Good things come to those who wait...

So I only have a minute to write a quick update because Jarrod has to work, but I know there are some readers out there who want to know what's going on! Bo and I spent last week in MS with "Pop & Bebe". After everything surrounding the house hunt, the disappointing appraisal, having to start looking again, and still being stuck in this tiny apartment I HAD to get away!

While I was gone we put an offer on another home that Jarrod and I had found. It was a great home, but I didn't care too much for the neighborhood. It wasn't near as pretty or have the great amenities that the first neighborhood did. When the home owner was stubborn and let us walk away I knew it wasn't meant to be. I continued to have a strong feeling about the first house, it just felt like "our home". After reviewing the first appraisal report we knew it was not accurate, it didn't even have the square footage correct, left out a bathroom, etc... so we were able to get another appraisal done by someone local who knew the area. Next thing I know Jarrod calls with the news that it appraised much higher than the first one and we were going to go back and make another offer to the home owner. Sure enough...everything came together and we will get the keys to the house this week! We are so, so excited. It just goes to show if you have a gut feeling go with it...I always do and things always seem to work out. It has been a long, stressful, emotional, exhausting journey, but good things truly do come to those who wait!

We'll be busy this week, but I'll post as soon as I have some updates or pictures!

Around this town

The past month I haven't been able to post as often as I would like. I've also had problems posting and moving pictures around on my blog post. I think this has to do with using Jarrod's laptop. I have so many cute pictures so I decided to make a slide show so you could see them all.

Since we have spent the past month in a small apartment we try to find every reason to get out. Bo and I have done a lot of exploring! We spend a lot of time at the park. Bo absolutely loves to play outside. We usually go to the park in the mornings and walk the 3 mile path around the perimeter of Chastain Park, which is a beautiful park in Buckhead. We also usually go back after Bo's nap for him to play on the playground! A few weeks ago we also visited the Atlanta's Children's Museum, which is absolutely fabulous. Bo had a blast and cried when we had to leave.

Last weekend Jarrod and I took Bo to Stone Mountain. It brought back a lot of childhood memories for me. Growing up our summer vacation was always to Atlanta to visit family and every summer we always visited Stone Mountain. Althought it's changed so much over the past 20 years and unfortunately become very commercialized, it was still fun to take my own child!

Unfortunately it looks like we are still going to be in the apartment for a little while longer while we continue looking for another house. I'm sure we'll make the best of it and be exploring much more of the city! Enjoy the pictures!

Bad News...

Well we were 6 days away from moving into our home here in Atlanta when we received some bad news this afternoon. The appraisal came back $15K less than our contracted price. We were all...Jarrod, myself, our agent, the homeowner, the homeowner's agent...shocked!!! The problem is that the lender took their time getting the appraisal done. They've have weeks to do this and they waited until today! Midnight tonight was our cutoff to get our earnest money back. Unfortunately we didn't get the call until 5pm this afternoon so anyone we needed to contact to discuss the report had already left the office. We've had a few "issues" with the homeowner in regards to getting paperwork signed and back to us in a timely manner, closing date, etc... so we decided the best thing to do at this point is to terminate the contract. We hope to get a copy of the report in the next few days and see what exactly this person was looking at and comparing to, however we feel like this is a sign. I am so upset, but I'm trying to remember that EVERYTHING happens for a reason and that God's plan and timing are always right! I know that we will find our home, it's just frustrating considering this means more time in this tiny apartment, we have new furniture that was scheduled to be delivered next Wednesday and the movers were coming with our things on Friday. Again, that's a small inconvience if it means not making a huge mistake. I'll be sure to keep everyone posted as we move forward.

Last Week in Austin

So once again...I'm very late updating our blog. Things have been crazy not having a computer...this is pretty much the only contact I have with my friends and I have to wait til Jarrod gets home from work and I only get the computer if he doesn't have to work at night! Hopefully it won't be much longer til I have my computer back!

So most of you know we were in Austin last week while we met the movers and to close on our house. It was a VERY emotional time for me. I honestly tried to stay away from the house as much as possible. Which, having Bo helped because he was just in the way so that was my "excuse" to get out. We spent most of our time at John and Cheryl's playing with the girls outside since the weather was fabulous.

Friday they packed our things, I had a hard time going back into the house once it was packed. I was good until I saw Bo's room then I had to fight back tears. The hardest day for me was Monday. Bo and I were meeting Michelle, RJ, Joy, and Mack for lunch and on my way I stopped by the house to finish getting the "child proof" outlet plugs out of the walls and I had to meet the cleaning service. I was okay until I watched Bo start going to the kitchen cabinets where he liked to play in the pots and pans, he also loved to throw things into our big bathtub in the master bath so he was doing that as well. Then I saw him come waddling out of his room and I absolutely lost it. His room was by far the hardest to go in. I think if Bo hadn't been with me it wouldn't have been so bad, but seeing how much he's grown this past year and knowing all of those memories are with that house, made me so sad. I think I cried ALL day on Monday and Monday night. The last thing we had to get out of the house was the UT light switch cover that was in Bo's room...I couldn't do it. I called Jarrod and as I was sobbing on the phone told him there was no way I could go back into the house and take that out. So being the wonderful husband and daddy he is he went to the house and took it off for me. I never, ever dreamed that the house that drove me crazy when we moved in (no storage, small spaces, no cabinet space, etc...) would cause me to be so upset when we left. It just goes to prove it's not the house that makes it a home, it's the people and the memories.


With that said it was wonderful to spend time with all of our dear friends. We miss you all so much!

Inspection Day!

I am finally getting a second to type up a quick post. We have been so busy and I have soooooooo many things to post, I promise to get some done this weekend! LOTS of pictures too!!

Saturday afternoon is our big inspection on the house here in Atlanta. I am praying very hard that all goes well and if something is a problem that the current home owner is willing to correct it. He was a bit of a "tough" aka...very difficult and stubborn guy to work with during the negotiation process so I hope that doesn't indicate his willingness to do the right thing if something needs to be corrected! I will be sure to let you all know how it goes.

Again, I promise to get some "fun" posts up with pictures of our little man. He's growing so fast!!!

One Year!

I can't believe it's been one year since I started this blog!! Thank you to all of our friends and family who read it regularly. When I started I had no idea what to expect, 157 posts later I'm soooo glad I did it. I was able to capture day to day things that I know I would have forgotten. I hope you have all enjoyed reading it as much as I have enjoyed keeping it. Here's to another year ahead!

We Got It!!!

So I am THRILLED to let everyone know that we found a house!!!!! I found it last week and absolutely fell in love with it! I wanted a house with character, not a cookie cutter house, big yard, older home, and lots of room. This house has it all!! It was a loooooong negotiation process, this guy didn't want to budge off of his listing price. His agents had to have a stern discussion and basically told him he was nuts to let this offer go. While we were going back and forth we actually had two other home owners call and give US an offer on their homes that we had viewed previously. Our agent said in twenty something years she had never seen this!

This morning we called to give our best offer take it or leave. I was so nervous because I wanted this house so bad, but for a fair price. I knew if he didn't take our offer we'd walk away. This morning Bo and I went for our morning walk and I prayed very hard knowing that if it didn't work out I would know that was God's way of letting us know that He would have something better for us. As soon as we were leaving the park Jarrod called to tell me we got it.

We are hoping to close around April 21st and also hoping the inspection goes well. All I have are two pictures I was able to take off the MLS listing so they aren't that great. You HAVE to see it in person and since we have LOTS of room we are expecting many visitors. On another note...we head to Austin Thursday morning to close on our house and meet the movers. It will be very hard to go back knowing this will be our last time there.