New Plans After a Nice Reprieve

 Happy Tuesday, friends!

Remember that night when I couldn't sleep and I kept thinking about the house that wouldn't sell? Well, it turns out that God was working on me that night as I tossed and turned, because I woke the next morning with the revelation that we needed to move back to that house and give it another chance. 

David had mentioned this idea to me previously but I wasn't feeling it at the time, so we didn't pursue it. But apparently I just needed a little nudging from the Lord, because it was as clear as day the morning I woke up and realized that this was the plan going forward. 

We had some trauma in that house when we first bought it; between bringing David's mom home there, David having a health scare and then losing his job two weeks before Christmas, we didn't get a great start in that house and we really wanted to be out of there. 

As David has since said...we never really gave it a chance. 

Once I told him I was on board with taking it off the market, we actually got excited about moving back and doing some renovations and making it our home, which I will be talking about in the future.

But I wanted this post to be more about the journey of the past several months and why it was important. 

Like I mentioned, we experienced some trauma in that house from the very beginning and it was something that impacted our lives and made us cling to our faith like no other time in our marriage. It was scary.

At the time, the house felt too big and overwhelming, so we decided to downsize and move to the apartment and try to sell the house and mark that responsibility off the list. We felt like we needed a break from all the things a house requires and the apartment life sounded like the break we needed. And it has been.

Living here has been a great reprieve from the daily upkeep of a big house and piece of land. It's given us time to play, swim with our kids, rest and relax. It's almost been like a summer vacation...for about 5 months! And we needed it. 

And here's what I want to say about that...it has not been a mistake. We do not regret one decision about moving here and renting this place, at all. It's been just the break we've needed and I'm so glad we took a chance and did something different, because now we know we can. 

We did a scary thing, moved into an apartment, met people, went to the pool, walked to the community mailbox, met the dogs, met their people and lived in this community with a variety of new faces and families. It's been a great experience. 

But now it's time to go home and see what the Lord has in store for us there. 

And I wanted to share this with all of you because maybe you need a break from something traumatic. Maybe you need a change of scenery. Even for a short while. Sometimes the break - the in between - gives you the clarity you need, in order to move forward. 

This apartment has been a reset for us. It's given us a break, but also new confidence, new vision and a renewed sense of purpose going forward. 

We're walking into that house with a new excitement about what it can be while the Lord has us there, and we will hold it all very loosely, knowing that this life is an ongoing journey and when He says "go", we need to be willing and ready. 

In the meantime...we feel rested and renewed.

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Here are some things we loved about living in the apartment:

*We loved having a pool.

*We loved having a small space to decorate and care for.

*We loved the convenience of living in town, closer to the kids.

*We loved the ease of getting to the stores and restaurants.

*We really loved that anytime we had a need...maintenance took care of it. 

Things we didn't enjoy about this particular apartment:

Our view of the parking lot.

Next time we will carefully choose the view. 

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Things we've learned since having our house on the market:

Choose a realtor that has good signs. This was a constant issue with the realtor we chose. 

Her signs were dark blue and you couldn't even see it until you got right up on it.

When we asked her to put one at the end of the road, as well, it was about the size of a cereal box and was useless. 

You would think this doesn't matter, but when you are actively looking for houses in a certain area, the first thing you notice are the For Sale signs.  It matters. The signs need to be white and maybe some other colors (like Remax), but you have to be able to spot them from a distance.

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The second thing we learned this time around is that the realtor you choose isn't actually the one walking people through your house. Apparently a selling agent can't represent the buyer too. So you may choose a friend who sells houses, but that friend will only post ads and push the paperwork. They won't actually walk anyone through your home. It will be some random realtor who doesn't have any interest in your home, except the commission that comes with it. That's just the truth.

Oh and also...it actually costs a lot of money to sell your house and most of that goes to the agents.

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Well, I hope this post has enlightened you in some way. It's been a learning experience and one that I don't regret. 

For the next two months we will be renovating the house and then moving back in after Christmas. (Instead of paying all that commission to the realtor, we now get to use that money to update the house). I'm excited to share that with you in the coming months. In the meantime, we will be enjoying the holidays in our cozy, little space here and savoring the last bit of our reprieve before diving back into yards and land and all the things. 

Have a great week, my friends!

Until Next Time...

Blessings!

P.S. If you have any stories of "the time you did something different and new" please share 😀