It Finally Happened!

Remember the "blessing" that I talked about in this blog post? Well, I can finally tell everyone what it is! We have FINALLY closed on my house!!!! Praise the Lord! It was a lot harder than I expected to sign all those papers, turning over my "baby" to new people. I teared up a few times, but kept from really crying until we got to the truck. Thankfully, the last thing the new owner said to me was, "We really do love the house!" It made me feel so great that the people we sold it to love it as much as I did...plus, knowing they will be making new memories for their family in that house makes it so much better. :)

I've never showed off my house on here, so I figured what better time to do it.

This house was a blessing in so many ways. I know home ownership has its hardships. If you know me well, then you also know that I've had moments where it really wasn't my favorite thing. However, if you are a home-owner then you also know that the trials don't outweigh the beauty of having a place to call "home".
Some of my favorite memories are...

~realizing I was home the second I walked through the door the first time I looked at it

~buying my home on my own...my parents didn't get to see it until after I had signed the contract

~all that I learned from making offers and counter-offers

~I got my first good news regarding the house when I was having Valentines Dinner with Michelle and Jen.

~MAJOR re-decoration!!!
*****Laying in the floor of the living room after I had closed on the house and were given the keys to my first home. (This was the calm before the storm...updating!!!)
*****Let the painting begin! Oh wait, first we have to remove ALL the wallpaper from every single room in the house! Ugh! *****We gutted the floors...pulled all the carpet from the entire house. Laid new carpet, put tile down in the bathrooms and wood into the dining room, kitchen and laundry room. It looked beautiful!
*****Kitchen - Before and After *****Dining Room - Before and After *****Living Room - Before and After *****Den - Before and After *****Guest Bathroom - Before and After *****Guest Bedroom - Before and After *****Office - Before and After *****Master Bedroom - Before and After *****Master Bathroom - Before and After ~My first roommate was Michelle! Our last few months to live together before she got married.

~I had great neighbors!!! The Gosz's loved me like their own and took care of me in many ways.

~Walks at Christmas around the neighborhood all bundled up to look at Christmas lights and just take in the cold, crisp air!

~The flood of 2007...scariest thing I've ever driven in!!! 1/2 way to Tulsa, I finally got out of the flood!

~Crazy snow storms and being stuck inside...with a house filled with Christmas decorations!!!

~The 2nd crazy snow storm, Emily came to stay with me so she wasn't stuck in the dorms. One of the neighbors invited everyone over for a potluck! We all brought whatever we could make and had a big buffet dinner and just fellowshiped with one another. SO FUN!

~I loved walking Ruger around the pond.

~Taking Ruger on walks around the neighborhood. When it got hot in the summers, he would sit down when he was too tired to go on...so, I might have carried him the rest of the way. :)

~Emily living with me for a semester before she went to student teach. We had a fun, exciting semester! ;)

~Football watching parties

~Bible studies

~Cookouts

~Girls' nights

~My first house guests...and getting to make breakfast for them (Mosburg's, Curran's, parents', Leedy's, if I forgot anyone else...I'm SO sorry!)

~My neices coming to spend weekends with me

~God broke me free from loneliness here

~I learned to completely rely on the Lord while I lived here b/c being single isn't always easy

~Had my first blind date while I lived there.

~Had my LAST blind date while I lived there...and met my husband.

~He picked me up for our first date at this house (and my last first date ever!!!).

~We had our first kiss in the living room of this house.

~My favorite room in the house was the guest room. I didn't spend time in there, but for some reason it was super cozy to me. ~Able to have my family come and celebrate Father's Day in 2006. Mom and Dad came to celebrate Thanksgiving in 2008. I'm sure there were many other holidays that we celebrated there, but these two were highlights.

~Loved that I could watch my town's fireworks show from my own street! Ruger and I would walk around the corner from my house and had a GREAT view of the show. It was fun b/c all of the neighbors would meet out there.

~Ruger running crazy circles around the den and living room when he was bored.

~Saturdays spent on the couch watching TV or scrapbooking.

~Having a big Thanksgiving meal with all my friends!

~Having a place that I could decorate like I wanted.

~Christmas! I lived in one of the best neighborhoods in town! Halloween and Christmas were huge! I loved having a place that I could decorate! :) Like I said, home ownership has its struggles and difficulties, but this will always be my first home! I just love it! Walking away was one of the hardest things I've ever done. Having it on the market so long was really hard for me. I was hoping it would sell and I wouldn't have go over there all the time. That wasn't the case. I cried almost every single time we walked in. There are so many precious memories.

I'm thankful that God used the long time on the market to show me that a house doesn't make a home. Even though I had to leave this structure, I never have to give up the memories there and what I learned and all the great things that happened to me while I lived there. I'm incredibly thankful for the many blessings God gave me through this home. I'm very thankful that the family that lives there now loves it as much as I did. That was a great answer to prayer. Thank you, Lord for such a great wonderful chapter in my life. I praise Him that a new chapter has begun and new memories are being made.