Has it been 6 months already?

Saturday marked the 6 month anniversary of us moving in. Its been busy and often crazy at times, but we are happy. As far as the house goes, I thought I'd mention how I'm feeling about the house. We're in a 2 bedroom, 1 bath house, and it hasn't been as big of a deal as I thought it'd be. Occasionally the one bath is a problem, but it really isn't that much of an inconvenience. We've actually managed to get 5 people and Damari up, showered, and out the door to church by 9:00.


Things that have been done:
-install dishwasher
-work in flower beds
-plant a small garden
-create 4-wheeler trails
-clear out area by the creek
-paint Damari's room room and furniture (I put wrapping paper on the back of the shelves for more color)
-sew and hang curtains in Damari's room
-paint Damari's furniture
-hang curtains in our bedroom
-install exhaust fan in bathroom
-other miscellaneous repairs that have broken since our arrival
-I'm sure Josh has done more, but I can't think of them right now

Things we still want to do:
-level the floor in dining room
-hang curtains in living room
-plant some fruit trees
-plant bigger garden
-plant wildflower meadow
-hang ceiling fan in Damari's
-paint other dining room and our bedroom
-add another bedroom and bathroom
-redo the kitchen
...and this list could go on forever!

I enjoy having so much potential. Before we had this property we would dream about where we would end up, what our property would be like. Josh and I used to constantly look at real estate, especially land. Every town we visited we would wonder if we would end up there and if it would be home. We no longer even consider properties we see for sale, we don't even look at other towns anymore. We absolutely love where we are! When we first moved, I didn't think we'd have anything to dream about, but thankfully, I was wrong. Now we discuss whether to fix up our current house or to build a new one. There are so many possibilities and its so much fun. I hope that we create many more memories on this land and that we are able to bless many people because of this land. God has blessed us and I pray that we can share the love!

I'm eager to see what God brings us in the next 6 months and many more!

In unrelated news, Josh and I are heading out to Camp Horizon this week and we are so excited!

New (possible) House

Brooke and I are trying vigorously to purchase a home in the Forsyth County area, but to-date, it hasn't panned out for us. Not that we couldn't find any homes we liked. The problem is that our selection is immediately limited because we have to qualify solely off Brooke's income (because I'm self-employed), and since we haven't yet sold our home in Monroe, we are limited in what we can finance. We know we can't afford our dream property (which is a lot of acreage. IE - 20+) until we have our other home sold, so we limited our selection to homes that could provide a decent place to live, while ultimately showing a return on our investment.

Day after day we've search for homes. We looked online for hours, driven thousands of miles around the area, and met our realtor for a walk-through on many properties. Needless to say, we're getting a little tired. We're supposed to be out of the house we're currently staying in February, which makes it pretty stressful not knowing where you'll be living in a month!

MLK day, Brooke and I spent some time checking out homes in the area, when we ended up in a town called Lewisville, NC. It seemed like a nice town, and while driving down the road we noticed a for-sale sign. We turned around and ended up in the driveway of a historic home built in the 1900's... 1908 to be exact.

The home is called the JJ Marshall House. Here's a photo I took when we approached the entrance. Even though it's not what we were looking for, as an avid viewer of the show "This Old House" and a builder/contractor myself, I've always considered the idea of working on a historic property, restoring it to it's original character.

We walked to the back door, only to find some papers that mentioned this house going to auction. We took a look inside the home, and the home needs aesthetic work; at least one of the additions aren't historically accurate (which means I'd probably reverse it at some point), but overall, it seems like a sound home.

We came home, logged-onto the auction website, and found out the auction ended at 4pm today (Tuesday). The website is setup like eBay. There is a reserve price (which is unknown), and a countdown clock. Today, all we've thought about was what our bid should be, at what time we should enter it, and how high we'd be willing to go. You can imagine -- this can easily consume your day.

At the end of the auction, we were the high bidder, confirmed via a follow-up email. Now, we just begin the process of a lot of paperwork, making sure the home will qualify for conventional financing, and all that "fun" stuff. Not really looking forward to that, but we've passed the first test!

Here are some pictures of the home, taken from the listing website. The porch on the front is not original to this home. I think someone was trying to turn this Colonial Revival home into a Greek Revival home....

We'll post more as we know it, and we'll surely let you know if/when we have it as completely ours.

This is one of the bedrooms, although with that awesome fireplace, I'm thinking this might be my home office. I could just imagine a fire burning behind me as I write something really important down on parchment.

This kitchen was added to the original structure. Not bad, but could be freshened up. This will probably be the 21st century part of the house.

This room was added to the original structure. I think it serves as the living room. We only spent about 10 rushed minutes in the home, so I'm not completely certain as to which function each room serves.

This is a shot of the front from Google Streetview. It's not too clear, and it's probably pretty old, but you get an idea of the front of the house. The right portion of the home was the addition.

Time's almost up

Josh's time in Liberia is almost up. Today is his last full day, they are leaving first thing tomorrow morning for their 29-hour trip home. Josh called me last night and they are staying at Pastor Emmanual's house in Monrovia. He gave Charlie and Josh his own bedroom. Josh said he had a bat and two mice in the room last night. I told Josh he better not get rabies this close to the end of his trip! Josh hasn't sounded as refreshed and excited since he left the orphanage. He told me he was ready to come home. Its really hot and he can't sleep. I think its finally catching up with him! He still is happy, but I believe he's looking forward to coming home. They went to the beach yesterday and he and Charlie really enjoyed it. Josh said it was so nice to swim and cool off. Apparently the orphanage is in the mountains and its much cooler there than in Monrovia.

They are having a farewell celebration tonight, Josh said he thinks a lot of people will be there. Please pray for continued health and safety and for safe travel starting tomorrow. They are leaving early tomorrow morning. Josh said they have had a few more issues with getting through checkpoints, so remember that part as well.

His flight home is the reverse of his flight there. He flies from Monrovia to Brussels to Chicago to Charlotte. I can't wait to see him! I'm leaving work a little early Saturday to pick him up!