Our new house (hopefully)!

Limerick Lane

front living room

dining room

back family room

Yes, it's been a while since the last post. Summer is gone and school has begun for me. I am taking three classes, doing some practicum hours for my major, leading the fall Koinonia retreat, moving within the next month, and all while trying to be a good wife and mother (although those are the two that I feel like I am lacking the most in right now). Ryan recently got a new job and transferred from Country Companies (the second biggest insurance headquarters in town) to State Farm ( the biggest insurance headquarters in town). The girls and I have highly benefitted from his significant pay raise, his day being shortened by 15 minutes (which doesnt seem like a lot, but is when you are dealing with the crankiest part of the day for a young toddler!), and our completely free membership to State Farm Park. It is many acres of sports fields, parks, meeting areas, and best of all a HUGE waterpark made up of 4 different pools and a sprinkler area. It is awesome!

Our house has been the biggest worry right now. We found an amazing, large house in an awesome neighborhood just a few minutes away from Epiphany. At first, it was out of our price range, but then about a month ago or so, our realator got some 'inside scoop,' and found out that the owners were in a pretty bad financial spot right now, and just really needed to sell the house at any price they could. So, we moved in for the kill, offered them less then the house was listed, and they accepted! But, the issue now is that this is what is called a 'short sale.' At first I thought that meant things would be moving fast, but I quickly realized that it meant quite the opposite. A short sale is actually a longer process then a 'normal' sale, because what we offered for the house is less then what the owners owe the bank on it. Bad for that bank, but good for us. So, it just takes a lot more paperwork and a lot more time for the bank to mull over whether or not they want to accept losing money on the house. But, the good news is, that our realtor just called me this morning and let us know that we have a tentative closing date of September 15! So, I'm trying not to get TOO excited because until the closing is actually over, there is still a chance that something crazy might happen and we wont get the house. But, everyone involved seems to be very confident.

The house is wonderful and everything we have been looking for: 4 bedrooms all on the upper level, open floor plan where the kitchen is open to the family room, larger front living room area, full basement, laundry on main floor near the kitchen and family rooms, 2 car attached garage. It also has some extremely nice 'extras' that we werent looking for at all but will be quite wonderful to have: very large master bedroom with walk-in closet, garden tub in the master bath (one of the things I am most excited about!!!), extra office area in the basement, nice sized deck and backyard. The pictures are from the houses' website, and although they are nice looking, I dont really think they do justice for the space. The pictures definitely make the rooms look smaller then they are. Plus, its a very open floor plan like I said, which makes everything feel bigger.

We cant wait to have everyone over!