one is looking. We have to be willing to walk in integrity day in and day out because it proves to God, and most importantly to ourselves, that we are serious about knowing His will.

During the morning service on Sunday, Pastor Hallet reminded me that me + God = the majority. The opinion of others does not matter when it comes to doing the right thing. It shouldn't even be a consideration. The question is, "What does GOD think?" It reminded me of my parents. Even if they are the only people on the face of the earth willing to take this stand for God, they are the majority because they have the God of the universe on their side, and His is the only opinion that truly matters.

Do right till the stars fall,
Do right till the last call,
Do right when there's no one else to stand by you.
Do right when your all alone,
Do right though it's never known,
Do right.
If you love the Lord, do right.