Entering the real world.

I feel so incredibly blessed. These last few weeks have been such a testimony to me that Heavenly Father does have a plan for each of us, He hears and answers our prayers, and He really does work miracles in our lives and offers up tender mercies all along the way.

This narrative is mainly for my benefit of being able to look back and remember all of the tender mercies He has granted us, but you're welcome to read along.

As Straight Arrow entered Orthodontic residency, we vowed to ourselves that we wouldn't be "those people" who procrastinate finding a job until the very end. We, of course, would jump on opportunities at least a year before graduation so that as May neared, we would be stress-free, just waiting around for graduation to start the job of our dreams that we have secured months in advance. ;)

I am learning to love to eat my words. My list of "I-nevers" continues to grow...and I am learning that I can actually live and be happy with my "I-nevers". Read along. We did indeed begin the job hunt about a year in advance and although we thought that we were securing several jobs along the way, none of them worked out. For one reason or the other, they all fell through from Hickory to Burlington to Greensboro to Danville. It was disappointing, but I always felt the love of our Heavenly Father and I never worried that we would be left jobless. In this experience, I was given the gift of faith and I knew deep down that everything would be fine.

A friend of Straight Arrow's had heard through the grapevine about a job at Wake Forest University and as a token effort, we sent our resume over to them but heard nothing for quite a while. Eventually other job offers came along that we pursued in hopes that something along the trail would pan out for us. We fought hard for a Virginia Dental license, paid big bucks to get one, and in the end didn't need one because Wake Forest contacted us back. One meeting led to another and another and before we knew it, we had a legitimate job offer laying on the table before us. In the blink of an eye, it was signed and sealed. We had a job! It was March 14...our 10 month search was over. His start date was July 1.

The economy was asunder and I was feeling anxious about buying a home. I spent hours upon hours researching homes online both to buy and to rent, but nothing felt right. We spent the week of Spring Break looking at rentals, but were discouraged at the high prices. We could have a mortgage for the price we'd pay in rent. And so I gave in and called an LDS realtor whom my cousin had reccommended. We spent the majority of 2 days searching for a home to buy. 50 homes later...we had seen some gorgeous layouts, beautiful homes with acreage, landscaped lots with gorgeous views. But nothing felt right. Nothing had everything we wanted. Maybe it was the right house, but it was too far from church. It was close to church, but not the right lot. It was close to work, but not the right house. We weighed the options over and over and over, but they still weren't right.

We returned to Chapel Hill on Saturday after having looked all week. As I sat alone feeling discouraged while Straight Arrow was attending the Priesthood session of General Conference, I thought that I should do one more real estate search of every zipcode within a 20 minute driving time to his soon-to-be office. I browsed through the pages of homes thinking that we had seen almost every single one that met our criteria until I came to 1. There was one that we had missed. We had never searched in this particular zipcode because it was on my list of "I-nevers". It was the town I lived in for the first 18 years of my life. In fact, this very house was only 1 mile from where I tromped as a child.

I had taken a class, Homebuying 101, at Womens Day 7 months prior where the teacher taught specifically about the benefits of buying a foreclosed home. Just a small tender mercy that gave me a small insight into the matter. This home was a foreclosure. It met every single criteria on our "want" list. A house with room to grow. A nice, spacious yard for the kids to romp on. Great schools. Close to church. Close to family. 20 minutes to work. It was a dream!

I quickly sent an email to our realtor asking if she knew anything about the property and when we could see it. She emailed me back saying that it had been on the market for quite while which was a sign that there was probably something wrong with the property or someone else would have snatched it up sooner. The asking price on the house was amazing...it was listed at 2/3 of it's tax value. She gave me a couple more homes to consider and asked me if I'd like to go see those as well while we were out.

I declined. "I'm holding out for this one." She met us between General Conference sessions on Sunday (as this was the only time that our schedules would coincide) and as we pulled up to the house, my heart was racing. It was beautiful and I wanted so bad for it to be the one. As we walked through the house, I turned to Straight Arrow and said "This is it. This is the one. I'm in love." Our realtor agreed that it was fabulous on the inside and out, but cautioned us still to not get too excited until we had an engineer and an inspector look at it.

We made an offer first thing Monday morning with our closing date of June 30 (since SA started work on July 1). We sat back and waited as I kept my phone close by me all day hoping to hear back. Nothing. I could barely sleep that night. Tuesday. We heard that someone else had also made an offer on the house at the same time as us. Wednesday, SA was asked to start work on June 1...such a blessing because we could move our offer to close on May 31. We anxiously waited. I was a nervous wreck. Thursday morning...we were asked to make our "highest and best" offer to end the bidding. Thursday afternoon, SA met with his new job and was blessed to be able to begin work on May 19! Again, we moved our closing date offer up by two more weeks. Friday...no word because of Good Friday. I relaxed over the weekend, realizing that I wouldn't hear until at least Monday. Monday...no word. Tuesday...waited all day for an answer, but finally gave up after business hours were over. I got on the elliptical to exercise and relieve some stress...and the phone rang at 9pm. Our offer was accepted!

I didn't want to post pictures or announce to the world our whole story until I was more sure that it was all going to happen. We had the home inspected today to find out what must be wrong with this great house that has made it so that it fell right into our hands after having been on the market for several months. NOTHING! The house is in amazing condition. After a good cleaning, it'll be as good as new!

We are so thrilled and so grateful for such a wonderful blessing! And so, without further adieu, here is our house...28 days and counting!

the front of the house

view of the house from the backyard
yard on the side of the house

kitchen view

coffered ceiling in the living room
tiled backsplash in the kitchen

deck in the back