The family that frosts together stays together

We had a frosting party last night in preparation for Brian's big holiday open house at Tam O'Shanter.

 This guy is a MACHINE!  "Give me all the trees..." He whipped out all things green!

 There was a lot of this happening...

 A mini frosting fight!

 Lots of concentrating!

 And plenty of fun had by all!

 Oh....hey...there's Abby...

 All cleaned up!

I'm a homeowner!

It's been a wild, wild ride, but today I went to the credit union, requested a bigger check than I've ever written at once, signed more papers in one sitting than I ever have before, and committed to a MUCH bigger loan than I ever have before! 

And the reward for all these firsts? I can (almost!) call myself a homeowner!!  Technically we're in escrow until the seller signs the closing documents on Monday. 

I have to say, I have had the BEST realtor and an awesome mortgage guy!  Seriously, Chad Beckwith and Andy Fernando with Windermere were amazing guys.  Without them this deal would NOT have come together!  

So... Some of you are probably wondering what happened since the last time I blogged I had said my goodbyes to the condo.  Well, all I can say is God had other plans!  I had totally relinquished control and was quite content, knowing that only God could make it happen.  We had a deal, we didn't have a deal, we had a deal, we didn't have a deal. It was craziness!  

On Monday, November 28th, after the holiday weekend, I signed the recission document stating I was withdrawing my offer on the condo.  I'd found a cute apartment that I liked, was close to work, and within my means.  That very day I found out that my salary was changing, and not in an upward direction.  My health insurance stipend (aka extra income) was being removed as of Jan 1 and the firm is going back to supplying health insurance.  Now since my insurance cost roughly half of my stipend, that was a bit devastating to me. I'd planned my whole budget based on a different salary amount.  (okay, breathe! God is still good, and He is still in control!)

Tuesday I get an e-mail from my realtor saying that the seller's agent doesn't want to sign the recission. He still thinks we can make it work to close on the 1st.  Right, I've heard this before.  I'm at work, in tears on the phone with Chad... I don't know what to do... I've signed for an apartment...they said it couldn't happen...how could it happen, etc.  Let me just say, he was great!  He really stepped up and reminded me that God's in control and to just pray about it and see what happens.  (Good advice, man!)

We did, and things DID come together.  The delinquencies, which were a problem before, were lowered to an approvable amount... Documents were resubmitted to the lender and after a whole lot more breath-holding and constant reminders to myself that God was in control, I gave up the apartment.  That. was. scary. 

But, God was faithful, and He provided!  In fact, he provided again today at closing when I discovered my final monthly payment would be less than I'd anticipated, and certainly much less than rent would have been!  

One of my favorite things about all of this is getting to experience God's will and provision!  Not only in a home, but faithful friends praying for me, peace that surpassed my understanding more than once, wonderfully faithful friends who reminded me GOD. IS. SOVEREIGN.  (You know who you are! You say it every time I see you -- and it's awesome cause it's TRUE!), and a gracious host family that was supposed to put me up for up to two weeks after I puppy sat for them, and I've now been occupying their guest room for OVER THREE MONTHS!  I could go on! 

The end of the condo-buying stage: The Apartment

It turns out it was not God's plan at this time for me to buy a condo. How do I know this? It fell through because of one measly percent. That doesn't just happen by chance. It was an up, down, around, upside down 24 hours.

Everything was going smoothly and I was finally set to close on December 1.  It seemed like everything was just right. I felt like I needed to pray about it still.  On Tuesday (just a day later) around noon I got a message from my mortgage guy that there was a problem with the loan.  It looked as though the loan was a no-go because the percentage of condo owners that were delinquent on their monthly dues was just over 17%.  The Fannie Mae cut-off is 15%.  "Okay, Lord. You could give it to me, or you could take it away. It's yours."

I got a series of calls and e-mails from my realtor and it looked like the seller's agent got the association to recalculate the numbers and the rate was only 16%.  The seller's agent requested to know the lowest delinquency amount and paid off that owner's dues! (Happy Christmas to that person!!) It looked like we were back on -- hooray! ("Okay, Lord! This was UNexpected! Thank you! You are in control! This is nuts!") I rushed home from my sister's house to sign last minute paperwork.

Wednesday around noon I got word from the mortgage guy that the underwriters of my loan didn't like that the seller's agent had artificially lowered the delinquency amount.  Either it was 15% or it wasn't...no intervention allowed. Ooookay.... Well, hmm.... The options, once again, became "wait and see" or put down 20%.  Neither of those are viable options.

The final word came in when my realtor called to let me know that we were officially "out of bullets".

All I can say is that I feel tremendous peace about all of this.  Is it crazy that the banks refuse to have any flexibility over 1% when I'm the kind of buyer they should be bending over backwards to retain? Perhaps...but that isn't the case today.  So I'm resting in God's Sovereignty, and quite frankly, breathing a sigh of relief!  There is an amazing, wonderful, DEEP peace that comes from knowing God is in control and feeling not even an iota of a pretense of control over the situation myself.

I am feeling rather light after carrying the burden of having to make a lot of "I" decisions: what color paint do I want? What carpet do I want? Who do I call for repairs? etc. A friend pointed out today that "those sound like a lot of "I" questions..." He was right. They aren't decisions I was wanting to make alone. So maybe this isn't the season to buy. I'm content and happy to be moving to a great little apartment instead.

God, in His amazing, detailed, attentive care for His children provided me a great little apartment! It's just what I'd prayed He would provide! I am so blessed that I serve and worship a God that is so attentive, caring, and involved in the big and the little things of my life and the lives of those around me!!

HAAAAAPPPPY THANKSGIVING!

There were so many things for which to be THANKFUL this year! In another post I'll share some of the highlights. Right now, though, here's a few (ok, a lot, but not all!) pictures from the day:

Caleb Lorne

I got the privilege this last weekend to further hone my portraiture skills with one of my favorite little familys: Lorne, Morgan, and not-so-little-anymore Caleb!

Here's a peak at the best of the shots below.  I still have a lot to learn, but I'm loving every minute of it! :)