SOLD!

For those that follow me on Facebook or see us in person, you'll have heard this news already. But just in case, I'll share it again: WE'VE SOLD OUR HOUSE!!

By the grace of God (and thanks to so many of your prayers), we got the house listed within 8 days of having our contingent offer accepted. It was a mad scramble, but well worth the effort! On Saturday, two days before it was listed, a realtor asked if they could do a pre-listing showing the following day. Micah and I stayed home from church to finish up the last of the work, and we were out the door with a little time to spare before the showing. Since the kids were just wrapping up at church, we took the opportunity to drive out to the new house. In all the chaos, I needed to see it and remember why we were working so hard. It didn't disappoint. 

We spent some time that day driving around the surrounding area, familiarizing ourselves with nearby parks, neighborhoods, shopping, etc. With each subsequent trip (and there have been many in the week since--it's amazing how "convenient" it can become to travel to a part of town you rarely visited before), I like it more. I think we'll be very happy there. 

While the pre-listing showing didn't lead to an offer, almost immediately after the listing went live on Monday, we had a request for a showing that Thursday (even before house pictures had been added). We had pictures taken that same day, and the result was amazing! I'm actually glad the house didn't sell on Sunday, because we were thrilled to have those professional pictures as keepsakes of this house. 

On Tuesday, we had a pre-sale inspection, hoping to expedite things and eliminate any surprises at closing. There's always an element of risk with older homes, so we were a little worried the inspection would turn up a problem we weren't aware of, but thankfully it passed with no major findings. 

On Thursday, we had the showing. We honestly didn't expect much from it. There was an open house scheduled for that Saturday, but otherwise, we hadn't had any more requests for showings in the intervening days. I was bracing myself for a long, bumpy, agonizing road. 

We've had really difficult experiences selling houses in the past. One sale took almost three years and nearly bankrupted us, the other took ten months. I didn't realize how much angst I still carried related to those experiences until we were faced with the situation again--and this time with a crazy tight timeline. I wrestled hard with fear and doubt in those intervening days between listing and showing. 

Finally, on the morning of the showing, I was reading my devotions when I ran across a passage in Exodus. Moses was about to lead the people into the Promised Land. As he was pleading with God to go with them, God gave him this promise: "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." The words might as well have jumped off the page. They were exactly what I needed in that moment. God would go with us, and I could rest in His provision, His Presence, and the reassurance that we had made the right decisions. 

We left the house during the showing and spent some time with Micah's parents and some of their friends. A short while later, our realtor let us know she'd received a call from the buyer's realtor and believed we might get an offer later that day. We were stunned. 

We tried hard not to get our hopes up as the day went on. We received a second request for a showing that evening and agreed to it. We went to Costco to run some errands during that showing and we were almost home when our realtor texted again. She had received the offer, and asked us to call. 

By the next morning, all the paperwork was signed and our house was officially sold. Not only had it sold quickly and simply, but from what we heard, the buyer loved the house. Our hope and prayer has been that the next owner would love it as much as we have, and that seems to be the case--so much so that he asked to walk his parents through the house that Saturday so they could see it too. We were more than happy to agree. 

We went out to dinner to celebrate the night the offer was finalized. Almost exactly ten years ago, when we moved from Illinois, we had promised the kids a Happy Meal when we got an offer on our house there. It had taken nearly a year, but they were so excited to finally eat their long-awaited burgers! This time, we all went to Red Robin, which does a little more to satisfy teenaged appetites. As we ate, we played a game a friend had mentioned just the day before, called Rose, Thorn, Seed. Each person took a turn sharing a "rose" from the past year (something good), a "thorn" (something difficult or painful), and a "seed" (something they hoped to see grow in the year ahead). It was a memorable and insightful way to celebrate. 

Now we're on to the next phase of this journey: packing. Today's big packing project involved digging the trampoline out of the mostly-frozen ground (they're predicting worse weather in the days ahead) and disassembling it so it's ready to go with us. We're taking it all in stride and adjusting more and more to the idea of moving with each day as we approach our January 31 closing. 

Tomorrow I get to go to the new house again, and I've been so excited, it's felt like waiting for Christmas morning! I'll be there for the inspection, and while I'm there, I hope to measure windows for curtains, take inventory of things we might need, and just generally enjoy being in the house again. I have a hunch it'll feel different this time, in all the best ways.

Thank you to so many of you who've prayed alongside us, congratulated us, celebrated with us, and brought us to tears with your genuine excitement. We don't know exactly how God will use this space, although we can't wait to find out. And in the meantime, it's been another adventure for the books--literally and figuratively!