Transitioning to Idaho...

I have started a stream of emails to those who have questioned where our family is at with our transition to Idaho.  It's helped me remember who I've told what.  We've had so much support and many have asked how they can pray for us.  I decided that putting it all into blog posts will help me remember it for years to come. 

 

 So many of you have asked for updates on our plan to move to Idaho. Although it feels much less personal, I decided the easiest way to keep all of you informed as through a central email where I can keep track of what I’ve said to who. Less stressful for me!

Although some of you have already heard the start of our journey to Idaho, I’ll include some details for continuity...

*After deciding to step out in faith and make the move we listed our house for sale by owner on 6/12

*We excepted an offer on 6/17 that wasn’t full price but we felt sufficient given that they to didn’t have a realtor. They listed their home on the market just before we sign paperwork on 6/18. Because we couldn’t afford to wait around for months, we gave them until 7/7 to sell their home.

*7/7 came and they didn’t get sold their house, so back on the market we were. This of course bummed us (as well as the potential buyers) Because we weren’t sure how it would look to other buyers that our house has been off the market for a while and then back on. But, I can honestly say it didn’t surprise me. This entire process, we knew when we set out, needed to be more about watching God work through the details while our faith was stretched and increased.

*7/12 we received a text from the very first people who came to look at our house when we put it on the market in June. They had seen that our house was back on the market and wanted to meet with us to see what we could work out. They originally had said that the layout wasn’t quite going to work for their family when they looked the first time.

*7/13 We met with the family and they said they wanted to bring their builder to add on a small section and make the layout work for their needs. They gave us a full price offer without a realtor and we’re excited to get the ball rolling.

*They then asked us why we were moving. We were able to share with them our faith and our plans. This intern got them sharing of their church and work with the homeless and Salem. We were able to share that we had prayed for who would live in our house next and we are blessed to hear of their faith in Christ.

*7/14 we met The buyer at his dental clinic (He’s a dentist) just signed paperwork. As we walked into his office, I noticed a picture on as well. It was a drawing of a dentist looking over a patient in a chair while Jesus stood behind him getting his hands... it gave me chills and I told the buyer that it did he smiled it was another confirmation in my mind that God was in this.

*7/15 we decided after a full price, no contingency offer, that we’d head to Idaho for a few days to get a feel for what the market was doing. We also know it would help to drive around so that we could determine spots we wanted to start looking in and distances they were to certain parts of town. The trip was a bit discouraging. Almost all of the houses we went to look at were either already sold or under contract by the time we got there. If there was a property that just come on the market, you are one of many cars to pull up to look at it. Realtors were saying that people were putting offers in sight unseen.

*We looked at a house and met a realtor who we found out attends Real Life Ministries (where we will be going to church). After talking Church/Faith for a while, Curtis and I discussed that if we decided we needed a realtor who knew the area more and could help us given our distance from the state, that we would ask him.

*Meanwhile at home... our septic tank has been pumped only to find that it wasn’t draining well. This meant we had to call a separate company to resolve the issue. Because we didn’t know where the distribution box was, this meant they were going to have to bring a mini excavator out to tear up our yard near the tank in order to find it and put a clean out in. We figured it was worth the cost versus digging with a shovel when we literally had no idea where to start.

*Another God moment... Curtis decided to just dig a hole in a certain area to see if he might find it. He figured it couldn’t hurt. Lo and behold, right where he dug he found it! This obviously saved a ton of time and money on our end and the company was able to access the tank right at that point. They snaked the tank exit baffle and were able to open it up so it drains well praise God!

*Inspection came back clean and appraisal came back right where we needed it.

*Still set to close on 8/7. We were able to secure a moving truck on 8/10 and the buyers are allowing us to stay in our house until then another huge blessing.

*Moving onto Idaho... some of you heard of the tragic death of Curtis his 25-year-old step nephew on 7/21 obviously, life throws the unexpected and this was a huge one. We stalled our trip to Idaho until 7/30 In order to attend the memorial service and lunch with the family.

*We arrived in our travel trailer on 7/30, all of us including our dogs. Our goal was to look at houses/properties with the potential of putting an offer on something if we found what would work. Lots of driving around, lots of appointments and it has been HOT...108 degrees yesterday and the AC had a hard time keeping up.

*We decided to include our realtor connection here in Idaho to get into properties more quickly as well as get his opinion on what we were looking at

*After going into five house/properties on Friday, we took the realtor back to the one we thought would fit our family best today. It was scheduled to have an open house. We spent two hours going through it again. He gave us his opinion on what he would offer and told us to pray about it as we were leaving the property and other realtor with a couple from California pulled in. The boys were like, “Mom! Dad! Hurry quick! Our an offer on it before California buys it!” It wasn’t moments after we pulled away Curtis and I looked at each other and knew this was the one. We sent a text to the realtor that had come with us and told him what we wanted to offer.

*Now we wait. Everything‘s been signed and they have until noon tomorrow 8/2 to except or deny our offer.

*We have peace about it. We know that if we are supposed to end up there, we will. God has orchestrated all of the details this far and it’s been clearly obvious that it’s been him. This detail will be no different.

From here on out I’ll send updates from this point.

We ask for your prayers. So many of you have already been praying and we have felt them. Thank you. We are blessed to have been surrounded by such support.

C,M,W,C