- Friday Cyndie and I went out to a new restaurant in Williams Bay ... the Public House. Excellent food there! I'd highly recommend it!
- Saturday was indeed a relaxing day. It rained a bunch, canceling our plans to work in the yard. Instead we just relaxed as a family.
- More movement on the 24 front ... we got in three more episodes with Laura and Gow on Saturday night ... I'm guessing we'll be in a holding pattern there for a while until the kid is born and settled! Sorry Jack!
- We helped Laura and Gow move on Sunday ... a success. All their stuff is moved and they are pretty settled. All this pre-baby too!
- My back is telling me we helped them move. It's really sore! I sat down to do some paperwork midway through the moving activities. I think I must have tweaked it a bit. This is proof of my advanced age!
- Emma was sitting on my lap while we were reading a story with Tim and Cyndie. She was complaining that her loose tooth hurt (and forcefully declining my offer to pull it for her). Then it popped right out in her hand!
- Cyndie had some friends over for scrapbooking last night ... had a very good time. I think she'll do that more often!
- We put in an offer on a duplex and received a counter back. Let the negotiations commence!
Showing posts with label Move. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Move. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
I'm Old ... with proof!
The weekend in bullets:
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Arrived!
So my sister and her family arrive yesterday. It's all very exciting. It's really fun to have them in town for a couple of weeks, months, years, whatever. Gow (her husband) is between jobs, so they're up here to save a bit of money and to explore job opportunities in the Chicago area. However long they'll be here, it will be fun to be closer (physically) to them than we've ever been on a semi-long term basis.
They got in yesterday at mid-afternoon. We then unloaded their moving van into my parent's garage and enjoyed a meal together. Emma (especially) and Timmy too loved having their little cousin Sally Jane to play with. I'm pretty sure Emma wants to be the head baby sitter. Maybe someone should tell her that she's only 6!
They got in yesterday at mid-afternoon. We then unloaded their moving van into my parent's garage and enjoyed a meal together. Emma (especially) and Timmy too loved having their little cousin Sally Jane to play with. I'm pretty sure Emma wants to be the head baby sitter. Maybe someone should tell her that she's only 6!
Monday, March 30, 2009
The Weekend, in bullets
- Went to the Jon Troast concert
on Friday night at our friends Eric and Cherith's house. It was fun. He's a local guy who is doing 100 concerts in 100 days. He sounds a bit like Jack Johnson. There's Emma and I in the upper left (Timmy and Cyndie were upstairs).
Saturday ... what did we do? I can't remember ... must have been memorable. Oh, I know at least part of it was that we spent some time at the Y setting up for church. I'm going to be in charge of that in the future, so this was a training session.- Saturday night ... 5 or so inches of snow!!!! It's pretty sloppy already. I have a hunch it will be gone by mid week. But the kids enjoyed it!
- Sunday ... church.
- After that we went to volunteer at the Maple Fest at Covenant Harbor. The kids got their faces painted and enjoyed the bounce house.
- Sunday afternoon ... playing in the snow, the kids came in soggy!
- Sunday late afternoon ... Neal is not feeling so well ... the kids watch a movie while he sleeps and Cyndie goes to a MOPS small group get together.
- Sunday evening ... Timmy is Captain Underpants! (we've been reading one of the Captain Underpants books, so while I was convalescing, Timmy and Emma were playing CU).
I didn't feel very well through out the night, but am feeling much better this morning!- I'm working from home so that I can go over and help Laura and Gow unpack
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Adjusting
Well, we're adjusting to the nicer weather and the mild changes to our routine that it brings. It's been a bit hard to get the kids outside. Surprisingly so. I think they're so used to the "cold weather" routine, that changing just takes a bit of time. They (and us too for that matter) are certainly creatures of habit.
Adding to the "I'm no longer living in SoCal" list ... last night at bowling (another thing on the list), a friend asked if I wanted to help him burn 15 acres of prairie land at his farm today. I was bummed that I can't get out of work!!! I mean, how can you go wrong with fire and hanging out with friends! Oh well. I can just see the reaction he would have gotten if he lived up in Santa Barbara county near LA ... I think with all the wildfires they have there, they would have lynched him!
We're looking forward to having my sister and her family around for a while this summer. They're due to arrive in a couple of weeks ... just in time for the nice weather. They'll be staying in Lake Geneva for a bit while they look for the next step in the career path for my brother-in-law, Gow. It will be fun to have them near by to hang out with. I think Sally will get all kinds of attention from her older cousins!
Adding to the "I'm no longer living in SoCal" list ... last night at bowling (another thing on the list), a friend asked if I wanted to help him burn 15 acres of prairie land at his farm today. I was bummed that I can't get out of work!!! I mean, how can you go wrong with fire and hanging out with friends! Oh well. I can just see the reaction he would have gotten if he lived up in Santa Barbara county near LA ... I think with all the wildfires they have there, they would have lynched him!
We're looking forward to having my sister and her family around for a while this summer. They're due to arrive in a couple of weeks ... just in time for the nice weather. They'll be staying in Lake Geneva for a bit while they look for the next step in the career path for my brother-in-law, Gow. It will be fun to have them near by to hang out with. I think Sally will get all kinds of attention from her older cousins!
Thursday, June 26, 2008
SoCal, a recap
I kept meaning to write something about this, but never actually got around to doing it. I'm sure, because it is several weeks after the initial impact, that my observations will be fewer, and not as strong. The topic is something along the lines of "wow, there is a big difference between SoCal and Wisconsin".
The biggest thing/difference that hit Cyndie and I was just how brown most of SoCal is. It really reinforces in my mind the reality that it's a desert there, just with lawns applied (and heavily watered) over the top. We left the (basically) jungle of the forest surrounding our house (green leaves overhanging the yard, thick bushes making the way impenetrable) and hit the sparse greenery of planters and planted trees. What a difference. It's just way dustier there too.
I guess the difference in how many people were around was also noticeable, but, especially because we weren't on the freeway all that much (especially, we didn't hit it during rush hour), it wasn't really a big impact.
Like I said, we probably would have had more observations when we first were out there, but that was the "highlight".
The biggest thing/difference that hit Cyndie and I was just how brown most of SoCal is. It really reinforces in my mind the reality that it's a desert there, just with lawns applied (and heavily watered) over the top. We left the (basically) jungle of the forest surrounding our house (green leaves overhanging the yard, thick bushes making the way impenetrable) and hit the sparse greenery of planters and planted trees. What a difference. It's just way dustier there too.
I guess the difference in how many people were around was also noticeable, but, especially because we weren't on the freeway all that much (especially, we didn't hit it during rush hour), it wasn't really a big impact.
Like I said, we probably would have had more observations when we first were out there, but that was the "highlight".
Monday, October 29, 2007
Job Update (and other stuff) ...
Hey all,
So I'm back from my whirlwind tour of Lake Geneva/Waukesha (the location of the company with which I interviewed). It was a pretty good trip, complete with airplane troubles.
The job interview went well. I received a job offer Sunday night. The company is very good. I was impressed by everything I saw. The only drawback is there would be some (they say 50% in order to prepare you for "worst case") travel required. I'm talking with them today to try to understand more specifically what that level of travel would actually be. They want a reply by Friday, but I'm assuming we'll decide before that.
The rest of the time there (there wasn't much of it), I hung out with the Casparis a bit (including several sessions of "chase me" with Ben and Sarah which left me sweating), had a few meals with Mom and Dad, and drove around Saturday afternoon to see the pretty leaves.
The excitement for the weekend came on Sunday when I was trying to fly out. The first plane was grounded for mechanical problems. They took us off that plane and on a backup plane which was also grounded for mechanical problems. Then they put us on standby for a different O'Hare to OC flight, but I didn't get on that. Then they brought us back to the second plane and loaded us up. Then we had to wait another 15 minutes for more maintenance. Then we finally left and had an uneventful flight. After all that, I was only about 2 1/2 or so hours late, but it was an adventure!
Cyndie had a bit of a rough day Saturday. The kids were not being very helpful, and pretty whiny. The good news is that Timmy made it 3 days without and accident, so he got to go pick out a new toy from the store. He and Papa Lee found a cool thing that has a roll of different "Cars" pictures to color. You roll out the picture, and it kind of holds in place, and then you can tear it off when you are done. He's having a lot of fun with that.
There's not a lot else to report.
Neal
So I'm back from my whirlwind tour of Lake Geneva/Waukesha (the location of the company with which I interviewed). It was a pretty good trip, complete with airplane troubles.
The job interview went well. I received a job offer Sunday night. The company is very good. I was impressed by everything I saw. The only drawback is there would be some (they say 50% in order to prepare you for "worst case") travel required. I'm talking with them today to try to understand more specifically what that level of travel would actually be. They want a reply by Friday, but I'm assuming we'll decide before that.
The rest of the time there (there wasn't much of it), I hung out with the Casparis a bit (including several sessions of "chase me" with Ben and Sarah which left me sweating), had a few meals with Mom and Dad, and drove around Saturday afternoon to see the pretty leaves.
The excitement for the weekend came on Sunday when I was trying to fly out. The first plane was grounded for mechanical problems. They took us off that plane and on a backup plane which was also grounded for mechanical problems. Then they put us on standby for a different O'Hare to OC flight, but I didn't get on that. Then they brought us back to the second plane and loaded us up. Then we had to wait another 15 minutes for more maintenance. Then we finally left and had an uneventful flight. After all that, I was only about 2 1/2 or so hours late, but it was an adventure!
Cyndie had a bit of a rough day Saturday. The kids were not being very helpful, and pretty whiny. The good news is that Timmy made it 3 days without and accident, so he got to go pick out a new toy from the store. He and Papa Lee found a cool thing that has a roll of different "Cars" pictures to color. You roll out the picture, and it kind of holds in place, and then you can tear it off when you are done. He's having a lot of fun with that.
There's not a lot else to report.
Neal
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Job update 2 ...
So I'll be in Wisconsin Friday after noon to Sunday morning with a job interview Saturday am.
Tentative itinerary:
Arrive Chi 3pm Friday
Interview in Waukesha 10am Saturday
Depart Chi 8 am Sunday (back to OC by 10:24 am).
It'll be a whirlwind trip!
Tentative itinerary:
Arrive Chi 3pm Friday
Interview in Waukesha 10am Saturday
Depart Chi 8 am Sunday (back to OC by 10:24 am).
It'll be a whirlwind trip!
Job hunt update
Hey all,
I had the phone interview yesterday. It went pretty well. I spoke with two of the three guys I'd be working with on a JC Penny contract for RedPrairie (RP is the company I'm interviewing with). RP does supply chain management software for various customers, and JCP is one of their oldest contracts. I'm not sure when this job would start as I've only talked to the technical guys. It could be in the next month, or possible 2 - 4 months from now. I got some e-mail today regarding possibly going out to WI this weekend for another interview. I'm waiting to hear more on that, and also more regarding start dates, etc. I'll update when I hear more.
Neal
I had the phone interview yesterday. It went pretty well. I spoke with two of the three guys I'd be working with on a JC Penny contract for RedPrairie (RP is the company I'm interviewing with). RP does supply chain management software for various customers, and JCP is one of their oldest contracts. I'm not sure when this job would start as I've only talked to the technical guys. It could be in the next month, or possible 2 - 4 months from now. I got some e-mail today regarding possibly going out to WI this weekend for another interview. I'm waiting to hear more on that, and also more regarding start dates, etc. I'll update when I hear more.
Neal
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
"Light" followup ...
Just got a phone call from RedPrairie (the phone interview guys) ... the interview will be next Monday at 7:30 am, not tomorrow. I guess the guy that was going to do the interview as a deadline or something ... what's the matter with these people? Am I not the most important thing?!
Anyway, that should be interesting.
Neal
Anyway, that should be interesting.
Neal
A light at the end of the tunnel?
Good morning all.
Just thought I'd share two elements of good news.
First, when we were all eating breakfast this morning, Timmy disappeared upstairs and then came down saying he went to the bathroom all by himself. This is great news considering he's actually been doing fairly well this week going to the bathroom in the big boy potty. Maybe there is a light at the end of the tunnel!! This follows up Timmy starting to take a bit more interest in dressing himself too.
The other note of interest is that I have a phone interview with a software place tomorrow morning. You can be praying for me at 7:30 am Pacific time.
Emma's frient Macy (and her older brother Micah) stayed with us last night. It was a little bit of a late night as Emma was totally psyched to have Macy here and kept both of them up until about 9p. Timmy was also excited ... he wanted to sleep in a sleeping bag too, so he ended up staying up late as well. Should make for a longish day today. Macy and Micah may also be here today after school (they both go to Moiola, Emma's school). They're staying with us because last minute Mavric (their brother who is Emma's age) was able to have the final ear surgery after previously having been told it wouldn't happen until next year at the earliest. So I guess you can pray for Mav's surgery too (I believe a couple of hours starting at 9am).
So that's the fun happenings here. Tonight is family date night and the requests for activities were painting (from Timmy) and Ruby's (from Emma), so we'll probably try to fit in both!
Neal
Just thought I'd share two elements of good news.
First, when we were all eating breakfast this morning, Timmy disappeared upstairs and then came down saying he went to the bathroom all by himself. This is great news considering he's actually been doing fairly well this week going to the bathroom in the big boy potty. Maybe there is a light at the end of the tunnel!! This follows up Timmy starting to take a bit more interest in dressing himself too.
The other note of interest is that I have a phone interview with a software place tomorrow morning. You can be praying for me at 7:30 am Pacific time.
Emma's frient Macy (and her older brother Micah) stayed with us last night. It was a little bit of a late night as Emma was totally psyched to have Macy here and kept both of them up until about 9p. Timmy was also excited ... he wanted to sleep in a sleeping bag too, so he ended up staying up late as well. Should make for a longish day today. Macy and Micah may also be here today after school (they both go to Moiola, Emma's school). They're staying with us because last minute Mavric (their brother who is Emma's age) was able to have the final ear surgery after previously having been told it wouldn't happen until next year at the earliest. So I guess you can pray for Mav's surgery too (I believe a couple of hours starting at 9am).
So that's the fun happenings here. Tonight is family date night and the requests for activities were painting (from Timmy) and Ruby's (from Emma), so we'll probably try to fit in both!
Neal
Monday, October 1, 2007
Updates from the West Coast
It's Monday again, so I'll drop the line on what's going on with the SoCal/Wildwood DeVries.
As you are all aware, the buyers with whom we were under contract on our house pulled out of the deal on Thursday. We (and our realtor, Gwen, as well) were very surprised it happened. The reason they gave was that they didn't think the house was big enough in the end. This was just a day after they had gone and had the house inspected (there were no real issues from the inspection). We met them at the inspection and they seemed very nice and excited about the house. I'm not sure they fully understand the market around here, because I don't think there's anything much bigger around here in the same price range, but whatever. Anyway, we were in morning for a day, but have come to grips with it and are moving on! At least God is in control, even if he doesn't check with us first!
Friday we had a realtor open house in the morning. Emma had school, and I took some time off and took Timmy to Mile Square Park while Cyndie ran some errands. Saturday we went to church to help with some landscaping work. Then afterwards we went to a pool party for a kid we know from the park. Sunday was church, then another open house. We received a call from our realtor at 11:30 (for a noon open house), "I just smashed my finger with a hammer while I was putting out signs for the open house. I'm going to go get stitches, but I'll be back for the open house as soon as I can". Anyway, she ended up having a pretty successful open house with what she thought were a few good leads. We spent the afternoon over at the Zones and had a good time hanging out with them. We all walked over to Emma and Maddi's school to play late in the afternoon, and then to Stonefire Grill for dinner after that. We got home just at bedtime. The whole family was in bed pretty early.
Lately both of the kids have been getting up during the night and Timmy has been getting up early in the morning. Last night Timmy didn't go to bed until around 10 (he was up and down a bunch). Anyway, I think it's probably a combination of the tension of the coming (and going and coming) move, some allergies/cold type symptoms, and (in Timmy's case) the compounding of the first two elements such that he's again sleeping in the afternoon (making him not sleepy at night). Anyway, they both seem to be doing a bit better now, and Cyndie is going to try to make sure Tim doesn't nap today, so hopefully tonight will go a bit better.
Emma seems to be doing better as school (after a rough week or two where she didn't want to go), so that's a good thing.
That's about it on this end.
Neal
As you are all aware, the buyers with whom we were under contract on our house pulled out of the deal on Thursday. We (and our realtor, Gwen, as well) were very surprised it happened. The reason they gave was that they didn't think the house was big enough in the end. This was just a day after they had gone and had the house inspected (there were no real issues from the inspection). We met them at the inspection and they seemed very nice and excited about the house. I'm not sure they fully understand the market around here, because I don't think there's anything much bigger around here in the same price range, but whatever. Anyway, we were in morning for a day, but have come to grips with it and are moving on! At least God is in control, even if he doesn't check with us first!
Friday we had a realtor open house in the morning. Emma had school, and I took some time off and took Timmy to Mile Square Park while Cyndie ran some errands. Saturday we went to church to help with some landscaping work. Then afterwards we went to a pool party for a kid we know from the park. Sunday was church, then another open house. We received a call from our realtor at 11:30 (for a noon open house), "I just smashed my finger with a hammer while I was putting out signs for the open house. I'm going to go get stitches, but I'll be back for the open house as soon as I can". Anyway, she ended up having a pretty successful open house with what she thought were a few good leads. We spent the afternoon over at the Zones and had a good time hanging out with them. We all walked over to Emma and Maddi's school to play late in the afternoon, and then to Stonefire Grill for dinner after that. We got home just at bedtime. The whole family was in bed pretty early.
Lately both of the kids have been getting up during the night and Timmy has been getting up early in the morning. Last night Timmy didn't go to bed until around 10 (he was up and down a bunch). Anyway, I think it's probably a combination of the tension of the coming (and going and coming) move, some allergies/cold type symptoms, and (in Timmy's case) the compounding of the first two elements such that he's again sleeping in the afternoon (making him not sleepy at night). Anyway, they both seem to be doing a bit better now, and Cyndie is going to try to make sure Tim doesn't nap today, so hopefully tonight will go a bit better.
Emma seems to be doing better as school (after a rough week or two where she didn't want to go), so that's a good thing.
That's about it on this end.
Neal
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Latest on the Move
Not a huge amount to report, but here's the latest ...
Yesterday morning was the inspection for Deodar. It went pretty well. There were no significant issues that came up. At this point, we're just waiting to hear from the buyers regarding their "demands" for what they want us to fix, then we'll negotiate on that. We were expecting to stay at the house the whole time, so we had to scramble a little when our realtor suggested that we make ourselves scarce so that the buyers could be there without anyone looking over their shoulders. We did meet the couple. They're younger, probably a few years older than us, with a 15 month old and another due in February. They seemed very nice. The wife was very friendly and outgoing and the husband a bit more reserved. Anyway, after meeting them and their agent, I definitely got the feeling that the agent is the one who has been agitating things a bit (and creating all these annoying counter offers with minute details being nit-picked!). Anyway, as I said, the inspection went well. We should hear back from them today or tomorrow regarding what they'd like us to fix.
The inspection on Wildwood is Friday. Dad will go to that, along with our realtor out there. We've also got our lender in place for that loan, so we're moving right along.
We created a big 4 foot by 2.5 foot calendar of the next several months so that we could get all the things that will be happening in place and start trying to figure out things like when we'll actually be leaving here, when Emma's last day of school will be and her first day on the other end, etc., etc. As of now, the important dates are the removal of all the contingencies on Deodar (next Thursday), the closing of Deodar (Oct 24), and the closing of Wildwood (Nov 9). We'll have three days to move out of Deodar after the closing (out by 8p Oct 27), so will probably leave the next morning, travel across the country seeing people, and arrive in the Lake Geneva area a few days before the closing. We're working on details with moving the stuff (probably UPack).
Anyway, there are lots of happenings going on!
Neal
Yesterday morning was the inspection for Deodar. It went pretty well. There were no significant issues that came up. At this point, we're just waiting to hear from the buyers regarding their "demands" for what they want us to fix, then we'll negotiate on that. We were expecting to stay at the house the whole time, so we had to scramble a little when our realtor suggested that we make ourselves scarce so that the buyers could be there without anyone looking over their shoulders. We did meet the couple. They're younger, probably a few years older than us, with a 15 month old and another due in February. They seemed very nice. The wife was very friendly and outgoing and the husband a bit more reserved. Anyway, after meeting them and their agent, I definitely got the feeling that the agent is the one who has been agitating things a bit (and creating all these annoying counter offers with minute details being nit-picked!). Anyway, as I said, the inspection went well. We should hear back from them today or tomorrow regarding what they'd like us to fix.
The inspection on Wildwood is Friday. Dad will go to that, along with our realtor out there. We've also got our lender in place for that loan, so we're moving right along.
We created a big 4 foot by 2.5 foot calendar of the next several months so that we could get all the things that will be happening in place and start trying to figure out things like when we'll actually be leaving here, when Emma's last day of school will be and her first day on the other end, etc., etc. As of now, the important dates are the removal of all the contingencies on Deodar (next Thursday), the closing of Deodar (Oct 24), and the closing of Wildwood (Nov 9). We'll have three days to move out of Deodar after the closing (out by 8p Oct 27), so will probably leave the next morning, travel across the country seeing people, and arrive in the Lake Geneva area a few days before the closing. We're working on details with moving the stuff (probably UPack).
Anyway, there are lots of happenings going on!
Neal
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
What a ride!
Well, I will say one thing ... when you are following God's path for your life, you are in for quite a ride!
I won't go into all the details of the last six months, or even the last month, but needless to say, God has been active in our lives. As you all know, we have sensed God's leading us to Lake Geneva for several months now. At each step of the way, as we have acted and taken a step of faith, He has been faithful to open doors and provide for us. It's really very exciting to see Him working so obviously in our lives at a number of different levels. Things which used to be mundane and which were not a priority, such as reading the Bible, have become exciting things! Very cool!
So enough rambling, on to the details of the last several days with the house(s). Let's just start by saying that a week ago Wednesday was not a good day. Cyndie and I were both feeling a bit down in the dumps for a number of reasons and really felt under attack from Satan. Two specific issues we were dealing with that day were a plumbing problem which meant that we didn't have any water in the house and our WI realtor calling to tell us that the house we liked in Lake Geneva had had an offer from a different buyer put in. Over the previous month or so, we had been struggling with the concept of God's will, and wanting to be sure that we were not just taking steps that we thought were right, but that those steps were part of God's plan. I think during that time, we had also gotten away from taking steps of faith in God, and making Him our number one priority. Anyway, that morning, I read Philippians 4 (verses 1, 4, 6, 7 here, the bold is mine):
1 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stay true to the Lord.
...
4 Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice!
...
6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
I showed the verse to Cyndie when I got home that day (early so that we could have time to talk about the WI house issue) and we were both very struck by how appropriately it fit our lives. "Stay true to the Lord", as I said before, we hadn't been making God the number one priority in our lives, and so this was a very direct exhortation to us to get our behinds in gear! "Be full of joy in the Lord"; we didn't need to be in the dumps. God is the reason for our joy, not our current circumstances. Again, a direct exhortation to us. "Don't worry ... pray ... tell God what you need ... thank him for all he has done". Wow, great guidance. We had been praying a lot, but again, we needed the kick in the rear. He has done so much for us over our lives, and specifically in the near past, we needed to acknowledge that. "Then you will experience God's peace ... (and it) will guard your hearts and minds". Totally what we needed when we were feeling so attacked. The comforting reminder that God will protect us from those attacks!
So anyway, we ended up praying, and then making an offer on the Wildwood house. Due to the competing offer, we decided to make a non-contingent offer. The next day (Thursday ... we had given them until Sunday to respond) the offer was accepted! Suddenly we had a house under contract, and one we still owned! We were not horribly concerned about this since we still have a bit of cash on hand from selling the Iowa house, but it did get us moving on getting our house out here on the market.
So Friday, we met with the realtor, Gwen, to list the house. We were pretty disappointed in the comps she showed us. We were hoping to list for $850k, but everything comparable that had sold in the last 6 months in south Fountain Valley was in the $700s. We had a few upgrades, but she told us that, due to the buyer's market, those upgrades really weren't counting for much these days. So we ended up listing for a range price (to get visits from folks shopping at both above and below the $800k line) of $799k - $829k. We were a little disappointed in the price, but were really leaving it up to God. Basically we told him, "If you want us there, you'll get us a good price, and provide for us what we need." We were really praying that he would bring the right family to buy the place that would just have to have it and would make a good offer, one that would show us and anyone we told that God's hand is on this move, and that He is much bigger that real estate markets and the economy.
That night we received a phone call to set up our first visit the next day. The next day we dutifully turned on all the lights, turned on the jacuzzi, left the fans running on low and did all the "show your house things" you are supposed to do and left the house at 11 the next day so the potential buyers could come for a visit. We heard later that day from Gwen that the folks were interested and were going to make an offer, but she had the impression something would be "wrong" with the offer so we didn't get our hopes up too much.
Sunday we did church and had one other visit in the afternoon. We hadn't heard anything from Gwen, so we just figured the offer didn't come through. We were a little disappointed that we'd only had two showings thus far (on a weekend nonetheless). Gwen had anticipated more like 3 or 4 showings a day for the first week or so.
Anyway, when we were at the park finishing up our late picnic before we were going to go to KidWorld, Gwen called and told us she had an offer in hand. So we met quickly before KidWorld to look at the offer. It was very good! No contingencies, above asking price ($845k), etc. We were excited! We ended up countering Sunday night to clear up some details about who was paying for what, they countered yesterday afternoon, we countered yesterday evening, and by 11pm last night, we had a verbal agreement! This morning the office signatures were in place. Tomorrow is the inspection. Things are moving very quickly. The next big milestone is 10 days from contract, all contingencies must be removed (they need their loan in place, the inspection has to be done, etc.). Once that passes, we get to keep their $20k earnest money if they back out without a really good reason.
So, now we've gone from hoping we wouldn't have to carry the Wildwood house too long while not living there, to actually requesting to close earlier! God is good! He has totally provided. There is a couple our age buying the house (Vasillios and Jennifer Mavros). They have a 15 month old and another on the way. They are moving down from San Jose to be nearer to her family in Huntington Beach. So we've really been praying that the house will be a huge blessing for them, like it has been for us.
The other really cool thing that God has done is at church. As we've let people know we're moving, we've experienced kind of what we expected ... "We're happy for you and excited for you, but bummed you are leaving, you will be missed." We figured that would be the general response. So we have been praying that God would bring two new families in to the church to replace us and to serve as an encouragement to the church body. Well, over the last month, two new young families have been attending, and appear to be becoming "regulars". So we thank God for Steve and Cindy (amazing!), and Al and Alicia.
So that's the story, and its much longer than I anticipated it would be. There is still a long road to walk in the next month or so, and our realtor has warned us several times that in today's market, housed fall out of escrow all the time. However, we're confident in God. His hand is on this. And either way, we know we're following Him which is all that really matters in the end.
More later as things develop!
Neal
I won't go into all the details of the last six months, or even the last month, but needless to say, God has been active in our lives. As you all know, we have sensed God's leading us to Lake Geneva for several months now. At each step of the way, as we have acted and taken a step of faith, He has been faithful to open doors and provide for us. It's really very exciting to see Him working so obviously in our lives at a number of different levels. Things which used to be mundane and which were not a priority, such as reading the Bible, have become exciting things! Very cool!
So enough rambling, on to the details of the last several days with the house(s). Let's just start by saying that a week ago Wednesday was not a good day. Cyndie and I were both feeling a bit down in the dumps for a number of reasons and really felt under attack from Satan. Two specific issues we were dealing with that day were a plumbing problem which meant that we didn't have any water in the house and our WI realtor calling to tell us that the house we liked in Lake Geneva had had an offer from a different buyer put in. Over the previous month or so, we had been struggling with the concept of God's will, and wanting to be sure that we were not just taking steps that we thought were right, but that those steps were part of God's plan. I think during that time, we had also gotten away from taking steps of faith in God, and making Him our number one priority. Anyway, that morning, I read Philippians 4 (verses 1, 4, 6, 7 here, the bold is mine):
1 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stay true to the Lord.
...
4 Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice!
...
6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
I showed the verse to Cyndie when I got home that day (early so that we could have time to talk about the WI house issue) and we were both very struck by how appropriately it fit our lives. "Stay true to the Lord", as I said before, we hadn't been making God the number one priority in our lives, and so this was a very direct exhortation to us to get our behinds in gear! "Be full of joy in the Lord"; we didn't need to be in the dumps. God is the reason for our joy, not our current circumstances. Again, a direct exhortation to us. "Don't worry ... pray ... tell God what you need ... thank him for all he has done". Wow, great guidance. We had been praying a lot, but again, we needed the kick in the rear. He has done so much for us over our lives, and specifically in the near past, we needed to acknowledge that. "Then you will experience God's peace ... (and it) will guard your hearts and minds". Totally what we needed when we were feeling so attacked. The comforting reminder that God will protect us from those attacks!
So anyway, we ended up praying, and then making an offer on the Wildwood house. Due to the competing offer, we decided to make a non-contingent offer. The next day (Thursday ... we had given them until Sunday to respond) the offer was accepted! Suddenly we had a house under contract, and one we still owned! We were not horribly concerned about this since we still have a bit of cash on hand from selling the Iowa house, but it did get us moving on getting our house out here on the market.
So Friday, we met with the realtor, Gwen, to list the house. We were pretty disappointed in the comps she showed us. We were hoping to list for $850k, but everything comparable that had sold in the last 6 months in south Fountain Valley was in the $700s. We had a few upgrades, but she told us that, due to the buyer's market, those upgrades really weren't counting for much these days. So we ended up listing for a range price (to get visits from folks shopping at both above and below the $800k line) of $799k - $829k. We were a little disappointed in the price, but were really leaving it up to God. Basically we told him, "If you want us there, you'll get us a good price, and provide for us what we need." We were really praying that he would bring the right family to buy the place that would just have to have it and would make a good offer, one that would show us and anyone we told that God's hand is on this move, and that He is much bigger that real estate markets and the economy.
That night we received a phone call to set up our first visit the next day. The next day we dutifully turned on all the lights, turned on the jacuzzi, left the fans running on low and did all the "show your house things" you are supposed to do and left the house at 11 the next day so the potential buyers could come for a visit. We heard later that day from Gwen that the folks were interested and were going to make an offer, but she had the impression something would be "wrong" with the offer so we didn't get our hopes up too much.
Sunday we did church and had one other visit in the afternoon. We hadn't heard anything from Gwen, so we just figured the offer didn't come through. We were a little disappointed that we'd only had two showings thus far (on a weekend nonetheless). Gwen had anticipated more like 3 or 4 showings a day for the first week or so.
Anyway, when we were at the park finishing up our late picnic before we were going to go to KidWorld, Gwen called and told us she had an offer in hand. So we met quickly before KidWorld to look at the offer. It was very good! No contingencies, above asking price ($845k), etc. We were excited! We ended up countering Sunday night to clear up some details about who was paying for what, they countered yesterday afternoon, we countered yesterday evening, and by 11pm last night, we had a verbal agreement! This morning the office signatures were in place. Tomorrow is the inspection. Things are moving very quickly. The next big milestone is 10 days from contract, all contingencies must be removed (they need their loan in place, the inspection has to be done, etc.). Once that passes, we get to keep their $20k earnest money if they back out without a really good reason.
So, now we've gone from hoping we wouldn't have to carry the Wildwood house too long while not living there, to actually requesting to close earlier! God is good! He has totally provided. There is a couple our age buying the house (Vasillios and Jennifer Mavros). They have a 15 month old and another on the way. They are moving down from San Jose to be nearer to her family in Huntington Beach. So we've really been praying that the house will be a huge blessing for them, like it has been for us.
The other really cool thing that God has done is at church. As we've let people know we're moving, we've experienced kind of what we expected ... "We're happy for you and excited for you, but bummed you are leaving, you will be missed." We figured that would be the general response. So we have been praying that God would bring two new families in to the church to replace us and to serve as an encouragement to the church body. Well, over the last month, two new young families have been attending, and appear to be becoming "regulars". So we thank God for Steve and Cindy (amazing!), and Al and Alicia.
So that's the story, and its much longer than I anticipated it would be. There is still a long road to walk in the next month or so, and our realtor has warned us several times that in today's market, housed fall out of escrow all the time. However, we're confident in God. His hand is on this. And either way, we know we're following Him which is all that really matters in the end.
More later as things develop!
Neal
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)