Dream House!

So we've FINALLY found our DREAM house!

three bedrooms/2 baths
2000 sq ft plus a full basement
2 fireplaces
remodeled kitchen
hardwood floors
two car garage
huge yard
lots of trees
dining room
2 living areas

It also has a blue toilet and carpet that needs to be stretched. Yep, folks, we're staying put. Things didn't work out to move. . . or did they? I'm a "sign" person--always looking for things that are meant to be. A few months ago, I just KNEW that we were "supposed" to move. (After all, nuns wanted to buy our house--I mean, if that's not a direct order from the Big Guy, I don't know what is!) Long story short--our buyers fell through and within 24 hours, we found out that the one house we had looked at had a contract. So if that's not a sign, I don't know what is. . . We've since had two other interested parties (and our house has NEVER been on the market!) but nothing has come of it. At first, I wasn't sure what to think. What was that all about? Maybe we were supposed to put our house on the market--this was just the little push we needed. Maybe we were supposed to look for houses in town. Or maybe, we need to appreciate what we already have.

It can be really easy to get caught up in what the Jones have. And I know that people think we're crazy for living where we do. Fifteen minutes from Walmart? GASP! But after looking at what's out there, I realized that we have it pretty good right here. Yes, our house is almost as old as we are but Epiphany #1: New houses become old, and eventually need work too. Epiphany #2: We have a lot of space here that I'm just not willing to give up. We can't afford the space we have in a newer home. Case in point--we found a house online with the exact same square footage on LESS acreage... for $200,000 MORE than we paid. Yes, that comma is in the right place. Granted, the basement is finished and it's newer BUT someday we hope to have a finished basement too--and for less that 200 Gs.

Lately, we've been putting in a lot of time around the firepit with friends and while there are definitely things I hate about living here (blue toilet, copperheads, blue toilet. . .) I can't give up the stars at night, the coyotes howling in the distance, the moon coming up through the trees. It's like God himself is saying, LOOK at what I've given you. So I'm grateful to the nuns. They helped me realize that as with many things in life, everything you want is often right in your backyard. Literally.