Updates

We are moving forward in the moving process!  Less than 2 weeks ago, we signed the purchase agreement to start the process of selling our rental home.  Meanwhile, we have been tirelessly looking for a home in Montgomery, to which the homes are either very out of our budget or near the top of our budget and in need of work.  After watching home after home disappear just as fast as it was listed we thought we found what we were looking for this past Sunday.  We made an offer, but things did not work out as we had planned.  Feeling quite deflated, I was wondering how we were going to find something so far away, with such busy schedules, and a housing market that required constant monitoring? 

Figuring we would have to wait for a while again, a home came back on the market that we were originally interested in.  Jason also picked through some of the listings and came across a 2 bed, 1 bath home with an unfinished basement & 3 car garage and asked me to look at it.  I thought, "Why are we looking at this?  We want at least 3-4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms for sure!"  This home was also at the top of our budget, but knowing we could finish out the basement made me curious to see it as well, so we called the realtor and made a second trip in less than a week to our future home 2 1/2 hours away.

The night before, I was looking at the listings again & noticed there was another home similar to the one Jason wanted to see, so I emailed the realtor and asked her to add that one to our list as well.  Might as well see as many as we could, right?

So let's just say after viewing the first 2 original homes, I was really thinking we were going to go back home without a single good showing and we would be doing this again, and again to find a decent home.  Plus, we were starting to push the timeline of hoping to be moving in July a little tight.

When we pulled up to the last home, we were quite surprised and pleased to see this...

 

Finally!  A home with curb appeal!  Hopefully the inside is as pleasing to the eye as the outside...(it might not look like this for a while after we move in, so these are pictures from the listing.)

I am not usually a fan of split levels, but this one has a larger foyer with a large closet, which will help immensely to keep the entry clear and easier to maneuver in.  Even though the upstairs isn't huge, the open concept and patio right off of the dining room helps to give us some room to spread out...kind of like our current home.  The bedrooms are good size with large walk-in closets, which is good, because we are all probably going to be living in the upstairs until we finish making 2 more bedrooms, a bathroom and larger family room in the basement. 

This is just a corner of it.  The rest has large windows and is ready for framing and walls to begin the process.  The fact that it was insulated, and had plumbing and electric ready was a reason why we even considered this house.  Did I mention that it is only 3 years old as well, and in a new development, so any money we put into it will easily add value to this home.

The back yard is large, open and ready for lots of games to be played!  This last picture is not to show you the 2 sheds in the back yard, but the giant slope that will be endless fun for the kids in the winter months.  I am not so thrilled about mowing it in the summer though.  The lot next to us is still open, so there is even more room that I'm sure we will lose baseballs, footballs, and golf balls in.

Jason was also quite excited when he entered the 3 stall garage and was even more thrilled when I pointed out to him that it was insulated AND heated!  He was even more sold at that point.  Not to mention that it looks "graduation party ready" because the walls are painted and the floor is finished nicely.

We couldn't help but take a chance on this beautifully, well-kept new home, and even though we have a little work ahead of us, we know it will be just what we were looking for when we're done.  If all goes well, we will own the house by July.  We will be listing our current home next week and depending on when we close on it, will depend on what we will do in July...live in construction (which wouldn't be too bad since we will still have our upstairs...it will be like living in a 2 bedroom apartment) or hang out with family back here while working on our new home there for a few weeks before we move in.  Either way, we are thrilled to be moving forward & are relieved to have the process started for owning a new home in a new town! 

 

6

I just thought about this...when I started this blog, I chose the "6" part because that was how many people were in our family.  When we had Noah, and it changed to 7 in our family, I thought, "well, it's just going to have to stay like that & we can count the cat as "six lives we take care of".  Now it will actually mean something again because we have 6 kids.  Now it's not just the size of our family, it's the number of dependents we claim on our taxes!  LOL, they're way more than just a number, but I think it's just funny how things turn out!  I remember when we first moved back here and we lived out on Jason's parents' family farm & someone commented, "You have to have 6 kids if you live out here."  I think we had one or two & thought, "You are insane!  I have 2 and that's enough!"  But one by one, they have blessed our lives and my heart swells with love as I think of all I could have missed out on if I would have shut the door on what God had planned for me and our beautiful family.  Good thing He doesn't always work only on what we imagine for ourselves!

So much news!

It seems like I keep starting out my posts lately saying that it's been too long.  Yeah, you get that, if anyone is actually still reading these!  If you are, thanks for sticking with me & I hope to get back to updating this more often since we have so much news to share & many changes happening!

First of all, I was working part-time this year in the mornings for preschool, but at the end of February had to take a little time off because of severe morning sickness.  Yes, baby Myhre #6 is on the way!  He/she is due to arrive sometime in October.  We are excited and Noah has been preparing to be a big brother.  He actually started becoming fascinated with baby dolls and real babies 2 weeks before I found out I was pregnant, so I think he somehow knew before us.

So with pregnancy for us, it tends to go hand-in-hand with moving, and wouldn't you know it, we are!  But this time, it's not just in town...we're actually moving to a completely different community and school district, 2 1/2 hours away from here.  We are excited, as it has been an answer to prayers for Jason to find a full-time position in a job that he really loves, being an Activities/Athletic Director.  What's better is that it's only one job and it pays way more than what he's been getting for the past 5 years. 

The hardest part was for me to actually let go of leaving the home that we love, where a majority of his family lives (all of the kid's cousins on this side) and where we have made a ton of wonderful friends.  But clinging to my comforts has become less comfortable as I watch Jason work harder and harder for less money and less time with our family.  Something had to change, and for the most part, it was my attitude about what I thought God had planned for me.  The past year has been about listening to Him in prayer and allowing Him to continue to love me even more.  I felt Him tell me, "I know you love everything here, but what if I have more for you?  You have to let go of one hand before I can give you what's in the other."  So with that comes peace.  The peace of knowing that living here has been a blessing, but that also being led somewhere else can be a blessing too.

Since putting my faith and trust in God's will, He has given me so much consolation in His love and plan for me.  Granted I am surging with hormones right now, but I have felt His presence and gift of love and grace so many times I am moved to sobbing tears.  I have allowed Him to work me through this usually difficult process of selling and buying homes, and so far, it's gone way better than I could have imagined.  We are still a little ways away from the whole process, but I am trusting that He will make things work how He wants and I'm trying not to mess it up or worry too much about things I have no control over, and that gives me even more peace.  And that helps me deal with the everyday workings a pregnant mom of 5-1/4 kids, with a husband who has 3 administrator jobs and coaching his son's junior high baseball team, selling 2 homes and having them constantly show-ready, and searching for another home in another town over 2 hours away, has to deal with.  I could easily be overwhelmed, but I know there's no way I can do it myself...that's way too many crosses for this out-of-shape body!  That's where I allow the Lord to help me, to love me, and to bear the weight of what I can't carry on my own.