Small Setback {Waiting to Close on our house}

Today has been very eventful and it is only 2pm!  Malachi came to pick me and the girls up to attend the grand opening of the new office building for the company he works for.  The office building is stunningly gorgeous!  I was very impressed.  He now has his very own office and they really made it nice for him.

However, before we left the lending agent called and the underwriter needed a bit more information about a deposit that was made earlier this month.  I had to find the canceled check and draft a letter explaining what the deposit was for.  Once Malachi walked in the door to get me and the girls I had him sign the letter, scan it and email it to our lending agent.  So far I have not heard back from her, and "no news is good news".

We enjoyed the grand opening at Malachi's work and then came home to enjoy lunch before he headed back out to work.  I then received a text message from our realtor informing me that the appraiser needs to go back out to the property and get pictures of a bedroom.

Let me explain:

The house is listed as having 4 bedrooms, however, in reality it only has 3 bedrooms.  One of the bedrooms - the room we plan to put the girls in - is separated with a wall and a pocket door.  Essentially the seller just put a divider to split up one big room into two smaller rooms. The problem is the room that has no connection to the hallway is not technically a "bedroom".  The appraiser was able to classify it as a "sitting room" for the purposes of the appraisal and now is being required to go back out to the house and get pictures of it.  The appraisal is done but apparently these pictures are important, but he will be unable to get the pictures until tomorrow.

The next thing is that the seller's wife is scheduled for back surgery on Wednesday.  We had the pleasure of meeting the seller and his wife yesterday after we did our final walk through - and she (the seller's wife) told me that they really needed to close on Tuesday (tomorrow) because of her pending surgery.  Well, it looks like they will need to get a power of attorney in order to complete the sale since they won't be present at closing, due to the surgery.  

What does this all mean?  Well, we won't be closing tomorrow for sure.  Our realtor just let me know that it looks like we'll be closing late on Wednesday or on Thursday.

So, we continue to wait patiently.  I do ask that you please keep the seller's wife in your prayers, that her surgery will go well and that she has a speedy recovery.  Please pray that none of what is going on now causes them any stress or concern and that their agent will be on the ready to go above and beyond to make this a smooth process for them.  I am sure this is the last thing they want to be worrying about during her surgery.

Again, many thanks to everyone who has been praying for us and cheering us on.  God is good and He will see this to through the end - for His glory!

Soli Deo Gloria!

Serving God and My Family,
Crystal <><

Underwriting

We have been in the underwriting phase of buying our house since Tuesday.  We are so excited and ready to have the keys to our new house! 

I just received a called from our realtor that we may not be able to close until next Wednesday because the seller still has to replace the septic system.  It was supposed to be done earlier this week - but for whatever reason it has not been accomplished. 

I am more than willing to wait one more day. Our apartment is trying to give us some trouble by way of ridiculous fees, but we're confident it will all get worked out. Throughout this entire process the Lord has shown us great favor and I have nothing to complain about. 

Again, we are so very thankful for those who have been praying with us and for us during this month.  It is amazing to see how the Lord works things out.  We went under contract on this house on the 6th and now we will close before the month's end!  AMAZING!

God is good y'all - and Supremely Sovereign!

Soli Deo Gloria!

Serving God and My Family,
Crystal <><

The Appraisal Dilemma

When we first began this journey of buying a house, we were warned that there could be some bumps in the road.  So far, everything for us has been relatively straight forward and simple.  We did have the little bump that could have kept us from closing until mid-April, but the Lord showed us much favor and that is no longer an obstacle.  

We are looking to close by next Friday; however there is one more hurdle that needs to be overcome – the appraisal.  In any other case, I assume the appraisal would be fairly simple, however when moving to the country finding comparable properties that have sold within the last 6 months is VERY difficult – in fact for us it is non-existent!  

Yep, that’s right.  There are absolutely NO local properties that have sold in the last 6 months that are comparable to the property we are trying to purchase.  This makes for a very frustrated appraiser.  The seller’s agent has been working very hard to find properties in near-by towns that might be comparable, but even that is proving to be a headache.  

The good news is that the seller has agreed to make all of the repairs we request other than the dishwasher.  I am perfectly fine with that because I have two hands.  For those who are huge into “getting back to the basics” and “keeping it simple” – I can’t think of a better basic thing than hand washing my own dishes!  I highly doubt we will waste money on replacing the dishwasher.  Eventually I will have at least three dishwashers in the house – their names are Sofia, Charlotte and Eleanor. :)

The seller has also decided to completely replace the mechanical sewer system under the house.  Apparently it is old and outdated.  This will save us a lot of money in the end, and we are very grateful!

Back to the appraisal dilemma…..

The VA has 10 days to submit the appraisal and that 10 day mark is tomorrow!  He will have to figure out a way to appraise the house with or without COMPS.  This could be good and bad.  

Let me explain.

If the house appraises at less than what we’ve already agreed to pay then the seller can either lower his price to the appraisal price or we have to come up with the difference in cash.  At this point, I think it is safe to say we don’t have “cash” to make up any difference and thus we would have to walk away from the house if the seller refuses to bring his price down.

What makes this situation even more peculiar is that the seller has never occupied the house.  He purchased it years ago for one of his employees to live in while doing a job for him.  Once that job was done the employee vacated the house and the seller put it on the market.  He has yet to sell the property since 2009.  From what we understand he did have the house appraised when he purchased it, so we are waiting for him to find those documents so that the VA appraiser can get an idea of how it was conducted then. 

Obviously, the old appraisal means nothing and cannot be used to appraise the house now, but it would give the VA appraiser an idea of “how” it was conducted in regards to COMPS used.  Where they within the 5 mile radius of the house? Or were they expanded to other near-by cities?  

Here we are.  Another hurdle before us and we are continuing to trust the Lord it will all work out in our favor and for His glory.  Either way we pray His will be done and we are still thankful for those who have been praying for us through this process.  Hopefully all will just work out and we will close on the house next week sometime.  

Of course, no matter what I will keep everyone updated!

Soli Deo Gloria!

Serving God and My Family,

Crystal <><

God Knows Why

We have been confronted with our first setback in buying our house.  The setback doesn’t in any way keep us from buying, just sets back the date of closing later than we had anticipated.  We were informed today that because the Parish we are moving to recently redid the plotting map for flood zoning, we will be unable to present the VA with the flood zone certificate (meaning we are NOT in a flood zone) until after April 3^rd.  

What does this mean?  

Well, it means that while everything else can move forward, when it comes to “closing” on the house we’re at a stand-still.  While this certainly is not a bad setback, it is an annoying one.  However, even in the midst of our annoyance we are still extremely excited and thankful for all the Lord is doing.  He knows the reason this is all unfolding this way, and we truly do trust His judgment.  

There is a silver lining – as in every story – we do not have to rush to get packed and moved.  This affords us a generous amount of time to get organized and packed.  It also gives the families who are helping us move more time to arrange their schedules.  

Our realtor did just call and inform me that she is trying to get an exception through the Core of Engineers so that we can go forward with closing on our house.  She cannot guarantee that we’ll get it, but her efforts are such a blessing to us.  

Either way, the day we get the keys to our new house and start making it a home will be a glorious day!  We thank everyone who has continued to pray for us through this process.  We are eternally grateful for all of the love and encouragement that has been poured out on our family these past several weeks.

Until next time…Soli Deo Gloria!

Serving God and My Family,

Crystal <><

Inspection Day

It is a cold and rainy day here in South Louisiana.  We had our home inspection this morning, promptly at 9am and everything went very well!  There are a few minor things that need to be repaired and the inspector found that the range oven and dishwasher do not work.  Our realtor is getting the report ready to send over to the seller with our request that they make the necessary repairs as well as replace the range oven and dishwasher.  So far the seller has been more than accommodating; we are praying this time will be no different.

The VA has 10 days from this past Monday to have the appraisal done on the house and then after that everything is sent over to the underwriter.  The underwriter will take one to two days to sign off on everything and then we schedule a day to walk through the house before closing.  Our realtor thinks that we might actually close on the house the week of the 20^th!  

I have been completely amazed at how smooth this process has gone for us so far.  I know that anything can still happen between today and the day we close – but for now we are counting our blessings.  Each night we continue to pray the Lord’s will be done – and every day when we wake up, He reassures us that all is well.  

We’ve got a list of home improvement projects that we cannot wait to get started on!  We will be purchasing a new chicken coop, as the one on the property isn’t as safe as we initially thought it would be.  This is great because I have enjoyed searching all of the different styles of chicken coops!  Some are just so stinking adorable I can hardly stand it!   

In my basic internet search for chicken coops I came across the loveliest blog – Homestead Revival.  Here is one of the posts about chicken coops – (aren’t they ADORABLE!)   

In the end, I think we may do something similar to what this “chicken raiser” did.

Picture Credit

All in all we are so excited and blessed by all the Lord is doing in our lives.  The vision my husband and I have for our family is being realized and we just thank the Lord for everything! 

We thank everyone who is continuing to pray for us through this process – and we can’t wait to get moved in and show you all pictures of our new home!

Soli Deo Gloria!

Serving God and My Family,

Crystal <><

"Sale Pending"

 
Yesterday I shared about our journey of buying our first home, well, we are officially under contract for our dream home!

Yesterday we signed the papers and it is now official!  The home inspection is this Friday at 9am, and the VA will come out and appraise the house within 10 days.  If all goes well with that and the loan process we "might" be able to close before the months' end!

I cannot even tell you how extremely excited and blessed we feel about buying our first home!  We are even more excited that we are not compromising on the vision we have for our family.  Our children will grow up learning about things that, generally speaking, "city kids" miss out on.  We plan that this will be the first and only home we purchase.  We cannot imagine living anywhere else and the house is big enough for us to "grow into".  I'm so glad that we wait until now to pursue this dream.  Anytime before now, just wouldn't have been what we would have wanted.  We're finally getting out of the city and going into a community where we can safely raise our children.

Sofia and Charlotte are super ready to get a dog and some chickens.  We are also looking into buying a couple of more acres that surround our property.  Maybe one day we'll get some horses!  Ok - so I might be getting a little ahead of the program, but oh how great it all will be!

To teach our children the value of hard work and self sufficiency will be divinely sweet!  We will be just a few minutes from our church family and friends - and live in a small community; oh how lovely it will be!  No loud noises from inconsiderate neighbors.  Slower pace of life.  No traffic!  We will actually be able to see the stars in the sky at night! 

It will be our little house on the prairie and it will be such a blessing for us and our children.  We have a budget plan all worked out to get our house and student loans paid off in about 10 -15 years (possibly sooner if the Lord wills it).  We have some wonderful ideas for home improvement projects and of course - our vegetable and fruit garden will be splendid! 

Please pray that everything will continue on smoothly and that the Lord would keep our family safe as we make the move out to the country!

Serving God and My Family,
Crystal <><

A New Journey Begins

Malachi and I have been married now for 7 years and we've had dreams of owning a home, but have never been in a financial position to...until now!

A few weeks ago we looked at a property for rent that sat on 22 acres of land out in the country.  We fell in love with it, but sadly it was not meant for us to have.  A week later as I registered on a realtor site to view some rental property, an agent called me and after some talking we took steps to see if we could qualify for a home loan.  To our utter surprise we were pre-approved for MUCH more than we ever thought we would be! 

For the past several months we've been faithfully attending and loving our new church home.  We drive about an hour every Sunday to fellowship with like-minded families and have been extremely blessed and humbled.  We decided fairly quickly that we'd like to move out that way, and now we were being given the "green light" to purchase a home there.

The search began and this past Saturday we visited 6 different properties.  The first house we looked at, initially, I was not keen on - but in the end it was my absolute favorite!  This sweet little cottage style home sits on an entire acre of land (with the potential to purchase additional acreage) and is just the perfect home for us.  While walking the property Malachi and I began planning all of the great things we'd do - vegetable garden, chickens, get a dog, fruit trees, tire swing - oh the list goes on! 

The house has 4 bedrooms and 1 bathroom, a HUGE kitchen with custom made cabinets and porcelain sink.  The bathroom is adorable with a claw foot porcelain tub and a cute tin roof wall behind the tub.  The master bedroom is big and has a door that opens onto the front porch.  Oh the porch!  We have a front porch and it wraps around the house to the back!  I cannot even begin to describe how perfect this house is for us.  I can't wait to get moved in!

Our Little Brown Cottage

We put in our offer and today we learned that while the seller did counter, it was right where we thought they would - and so we accepted!  Now we wait for the inspection and appraisal. 

I cannot believe this is all happening.  It just seems so surreal!  The Lord has been so good to us and we are so thankful!  Our children will have a home that they can grow up safely in with a huge yard (a whole acre) to run around and play and learn about God's marvelous creation.  Sofia wants a goat so bad - and you know, I just can't see why that would be a problem! 

Beautiful Old Oak Tree

Our very own home.

A home that is exactly what we've been praying for.

A home that is near our church family and friends.

A home!

Chicken Coop (Needs to be repaired and cleaned)

All we ask at this point, are prayers for the process here on out to be smooth and simple.  We've got a church family and friends on stand-by to help us get all moved and a full  list of DIY projects we want to do in our new home.

To those who have known about this and have been faithfully remembering us in prayer; thank you!  It is so amazingly humbling to know there are so many people who love us and who have been praying along side us for this day to come!  We pray the Lord receive all the glory for all the good that is happening in our lives because it truly is Him who is working all of this out for us!

Soli Deo Gloria!

Serving God and Family,
Crystal <><

Silly Friday Pictures

I took these a week ago and I just thought I'd share them with you all.  Eleanor is 7 1/2 months old now and is just a sweetie pie; as you can see.  Sofia and Charlotte; well, they are just so silly sometimes; as you can see as well. 

Today we are taking Charlotte to see her gastro doc, and praying all goes well.  In the spirit of keeping everything lighthearted I thought I'd post these silly pictures :0)

Serving God and My Family,
Crystal <>< (SAHM)

Update on Charlotte

This week will be filled with much to accomplish.  Last week Charlotte had her blood sugars tested as well as her urine.  Praise the Lord her blood sugar was 98 (normal) and her urine was negative for sugar and ketones!  Charlotte’s appointment with the gastroenterologist will be this Friday.  Last Friday the doctor fell ill and needed us to reschedule.  We are still uncertain exactly what she will want to test for this time as I think Charlotte has gone through every test imaginable.  According to the pediatrician there are only 3 reasons that Charlotte’s breath would smell the way it does:

1.      Type 1 Diabetes (ruled out)

2.      Diet  consisting of primarily meat and vegetables with no carbs or starches (not the case with our diet)

3.      Dehydration (not the case because she pees all the time – this is why we suspected Type 1 Diabetes)

The pediatrician mentioned that it could be some sort of autoimmune issue, but didn’t suspect that either because Charlotte has already been tested for several autoimmune disorders.  Charlotte was weighed last week and only weighed 27lbs 6oz, so for a 3 year old she is extremely underweight (Read: Tiny).  Other than being born weighing 10lbs, Charlotte has always been “tiny”, but healthy.  So, I presume that nothing will come out of the appointment with the gastro doctor other than Charlotte is just small.  

We appreciate all of the prayers and words of encouragement.  We know the Lord is Sovereign and that anything that happens does so according to His will.  

Serving God and My Family,

Crystal <>< (SAHM)

Update on Charlotte



Silly Charlotte



Good Morning Everyone,

I’d like to thank everyone for keeping Charlotte in prayer, and for the emails filled with words of encouragement. Yesterday was a rough day for my sweet Charlotte, but she was as brave as she could be and she survived. Charlotte’s blood sugar was 98 (normal) and after waiting for what seemed like forever for a urine sample, the results showed no sugar or ketones in her urine. This is excellent news! This rules out Type 1 Diabetes, but doesn’t adequately explain her low weight.



Charlotte will see her gastroenterologist on Friday for another round of “rule outs”. Charlotte’s weight yesterday was 27.6lbs. For a 3 year old this is low, but nothing surprising. While she was born weighing 10lbs, by the time she was about 4 months she was only 12lbs. So, she didn’t “lose” any weight, she just never gained the weight that doctor’s expected she would. The last round of testing that Charlotte went through was for Cystic Fibrosis (negative), Crohn’s Disease (negative) and Celiac’s Disease (negative). The doctor also tested her stool to see how well she was absorbing nutrients from her food and breast milk and that test was perfect, in fact the doctor was left scratching her head as to what could be keeping Charlotte so small. When we went through this 2 year ago I was a nervous wreck, but now that diabetes has been ruled out, I’m not so worried. I have a feeling they may test for some sort of autoimmune disorder, but I have a feeling that will turn out negative as well. I really believe that Charlotte is “normal”. Charlotte rarely gets sick, and when she does recovers quicker than Sofia (I believe this is because I nurse Charlotte for 14 months and Sofia for only 6 weeks).

One thing I know for sure is that Charlotte’s body has no problems absorbing nutrients. During the time that she was being tested, the doctor advised us to give Charlotte 3 pediasure a day (this would add a lot more calories to her diet than needed), and Charlotte still did not gain the weight the doctor anticipated she would, BUT she never lost weight. She then gave us some samples of this super-duper potent pediasure stuff and the result was the same; no real big weight gain but no weight loss.

In the end, I think we’re going to be right where we started…scratching our heads. I think Charlotte is healthy and happy and tiny. I’m not a fan of putting children through tests until we find something wrong, so if the gastro doctor can’t explain this on Friday then I doubt we will do anymore testing. The last round of tests she did our insurance didn’t cover and we were stuck with a $300 bill, only for the results to be negative (which we already expected).


Please continue to keep us in prayer; Charlotte is not a fan of doctors; as I am sure you all can understand. Thanks again to everyone who is continuing to prayerfully support our family! We are so grateful!

Serving God and My Family,

Crystal <>< (SAHM)