We are under contract=Let the chaos begin

 Our house is under contract. Last week was a whirlwind. Who sells their house in the middle of late night conference week?! I had late night parent teacher conferences three nights last week as well as 7 principals observing me teaching small group one day last week. The week was full of activity and exhaustion. For me that means emotions are high. On top of that, every morning our house had to be ready for a showing. Beds made, clothes put away, all things sparkling clean. Ugh! Good news..we survived. 

  Now, we need to start living the minamilist life and packing everything that we are taking to our new to us, very small home. Also, the soon to be owners of our current home want the girls room taken out of the garage. That began today, and I now have two little people living in my room for at least the next three weeks. 

  Two take aways from this morning's sermon: 1. God is there in the midst of uncertainty. 2. You don't get strong faith with a weak story.

Grow us, God.

Along Came House #4

 We looked at 3 houses this weekend. The first, I walk in and right back out. I have no idea what the house actually looks like, because I couldn't get past the cigarette smell. Kevin and the realtor actually arrived before me. So, they had already been inside. They stood on the front lawn and timed how quickly I would be back out. 10 seconds. It took 10 seconds. I can make a sacrifice, but that was too much. The next house was perfect. Everyone else must have thought that as well. There were at least 20 realtor cards from weekend showings. We would have to offer more than asking prize to even be considered. We decided that while it was wonderful we would probably later regret not moving more toward our goal. So, on to the third. It was small. It was cute and fun and small. It has lots of potential. As we were finishing up looking the seller let us know that they had a cash offer that morning but hadn't accepted it. Of course they did. So, we went home and talked through it quite a bit. We decided to make an offer and see what happened. They accepted our offer. We are praying that all goes well with the inspection. We know it needs work, but it has to pass an inspection. Our current house will hit the market on Thursday. Showings will start on Friday. We will have an open house on Sunday. Let's go! Watch God move!

Another House, Another Offer

 Alright, house number 3...It sat for 46 days on the market with nothing.  We made an offer yesterday.  So naturally, someone else also made an offer and it was accepted.  If you want to sell your house, just have the Humes look at it, show interest in it, and make an offer on it.  You are sure to sell it.  Let's see what house number four holds if we can find a house number four.  What do you have for us God?

In today's news

 In today's news, we put in an offer on another house today. We've been waiting since 8:00am on news. Our realtor says they are working up a counter offer. We also had real estate pictures taken of our house today, so it is ready to list at any moment. 

Continuing the Search

 God has something different for us. His answer was no. I have no idea what it is, but I know He's working. The house we made an offer on will not work as our kids would have to leave their schools and attend in MO. So, it's a no go. I battle being anxious to being at peace to being worried to being joyful. I'm exhausted physically and mentally. He's never late, so we'll continue following knowing that He will work it all out. Our house goes on the market Friday no matter what. Will the Humes be homeless?😜 Let's watch God work.

There's Something Stirring

 I wish I had logged every moment of this journey up to this point.  Unfortunately, I didn't so I'll try to do it justice and then log God's work throughout each step to follow.  Something has been stirring in us for some time to turn our finances over to God.  I don't mean tithe our 10%.  I mean turn it all over to Him and watch Him move.  Due to dumb financial decisions that started with student loans and then continued into our marriage with other unnecessary debt, we have felt the burden of being slaves to our own finances.  If I'm being honest, it has never felt okay but a deep stirring began a few years ago.  It started small and has grown bigger and more constant over time.  That constant tug to step into financial freedom has become so clearly a part of what we want.  So, we have continued whittling away at debt and worked harder to be good stewards of our money.  As that stirring continued to grow just recently, we've begun to look at what else God has for us.  What does He want for us?  What does He want from us?  Where is He leading?  Then, I think for no other reason than the leading of the Holy Spirit Kevin and I began to have conversations.  What if?  I say that it had to be the leading of the Holy Spirit, because this is something I wouldn't have dreamed of considering just a few months ago.  What if we sold our house? What if we used the profits to pay off debt, and we bought a true fixer upper aka known as dump after seeing some of the possibilities.  We could live in it as we fixed it.  The reward would far outweigh the sacrifice.  As we kicked around the idea, we found a house that needed lots of work.  Some of the work would need to be contracted out but most could be done by us.  We met a realtor to see the house.  It sat on the market for 56 days with no interest.  A few people had looked at it but said it was too much work.  We talked to our kids about it.  We took them to see it.  We talked about what it could mean for us immediately and later down the road.  The kids much to my surprise were excited about the possibility.  So, we made an offer on a house that sat on the market for 56 days with no interest.  The kids asked several times over the next 24 hours if we had heard anything on the house.  On the way to school the next day, Shelby said "Mom I really want that house."  I told her we needed to pray and ask God what He has for us.  I immediately heard her in the back seat saying, "God, what do you have for us?"  The same day we made our offer, a cash offer was also placed by an investment company.  Of course, the seller took the cash offer.  Can you blame them?  That excitement and possibility only made us more excited about what could happen.  So, we continued our search.  There's not much out there.  If it stays on the market more than 24 hours, it is either way overpriced or is an absolute dump.  We happened upon another house as we broadened our search a bit.  I know God will put us right where He wants us.  I know He is working for our good.  I know He has great things for us.  I trust Him fully.  So, we were scheduled to see the other house.  I was very skeptical.  The pictures online look less than desirable, but I'm willing to sacrifice to experience financial freedom.  Much to my surprise, the house was really great.  It needs work for sure, but that's what we are looking for.  It has so much potential, and it would be such a great place for our kids.  Everything about it seemed right.  So, we made an offer.  It was our first offer and it was very low.  We expected a counteroffer for sure.  We thought we'd just see what happened.  As we waited for news on the offer, we continued with 24 hours of life.  I had dinner with a friend and in our discussion about what was going on in our family and the offer on the house, she asked if that would mess our kids up for school.  The house is just over the state line.  That conversation put me into a bit of a panic.  That thought never occurred to me.  My kids go to school where we teach.  Why would that be a problem?  Well, apparently it is a problem when you cross the state line.  I had a quick conversation with our school registrar who confirmed that my kids could not be in my school district if they don't live in Arkansas.  Now, I only have one kid in my district with me.  The other two school-aged kids are with Kevin.  It is a district-by-district choice whether or not this is allowed.  So, Kevin has talked with his admin.  He has visited with his assistant superintendent who is looking into it for us.  This weekend, we have battled discouragement along with constant reminders that God is fully and completely in control.  In the meantime, our very low offer was accepted on the house.  I've had I'll Give Thanks playing in my head nonstop along with a few other songs.  I've woken up in the middle of the night singing in my head and believing for great things.  I don't know what tomorrow holds.  I know our house hits the market on Friday, and if it goes anything like every other house in our area we'll have several offers before Monday.  I know God has great things for us.  I'm excited to see what He's up to.  I know His plans are always bigger and better than any I could have dreamed for myself.