The Impending Move is All I Think About Right Now

Dear reader! Guess what? It was about the 20th one we walked through, but it looks like we've got a house! Huzzah!

The miracle happened thusly: On Thursday of last week, Brandon FaceTimed with me as he went through some houses with our realtor. Nothing felt right. While I was looking for an address for Brandon on realtor.com (and hoping to find anything newly listed), I saw a new house that had just been listed the night before. It looked promising and the price was shocking because it seemed it would have cost more, but it was smack dab in the middle of our pre-approved budget. I sent it to our realtor and he got Brandon an appointment for the next morning. I figured it would be too good to be true; the pictures got me excited, but you can't ever go off of pictures because either they will make the house look better than it is, or it will make the house look worse than it is. Friday morning, Brandon and our realtor again FaceTimed with me (first with another house that was pretty great and then with the new listing). Dear reader, the newly listed house was 10 times better than the photos! We honestly couldn't believe it. Granted, it didn't have everything we had dreamed of (what house that you don't build yourself does?), but it had all of the things that we felt we had to have. We decided right then and there to make an offer --we got the offer in by noon before Brandon had to fly back to Philly. The owner accepted our offer and signed the contract before 5PM!

We're doing inspections soon, but barring any unforeseen problems, it looks like we'll close mid-March. We're planning on pulling out about the last week of March, so this is very, very good. Any prayers you offer in our behalf that our house purchase will go smoothly will be very much appreciated, dear reader! Once everything is finalized, I'll tell you more about the house, and share a photo (probably after we move). Okay, okay, I'll tell you a little bit.

Although it was built in the 1970's, it feels more like it was built in the 1870's (the inside). It was really well built and is very traditional --in fact, all the dark wood (not paneling!) is pretty popular right now. And the exterior is a beautiful brick. But the greatest part of the house is that it will fit all 9 of us comfortably! And it literally has everything that was so important to me: a bigger kitchen with an island, a large laundry room with a folding counter, and a tub in the master bathroom. Extras: back deck, fireplaces, loads of closet space, and an open dining/living room area. It also reminds me of PA homes (not as boxy as Colonial homes, but the inside look and feel of them).

I'm really in love with the house, it was in our budget, and I'm grateful for this miracle! God is really mindful of us, dear reader. I have no doubt this happened the way it was supposed to. And if something horrible happens (knock on wood) and we don't get the house (more wood knocking), I'll let you know and we can all cry together.

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I've been thinking a lot about this impending move (go figure) and I have to say that I'm actually looking forward to it. Not because I won't miss Pennsylvania and the wonderful people here (trust me, I will miss it --especially the people), but because I'm really excited for what awaits us. Here are some of the things I'm looking forward to:

1. Brandon's job will be about 5-6 minutes away. This is the MOST important part!
2. Church will be 6-7 minutes away. Wha?! We've gotten so used to church being a half hour drive that I can't imagine how amazing it will be to have the church so close. Our stake center, however, is an hour away... and the temple is two hours away... so it won't be anything like Utah or something, but it's still pretty great!
3. Cost of living. Boy howdy, this will be such a great part of it. For this reason, we're able to buy a house instead of rent, and hopefully things like utilities will be less expensive. We also won't be having to drive such long distances as often (well, maybe not --I guess the temple and Costco are really far away, but church, schools, activities, etc. are much closer together), so we'll save money on gas (although what is this current awesomeness of having gas be under $2!? I feel like I'm in college again!).
4. Closer to family. Instead of being 4 days away, it's more like 1 1/2 to 2 days. My parents are already planning a family reunion in Kansas this summer!
5. Safe streets where my kids can ride bikes and we can walk. In our community here, we can't do this because there aren't even shoulders on the roads. We pretty much have to drive everywhere outside of our neighborhood.
6. I'm not a farm girl (I wasn't raised on a farm) and I'm not a ranch girl (I wasn't raised on a ranch), but I'm a small town girl who was raised near farms and ranches! And I would be lying if I didn't say that Kansas feels like home. Because it does! It's very comfortable for me.
7. The chance to purge my house again. Ha! ;)

I've decided to be merciless with the purging this time. Only the essentials are coming with us and I'm not going to be hauling junk or trash into our new home. This means a lot of recycling and donating will be happening! Maybe some selling, too. It's so freeing to just get rid of the stuff that simply clutters up our lives. I've shredded so many documents and I already have four large boxes of recycling (HUGE boxes).

Considering the fact that we are prepping for another move during birthday month (we have five birthdays in the next four weeks, and we've moved during this time of year two other times), I have a very busy calendar. Why I'm sitting here blogging is beyond me... I sometimes wish I could just say no to everything, pull my kids out of school, and just get the house finished. But we have to live in it, live our lives, fulfill our obligations, and of course, some genius promised her kids last year, when there was a baby being born, that this year, they could have friend birthday parties... how was I to know we'd be moving!? And, fortunately for them, I like to keep my promises when I can, not to mention the good closure they'll receive by having a final party/get-together with their PA friends. So, I shall do it! I shall do it, and it shall be fun! Successful! Wonderfully wonderful!

Well, dear reader, I've bored you enough. Have a lovely week!