It’s Sunday night and we closed on our new home 12 days ago. As I type this post I am sitting on my back porch listening to my Caedmon’s Call station on Pandora. Honestly, I had begun to think that closing was going to be a dream I was going to be chasing for a good long while.

To recap, I resigned my position just shy of 2 years ago. After a long 11 months it looked like life was finally starting to settle down for us last April. Then, in June, the carpet was pulled out from under us once again and the lease/ purchase we were in fell apart. That began a long 9 month journey for us. I didn’t think about the time frame until just now. Buying a home and being pregnant have many similarities.

On July 2, 2014 we were told by a lender that we were approved for a home loan. After returning from a family vacation we began to look at homes. We found one that we liked and agreed on. That fell apart. We found a 2nd home that we loved and it ended up being a short sale.Long story short, that didn’t work out for us either.

My prayer had been that by the time my birthday rolled around in October we would finally be under contract. I guess I should have been a little more specific in my prayer. The Lord did answer that prayer and we were under contract by close of business on Friday, October 3rd. We had a closing date of 2 days before Thanksgiving. Our lender was not on top of his game and that date came and went. We had a 2nd closing date of December 15th. By the time that date rolled around, our lender decided that he couldn’t make it happen.

We had a choice. We could keep on fighting for our home, or we could walk away. Thankfully, we had a realtor who was not ready to give up and kept on fighting for us. He found us a new lender and struck a deal with the home owner. That being said, we ended up paying rent and utilities on a home we weren’t living in, plus rent and bills on the apartment we were living in. Even though it was a financial sacrifice, we felt that it allowed us to keep a home in a great neighborhood, in the area we had wanted to be in for a while. We knew in the end that it would allow us to have our kids in a great place and they were the main reasons we kept on fighting.

If you know anything about my husband’s business, you would know that January, February and March are usually times of famine for us. We don’t do anything extra and hope and pray that we get everything covered through the end of those 3 months. The Lord was truly Jehovah Jirah for us because He not only provided for our regular bills, but He provided enough to cover the house and the bills on the house. My husband and I know what a true blessing it was and give the Lord all the credit for the extra work that would just “pop up.”

Our new lender hit the ground running for us and once he had our new tax return in hand, he was able to set things in motion. We had a small scare with the second inspection, but thankfully, it all worked out in the end. As of March 31st at 10:38am we were officially home owners and residents of Mount Juliet.

I will put in a plug for Chad King and the rest of the folks over at Team Wilson. Our situation was not an easy one, but those guys worked so hard for us and I am beyond grateful for them! I will also say that the staff at The Glade Church, our friends and family members cheered us on, prayed with us and for us through out this whole process. There are no words to express my gratitude for them.

Our time in the apartment was not always easy. All 3 kids were in one room and they had no yard to play in. There were things in storage that we missed more than we thought we would. At times it felt like we were on an emotional roller coaster. There were times when my husband and Chad had to talk me down because I would get so frustrated and upset. The upside is that my family was together and as long as I had them it made the hard days a little easier.

Now that we are in and semi settled, what’s next? Well, as of last Tuesday I registered my blue eyed boy for his last year of day school and peanut for his first year over in the Kirby building with his big brother. Thursday I released a part of my heart and registered my “baby” girl for kindergarten. While walking through the registration process I did well. Once I walked out I looked at my husband and cried there on the sidewalk right there in front of the elementary school. My kids all start final and new chapters of school in the fall. I am excited to see how these chapters unfold for my 3 precious kiddos.

My husband is continuing to work on building his business and hopes to build a larger client base in our new area. While we would like to keep the clients he has, he desires to have a larger presence here in Wilson County. He is also teaching a class at our church on Wednesday nights and hopes to continue teaching in the fall.

As for me, I hope now that we are settled that I can focus on writing in a way that I haven’t been able to in the past. I hope to blog more than a couple of times a month. I am also praying that some opportunities to do guest writing will arise, as well as some speaking opportunities. I have been contemplating writing a book for several years now and I would like to put some time and attention in that area as well. My heart for women’s ministry has continued to grow over the past several months and pray for open doors in that area.

As for the family as a whole, we are working on getting unpacked as well as getting things how we want them. We did buy a project house, so it is going to take some time to finish many of those projects, but are very much excited to make it our own. We have enjoyed a little bit of exploring in our new neighborhood. There is a beautiful walking trail just up the road from us and we have already spent some time walking and running over there. Up in front of the kids’ new elementary school there is a pond and the kids have enjoyed watching the ducks, the turtles and the storks (at least I think they are storks). There are a couple of playgrounds that we still need to check out and over all, we would like to do more exploring around Mount Juliet and hope to find some hidden gems. We have met several of our neighbors and are thrilled that there are so many young families in this neighborhood. Everyone we have met so far has been sweet and welcoming.

Next month we will celebrate a couple of birthdays and Mothers’ Day. In June my husband and I will celebrate 10 years of marriage and will head to Gatlinburg for several days. We also have a trip planned to Michigan later on in the summer to visit my sister and that side of the family. We are looking forward to many celebrations and praying that this next season will be a season of rest and feeling like we can finally breathe again.

For now, I am going to say good night to all of you and look forward to many more back porch posts in the future. For all of you who have kept up with my blog over the past several months, I would like to say “Thank you” and hope to keep up with you as time goes on. If you have have questions or suggestions for blog posts, please don’t hesitate to ask. Thanks again and good night my friends.