Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Don't Even Get Me Started

Today we are moving!

It might come as a surprise to some of you, but I have not been posting about all of this because well...it has been a pretty insane process to sell our current house and buy the next house. I will break it down for you here:

Last year, we switch high schools for Young Life from the school where we were leaders for six years to a high school that has really strong Young Life. All of their leaders departed for grown-updom and there was nobody to head up the ministry. Matt and I knew that the Lord was calling us to this high school and so we started the long process of getting our hearts AND house ready to sell.

Early in the spring, we were approached by my sister-in-law's (Buffy) mother-in-law (Got THAT?) who lives in Asheville near the area we were looking to buy; and she expressed an interest to move near to her son and Buffy. Would we be interested in buying her house? She named a price and well...we were VERY INTERESTED.

But we knew that some crazy stuff was going to have to happen. Such as, sell our house AND her have a new job that started simultaneously with our closing date. But we knew that God had called us to this new part of town and this was not beyond his abilities to orchestrate.

We all agreed to try to make this happen, however bizarre it might seem.

So we listed our house and had a lot of traffic over the summer and even came under contract albeit briefly.

Right after our first club, I totally lost heart with this process. I was overwhelmed with high school kids I didn't know, the ones that I did know and the ones that want me to know them better. I just wanted very badly for us to get to move down near them because it is so much harder to have relationships when you don't shop, live etc. all in the same neighborhood as them. It is really a Jesus philosophy because he came to US and moved into the neighborhood of Jerusalem in order to speak directly to those he loved. We want to do the same thing and thought that it was never going to happen.

Mostly, I lost heart because the news that mortgage market was tightening up and nobody was getting loans. I saw the writing on the wall that would mean nobody would buy our house.

The very next day we had a second showing on our house and on the very day that the market plunged 700 points-we had a contract on our house! It was unbelievable! People are amazed that we were able to sell our house in this market, IN THIS MONTH. The worst financial month in history. Oh, and we needed to close in 21 days.

We have had no problems qualifying for our mortgage which is incredible too.

The biggest "X" factor was that seller also needed to get a job this month too. Not so easy. As soon as we told her that we had a contract, she freaked out. But a few days later approached her boss and told them the situation. They decided that it would be best for all parties if she continued her job via telecommuting. So she could go ahead, move to Florida AND be able to BUY a house since she still has her steady employment.

Seriously y'all? I can't make this stuff up.
So we are moving into her house this afternoon and tomorrow. Matt's mom and sister have graciously taken the kids off of our hands since Sunday so that we can make the move happen without them underfoot. And to tell the truth, that has made this seem like a vacation rather than the most stressful week of the Fall.

How 'bout them apples?
I will post pictures of the new house as we get settled. Stay tuned!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

God is truly blessing your life and your ministry, and you will be exactly what those high schoolers need at this point in their lives - just as you were for me and the rest of us at Dreher.

Mason and I completely understand about not being able to minister properly when not in the area. We are just so fortunate that God has put such an understanding and simultaneously passionate heart in our youth group that we are able to conintue to live 20 minutes away but still have a thriving ministry.

Congrats on the move and best of luck with everything. May it continue to be a "vacation."

Blessings, Katie