We are closing on our new house this week
The Lord is so good to us. It would take a lifetime to tell you of all the blessings the Lord has bestowed upon our family. One such blessing right now is that we are set to be closing on our new house this week. I am more and more excited the closer we get to closing. If all goes to plan we will be changing the locks on the house Thursday evening. Friday we will, very likely, spend the entire evening prepping for paint. Saturday we plan to prime, and paint every wall, and ceiling in the house.
I will also be enlisting the help of my older children, and a couple of friends, to give the entire house a vigorous deep cleaning on Monday, after all of the paint and caulking has a chance to dry completely. We have already chosen the perfect paint for the job. It is a Bher Dynasty paint in the color Frost. We will allow the kids to chose the paint schemes for their rooms as we begin to customize them to reflect their personalities.
Preparing for the closing on our new house
This is our first home purchase, so we had no idea how complicated the whole process was going to be. We had an idea, but it was only an idea. It has been a crazy road to closing for sure. As we are preparing for the closing on our new house we are that much more thankful for our faith in the Lord. The ever changing variables could drive be driving us nuts, but thankfully we are resting in the knowledge that the Lord has it all figured out already. He has already prepared for us, and provided for every little expense. We had no idea how much money aside from down-payment there would be to shovel out for things.
For instance, there was the $572.38 for the inspection you have to have done. Then $600 for the appraisal, which came back to be $6,000 less than we were going to pay for the home. That put us into renegotiation with the sellers. They also found some things that needed to be repaired for the loan to be approved. Now that they are completed the lender has to send them back to reassess to make sure repairs meet their standard. We figured that would be included in the price we paid for the valuation. It’s not, and they are trying to charge us another $600 fee to go back out to check the two small repairs that they ordered. I feel like this is a bit excessive.
Closing cost confusion
There has also been a great deal of closing cost confusion. At first we were told that closing cost would total around $5,000. Then it shot up to $7,000. Now we are completely unsure what it will be. This is where the largest amount our faith in our all knowing God is resting. The Lord knows exactly what we will be faced with at closing. He also has already prepared for it, and provided every dime for us, so that we can still do what we need to do before moving in. He has even given us a glimpse of this in our church family. They surprised us yesterday with a $600 pledge to help us with moving costs.
I am thankful not only for our faith in God, but for his faithfulness to us. Even though we sometimes take him for granted, and neglect to acknowledge him, he is still faithful. He is worthy of so much more from us than what he gets. We have had many surprises throughout this process leading up to the closing of our new home, but God has not been. Some surprises were good ones and some were a bit challenging, but God has been faithful in every one of them. His love knows no bounds and it shows with every move of his hand in our lives, whether we understand it or not. Learn to see and be thankful for the Lord’s hand in your life, even when his answers don’t match your expectations. This is how you have true joy in every situation.
Maintaining joy in chaos
Maintaining joy in chaos is important, and can be tricky at times. I have been setting aside extra alone time with the Lord the past couple of weeks to ensure that I stay positive and joyful. The last thing I want to do is be discouraging to my husband and/or children. I cannot show the love of God to my family if I am grumpy. It is impossible to teach your kids to rest in Christ if you aren’t able to do it yourself. They can tell much better than we realize. I must live my life truly surrendered for a multitude of reasons, but this is one of upmost importance to me.
My love for God translates into a richer love for my husband and children. It also helps me maintain joy no matter what life has in store. I love my home more as well. When we love our home in the condition it is in it is much easier to keep it. When we keep a good home our husbands want to come home at the end of the day to their sanctuary we have cultivated for them. Another side effect of a well kept home is that our children thrive. All of these things contribute to staying in a constant state of joyfulness. I don’t know about you, but I hate feeling grumpy. It hurts my heart to be a grump to my family. I am pretty certain that they don’t like it either.
Diligently working
We have been diligently working together as a family to get as much as possible done early to make the moving process go smoothly. Our basement is beginning to look like a warehouse. There are uniform boxes stacked up everywhere. They are neat and orderly, but there are a ton of them. Today we will be working on deep cleaning and taking bookshelves and things apart. Then we will finish packing up the kids bedrooms. I have quite a bit of stuff to take to our local homeless mission tomorrow as well.
I am planning on downsizing my wardrobe by about half within the next couple of days. I’ve been noticing that some of the kids are quickly outgrowing their clothes lately. My plan is to donate most of what they have, and keep only what fits right now. After we get moved in to the new house we will make a list of what they need and go shopping. Noah needs slacks and button up shirts in a bad way. This kid is growing faster than I can keep up. I have to take him shopping three times between taking the other kids. I’m praying that the other kids don’t start growing that fast when they hit teen years.
Making the most of very little
My husband and I have packed up a lot of our home already. Our plan is to move next weekend. Until then we are making the most of very little that has been left out. Today I will have most of our clothing donated or packed away as well. I am making a lot of crock pot meals and simple dinners. I also have packed up all of my office and classroom supplies except for my computer and some flash cards. We have paused our homeschool year for now. That will mean we will have to play catch up for a couple of weeks after we move in.
I have a little surprise coming for those of you who read my blog on a regular basis. Very soon I will be starting a YouTube channel. This week my husband and I are searching out the best deals on camera equipment. We are hoping to make a purchase in time to vlog the process of our move from the evening of closing to getting all moved in. If any of you have any suggestions please leave a comment. I am currently having issues with the contact form on my blog, so comments are best. I am looking forward to Thursday’s update here about our closing experience. Until then I pray the Lord blesses your week.
