Hi, Friends,
How are you?
I'm on pins and needles over here.
If you have been following for a while, you may remember that there have been a few houses that have intrigued and tempted us.
There have been a couple that we can't seem to forget and I've enjoyed taking you along on our house journey.
There was the less than perfect Little Lake Property.
There was the Sinking Bungalow and the sweet Sunset house.
There was the Faux French Chateau.
I'm a big believer that everything happens for a reason. When we lost Sunset last summer, it took a little while to understand that loss. Now with the lockdown and Covid, I think our staying here has been a blessing. We know our neighbors and our neighborhood. They have been our only companionship for the last five months. (From across the street, of course.)
Bill and I have always wanted a place in the country. We have talked about that dream for the last 37 years.
We wanted a manageable amount of acreage.
I've had a longing for chickens and for growing food. Bill needs to tinker with things. He wants geese.
But why? Why, when we have been blessed with a lovely home?
Why would God want us to have a second home? We are blessed enough with this one. I've spent a lot of time in prayer about it.
During the last third of our life, we thought we would travel. When will we be able to do that again?
We thought we would have little feet visiting us. That's not on the horizon and now with the pandemic, I doubt our children will want to bring little feet into this scenario. I could be wrong but I doubt it.
There have been times when we have been discouraged and the dream seemed out of reach.
One of things that has hit me during this virus situation is to have peace in the things that I cannot control. I've always had a feeling that if the right house or property was out there, we would know it and that it wouldn't be that hard to find. I've seen God work in my life enough that I know this to be true.
Our realtor has had us in a couple of search matrixes. We get emails everyday about a downsized suburban home and country properties.
It's a lot of emails but there was nothing for sale that looked interesting.
Bill would get the emails and he would look at the links. He forwarded those to me that intrigued him.
Most of the time, I've been "Nope, I'm not living there with you."
Last week, he got an email which led him to another link. It was a house that had just been put on the market. When he clicked through the pictures of the property and the house, he wanted to see it. We were already going to be out in that direction, so he set up a showing.
I hadn't seen the pictures or the listing. I didn't even know that we were house hunting. I didn't even really want to house hunt. We were supposed to be relaxing.
We pulled up to the house.
I didn't even notice the picket fence. (I have always wanted a picket fence.)
The acreage had vista and interest. "Okay..."
I walked up to through the front yard and stepped up onto the porch. I got a warm and tingly feeling.
That tingly feeling means nothing if Bill sees something he doesn't like ~ just FYI.
We opened the front door.
"This is original shiplap!"
The realtor and I began to talk about the original doors, beadboard ceilings, the original kitchen cabinets.
There are original door knobs.
"How old is this house?"
The realtor said the house was built in 1932 but it's had some recent work and a hodgepodge of floors.
There is a big unfinished addition which caused me to think that Bill would never go for this property.
We walked through the house and the yard. We walked out to the barns.
There is a big one that is falling down and a little old chicken barn.
Bill and I chatted in the car.
The work was not too daunting for Bill.
Yes, there are things that the inspector needs to check and we have concerns.
Bill was not deterred by the addition. If fact, he thought it was a good thing that it was unfinished because we can finish it the way we want.
The more we talked, the more we became sure that we needed to make an offer.
We saw the house on Friday. We put our offer in on Saturday.
We didn't think that we would hear on Sunday. It's the country and there is "country time".
As Monday stretched on, we started to feel like the owner had gone with another offer.
It was the Sunset house all over again.
I prayed and told that Lord that whatever happened was okay. I'd be disappointed but it was okay.
At almost that moment, Bill walked out of his office and said, "He accepted our offer."
I got goose bumps all over again.
There is work to be done but a lot of stuff has already been done.
This project may take five years to get it exactly how we would like it.
This house has details that I'd never dreamed we find.
We still have to get it inspected and we still have to close but we hope to have a little weekend farm by Thanksgiving.
It almost doesn't seem real.
I'll be back to talk through some plans, room ideas and show you some family heirlooms that have been hoarded for such a house as this.
Thanks for following along on this journey.
Katie
Update - we had to pull out during our option period due to excessive damage to the eaves, 5 or 6 layers of roofing and poorly done additions. We continue to search for a perfect weekend retreat.
