Jim, Becky, and Kids

Wednesday, October 17, 2018

Packing and Birthdays

We went under contract for our purchase the day after accepting the offer for our sale. We only ever looked at that one house (who does that?!) and it was perfect for us. The whole process was incredibly fast paced and stressful, but at the same time we felt so much peace about every step. It was such an amazing experience.

Because we were heading out of town at the end of August, we arranged to rent our new house (another huge blessing!) so that we could move before closings, and so that our trip wouldn't delay closings. That meant that, once both houses were under contract, we had two weeks to pack!

I was pretty fried by the time we needed to pack, plus I really struggle with packing. It's messy and chaotic!! I love creating order. Ugh. Thankfully, I have an angel friend who just so happens to enjoy packing. I'm pretty sure she packed 90% of my house for me, and two other angel friends packed another 9%. (Plus countless other services rendered by friends during this period.) I filled a few boxes myself, but mostly I think I just taped boxes together. I'm not sure I would have managed this step on my own!

"Mom, take a picture!"

We celebrated Brig's 1st birthday in the midst of packing. Since he doesn't understand or care about a party or gifts, and we were so busy, we opted for something really simple and fun that he'd enjoy. We gave him a box of tissues and let him unload to his heart's content. He had a blast and played in it for hours!

We had Logan's 12th birthday celebration after we moved, but before closings. For his party, we invited his friends and their families over to our acreage for one last cookout and night games. It was a great way to say goodbye to our acreage.

SOLD!

Preparing our house for the market was super stressful, but we were very blessed to have tons of help from friends. Every time I was about to come up short, or Jim just didn't have time, there was someone that helped us. We are so blessed to have such kind and loving friends.

Our realtor was amazing, and super smart about marketing our house. She pre-listed our home which means that she put it on the MLS a week before we were ready, but only with exterior pictures and a short blurb. It was a little teaser. By the time we were ready for showings, it had hundreds of saves on Zillow, and we had SIX showings scheduled for the first day! The interior pictures never made it to the internet because we accepted an offer the same day. Blessings! By the time I walked out the door that morning, I felt like I was going to have a heart attack. Trying to make it perfect and clean with six kids underfoot was no joke! I actually started shaking violently and became really dizzy shortly after we left that morning. I think once my brain and body were able to relax after the intensity of the previous two weeks that I went into physical shock for a little bit. Crazy. I was so grateful that we had an accepted offer so quickly.

I love the pictures that our realtor took. We miss the outdoor space of our little acreage, but our new house is much more suited to our needs.

Surprising Changes

On July 12, Jim and I were having a conversation about the health problems I've been dealing with the last couple of years. I flippantly said, "Maybe the house is making me sick!" That statement led to a discussion about possibly moving, which led to selling our house and buying a different one, which led to completely changing how we're doing school this year, and now I've blinked and it's October. Perhaps I need to be more careful about my flippant comments. (All good and important changes, though!)

After our discussion that night, we decided to pray about the decision and also to look at one house that we'd found on Zillow because it looked perfect for our family. (Turns out is ~~was~~ is... more on that later.) The answer came quickly, so we decided that we'd aim to have our house on the market by August 1. TWO WEEKS. AAH!!!!

Over the course of the next two weeks, I completed six months worth of projects. Most days I hit the ground running and worked for 16 hours or so. I lost 7 pounds without trying (unfortunately I've gained them back and then some). Since I didn't have time to purge, anything that was excess was quickly packed into boxes. There's nothing like a massive de-clutter to make me feel like a hoarder!!

I took a lot of pictures of my progress, but that was mostly to motivate myself. I'm only including a few here. (For the record, the rooms I'm showing here were the WORST. Generally speaking, the rest of the rooms didn't look much different by the time I was finished.)

A wonderful friend took my kids the day that I did touch up paint because I needed to touch up in every single room. The particular can was really difficult to open. LOL!

The kids loved having the ladder inside.

End of July

These pictures are mostly of Laurel. I either have a favorite child or one who loves the camera. :)

One evening I couldn't find Laurel to put her to bed. This is where I found her. She was sitting SO quietly. Even when we sat right next to her for several minutes, she didn't make a peep.

She was pretty mad when I took the blanket off. She continued to hide like this for several weeks. I caught her hiding under a blanket on my bed, hiding under the blanket in this corner, and several times she attempted to sneak through the living room with the blanket over her head. It was her invisibility cloak!! Ha ha!