By the Grace of God…

…we are Home Owners!!! 

For a month we had known that we would be moving, but weren’t certain where.  We had been in the process of looking at places to buy since May.  After putting a couple offers in on different Short Sale condos in the same neighborhood, we finally got an accepted offer on one that was not a short sale!  We were relieved to not have any competition once our offer was in and we didn’t have to wait months on the bank!  The price was a little higher, but this one is also in better condition than the others. 

I say we weren’t sure where we were going to be moving to, because as it came closer to the close date we were thrown some obstacles.  Luke had been working a sales job and was told that he had to hit his goal by Friday, September 30th, or he’d be laid off.  Our close date was Thursday, September 29th.  The end of the month came and the sales weren’t coming in.  We knew he was going to lose his job.  Fortunately, he had some options for work he could do at least temporarily, but if he lost his job we probably wouldn’t be approved for the loan anymore.  We prayed and prayed about what we should do.  Whether we should still buy or stay with family for awhile rather than throw money away on rent. 

Our closing day came and we knew that Luke had his exit interview the next day.  At closing, our agent told us that he had talked to the agent selling the home that he had no idea we were closing that day!  This agent was unbelievable!  The closing date had never changed!  So, now we were getting nervous.  The seller’s wouldn’t be closing until Friday!  They could still call and verify employment!  We went through with our side of closing.  We had continually prayed to God that if this isn’t where he wanted us to please stop the process!  We didn’t want to be buying a home for material reasons.  We were fine staying with family if that’s what God wanted for us.

We had made plans for family and friends to help us move on Saturday.  We had to be out of our apartment by Sunday.  We still weren’t even sure that the seller’s were going to close in time for the loan to fund and record on Friday.  If they didn’t, the place wouldn’t be ours until Monday.  We would have had to keep everything in the moving trailer and stay with family and get help again to unload all our stuff another day. 

Luke’s exit interview was at noon.  The seller’s ended up closing at 11:30, pretty much the last minute for it to be able to fund and record on Friday.  So, we got the house!  It’s OURS!  PRAISE GOD! 

Luke texted me around 12:30 and said they were going to pay out his last commissions and pay the rest of his PTO.  ANOTHER BLESSING! 

Awhile back, one of the tech guys at Luke’s office told Luke he should come work for the IT department.  Luke kind of blew it off knowing he had no experience in IT other than loving to play around on computers.  Well, he knew that there was now an opening in the IT department and asked the guy if he thought it would be a possibility for him to be an option for the position.  I got another text saying that they had accepted his resume!

A couple hours had passed and I was starting to wonder where he was.  I thought he’d be sent home immediately.  I finally texted him around 3 asking if he was ok.  He replied that he was “great”.  And that he had just had an interview.  Long story short, they interviewed him and it went well enough that they decided to give him a 2nd interview.  That also meant that they would keep him on for 2 more weeks in case they decided to hire him.  PRAISE GOD AGAIN!  He had a job for at least 2 weeks! 

Now we had some things to consider.  This would be a career change.  Not just a job for a little while.  They wanted to hire someone that would be there for the long haul.  This would mean that he would need to stop playing golf and pursuing that as a career.  That is a HUGE change for us!  But, a change we were both willing to make.  After praying and talking over the weekend we decided this would be a great opportunity.  He still had another interview and it was up to them to decide if he was their guy.  They moved him to the IT department temporarily and a couple days later did the second interview and offered him the job! 

GOD IS SO GOOD AND FAITHFUL! 

He promises he will provide and He has definitely shown us that!

God gets all the glory here, because we know that Luke did not have the experience that people often look for with this type of job.  It’s obvious that Luke is an awesome employee.  He’s always on time and works harder than anyone I know.  He doesn’t waste company time and wants to make sure that the company is not wasting money on him. 

We’re so thankful for all that God has given us.  So much that we don’t deserve!  Thank you God for your grace!

It’s been a couple of weeks since he started his new position and he loves it!  He comes home everyday and tells me how much he loves it and is excited to go to work everyday.  Awesome!

And now, here are some pictures to document our new purchase!

Zac and Dad are so excited to be closing on our new home!  The window made the pictures all blurry, well the bad lighting and the fact that they were dancing around.  The video shows a quick clip of that big cheesy grin I love.

Friday night, we rode over to check out our place and load the fridge with drinks for our moving helpers.  Zac’s face is funny in the top one. 

The view from the front door. 

The dining room and kitchen are huge!  It’s my favorite.  Well, that and the laundry room is upstairs with the bedrooms!

Zac had fun roaming around with me.  It’s brand new carpet and Zac was handing me a piece of carpet he picked up.  He has started handing me things he knows he’s not supposed to have, instead of sticking everything in his mouth.  It’s a nice change.

“Oooh stairs.  I could have fun on these”.

And back to the apartment for our last night.  Sis is telling Dad something fun.

We were laughing at how she wanted to lay her head back and look around.

Talk about an eventful month!  A new baby, a big boy started walking, a new house, and a new job!  WE ARE SO BLESSED!