Going, going GONE!  The house is SOLD.  Meaning, signed, sealed, closed and done.  It was bittersweet but more sweet than bitter once that check was in hand.  I know that the money is already accounted for in paying off debt but it feels nice to know that we now have the ability to take care of some of the debts!!!!  We have a 6 month and a 1 year plan and when I write a post in 1 year from now (or sooner) we will be the proud parents of a fully “owned” child, and a debt free family!  (NOT EVEN A MORTGAGE!).  I never quite realized that the “American Dream” may not necessarily be our family’s dream.  Troy and I talked about this the other day and agreed that we are not really interested in OWNING a home again anytime soon, if ever.  Its just not our style.  We would much rather take that money and use it to save for retirement, college, and spend time enjoying LIFE.  We have spent so much of our lives “planning” for bigger and better things that we never got around to doing them.  NOW… we are going to stop wishing and start DOING!  We cannot wait to see our kids play sports, go to dance recitals, and TRAVEL!  We are hoping to head back to the coast very soon but we also know that we are not going ALLOW ourselves that luxury until we are done paying off debt.

For us, we are in a new phase.  We are going to have to “deal” with a lot of issues that we have been putting on the back burner and muddle through those things to bring our finances back to where they once were.  BUT… we are willing and able to make the sacrifices it takes to get there.  Obviously… we sold our house to do it!  We, of course, have never been perfect in our finances but who really has.  We have made a few bad decisions and coupling that with such a huge blow through medical bills and stays… it just a hole we are digging our way out of.  The good news is we are now 72% OUT of that hole and 72% debt free!

As we were moving we were talking with our friends who helped us move, one of whom is from Canada.  He said he just thought it was a crying shame that anyone would have to loose their house to keep their child alive and that is very true.  We have felt the same way for a while now.  For a while we have struggled to make ends meet and keep our family in the house but at some point it becomes more trouble than it is worth.  We have called and begged and written letters and the best our mortgage company could “do” for us was to continue growing interest and say “have you thought about selling your house?”…. I wish that President Obama would start “bailing” out some americans who truly NEED the help but that is another rant for another day!

Better news:  The new owners of the house LOVE it.  They love everything about it and it is PERFECT for them.  We are so glad that we were able to find buyers to truly love the house and plan to make it their family home for many years to come.  They moved right in and have settled into their new routine.  The closing, last Monday morning, was supposed to happen the Thursday of our move, but got pushed due to paperwork issues.  At any rate, it’s done now, everything went smoothly and we are moving right on.  Today’s task in my world is to unpack and re-organize my bathroom into the NEW space that I have… very different from the last but I will just have to find new organizational systems.  It is, like everything in life, a process!

We are very happy, and relieved to be done with the stress of selling, marketing, closing etc.  We have a very true sense of comfort in knowing that we were HELD through it all and that this whole selling process was nothing short of a miracle.  To sell so fast… for such a great price… with no “concessions”… it was a blessing that we cannot dispute was DIVINE.  We had been praying for our buyers for many months.  In the months leading up to putting our house on the market (from about November on) we had begun to pray that the new owner’s would be blessed.  That their finances and life situation would lead them to a place that would include making our house their home.  We prayed that God would remove any hindrances and that he would begin to bless their fiances with abundance.  We will continue to pray this for their family and know that we have been able to sell them a house that will be good to them for many years to come.

Saying SOLD!!!!!!!! puts a smile on our faces!  That is a huge weight off our shoulders but due to renovations we are all living on TOP of each other and on top of tons of BOXES so that is a bit of added animosity.  I know this too shall pass and we will be back to life.  We are making a NEW kind of life for ourselves and are happy to be moving on to a new phase of life.  Thank you so much for all of the prayers, emails, messages, texts and calls of support.  It was not an easy decision or an easy move but we did it and like everything else in our life we are ALL THE BETTER for it!  We are blessed so richly and can ask for little more in our lives!

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