My House For Sale #2

About 2 years ago, I sold my first house.  And now it's time to sell the second one.  This one has been my home for a little over a year.  Although it's kinda sad to sell it and leave, I'd trade it for getting married any day of the week!!

But, just thought I'd share pictures of my little place before I packed up.

Here's the front:

 I love the front porch! 

 The Entry Way

 Living Room

Dining Room

Kitchen 

(This was one of 2 rooms that I actually painted)

My Bedroom

And Walk-In Closet (Definitely going to miss that!!)



Hallway

Guest Room (My only guests were the kiddos!)

 Bathroom

(This was the other room I painted)

This is my favorite room of the whole house - The Great Room

 This room right here.....is where I fell in love with Brandon.

 We shared some sweet moments and tender times here, learning about each other and sharing our hearts and lives with each other.

But like I said, I'll take him any day over this house!

Here's the back

 And the back deck

My New Normal

Hello Blogger Friends!! 

My, oh, my - it's been such a long time since I posted!!  Life has been just a tad bit crazy.  First of all, there's the engagement and subsequent wedding planning (and we opted for a pretty short engagement, so things are in hyper-warp speed with planning).  Then there's the preparing of and listing my house for sale (because I'm moving to Lexington when we get hitched, since that's where my Sweetie lives now).  And as if that wasn't enough to keep things interesting, I found out around the middle of March that as of the end of March, I would be unemployed (along with several others in our company).

So, between me figuring out wedding stuff, keeping my house nearly spotless as it was shown and constantly keeping track of unemployment and insurance stuff, there's been little time for blogging, but I miss it a lot!  It's a bit of a creative outlet for me and it's kind of an online scrapbook of sorts (although even that has gone by the wayside as I can't seem to finish my Europe Trip or my Honduras Trip pictures).

It's not been all stress and craziness, there's been a lot of fun things lately too - Bridal Showers, Family Visits (including my brother's fam - we all went to a Reds game together) and some traveling too.

Anywho, for now, I'll leave you with a few pictures....and promise not to be such a stranger.

This is me and my mom (in the white) with several of her sweet friends that threw me a Bridal Shower.

And here's Brandon and I with his Aunts Wanda and Gwen, they threw us a lovely Family Shower in C-ville, where Brandon is originally from.

I just thought I'd check in and say hello to the 2 or 3 folks out there who read my little web log.  :)  By the way - it's a lot of fun for me to actually know my audience (if I have one). If you're a reader of my blog - leave me a message and let me know. It would certainly brighten my day. Maybe even tell me where you're located and how you found my blog (if you remember). Thanks for reading!

Stay the Course

In my last post, I was really struggling with what to do....buy another house here in the Ville or look elsewhere or what? Well many things have happened since then. One big decision I made was to not buy another house right now. I really wrestled with this decision because I found a house that I loved and everything seemed to be falling into place with buying it. I even put in an offer on it...but as I was thinking over a counter-offer, it became very clear to me that I did not need to buy it. I just simply wasn't at peace with going any further. It seems the Lord just has other plans for me. I feel like that the direction the Lord had placed on my heart to begin with was to sell my house and then wait to see what He would provide. I just want to be faithful and stay the course even though I have no idea what the next step will be. I said a long time ago that I felt like the step I was on was to sell the house and that it would free me up, so I would not be tied down when the next step came. I guess when things didn't happen like I thought they would the first time I put it on the market (last fall), I thought maybe things had changed or the Lord's direction had changed because nothing was happening. But I really do think it was a test of faith and that I need to continue with what the Lord has told me because that is what I really have a peace about....as crazy as it sounds to sell my house and not know what is next, that really is what I have such an over-whelming peace about! I think I was just getting side-tracked or starry-eyed or just trying to do my own thing and when I stopped to stand back and look at it, I realized that I don't think that house is where the Lord is leading me. I think it is still part of His plan that I went down that road. But I just know that I don't need to buy it at this time. But I knew I needed to proceed with selling mine. Well, the Lord certainly provided a buyer this time - and very quickly! Within a week and a half of listing, I had a contract! (And will be moving out in 2 weeks!!) Soon after signing the contract, the devil really started attacking and trying to make me second-guess my decision. Between plumbing issues, some things going on at work, and just some other stressers in life, I had a rough couple of weeks. But through it all I can still say that I know this is where the Lord is leading me. The devil cannot steal my joy! So here's what I have learned from all of this....if the Lord gives you a Word and you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Lord is leading you down that path....Stay the Course! You will face opposition! You will second-guess your decision from time to time. The devil does not like it when you listen to the Lord! He wants you to think that your idea is too crazy to work and that you will fail. But you have God on your side! He will make a way where there is none. He delights in impossibilities! When we can trust Him for the impossibilities that's when we really see His power displayed! So, Stay the Course! Keep doing what the Lord has told you - even if you think others will think you are crazy for it. I am so excited about what might be next. I honestly have no idea at the moment....that's part of what makes it so exciting! I'm just waiting and watching....and Staying the Course.

What to do???

I’ve got a whole lot on my mind tonight….it’s gonna be a sleepless night. I am at a crossroads and I have some decisions that really need to be made. I have felt for a while that the Lord was guiding my heart to moving elsewhere. For a long time I thought He was leading me out of Louisville, but then when I had no real peace about where to move to and the doors were not opening up for anything else, I started to think about staying in Louisville and maybe just moving across town. So, I started heading down that road…I started looking at houses on the other side of town and I put my house up for sale. My house has been on the market (this time) for just over a week and there have been quite a few hits on it. Already there have been three different people look at it. My realtor is hopeful that an offer is just around the corner. All signs seem to be pointing to a move across town. The Lord has kept opening the doors toward this. Before, when I had my house on the market (last summer/fall), I had not one single person come look. Now I’ve had three look in 8 days! I have been praying that if the Lord wants me to move across town that He would continue to open all the doors and they have been opening one after another. But even through this, I am just questioning if this is really what God is telling me to do or if He is just opening the doors for other reasons. Does He really want me to move across town? Or should I just stay in a holding pattern for a while and live with a friend until I figure things out? Or should I still consider looking into other cities? I have had such a peace about everything until tonight. I’m not sure what to do. Is this uneasiness a closed door to moving across town? Let me take you back a little bit in my journey. For the past couple years I have been doing a lot of soul-searching. A lot of thinking. A lot of just figuring out who God really made me to be and if I am really being that person and fulfilling His purpose for me. Some days I feel very content in life, but more often than not, I just feel like I was made for something else. I honestly don’t feel like I am an unhappy person. On the contrary, I actually thoroughly enjoy life and get a lot of joy out of it. I am able to find fun and satisfaction in the most simplest of things. But I have come to a point in my life where I know that God really can do whatever He wants with me. I have no reason that I can’t go anywhere & do anything He asks of me. I’m not saying that God is going to do something really big through me; I’m not trying to expect something unrealistic. But I also know that I wouldn’t be feeling so restless for no reason either. I know that nothing is coincidence. There is a reason why we go through what we go through and I feel like there’s a reason I’m still single and maybe it’s because I’m supposed to be completely willing to do something as crazy as move away to somewhere TBD for some reason yet to be discovered. All I know is that I want to be open to it. I want to be crazy enough for it. I want to be used by the Lord for the purpose He has created me for. No matter what. So, one big reason for me wanting to sell my house in the first place was so that I could literally be free to move when God said to move. So my dilemma now is, should I just move across town, live with a friend for a while or keep looking at other cities? I feel like if I just move across town I am settling. Not really seeing what the Lord might do if I just gave Him a chance. I feel like I’d be rowing a boat around a swimming pool...able to see where I should be going, but not able to get there because I’m stuck in the pool (or in my case, a mortgage). I had a thought for a while about selling my house and then moving in with a friend while I sorted things out and waited to see what the Lord would provide. Somewhere along the way, I think I got my head in the clouds about a certain house I like and I let it carry me away. And I think in doing so, I forgot my original purpose for putting my house up for sale. The “problem” in thinking about moving out of Louisville is that I have no direction about where to go, what to do, how to get there, etc… I have no idea where to even begin thinking about it. I have no idea where I might get money to do whatever it is I might do. I have no idea if I would be able to get a job wherever it might be. I have so many unknowns when heading down this road. I have no idea how long the Lord might have me wait before clueing me in on the details (and I know I couldn’t stay in a holding pattern forever). I have so many question marks. So many practical reasons not to do it. So many signs pointing to failure. But that is where the really crazy part comes in. That is where I just expect God to do something crazy and provide everything just at the right time and in exactly the way He set it all up to work out. It is in this endless realm of possibilities and unknowns that complete excitement starts for me. In my Sunday School class this past week, we talked about Abraham and Isaac and how Abraham literally had the knife in the air ready to sacrifice Isaac, simply because the Lord had told him too. That sounds so crazy and irrational!! Why would the Lord tell Abraham to kill his own son – his own son that the Lord had promised him many, many descendants through? I love Abraham’s view of it all. He reckoned that the Lord would just have to bring Isaac back from the dead to fulfill the promise He had made. He was willing to going all the way with what the Lord had told him to do. He didn’t know why. He didn’t understand, for sure. He didn’t want to by any means. But he did it. He did it even though it sounded crazy to him, to Isaac, to the servants that traveled to the mountain with him. And at exactly the right time, the Lord provided a ram to sacrifice instead of Isaac. Proving that we don’t have to have all the answers…we just have to do what God tells us. So that is why I am so torn tonight. I want to have enough faith to know that the Lord can and will provide all the details when I need to know them. I just don’t want to give up on his plan in the process, so I’m trying to decide if buying a home across town is giving up on His plan or if I should just sell mine, but hold off on buying another one…? What to do???

The Past Three Weeks

Well life sure seems to have a way of getting busy....it's been a while since I've made an entry. So, here's a little recap of the past three weeks of my life...

Sept. 14-19 - Hurricane Ike swept through KY (believe it or not!) and knocked out power to a big chunk of the city. So, I was without electricity for about 6 days. Luckily my neighbors are pretty nice and let me plug my fridge into their generator. Although I still couldn't cook anything because I have an electric oven. But I could keep water cold and stay thoroughly hydrated. :)

Sept. 20-21 - I went to visit my grandparents in Danville. My friend, Shannon, went with me. There was a festival at the Constitution Square in downtown Danville. It was so much fun! Each vendor that was selling at the festival had to have hand-crafted their products. So everything we bought that weekend was hand-made. Pretty cool huh? Shannon and I then went from Danville to Lexington for my company picnic. There were pony rides, a corn hole tournament, and BBQ....can't ask for more at a company picnic.

Here's a couple photos from Danville:

Me, Granny and Shannon enjoying the many vendors of the festival.

We ran into my former youth pastor and his wife (Kerry and Kathy) at the festival! Kerry is and will always be one of my favorite people. He was very influential in my life and taught me a lot about being humble, living a genuine Christian life, and how to play "No-Bones" (Among lots of other things!). Kerry just turned 50 - man he's OLD! :)

Sept. 22-26 - I seemed to have something going on every single night (which is the case in any given week of my life). So the week really flew by. On Thursday night though, I signed the papers to put my house on the market (instead of continuing with For Sale By Owner). So, my house is officially listed on the MLS! YAY!! I am believing God that He will sell my house at just the right time. I'm even sure He's already got a buyer picked out. On a side note to this, I had been praying for a several months that my neighbors would move their junker truck out of their side yard (it doesn't run and has weeds growing up alongside it). I didn't want to have to confront them about it, I just prayed that the Lord would move the truck for me! And He did!! The truck is gone and the "curb appeal" looks a lot better now.

Sept. 26-28 - I went to visit my brother's family in Murray. My niece, Boo, turned One, so we had a big celebration. I think she had a lot of fun tearing into her cake. :) My friend from church, Megan, rode down with me and we hung out with Jackie, who goes to college in Murray. We went to an MSU football game, ate twice my favorite Mexican restaurant ever, Los Portales, and went to the lake as well. We also went to my brother's church on Sunday and got to hear him preach again. Here's a few pictures from my Murray weekend:

Jackie, Megan and I at the Lake. We tried skipping rocks, but mostly ended up hurling them in instead.

The kiddos watch as Murray's football team runs onto the field while the band plays the Fight Song.

Boo tore her cakes to smithereens! She didn't eat much of it, but she liked playing in it. Sept. 28-Oct. 2 - I seem to have entered allergy season....it's official. I woke up Tuesday very dizzy, with my head feeling like it was in a glass jar. My ear was rather sensitive to sounds and I pretty much felt like dog-doody. I survived the day though and went home and slept until the next morning. I ended up taking half days off work on Weds. and Thurs. The doc said it was inner ear trouble and she couldn't do anything for it (so much for that $20 co-pay!). My head finally felt liked it was connected to the rest of my body by Thursday afternoon. Oct. 3 - I dropped down to 32 hours at work. Basically I just feel like there are some things that I want to make a priority in my life and they trump working! :) So, I am only doing 32 hours now and taking advantage of having a whole extra day off. I'm hoping to do a lot of studying and finding things out about the Bible and also just to do some volunteer work and help someone else out. Maybe they will see Jesus in me. Today I spent the entire day in my Bible. I've never personally studied God's Word that long in one day (outside of a conference or something). It was a very refreshing day and I hope to have more of them in the near future. Oct. 5 - Huber's Farm! My Sunday School class, er, Life Group went to Huber's for a good ole day of country fun. We took a hayride and picked pumpkins, ate a wonderfully delicious meal, and browsed the market.
Okay, now you're caught up on my life. But enough about me......how are you? :)

My House - For Sale!

Feel free to forward any pictures along to anyone you know that might be interested. The house is located in the Valley Station area in Louisville, Ky.

$105,000

•Charming Ranch Style Brick Home – 3 Bedrooms, 1 Bath, Eat-in Kitchen • 1 Car Detached Garage, Large Lot, Fenced Backyard • New 20 –Year Roof April 2008 (House and Garage) •Newly Installed Security System (2008), Furnace only 5 years old •Laminate Wood Floors Throughout, Designer Colors, Updated Bath, Open Living Room/Kitchen Plan, Large Pantry, Updated Kitchen Cabinets & Counter, New Dishwasher (2006), Above-the-Range Microwave, 6-Panel Doors, All Bedroom Closets are Double-Hung, This is a Must See...Lots of Updates! • All New Landscaping Summer 2007, Backyard Provides Fresh Cut Flowers All Summer! • Move-in Ready! Great for First Time Home Buyers – All Big Items Done! • Seller to Provide Paralegal For All Paperwork – No Realtors Needed!

For Sale By Owner

Tonight marks a milestone for me. I have put a For Sale sign in the front yard of my first home. It's been quite emotional actually. My parents came over and we had a little sign hoisting ceremony in the front yard (okay so it was more just sticking little metal rods in the ground than it was actually hoisting, but I like to exaggerate for effect). Then they prayed for me and that God would clearly direct me in the next steps of my life and that my house would sell. I think they think I'm a little crazy and I guess I am to sell my house with no real plan of action to follow. But one thing I don't mind being crazy about and consider it quite a compliment actually is when it comes to following the Lord. I want to be so crazy for Him that I will not hesitate to do what He asks of me, even if it means selling my little house. I think there is a lot of wonder and excitement in the unknown. Just knowing that God is moving and working in my life and growing me (and those around me) and asking us to do bigger and bigger things for Him....not even knowing the outcome. How amazing is that? That God in Heaven cares about our lives!! But I believe wholeheartedly and without reservation that if I will truly give my entire life to the Lord that He will not let me down. He knows that some things may cause me pain for a moment, but will bring much joy, growth, purpose, etc... at a later point. He knows that when I cry or feel pain or don't understand that He can see the bigger picture and that He really DOES have a plan for little ole me. I just pray that I will always follow Him. I pray that He keep me close to Him and that His voice is very recognizable to me. I pray that as I follow Him, that He would humble me and use me to show Him to others so that they would know His amazing, wonderful, awesome peace in their lives. So, this is the reason that I am putting my house up for sale. Because God asked me to and I want to do what He says, because my life serves a greater purpose than just whats going on in my own little world and how it's affecting me. And this will be the reason that I do whatever comes next, because He will have spoken it to me. If my life is lived for nothing more than to show others more and more of Christ, then I will be one joyful & fulfilled woman. I'll add some pictures tomorrow of my house. ...just in case anyone out there is interested. :) But for now, I'm heading off to bed and hoping for sweet dreams.