Home Sweet Home

Our home!

But to get here has taken a LOT of patience and faith.

So much has happened and is continuing to happen as we are adjusting to our new location and possibilities.  Before even getting here, odds were stacked against us.  Just as most people would attest to, when buying a home, it was just one thing after another trying to get in the way of this really happening.

First, our grant for our down payment didn't go through.  We knew we wouldn't have a down payment ready until after tax returns so we weren't even going to buy until then.  But we were told about this down payment grant, by the mortgage company we were going to use when we were going to buy a house in Oklahoma.  (This company just happened to be out of Salt Lake so when we moved here, we just thought we would stay with them)  We made it very clear that we could not buy a house without this grant and so after we found a great realtor, off to house hunting we went!  We made an offer on a house in Layton that was so stinkin' cute!  But as cute as it was, they wanted too much for it.  

When David and I walked into our house in Sunset, we knew almost immediately that this would be our home.  He fell in love with all the space and trees in the back yard while I loved the newness of the inside (even though it was build in 1944).  Our offer was accepted and after our "good faith" money was paid, our mortgage guy informs us that we don't meet the guidelines for the grant by $500.00.....A YEAR!  I know that these things have to have guidelines but seriously?  That close?  But honestly, the fact that the mortage guy didn't let us know that until it was set in stone really ticked me off.

I'm sure David would have found a way of it working out but I was ticked and stubborn.  We had made it very clear that we would not be buying a home without that grant because we didn't have the down payment.  So I guess we weren't getting the home.  That got the mortgage guy moving and he found a way for the money to be put on our home loan but that we would have to still pay $700.00 for the realtor or whatever it was.  Seriously, so much has happened that I'm not even sure what it was for but I do know that I was not paying it!  He got it waived and off we went running.  

By the time we would close on our house, we would still have 2 1/2 months left on our lease at Monarch Meadows Apartments. Honestly, I couldn't see anyone wanting to take over a lease for just that amount of time but it happened!  Our wonderful apartment complex staff led a guy to us and it all went fairly smoothly.
We start packing and find out 2 weeks before signing the papers for our house that David has to consolidate his student loans first.  Just one of those things that would have been nice to know before we set our move in date because we found out it would take 45 days at the very least for that to go through!  The mortgage company refused to budge on this and we had already sold our lease.
I have no doubt that so many of our friends would have let us move in with them until the paper work went through but we had already moved our kids out of so many schools, I just couldn't do that again and put them in another school for just a few weeks or month.
So our wonderful realtor got the owners to the new house to agree to rent to us until the paperwork went through.  We were so relieved....but it also meant that the money we had for a washer, dryer, and fridge would now be used for rent. But that is ok because David and I had already talked about the possiblitly of us taking out Home Depot or Lowes credit cards and just get them that way.  They have a "no interest" for 6 months program and that would work out perfectly for when our tax returns come in.  We got approved and even ordered our washer and dryer when our mortage guy scares us half to death by telling us that our loan might not go through now because getting those cards puts "dings" on our credit scores.  David returns our washer and dryer and all is well...except we are now living without a washer, dryer, and fridge.  Do you know how hard it is to feed your children healthy meals without a fridge?
 B U T......
Somewhere along all of this (before moving, actually) I realized that I can be really depressed about all of this or I can try to see the big picture.  Within a few days of taking this approach to our situation, I was soon led to the realization that the "big picture" wasn't just it.  There was so much more.  There were little blessings here and there that I was looking right past.  Let me share just a few.
-When we set up our move date we knew we had to do it all in one day.  We knew it was crazy but it was our only option because of when our guy that took over our lease needed to be in and when our house was available.  So we started our move at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday.  With it being on a work day, we didn't know if anyone other than Stephen would show up.  Stephen is just a blessing in its own.  We know we can always count on David's brother.  But amazingly, 3 people from our ward came to help.
-Another lady from our ward showed up and wanted to help.  She couldn't have been more of a God sent for me because just before she came, our dryer stopped working!  I was close to tears because I knew this was our last chance at using a washer and dryer since we wouldn't have one for quite some time in our new house.  She gladly took our laundry and got to work at her house.
-Tricia took our boys for 2 days and 1 night while we tried to get things settled in our new place.  She even washed the boy's clothes because she knew of our situation.
-When we arrived in Sunset, no one from our ward showed up to help us move in.  That would have been so hard but between us and Stephen, it went amazingly fast.  Christine and Mike came over after Mike got home from work, which finally relieved Stephen so he could go home.  Mike and David went to work on getting all the beds up while Christine and I went to work on the kitchen.  They bought us dinner and amazingly, I didn't cry that day!  Christine was so good for me.  I needed her to get me through that evening.  She even tried to get us a fridge.  I truly am blessed with the best of friends in the world!
So, after all of that....here are a few pictures.

 The attic was turned into 2 rooms as well as a few closets and an area for toys.

 This is part of mine and David's bedroom.  I love how these shelves were build into the wall.

 Our living room.

We are still working on the rest but it feels so good to be in this house.  It is so roomy and I love hearing the boys giggle as they throw soft balls down the stairs.