We got the house!!!

We're on cloud nine. Totally reeling from the adrenaline rush. The sales manager called and said, "They accepted everything you asked for." No negotiations. Wow. Had they not accepted everything, it would have gone over our price range, and we therefore would have had to walk away from the house or make structural changes to stay within budget. Our prayer last night was that God would confirm to us clearly that this is the direction we are to go and we boldly asked a mighty God to demonstrate His power.

We are humbled. I feel a little teary-eyed even as I write this because we just feel like His hand has been on this process. Several weeks ago, I looked at this house, and it was more than we were willing to spend. We went full circle looking at houses that just didn't have it all, and just when I thought we saw everything, this house pops up again only it's now been reduced by $30,000.

Our original must-haves list was a 4-bedroom, 3 bathroom single family with a 2-car garage that also was:

• Affordable that we wouldn't be house poor
  
• Not excessive where unused rooms require extra cleaning.
• In Ashburn We love our friends, our church, and it's close to Patrick's work.
• A good neighborhood you can tell when you drive by
  
• Charming Exterior that is different than your cookie cutter house.
• Newer home for lower maintenance, updated appliances, and energy efficiency.
• Open kitchen and open floor plan for entertaining.
• Kid Friendly: A small yard, preferably backing to trees, tot lots nearby, and a fun play room.
• Plenty of street parking for guests so they wouldn't need to walk a mile in the snow.
• Nice to haves for Soryda: Hardwood floors, fireplace, stainless steel, granite, crown molding, big tub!

We got everything on our list, even the nice to haves and then some!!! The only thing we didn't get because we opted to live in Brambleton vs. building the same house in Greene Mill Preserve (the community further away) was the yard that backs to trees. We felt it was more important to be 10 minutes closer in, so we gave up the trees knowing that only a 5 minute walk would take us to Legacy Park, a "central park" of the community with ponds, tot lots, tennis courts, etc!

We couldn't be more ecstatic. We need to sell our house now so that we don't lose this one! So please pray for a buyer - and quick!!! We have trusted Him so far in the process, and we're excited to see how this will play out in the coming weeks. One thing we learned though is if you boldly ask a mighty God, you will boldly get mighty things.

We went shopping and came back with ....

...one of the highest ticketed items any consumer can buy. How about a new house? Yes, hard to believe. This is totally shocking for us too. Remember in a previous blog, I said that "other things were brewing"? Well, Patrick and I have been praying about whether or not to upgrade to a single family home in this market with the historically low interest rates.

It started out by meeting a new couple for dinner who lived in this BEAUTIFUL planned new community called Greene Mill Preserve that was on a 330-acre conservancy site filled with ponds, trees, hiking trails, tot lots, butterfly gardens. The homes were the most impressive though--the exterior was this colonial kraftsman style house with big wide porches and the inside offered a spacious, open, floor plan with all of these luxury upgrades that they call standard.

To name a few: stainless steel appliances, double ovens, granite, hardwood, rain shower heads, tons of recessed lights, and the list goes on. When we found out the price, we couldn't believe that it could be within our reach. We went home and talked some more about it, and punched in some numbers (if you know Patrick, it was A LOT of numbers!) and surprisingly discovered it was MORE beneficial to move now. The time is now.

So, we spent the last two weeks really preparing our house to sell and exhausting our search looking for all the builders and models in our price range in Ashburn. With lots of prayer, our house goes on the market THIS Thursday (open house is Saturday) and we already put down a contract last night (sat through paperwork for 2 hours) on an amazing house to be built in late August. It is Stanley Martin's Eliot model. Patrick loves this design out of all the floor plans we've seen!

And I gotta tell you-- it's been an incredible God thing. In addition to the already low price, with recent reductions and incentives they've thrown at us (that we didn't even know to ask for), they've reduced $60,000 from the original price, allowing us to add an entire loft space under our budget. We're awaiting to see if they'll accept our offer. We think they may decide against the $7500 premium fee we asked to be waived for the corner lot. We should find out tomorrow. Stay tuned.

p.s. Sorry I haven't blogged in a while. You obviously know what's been keeping me/us busy.
p.s.s. To mom (Patrick's) - thank you for being available again to watch our boys for so long!!!

Cute Micah Moments

I promised that once I started blogging, I would record the funny things my children say, or I would never remember. One of the cutest moments happened this weekend when Micah met a new little friend. After he told him his name, he walked over to his father and politely said, "This is Caelan, and this is my Daddy." Patrick and I both looked at each other and were amazed that he actually introduced his brother and father to his new friend. We were so proud.

The other day Micah was saying "Mommy"over and over again from the living room and when I didn't respond, he comes running into the kitchen and looks up at me says quite seriously, "Mommy, you need to look at me when I call your name." I, of course, apologized! :)

This morning Caelan started fussing, and then he screamed. Micah looks over him and says, "Shhh...Caelan...use inside voice!" I guess he really is listening to his mommy.

I stand amazed at the things he picks up everyday, and the things he can remember (even six months ago that he wasn't able to verbalize) and how he's fast becoming this little person who can clearly communicate anything he's thinking. This is such a fun time.

Sitting up at Five Months? Wow!

Yes, I said sitting up, not spitting up. We were impressed! He doesn't roll over yet, but for whatever reason, he will sit up. Here's our proof:

Also, for those of you read my earlier blog about Caelan not taking a bottle, the Lord has been gracious to us and has answered our prayers. Our five month old is now taking 4 ozs at a time!!! You have no idea what a HUGE relief that is to me to be able to have a break once in a while. To go out if I need to without rushing back. I feel so grateful. Look at my little baby all grown up...

While I'm pouring on the praise, because he's eating better, he is also sleeping better. He is technically sleeping through the night with his last feed at 10:30 and his next feed at 5:30 a.m. I can not complain. We didn't get a full night's sleep until Micah was 10 months old! This mommy is so much saner, and ready to take on the world.

Snow Much Fun!!

We had our first family winter wonderland walk around the neighborhood when it snowed 5 inches in Ashburn! Patrick and Micah walked ahead to create the first tracks in the open fields. I was walking behind them with Caelan in a baby bjorn carrier. At first he was really fussy (cold, maybe?) but then I covered his face from the snow and blew warm breath on him and he immediately fell asleep! It was quite peaceful to walk in such tranquil beauty with your sleeping baby.

Here's Micah doing a snow angel all by himself:

Caelan was watching on the sidelines from his bumbo seat:

Rrrrhh.....Wharrr have we been?

I feel like it's been forever since I blogged. I've missed it! We've been pretty busy lately so I apologize for anyone who is concerned that we fell off the face of the blog!

We've been entertaining every weekend and attending a lot of fun events. One of them was this past Saturday-- we went to a Tinkerbell birthday party and since Patrick would rather chop off his arms than have his son dress like a fairy, we chose to dress Micah as a pirate instead.

Here are some of Micah's fairy-friends from Taylor's (who is below with mommy, Michelle) 3rd birthday bash!

I think I should be a little concerned about the ratio of girls to boys at these parties! Micah has a lot of girlfriends. :)