Our New House

We bought a house on Saturday! It's such an amazing story to Travis and I and great reminder of God's provision, so if I may, I'm going to write (or type) it down so that I can always remember what He did for us.

Where do I start? Well, as you all know we sold our house in 2 days flat! It was such a blessing and a surprise, not because our house was not sell able but because in this market there just wasn't anything "special" about it that it should've sold that quickly. It was a nice house that Travis and I put A LOT of hard work into updating while we lived there, but there wasn't anything about it (example, granite kitchen countertops) that made it pop from all the others on the market. So that being said we were super grateful about it happening so quickly....one less thing to worry about. Granted our Realtor priced it right, which we learned helps with 90% of the sale, but we know that it was God's timing that actually sold it. The buyers had been renting for 4 months after selling their house and had been having a hard time finding what they were looking for. They were the first people to see the house and wanted it right away.

So Travis and I started looking for houses now that we had a contract on ours. We set up custom searches on just about every real estate site out there and were getting e-mails daily with houses that fit our "wish list". There were several in a well established subdivision called Remuda Estates that is about 5 miles west of Ft Worth that's very hilly, has large trees and beautiful views. There was one in particular we both liked a lot but on the morning we were scheduled to go see it and few other houses the showing was cancelled because it had gone under contract within 2 days of it being on the market as well. We were bummed but figure it wasn't the one for us. We then found another house that I (Crissy) loved and Travis liked. It had a beautiful kitchen and view overlooking a small ravine. Travis felt like it need a lot of landscaping redone in the back, which he wasn't wild about but like the view as well so was willing to work with it. We made an offer according to what the comparable sales of other houses in that area said it was worth, which ended up being quite a bit lower than what they were asking. We found out quickly how emotionally attached these folks were to their house because they were very firm on their price (which by the way that house is STILL on the market, which will be 7 months at the end of this week....apparently they are in no hurry to sell, cause it ain't gonna at that price).

So we moved on.....looking at a few other places but nothing ever felt like it was "the one". We did consider building, but the time element was a huge factor and with a new baby coming in April it just wasn't an option we could explore too much. Then around mid-December we found out that the company Travis works for (XTO Energy) was bought out by ExxonMobil to be effect May 2010. We were in shock and dismay (well Travis mostly) and after finding out all the details (Travis will still have a job, Thank You Jesus) Travis decided that he would stay working for Exxon as long as the atmosphere was tolerable. This is why Travis NEVER wanted to work for a major oil company...the atmosphere of politics in the office wasn't something he wanted to deal with. In Travis' mind he was going to die at his desk at XTO Energy in Ft Worth, TX, BUT by God removing Travis' trust in the company he works for and putting it back on the One who created XTO in the 1st place, it taught him a few lessons....so he tells me :-).

So nothing new was hitting the market and we decided to change our criteria a little by broadening the search and including a very well established, older neighborhood called Ridglea Hills. We found an adorable little house with a beautiful backyard with 1900 sq built back in the 1940's....talk about character and I LOVED it! It was on the lower end of our budget so we were going to do a kitchen remodel before we moved in. We put in an offer and well come to find out we have a knack for finding houses that people are emotionally attached to and think they can sell it for 25% more that what the market says it's worth. Basically this woman expected to make a $40,000 profit on this investment house she bought a mere 3 years ago in a market that is VERY suppressed. I was very irritated when we found this out on New Year's eve.

So the next week another house in Ridglea Hills went on the market. I was built in the late 1950's but had been remodeled quite a bit including a BEAUTIFUL kitchen with granite kitchen countertops....mind you we seen this all from the pics on the Internet, because we never got a chance to set a foot in this house. We scheduled a showing for the next day and that morning the showing was cancelled again because it went under contract the same day it went on the market. I was STEWING at this point and a little anxious about the whole house hunting business. Then in my processing that evening while cooking dinner I was pouting, worrying and wondering. I was thinking to myself that I wanted to feel like I was at home. I loved our old house and the BIGGEST reason we sold it was because of the large pool in the backyard. Granted we had a yard big enough to yield the pool and a small side yard, but it was still not enough room to run and play for a 2 year old. This would have claimed us as hostages inside our house come this spring/summer when the new baby came because trying to watch a toddler run around a pool and take care of a newborn is NOT an option, but even though I knew of this I still was longing for the familiarity of that house. This then triggered something in my memory that I learned last year at BSF.

We studied the life of Moses last year and most of you may recall that he was the one God used to lead the Israelites out of slavery from Egypt. Moses kept telling Pharaoh to "let my people go" and Pharaoh kept saying "no". Well finally after losing his 1st born to a plague that God had sent Pharaoh told Moses to leave quickly with the Israelites, to which they did, but Pharaoh then changed his mind and tried to catch up with them with his army. The Israelites, who were being lead by the Lord as a Pillar of Clouds by day and a beacon of light by night, found themselves in a dead end by the Red Sea with nowhere to go and Pharaoh hot on their trail. As most of us remember from the movie The Ten Commandments, Moses then holds out his staff as God directs him and the sea parts for the Israelites to walk across on dry land-a true miracle. Later in the story they Israelites are wondering the dessert trying to get to the Promise Land by following the Lord and while in the dessert God provides for them daily a raining down of Manna (bread basically) on the land that provided for their needs. Course even with food raining down every morning to sustain their bellies the Israelites still complain and long to go back to Egypt where things may have not been ideal, but it was comfortable and familiar to them. We all know the end of the story, that God did finally lead them to the Promise Land but after 40 years of wandering the dessert so that they could learn to be faithful to God.....slow learners if you ask me :-)

This story helped me put things into perspective. The parting of the Red Sea in my world was selling our nice-but-nothing-special-house in 2 days in a suppressed market. Our manna is the rental that we are living in, it's not my dream house but it's nice, we didn't have to pay a security deposit, we didn't have to sign a lease and even though it's on the market as well there hasn't been ONE showing since we moved in, which totally takes the pressure off to just hurrying and buy a house because we are about to become homeless soon. So while we saw a miracle in our house selling and our manna is being provided, I still found myself grumbling like those Israelites and wanting to go back to a house the was comfortable and familiar DESPITE the fact that we would help hostages in it this summer. I didn't want to be a slow learner like the Israelites and I've found that for me it's just easier to be joyful than to use up all the energy that pouting takes....so I took on the Kinley family motto and "bucked up!", thanked God for His provision and put my trust in Him.

Then last Saturday, God showed us the promise land.....well not really but He shown Himself to be faithful and that He truly is in the business of giving us the desires of heart BUT He requires our obedience in Him and Him only....that's what I've learned!

On Saturday morning the 1st house that we saw on the realtors list and did end up driving by just to look at the outside, showed up as "available" on the internet. So we called our realtor right away and to make a long story short we found out why the house was always listed "pending" for the past 3 months. The 1st gentleman who put had a contract on it after it being on the market for only 2 days ended up finding out that he had cancer and was terminal (sad, huh?) so then the it went under contract within 1 day again. This time a couple was trying to buy it and it turns out that after 2 months and 2 lenders they were never able to get funded for the house. The sellers are actually building another house and need to get rid of this one soon. So we submitted our offer under our Realtors advice and within an hour and half they said yes with NO counter offer! When God moves, He moves quick! While God was having us wander the dessert of houses for the past 3 months and teaching us to trust in Him alone, He was keeping the house he had for us in limbo until we got what He needed us to learn in a big way! I know we have so much more to learn, but it's exciting to see how God says "yes, but wait".

Let me just say this about our Realtor....what an amazing guy with awesome integrity. I know that he makes a commission off of what we pay for a house, so he could have easily suggested to us to offer more or pay more for houses we had been putting offer ones, but instead he would pull comps in the are that were very comparable and help us come to a price to offer. He just would never let us pay too much for a house, BUT he would never let us make a ridiculous low offer either. I made a joke after the 2nd house that I was just going to start going around town offering what we could pay on these nice expensive homes and he jokingly said back to me "well, now that starts to make me look bad cause I represent people with no sense of value". He also never tried to sell us on a house when we looked at it. He always kept his opinion to himself unless we asked him. He also has a great sense of humor, which I always appreciate, being the smartelic that I am :-). By the way, his name is Larry Knox if you are looking for a realtor.

A few details about the house: It has 1900 sqft, 3 bed, 2 bath, 3 car garage that sits on 4.5 acres. It also has a pool, which we will also be putting a fence around before we move in. I was a little apprehensive about it, but like Travis says..."with 4.5 acres, it's not like the pool is the only draw for the boys to play with...plenty of room to roam". The kitchen is a little strange but workable, so we'll be remodeling it over the summer to make it what I want!

By God's PERFECT timing we will be the proud new owners of this house on January 29th

A Geologist dream....the floors in the entire house (except the kids' rooms) is done in flagstone. Travis was in love and I think we a future Geologist in Jackson because he was walking around the house saying "oh, mommy, look at da prewty rocks" t's also mostly Limestone out front, which Travis LOVES. This is the view out the back door.....the property goes beyond the tree line that is waaaay back there. I

The front room which we'll make into the living room - plantation shutters throughout most of the house....love that!

Alas, another pool! But this one's not as deep as our old one (5' max), has a hot tub (on left in pic) a slide with running water down it and the cave on the right has a waterfall that flows over the front when the pump is on....the best part...it has a automatic remote control cleaner so Travis doesn't have to be the cabana boy anymore. Good thing, he's got 4.5 acres to mow now with the 4-wheeler he's been shopping for....boys!