OUR LIVES ARE MADE IN THESE SMALL HOURS, THESE LITTLE WONDERS, THESE TWISTS & TURNS OF FATE.




Saturday, August 2, 2014

The #7 & DiRt

I believe God writes the plan for our lives.
I believe that everything happens for a reason and in His time. The good, the bad, the uncertain.
Here is a post about all of those in Gods plan for my life.

The number 7.
I have "7"s all over our home, obviously because there are 7 of us.  Seven is also a factor of 14, which we all know is my all time favorite number, which assists in it rising to the top of my favorite numbers list.


Dirt.  Have y'all heard the song by FGL "Dirt"?  The first time I heard it was the day they premiered it on the radio.  It was one of those songs that made me feel all "holy smokes you're gonna remember this song" kind of feeling.  I immediately thought of my Cody J. I have heard of so many stories of his life growing up in the country that they touch on in the song.  I've caught glimpses of it when we go back to visit and from the beginning, it has always been his goal to one day get back to the country.
"You know you came from it (dirt)
And some day you'll return to
This elm shade red rust clay
You grew up on...

makes you wanna build
a 10 percent down
white picket fence house on this dirt"

A few weeks ago, July 6th to be exact, Cody was going out to the country to visit his momma when he came across a sign.   A sign from God you ask?! maybe.... But for sure a sign from McCurdy Auction about a house going up for Auction. He kept it in the back of his mind and we carried on with life..... For 2 days, to when at dinner, the kids asked us if we could move our 5 year plan of moving out to the country up to NOW.  Cody and I kind of looked at each other like "now?!" And we told them we would talk ab it. Later that night, Cody asked me what I thought of it.  I wasn't for sure how I felt about it.  The plan was to build our dream home out in the country in 5 years. However, I knew that we were running out of space at our house. I knew the kids wanted more space to run free, and I knew that Cody was getting city fever (close relation to cabin fever) and I knew that I was wanting a change. BUT I also knew that I loved loved loved my home! My dad and Cody built our house and it is gorgeous. It's not fancy huge gorgeous, but happy place beautiful. I knew my family was close and I knew that our parish family (and school) were amazing and the friendships we had created there were some of my most favorite relationships ever! I told Cody if it was meant to happen it would happen. 

The next morning, when we were laying in bed, he told me he found a house. A house that he thought might just be perfect for our family. He showed me the house and I kind of sort of fell in love with it too.  It was an old farmhouse on 15.something acres with a pond and a big shop and a pool and lots of bedrooms and character. It was going to auction July 26th. We happened to be going out to Cheney that night for the parade, so we decided we would drive by the place, and scope it out. As soon as we hit the road leading to the house, I gasped. The road was so beautiful. It was long and winding and lined with big huge trees that made it feel like you were driving through an arch of trees, which is something I have always wanted to have. As soon as we made it to the end of the road and the house was right in front of us, a part of me knew we were where we were supposed to be. We set up a showing with our good friend at McCurdy Auction for the following Thursday, July 17th. We left the showing with a solidified desire to try to buy this house. We had also set up other showings for the following week to see what else was out there and get a better idea of what we wanted because buying a house wasn't in our plan.  I am a type A person with lists and plans and you don't deviate from them. Because here's the other thing, I am completely high maintence. Ill be the first to admit it and Cody will be the first to confirm it.  I knew there was no way I would ever love someone else's house (hence our plan to build) so we both knew that us finding a place to my standards was going to be a feat in and of itself. And we were right. Nothing was perfect, the other houses lacked in lots of areas.  Most of them were big and beautiful and had ponds and land and docks, but they lacked something.  I realized then that it wasn't the house I loved, it was the location and the farmhouses' character was pretty amazing.  Yea, some of the other houses were newer and bigger, but I couldn't see myself in that space, but I could see myself at the farmhouse.  Were there heated concrete floors inside? No. Custom cabinets? Nope. An energy effiecent rating? Not a chance.  How was the concrete? Not only not stamped concrete, but was terrible.  It lacked beautiful trim and super nice heavy doors and pretty stucco, concrete countertops and windowsills, and all of our memories and mementos that lined our home in Kechi. BUT there was space and there was opportunity to make it "homey".  We would have so many projects and changes, but for the first time ever, I was excited about the work. I was excited about making that house our home. And like what everyone says, what makes it a home isn't the walls and exterior, its the people you share it with, and I am blessed with pretty awesome roommates.  We decided that God had put this house in our path at that time for a reason. Cody spent the next few nights up late getting all the paperwork figured out and I stayed up all night praying. Were we crazy for going from thinking about moving in the next 5 years to trying to bid on a house in a week?! And it's not like it is just Cody and me moving to a different house. There are 7 of us and it would be a lifestyle change, not just a location change. (Disclaimer, although it is not in town, Cody doesn't consider it "real country" still, he says its "kind of country"....he says we still need to move further away from people to be "country folk", but hey its a start for me who has pretty much lived in a 10 mile radius my WHOLE LIFE! Baby steps Cody J, baby steps:)  Anyway, this was a big decision and I kind of felt like I may have had an ulcer over it:/ 

Here's the other thing... Auctions are tricky. You don't know if you're gonna buy it or not. You can go into it hoping to buy it but you can also leave with nothing.  It's not about who has the most money, it's about who has the ability to see the value of the property WHILE not getting so emotionally attached that you overspend on the property value. We knew we loved the property, but we also knew that it was a transition home or as I often sang "temporary home" (cue Carrie underwood music).  Our plan was to still find our dream land and build our dream home.  But we thought this house would be a perfect fit for what we need right now and it will be easier to move two kiddos in school as opposed to 5, which would be the case if we stuck to our original 5 year plan. We didn't need to overspend just bc we WANTED it. We needed to do what was best for us as a family, with the amount that was reasonable.  So you don't want to get your hopes up, but at the same time, you can't stop pinning things on pinterest :)

The morning of the auction, I went to church and read the scripture for the day. It was about Gods dwelling place, I took that one as a sign from God. I prayed that he would give me the strength and ability to trust Him and his timing not if it didn't happen, but if it DID happen. It's pretty easy to keep on keeping on, but it's not so easy to change everything.  I truly felt like all of it was placed in front of us: from Cody finding the house, to the kids wanting to move, to it going to auction soon, to getting all the paperwork in order and approved to buy it, to the house being perfectly imperfect for us, right down the winding road leading to it.  I could see the girls and I baking at the counter, I could see Sawyer outside with his puppy, I could see miayla drawing on one of the decks and Cohen shooting his bow out by the stables. I could see out the huge front windows, cars coming up the drive, all while not seeing another house. I could see laughter at the table and memories in the walls.  Before I left church, I was reminded by God that it was all up to Him and that whatever happened would happen, if it was meant to be it would be and that as long as I had the other 6 ppl in the house, wherever we were, as long as we were together, would be fine.

I won't get into too many details about the auction bc well I honestly can't remember. I was a mess, sweating, almost pissed myself during the bidding (kidding, kind of:), all while trying to play it super cool, not really knowing if I wanted to win or lose the auction even!  Cody James was all calm, cool, and collected and the HIGH BIDDER. 

HOLY SMOKES WE BOUGHT A HOUSE. 

We signed the contracts immediately... But first, some of the neighbors who came by to see who was about to invade the place, shook hands and gave hugs and calmed my nerves. I ended up knowing the seller and they are good folks too.  I feel God put them in our path too. 

I know the next few weeks are gonna be hard (not to mention the day after we bought the house we left for vacation for a week).  Lots of packing, cleaning, renovating, school switching and chaos.  I'm sad to leave our house, our parish, our neighborhood, and move further from our friends and my family.  There were tears having to tell my dad, tears after Cody called our parish priest, tears after an email from our school principal, and tears after sad texts from our parish friends, and my family.   But with the sad comes the happy. The happy dance when we told the kids,  happiness from the sweet email from the new principal who said I made her day with our news, the hugs and cheers from Cody's brother and sister in law who canceled their date night to come into town and hear all about it and just be happy with us, and the happy feeling of looking at Cody randomly and seeing a smile allllll the time.  Yes it will be hard, but it will be okay.  I know it will be another fun adventure we go on as a family.  I know that the 7 of us will find our new happy place, and memories will be abundant.  I know that that we will make another home in our new parish and be blessed with new lifetime friends. I know that I will get to channel my inner Ree Drummond and experience my Cody in his element.  And I know that those that love us, will come visit us, because distance is all an opinion.  And I know that if God brought us to it, He will get us through it.

A picture of our new home, taken from the winding road, right after we bought it :)



Oh, and the house number is 7 and there is a white fence :)

"You know you came from it (dirt)
And some day you'll return to
This elm shade red rust clay
You grew up on"




















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