We are moving!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There have been some BIG things happening in our home.
Here is the story. (A little timeline...)
(~I started this post on January 10, 2014, and I wrote it so that we would remember the whole story and how the Lord was with us through it all...♥)
January 16, 2003~ We closed on our house in Fullerton, right after our one year wedding anniversary.
We walked in and we loved it and knew it was our home. Kit was working in the children's department at Yorba Linda Friends Church.
February 2006~ Kit took a two year commitment pastoral position at ROCKHARBOR church in Costa Mesa.
November 2006~ Kit was asked to stay on as the children's pastor.
Over the course of the next few years, Kit became the family pastor of the Costa Mesa Campus then moved into one of the associate pastor roles at the Costa Mesa Campus.
All during this time, we were remodeling bathrooms, hardscaping our yard, planting fruit trees, bonding more and more with our neighbors, we brought both of our babies home here, and just generally made our home more and more what we wanted for our family. I was planning where we would be buried in the backyard... You know, the normal thought patterns of someone who adores their home and where they live...
December 6, 2013~ Kit shared part of the message on looking ahead to the vision for the community of our Costa Mesa ROCKHARBOR campus and in that service, the Lord shifted something in both of us, letting us have the sense that it was time to move closer to our church friends and family in Costa Mesa and south Orange County.
We still can't believe how unified we feel about this experience. It was the Lord!
Over the course of the month of December 2013, we got pre-approved, approved, got all of our ducks in a row, looked at houses and scouted neighborhoods, made an offer on a fixer upper that wasn't accepted (we are so thankful now!), we cried with each of our neighbors as we shared that we would be moving and continued to get ready for what it would look like to list our house in early January.
Then, on January 10, 2014, we put our precious house, our home, that we have loved for over a decade, on the market.
I remember meeting with our realtor to sign the papers and crying because I loved this house so much. Kit cried too. Then we took a deep breath, remembered that we felt to Lord was moving us, knowing we needed to move to get more family time and to be closer to our community and went full speed ahead into a weekend of showing the house. We had a lock box and people called me to make appointments. Realtors were very kind and respectful of our home, but it was not fun to have to be away from home and to have the house always clean and picked up, and the kids not napping, but we knew it was just part of the process.
Over the course of the weekend we had about 11 showings and got amazing feedback... We were so thankful!
On January 11, 2014~ We went to an open house in Tustin.
We loved it. It felt like home. The owners had lived there since 1974, and had decided to do one weekend of open houses, then would see all offers on January 13, in the evening and would then make their decision.
January 12, 2014~ we sold our house for over asking price in 36 hours (plus the option to rent it back for up to 60 days in case we didn't find a house right away). Such a HUGE praise! Again, we just felt the Lord moving before us, writing a story for our family.
January 13, 2014~ We submitted our offer for the house that we had toured on January 11. We waited and we prayed.
That evening, their listing realtor told ours that the family would be making a decision the following evening (hopefully) after receiving multiple offers.
We waited and prayed.
January 14, 2014~ Our offer was rejected.
(REJECTED... It felt as harsh as it sounds.)
So we continued to wait and to pray, knowing that we were supposed to make the move.
I had so many hard moments, especially because I am home SO much with the kids. I felt myself needing to emotionally detach from the house, our home, but I didn't have something that I could get excited about, something that we were moving to.
Truthfully, I felt homeless. I felt like someone else had bought our house and was kicking us out and we had no where to go.
We know God is faithful and worthy, but it was still really hard in the day to day.
We waited and we prayed.
January 25, 2014~ We went to an open house in the Tustin neighborhood that we love. We loved it! We put in an offer. It just felt like it would be a perfect house for us to raise our family in, and though it needed lots of work, we felt up to the challenge.
We waited and prayed.
January 26, 2014~ We were told that we wouldn't hear for a few more days because the realtor needed to present the offer to the owner's daughter as well, since she is in charge of her mother's finances.
We waited and prayed.
January 28, 2014~ Our offer was accepted!!!!! We still can't believe it! We are so thankful and just know that God was leading the whole thing. What a gift He has given us in this house!
January 31, 2014~ We drove by the house and there was a sold sign on the for sale sign. We got so giddy!
We are having so much fun dreaming about the house and all that we would love to do to it, and all that will take place within in it's walls!
February 8, 2014~ We have been through the inspections and termite checks and all the final steps in making our new house ours.
The down side is that we have been running around like crazy trying to finish projects that the new buyer for our house wanted done prior to the close of escrow. It's hard to put time into our house when we are moving and it's things that have been fine, but we feel like we are leaving the new owner an even better house. I have been relating these projects to the final stages of pregnancy, when you are so uncomfortable that labor would be a welcomed occurrence ... (Or was that just me...) A few months ago, the thought of moving from my house was unthinkable, and now, I just can't wait. That is so the Lord!
February 10, 2014~ We closed escrow on our current house!!! We feel like we are getting closer and closer to moving to our new house!
February 14, 2014~ We got the word that everything had checked off with our current house, and the buyer did her walk through and signed off on the purchase of the house.
February 16, 2014~ We got the word that all the contingencies had been met/dropped on our new house and that we should plan to close on March 17 and have access to the house on March 19.
We are so excited about all that this means for our family.
It feels like I can finally share all the exciting news with you!
So we are waiting and praying that all goes as planned!
Guess what the best part is?
Kit timed his drive from his work parking lot to the new house, and on a thursday afternoon, taking a side street, this is how long it took him:
This move is so going to dramatically change our life in so many amazing ways!
Please pray that it continues to go through and closes as smoothly as possible!
