Our Virginia Home

So in the midst of our crazy fall schedule, we added in one more BIG item...we bought a house!

For the last 2 years, we have been learning the area, settling in, and doing what we can to make Virginia home. We knew a big step in that process would be putting down permanent roots and buying a house, but we were not quite sure how that was going to work. We have been trying to adjust to the cost of living in this area {much higher than Texas}, and as everyone recognizes right now...inflation and home prices are crazy. But we continued praying and asking the Lord to show us His will.

And He has {once again} provided! When I say that there was no possible way that we could have afforded a home in this market...I really mean that. We were pretty sure we were going to have to spend our savings renting for a few more years. But, of course, with God...nothing is impossible :)

We are SO excited about our new home. It's in a really great neighborhood with amazing neighbors {we share a street with one of our elders}. We got to enjoy a sweet welcome BBQ with many of the neighbors in the cul-de-sac. We look forward to deepening relationships with our neighbors, and we pray we can use our home as a light in the neighborhood. This house is beyond anything we could have hoped for, and we cannot wait to move in!

Part of the blessing the Lord has provided in the midst of this process is that we are able to do some renovations on the home, able to make it our own. It's still in process, and we hope to move in before the end of the year. I'll be sure to share more on the remodel project later.

For now, we are in the midst of packing and finalizing decisions for the remodel. We have also been making trips to the house for varying projects, but mostly to attempt to manage the MASS amount of leaves that are falling from our gigantic oak tree!

We were there when some remodeling materials were being delivered!

The leaves are going to be an all-family, all-fall project :)

Praise God for His {continued} gracious provision!

Goodbye Texas...

This post isn't super exciting, and I don't have any pictures {sorry}, but I just wanted to have a record of our crazy whirlwind of packing and moving! We officially accepted the offer for Mike's job in Virginia on September 3rd, and since then, we have been packing and purging and repairing and painting and organizing and selling and planning and preparing. It's not the easiest of tasks to pack up your house, sell it, and move across the country with a family of 5, plus a dog...in 2 months :)

But the Lord has been gracious and good, providing in only the ways that He can, all along the way. We spent most of September packing and getting the house ready to put on the market. We purged as much as we could, then packed  and stored everything else we knew we wouldn't need for 2 months. We decided that PODS would be our best option, and I cannot tell you how thankful I am that that's the route we chose from the beginning. With all of the unknowns, last minutes decisions and changes, PODS made it SO easy to make the necessary adjustments along the way. Highly recommend. 

We put the house on the market on October 2nd, and we made the decision to leave for the weekend while it showed. Also a brilliant suggestion from some neighbors down the street, who had recently sold their house. So we got an Airbnb in Denison, and watched as text after text came in for showings. Another gracious provision from the Lord is the state of the current housing market. We had 18 showings that weekend, with 5 offers by the end of it. It was a HUGE provision from the Lord that we were able to sell it so quickly. Both from a logistics/financial standpoint, but also a sanity-saver for me. It would have been so hard to have to get the house ready for a showing with 3 toddlers and a dog. So I am so thankful that we didn't have to worry about that. 

The rest of October was spent finishing packing and preparing for our move to Virginia. We made the decision to rent in Virginia, so that we could learn the area before buying again. Plus, with our timeframe {and COVID}, it was going to be less stressful to find a rental than actually buy a house from across the country. Because of the nature of the rental market right now, we didn't actually go look for a place to live in Virginia until 2 weeks before we actually moved to Virginia. Not going to lie, I just had to put it out of my mind so my Type-A brain wouldn't freak out. Mike and I flew to Virginia in the middle of October to find a place to live. At the beginning of the week, there were 5 or 6 rental options; by the time we actually arrived in Virginia that weekend, there were only 2 options. We looked at both of them, and even put an application in on one of them. While it would have been fine, and we would have made it work, the Lord already had a plan in the works for something that would better fit our needs.

A military family in the church had recently received orders for a transfer to California, and they had wanted to rent their house while they were gone. The senior pastor connected our families, and we were able to look at the house while we were in Virginia. Their house has more space, a better arrangement for Sasha {she can't go up/down stairs anymore, and everything is multi-level in Virginia}, and is closer to the church. It turned out to be a win/win, since they didn't have to go through the process of advertising it for rent. The Lord was truly providing for both of our families, and we are amazed at how the Lord has yet again provided for our housing needs.

The only catch is that they are not leaving until January. So we had to find an interim solution for the remainder of 2020. Enter the Lord's provision through another family in the church... again the senior pastor connected us with another member in the church who manages an extended stay. He was able to find us a place at a reasonable rate for our first 2 months in Virginia. So while we will be in a little bit of tight quarters for a couple of months, we are in awe of how the Lord orchestrated ALL of the details. 

So we headed back to Texas after a whirlwind weekend of seeing God provide again and again :)

We finished packing our PODS and had them shipped to Virginia. They actually left a week before we did, so we camped out in an empty house for a week. Our kiddos quickly discovered the joys of a tiled house with no furniture...and all the echoes that ensue haha! But again, the whole PODS situation was perfect because we are basically just storing those PODS for the next 2 months while we are waiting to get into the rental house. 

In the midst of all the packing and details of moving, we were also saying goodbye to sweet friends and family. We had multiple driveway/car meet-ups and zoom calls, trying to see/talk with people before we left. Our short time frame, my nagging health issues, and COVID made saying goodbye a little tricky. And I know we weren't able to see everyone that we had hoped. But we are so thankful for all of the family and friends who sent texts, Facebook messages, emails of encouragement and support. While goodbyes are not always easy, we realize the incredible blessing of having the love and support of our Texas community behind us as we venture off to Virginia.

Texas is the only home I have ever known. It's a little scary and strange to be leaving it behind for something new and unknown. But we know that the Lord has good things for us in Virginia, too. So we say goodbye to Texas with love and fondness and excitement in our hearts for what's ahead. 

{Too cheesy and sentimental? I can't help it. I'm excited for what's waiting for us in Virginia. But... #TexasForever}  :)

Summer Bucket List :: Meet Our New Neighbors

When we first moved in, we met several neighbors here and there, mostly in passing. Moving, unpacking, sickness, and Mike traveling prevented us from being intentional at first. We had met some neighbors down the street on one of our Saturday morning wagon rides {a sweet older couple that just dote on Eli and Maddie}. But we wanted to be sure we took the time to knock on doors and officially introduce ourselves to our neighbors. 

On Father's Day, we decided to take brownies over to our immediate neighbors on either side of us. Both families have kids, some close to Eli and Maddie's age, and they both seem like such sweet families. One family is actually moving next month {to a newer phase of the neighborhood}, but they have been so sweet to offer any help we might need with Aiden coming. Their sweet daughter whom they fostered was the one who officially welcomed us to the neighborhood with her cute paintings! We were happy/sad to hear that she and her siblings went back home. Happy that they got to go home; sad that we didn't get to know them more.

The other family has the cutest little boys, and we probably see them the most. So far, it has mostly been in passing {getting mail, unloading kiddos from the car, etc}, but the initial brownie introduction definitely helped break the ice. Their boys are closer to Eli and Maddie's age, so we are looking forward to getting to know them more. 

We have met another family in the neighborhood by going to the pool on Saturday mornings, and we hope to meet more once Aiden is here and we are a little more settled with that. We had hoped to have some families over for dinner before Aiden came, but we are quickly running out of time and not sure if that will happen. 

But Mike and I are committed to reaching out more to our neighbors. We did it the best in McKinney, not very well at all in Plano, but are committed to making it a priority here in Melissa. And not just meeting our neighbors, but actually getting to know them and sharing the gospel with them. We have both been convicted of that more and more recently, as we have realized how quickly life can fill up with other activities. Brownies are great; but you don't have to have the Holy Spirit to take brownies to your neighbors. We have realized that little kiddos definitely make it more challenging to have people over, but we just have to be more intentional in our planning. That's part of why I am even writing this post...to keep us accountable! So you may or may not see this item show up again on a fall or winter bucket list :)

So We Did A Thing...

...WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!

We signed the papers today, so I guess you could say it's officially official- we are homeowners! AKA real adults  :)

Once again, the Lord has been incredibly gracious to us in our housing situation. We started saving for a house when we got married, but had to put those plans on hold when we experienced health issues and infertility. We originally thought we would buy in McKinney {since we planned to plant a church and lifelong roots there}, but when the Lord showed us He had other plans, we didn't really know where we would be, so buying a home didn't really make sense.

Since the Lord has been gracious to Mike in his job, and we have found a new church home at Parkway, we revisited the idea of buying a home last Fall. We started looking, just to see what was out there. We quickly realized it wasn't the right time; the housing market has been CRAZY in the DFW area. So we decided to put things on hold until the summer and save a little more.

In February, we started talking about buying a house again, since we knew baby #3 would be joining us in the Fall. We realized that it would be most ideal to move before the summer {so this preggo didn't have to wrangle toddler twins during a move in the middle of the summer}. Otherwise we would be waiting until after our little guy was born to start that process. I mean, you can dream, right? So we started looking again, and well, here we are!

We reached out to a realtor friend, started receiving listings, and walked through 2 other homes before we saw this one. We instantly fell in love with it and decided to put in an offer. And they accepted it. No joke. The whole process, from making the decision to look again to the offer being accepted, took 2 weeks. THAT DOESN'T HAPPEN. At least not in this market. When we tell people how fast and easy everything happened, they can't believe it. We know people who have literally given up on the whole house buying process because after 20+ offers and no results, you {understandably} get a little discouraged. It's partly why we started looking again so early, because we thought it would take awhile. Certainly more than 2 weeks! 

But it's how we know the Lord was planning for us to live in this house all along. There were fun blessings after the fact, when we realized that the Lord was connecting us with a sweet family. As soon as we walked into the house, Mike noticed the books on a bookshelf and immediately recognized them as DTS required reading. After we had put in our offer and they accepted it, we drove by the house and got to meet the owners {not planned...we're not stalkers. Though we learned they stalked Mike on Facebook haha!} 

From our amazing realtor to my connections at the bank, everything has fallen into place in ways only the Lord can orchestrate. I am thankful for the ease of everything, which has made this process as smooth as it possibly could be. We have been in full packing mode the last couple of weeks, and will start moving things over now that we have keys, but won't make the big move for another couple of weeks. But when it's all said and done, we will be moved and settled before I get HUGE, and before it gets too hot, and I could not be more thankful.

Pro Tip: Bring along a Granny to distract the toddlers :)

So where are we moving? We're headed just north of McKinney to Melissa. We actually are only 10 minutes away from our Leland house, so we will be right back in that area for our day-to-day shopping and entertainment. Once we get settled, I will provide more updates about our new home and community. But for now, we are just so excited about this next step, and we cannot wait to see what the Lord does in our new home and neighborhood!