Learning to Let go of control and let God work out the details sounds so easy. I am a person that likes to be in control and plans for the outcome. The problem with that is, destiny usually is a better outcome than I could have ever planned.
As I think back to early summer~ right after I posted the news of listing our house for sale~ I remember the lack of control I had and the uneasy feeling it gave me.
We were sitting in the Kitchen of the River house and I was upset because the house I thought we were getting (the one I wrote about being “The One”) was probably not going to be ours. Ask my family, I was devastated- to say the least. I said out loud how hard it was in moments like these to just – let God take control. At that moment Something Hit Me. I thought- that’s what I am going to do. I decided not to be upset if it didn’t work out and just go with it. (VERY HARD FOR ME)
Let me back up a little. The night before this, we had accepted an offer on our home -only 9 days after the sign went up. We had 3 weeks to pack everything, do repairs and close-by July 10th- this is summer time people- and right after a major Holiday- oh yea, we were leaving for vacation the 13th. Which is cutting it close. Not only was this happening at a Race Truck Speed. (Only Danny and the kids know that term), I was NOT in Control. Something I am just not that great with. (Again- Danny and the Family know that all too well). We were not working out our deal with the OTHER house~ something was just not right and poor Danny was getting the brunt of it. I tend to let my emotions out on the ones I love most- hoping and praying that they will just take it.
So 2 days went by and still nothing working in our direction of getting a home to move into. That’s when Danny started looking online at homes in our area. I didn’t need to do that since that is my job anyway and I am ALWAYS looking. He said, you know these interest rates are pretty low right now and I am thinking maybe we can increase our price range slightly. WHAT????? I never thought of that- REALLY?????
OK~ this is sounding good- tell me more… So I start scouring the internet too 🙂 Even though I already knew what was out there- I just didn’t think for me. So we Looked and Looked and Looked online. We were ready to see some in person.
On Sunday ~ Yes Open House Day we packed up the kids and bottled up our excitement and started looking. Of course these houses are all in like a 1.5 mile radius from our current home because, I forgot to mention, we had to stay in the same school district. Of course, I had it all mapped out. We had 3 scheduled appointments- including one directly next door to the home we thought we wanted. Long story- but it wasn’t even listed yet. If we could quickly get through those, we were going to sneak in one at 3:45- just before the open house ended. By 5:00 pm that day, Danny and I had both decided we were not going to buy that house we thought we wanted. It was a very freeing, yet out of control feeling. Believe it or not, I was EXCITED!
So the next day, we ran numbers, researched our options called listing agents and Decided on THE HOUSE. It was perfectly imperfect- just like us! It had been on the market for 14 months and NO offers. This is sounding good. I never once thought what happened, why hasn’t it sold?
I knew at that moment- this had all been planned – sometimes these plans just take awhile.
So we made an offer- they countered- we made another offer- and Bam- Accepted. This is just all working out better than imagined- the only thing- we needed a little more money upfront. I won’t go into numbers, but what we had saved in addition to the equity from our current home was EXACTLY what we needed. Things like this are what having faith is all about. Knowing that whatever happens, we are going to be ok.
We knew that there was no way we could get in the house in 3 weeks- with the way the mortgage industry is going right now. With all the Refi’s and purchases our loan officer told us 30 days was the absolute minimum- it was more like 50 days, but who’s counting? So if your math is good (unlike mine) you might see a gap in there- yes- a 5 week Gap of homelessness- well actually house paymentless which is really not that bad.
So we started packing and repairing our home- I won’t go into detail- but packing all of our stuff into 3 pods with a little help from our friends and still taking a full sized U Haul load to my moms is not easy. Let me just say- the cost of hiring movers might be the most valuable thing you could ever pay for. The day we closed and moved out of our house was THE most stressful day I can remember ever having. Thanks to all that helped- while we frantically packed.
But we had vacation to look forward to!!! And a vacation it was. I tried to just relax and not think about the huge Mess we had just dropped off back at my mom’s house- luckily they were with us and never really saw how bad it was. My absolute wonderful Aunt Jan- took all of our things up to our temporary apartment- the game room at mom’s- while we were at the beach. She also kept our dogs for us- what a gem.
So after our much needed vacation- we stayed at mom’s- which was actually more like a Hotel- with a laundry service, restaurant and pool. It was only a short time, but I could have stayed much longer 🙂 It was great!
We have had a pretty stressful summer, but we are settled just in time for the new school year. Preston starts First Grade on Monday and Addi will be going downstairs with the Big 3 Year Old’s at her preschool this year.
I am so blessed to be able to have my kids home with me for the summer. I truly love what I do and the flexibility it gives to allow me to work from home or actually where ever I am. I am hoping that in the year to come, I can hire a part time assistant to help me as my business grows.
I am going to trust God and what he has in store for me- however hard it may be- I know it will be worth it.
XOXO
Lindsey
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