Our Second Weekend in Texas

We had two very busy days this past weekend, and really, we're kind of grateful for that. Yesterday, N and I came to the realization that had we not been living with some really great new friends during this transition time, this process would be that much more overwhelming and lonely.

On Saturday morning, we went to cheer little Elijah and his teammates on at his soccer game. Can I just say how utterly adorable little four-year old soccer players are? And some of those kids have skills, man! We enjoyed rooting for Elijah and his team, and it was fun to see B clap his little hands enthusiastically and yell out, "YAY!"

Of course, I never thought to take pictures of the game itself.

We spent all of Saturday afternoon looking at houses and wouldn't you know it, the VERY LAST HOUSE we looked at was the one we felt was "just right." We headed straight to our realtor's office, drew up the contract and sent in the offer (for bit more than we had wanted to spend - that's how much we liked this house!).


That night, we received an email from our agent with an attachment from the seller's agent: "Thank you for the offer and a nice clean contract. I discussed the offer with Mr. Cobb and have forwarded the offer to him so he and his wife can review. He indicated to me that they would accept your buyers offer just as it is written. I will know for sure in the morning and can get it executed tomorrow. I will send you the disclosure early afternoon and will let you know as soon as they have accepted and signed. Thanks again."

Sounds like a done deal, right?

Well, we were excited, so after church on Sunday, we drove up to the house and sat in front of it, giddy with excitement that this very probably was our new home ... our FIRST home-of-our-very-own as a family.

That's when the text came from our realtor. They had two other offers on the house and we had two hours to put in our highest and best offer.

We were heartbroken. It felt so right. Why wasn't it just falling into place?!

So we prayed for peace, patience, and an extra measure of strength. We were just so worn out emotionally from all the ups and downs of this house-hunting process -- and my mama heart is still tender watching my little boy adjust to all this newness.

As soon as we got back to our friends' house, N sat in the car with B (who had conked out as soon as we got in the car after church) while I wrote a letter to the homeowners for our agent to present with our revised offer. I told them why we were house-hunting and how much we just loved their house. We knew their agent was a church-goer, so I banked on the hope that they were believers.

Well, the letter did it. We heard a few hours later, as we headed to a picnic with our friends and their Sunday School class, that the sellers had not only decided to go with us, they agreed on an amount that was lower than their original asking price (and our second offer). Our realtor told us that they had been "touched" by our letter and had been where we are once upon a time themselves.

Now begins the journey of details: inspections, appraisals, hounding the bank to get a move-on on everything on their end. We are hoping and praying for a smooth process so that we can be unpacked and "home" before the holidays! 

Coming up on the Dallas "High-Five"

Oh, hello, there, sister-car! This is the first Scion we have seen (other than our own) in the two weeks we've been here.

We know that we have many, many friends praying for us and supporting us through all this. We are so grateful for your words of encouragement, phone calls, texts. I can't begin to express what a difference it has made to us!