Adventures in North Carolina

There is so much to write, I'm not quite sure where to start! Ryan and I flew out Monday morning for Charlotte to begin our house-hunting trip. We arrived to warm, beautiful weather with not a cloud in the sky. We had fun Monday and Tuesday, relaxing and driving around the area to acquaint ourselves. Then, Wednesday began the search for a home. We finally got to meet the realtor that we had been referred to by a friend of mine who lives here. He is a wonderful christian man who has been in real estate for over 30 years in this area. So, we really felt like his expertise gave us an advantage. The first day of walking through homes was somewhat discouraging. We saw 13 houses that first day...and it seemed like every house we walked through had at least one big strike against it. We kept wondering where that perfect house was that we knew the Lord was saving for us. We prayed again that night before going to bed that God would show us where He wanted us to be.

Thursday morning, our realtor told us he had found a house online that was a little out of our price range, but had been on the market for quite a while. So, he thought the sellers would take a lower offer. It was in an area we had not considered before, but still close enough to Ryan's office and not too far of a commute to Lauren's school. Right when we pulled up to the house, I knew I was going to like it. The front yard is beautifully landscaped and well-maintained. And it had a front porch, perfect for two rocking chairs (which is very popular in the South). The inside was just as immaculate and to top it all off, it has a screened porch in the back (to keep the mosquitos out) and a view of the 13th tee of the Skybrook golf course. So, maybe I will have to take up golfing after all! It was the first house we walked through that really felt like it could be "home".

We spent that evening again in prayer, asking that if the Lord didn't want us in this house, He would close the door. The next morning, we met with our realtor to write up an offer. After some negotiating and careful calculating, we agreed on an amount and signed the papers! We are so thrilled and can't wait to move in and get all settled. And we really feel like God led us to this house, because it wasn't even one of the homes I had on my original list. We are so grateful for His provision for us and are confident that He will continue to guide us every step of the way.

Here's our new home:

On the Fast Track

It is amazing how God answers prayers! Yesterday morning, I received a call from our persistent realtor, Joe Fustolo. He had spent the weekend relentlessly calling the buyer's realtor and asking that they remove their contingency. He finally succeeded when someone else came along and said they could make a full-price offer to bump the current one. The first buyers already knew they were able to do a bridge loan (which means buying a house before theirs sells) and really had fallen in love with our home. So, they removed their contingency...and now we will close in 30 days! All of a sudden, it doesn't seem like that long. It's ironic, because we've known for 2 months that we will be moving, so you think we'd be prepared. But now it's as if we have shifted into warp speed and 30 days hardly seems like enough time to get everything done. Since we will close in a month, that means we will leave Oregon for North Carolina on June 15th or shortly thereafter - yikes!!

So now, Ryan and I are planning on flying out Monday morning, the 21st, to Charlotte to find a house. We will probably be there for the whole week, returning on Saturday or Sunday. We are already connected with a realtor there, who we've sent a list of homes to that we are interested in seeing. He is busy making those appointments for us and finding other homes within our price range in the right areas. We are also going to schedule a time to visit the school Lauren will be attending and to meet with her teacher, which will put me more at ease for the coming school year.

It's going to be a busy week, so we ask for your prayers - that the Lord will lead us to the house where He wants us to be and that everything will go smoothly...from the financing to the terms to the scheduling of the move. We also ask for prayer for Lauren during the week that we are away and for my mother, who will be watching her while we are gone!

Thank you all so much for your support and encouragement during this time - it is going to be difficult to leave you all behind. But, we are thrilled that, in just one more month, we will all be together again as a family. And we can't wait to see what He has in store for us there. He is so good!!

Contingencies & Night Terrors

Well, we finally received and accepted an offer on our house, which is good news. The part that doesn't make it great news is that the buyers haven't sold their home yet. In fact, it isn't even on the market yet...which makes their offer on our home contingent upon them selling their house. We signed papers agreeing to no later than a July 6th close date, which, to be honest, scares me to death. Because Lauren's first day of preschool in North Carolina is August 27th. And I was hoping to be in our new house all settled by then. But, the Lord knows what He is doing and every step along this path is teaching me to trust Him with the kind of blind faith He so deserves.

The other interesting part of my week was, after many sleepless nights, hearing the pediatrician diagnose Lauren with night terrors. It is a sleep disorder that affects 2% of children ages 1-8. It is usually inherited, but both of our mothers swear that neither Ryan or I ever had it. So, lucky me! It is basically when the child, during the REM sleep cycle, has a nightmare that they cannot be awakened from. So, she wakes up every 3 hours or so during the night crying, hysterical and unable to be consoled. It is probably one of the most helpless feelings as a mother to not be able to calm your child down or fix the problem. Once again, this has driven me to my knees. I have started praying over her each time she has an episode, because even though they say this is a "sleep disorder"...I also firmly believe that it is an attack of Satan. He is oh so sneaky in the ways he is trying to get to us, weaken us, and tear us apart. But, we are firm in our resolve and confident he will give up soon because he is not succeeding. These struggles and stumbling blocks are only pulling us closer to the One we serve and who is faithful to comfort us during these challenging times. These difficulties are only making us rely on Him more because we clearly see we cannot do it on our own strength. So, praise be to God, for He is the one who is enabling us to endure this time, giving us everything we need for each day and teaching us incredible lessons of faith, radical dependence and, above all, hope.