Since everything seems to be happening at once in our lives–baby, new house, trip home, new job for me–I’ve been much too busy to blog, so maybe I’d better catch you up.

We found out on April 26th that our contract on the house had been finalized–just 4 days before the first-time-home-buyer-tax-credit expired!

Had we not heard back in time for the deadline, we were planning to forego buying a house and look for one to rent for a while. We had been waiting since the end of March to find out the status of the contract. Since I had so set my mind on not getting the house, that I was almost disappointed at the news! Now I’m so thankful we’ll only have to move once!

When we looked at the house in March it had no appliances whatsoever, missing light fixtures, stained carpets, and lots of personal items left from the previous residents. Since the house was such a good deal, we bought it “as is” with a clause in the contract that the seller would remove the personal items. However when we got the inspection report back, we were in for the best kind of surprise. The report mentioned an oven and a seal on the dishwasher door. What? Had they put appliances in the house? We stopped by to take a peek, and yes, there was an oven, a dishwasher and new light fixtures in the hall!

All the personal items had been removed and the carpets had even been shampooed! Wow! If that’s why we had to wait a month to hear back on the house, I’m so glad. God is good! We essentially got those appliances for free!

As we walked around the house, Stephen kept saying, “This is huge!”

We have 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a den, kitchen, and combined formal dining and living room. The house is 2100 sq. feet, which we plan to put to good use for our family and for our church. One objective we had in searching for a home was to make sure it had lots of ministry capacity. The kitchen and den are big and open which will be great for entertaining.

The front room is also spacious which could accommodate a large group if needed.

We hope our guest room will house many missionaries, evangelists, and family members. We just need to fill our house with furniture! It will definitely be a work in progress for many years.

The closing is fast approaching. We hope to be moving soon!