on the move

The Broady family is on the move...and still in search of where we are going. :) For a very long time, Keith and I have tossed around the idea of moving. Do we stay, do we go? We would casually look at the real estate market, but I really didn't find even one house that grabbed my attention. (unless, of course, I went up a few hundred thousand in the budget!) Keith would drive me to look at different houses, but nothing 'spoke' to me. :) He drove me out one day to check out a house and it was one of the best I had seen, but I was still very unsure. We set up an appointment to look inside (and took my parents). I got a bit excited about the possibilities of it, but it needed LOTS of TLC. I will spare some of the details, but it was pretty bad. And...our house wasn't even on the market. And...we were told there was already an existing offer on the house, contingent on those people selling their house. So..that was that. I assumed it wasn't supposed to be ours. I didn't think about it anymore. Keith would still look around at some options, but I just didn't.

I LOVE my house. We have a lot of history and memories here, so I wasn't really a fan of moving. I love where we have brought this house, what we have done to it, and where it is now. We basically renovated the entire thing, and I just have a sense of accomplishment with it. I feel like we finally got it to place we loved and were happy with, and then we were talking about leaving it. I could go on and on about the things I love about it, but it kind of gets me depressed, because...it isn't ours anymore. :( 

After months of deliberation over what to do we finally decided to put it on the market "just to see what would happen." I talked myself into the idea that I like change, which I do, and thought I would have a bit of time to process and think about it, and ease into this new idea. Wrong. We met with our Realtor, she put a sign in our yard, it went on the mls listing on a Wednesday morning, we had a showing on Friday, and an offer by that evening. What?!? 

Don't get me wrong, I was excited, but shocked! What had just happened? We didn't even know where we would go...and we had 3 kiddos to think about as well. I am a planner, so this was not an easy situation for me.

After lots of prayer and critical thinking, we decided to put in an offer on the house that we had looked at that one day with my parents. The funny thing was, we didn't really even remember what it looked like! We were told it was really difficult to get a showing with the guy who owned it...really difficult. It took almost 2 weeks just to get the first showing we had. We didn't want to wait any longer just in case the other people who had the offer in sold their current house and were able to move ahead. So...we put in an offer. And that was the beginning of a a very long nightmare...way too long to even remember all the details. It has been a mess.

There are several pieces to the crazy puzzle, but just a few are...this is a divorce situation so they both have to agree and look at all correspondence back and forth...and they don't communicate very well with each other (hence, the divorce I guess), I don't think the guy really even wants to move, and deadlines mean absolutely nothing to either of them. Contract after contract have been broken. When we first put in the offer, the 48 hours they had to respond, turned into a week. We then countered back and waiting another week...at least. The home inspections we had scheduled had to moved back due to the death of one of his dogs. 

These are just a handful of the issues we have had. Our Realtor counseled us a few times to have a strong 'Plan B' in mind just in case. Just when we would think she was right, something would happen that would cause us to think that things were moving forward. So, we would once again jump back in to the waiting, negotiating game. 

It's been such a long process that the excitement of all of it turned into panic, worry, and depression. If this didn't come through, I just didn't know where we would go. We devoured the real estate listings, drove to look at several 'options' only to be disappointed every single time. That was the one thing that just kept us moving forward. We couldn't find anything we liked.

My sadness really came from the realization that our house was gone. I didn't think I was a very sentimental person, but that has completely gone out the window! I have shed more that a few tears about the thought of leaving. All my babies were born and have grown up here. If this other house didn't work out, I could not find anything else that compared to the amount of space our house had, and I felt like I would be downgrading by moving. And I really didn't want to leave. A rough process! Poor Keith. :)

I wish I could say that it has all worked out and we are good to go with the other house, but we are still....waiting. Word has it that we will close next week hopefully, but we heard that 2 weeks ago as well. We have to be out of our house by the end of the month. We haven't even closed on the one we want, and that guy still has 30 days after closing to get out. So...we are homeless. :) My only peace in all of this is knowing that God has a plan. I am holding this all in the palm of my hand (fingers open) and allowing Him to do whatever He wants to do. I had to get to the end of me to really feel that way, but I really do trust He has a plan. And, if he cares for the birds, then He cares and knows what is going on in my little world!! :)

And...God has been so good in the midst of it all. We have had many miracles along the way. One miracle is the huge blessing of Keith's Dad and Grandpa. They were both willing to give up their homes for us to live in during this transition time of one house to another, and some additional time to do some work to the house we would be moving into before we actually move in. Who does that?!? When Keith told me that, I got tears in my eyes. They are going to bunk up with each other and allow us to have one of their houses, which I think is his Grandpa's house at this point. I am beyond humbled. It is such a huge thing for us right now. So...we are moving forward without a clear end in sight, believing that God is in control and will navigate us in the right direction. :) I really do believe that.
So...for now we are loading up our entire house and putting it in storage, taking the few toys, clothes, etc. items that we must have to his Grandpa's house, and praying that our stay there is short...for everyone involved. :)

I have to post some pics of my current humble abode just so I remember the little place years down the road. Don't want to forget it.

 My little Pay Pay's Room

 Addison and Kaden's shared room...yes, the poor little fella had to sleep in a pink room. (it was only going to be temporary until Payton could move in with Addison)

 Living Room

 Dining Room

 Our Room

 Our Bathroom

 Family Room

Kitchen

And...my favorite wall in the whole house. :) I love these pics of us this past summer in Destin. I wanted to be sure to get some good ones while we were there because I knew my kids would never be that small again at the beach. I know that I can obviously take these with me, but just wanted to remember them here.

Sorry to bore you if you don't care...just want to have some documentation for me and my kiddos to look back on. :) I have some pics of the new house as well, but just so I don't scare anyone with them, I will spare you. They definitely require some creative thinking. I am pretty good at that and can envision things, but some people can't!! One day it will look good I hope. :)

Keep us in your prayers as we believe for Him to move some mountains!