Saturday, July 25, 2015

This Old Church : The Beginning!

Well, we did it! We bought the church! I know, right? SO CRAZY! My husband and boys love the show 'This Old House' and now we get to have our own version of 'This Old Church!'

It's been a super long road since we sold our last house. We closed on our house in Carlton on May 28th. The sale of that place was a huge God thing, and no matter how hectic everything had been trying to get out on time, Josh and I were both at peace leaving that place. Well, you know, besides my hysterical crying because this was our first house, and the land was absolutely amazing. But after the tears had been shed (mainly by me), we said goodbye and were ready for our new adventure.

We were supposed to close on our new place, the church, on June 10th. So we had packed all of our belongings into one of my sisters garages, and camped out in their basement. Unfortunately, soon after we closed on our old house, we realized that the 10th of June closing was not going to be happening.

We stayed positive though, and thought maybe the next week we would close. And then the week after that one, we thought maybe it would be the next week... and this cycle continued for way longer then expected. The title company couldn't get their paperwork together because the property was so old, and apparently when a church sells a property, there are a lot more hoops and jumps to get through. So that part took awhile. THEN, the appraisal was behind because this is the busy season, and apparently all the appraisal companies were behind by about three weeks, so there was that part. Then, when we finally did get the appraisal back, it was ridiculously low, as the bank hadn't gotten all of the info to the appraiser on what we were all going to do to the property. So it had to go back AGAIN.

Super long story, I know. But it has been a super long process. Josh ended up selling his skid steer on a Monday (the 13th) so that we could buy the property (because the appraisal was still low, since it was still classified at a 'church' and not a house). On that Tuesday we got a call saying there might be something wrong with the septic that hadn't been disclosed to us. So we frantically started looking for a new place 'just in case.' On the Wednesday, we learned nothing was 'wrong' with it, but if we want to have copious amounts of children, we'd just need to add an additional holding tank. And on Thursday (the 16th), we bought the place! Yeah, BOOM!

So how has life been since? In the least: crazy! Because we ended up staying at my sisters house for almost 8 weeks instead of 2 weeks, our stuff stayed in the garage for far longer then what we had intended. Meaning, there was a lot of mold. YUCK!

We started to move stuff on Saturday, and the guys found mold on most of our furniture that had been stored in the garage, plus on boxes, ect. We had put it all off of the ground, but it's been a rather wet summer, and the moisture still made it on to everything that was within 3 feet of the floor. So as things got moved into the new place, I was on mold duty.

As the guys unloaded the truck, they put everything that had mold on it off to the side, and I was in charge of wiping it down with bleach. I last about 2 hours before I ended up with an awful headache and a horrible cough. I have asthma, and am allergic to mold, soooo... needless to say, it's been a week and I'm still recovering.

So there is the yuck. The fun? Well... we bought a church! I mean, c'mon! My husband has been in construction heaven, ripping out walls, and buying supplies to redo the bathrooms downstairs. The building didn't have a shower, so we've been washing our hair in the sink, and getting creative with make-shift showers. Maybe not for the faint at heart, but we don't mind so much!

The boys are LOVING their new house! They have the biggest playroom imaginable, and yes, I really do let my kids ride their bikes in the house, haha! Plus, they love to help Daddy rip down walls and tile, and help Mommy paint.

I had spent much of last night painting, and the ceilings are a wee bit higher then I can reach, so we may have to invest in a ladder! I'm hoping this nice subtle green will go nicely with the hardwood floors we are going to put in! (and I just realized I didn't actually take a picture like I thought I did, whoops! I guess you'll just have to imagine ;) )

We have got a super long way to go, and I haven't gotten through all of our boxes. Thankfully, we only lost one or two things from the mold so far, but considering how widespread it was, it's a miracle we didn't lose more!

I can't wait to share more with you, and some fun before and after pictures!

Sunday, July 5, 2015

Where we are at...

I'm sure the last you may have heard from us, we were moving out of our house, and buying a church to make into our new home. Well, things have been moving along, but much slower then anticipated. We sold our house to the new owners from the cities on May 28th. Everything had gone smoothly, and we moved into my sisters house in hopes of closing on the church on June 10th.

Things may have not played out as we had hoped. Apparently when a church sells a property, especially one as old as this, there was far more hoops and jumps to go through, and the title company had one heck of a time coming up with all the necessary paperwork to get things finished. But, we survived, and it was on to the appraiser. Unfortunately, the appraisers in the area are about 3 weeks behind, so it took them awhile to turn in their report after they were able to get out there.

 Unfortunately, there was an error in the report, so it had to be sent back to get fixed, which really shouldn't take that long... but, ya know... I'm just not holding my breathe on anything at the moment. Once the appraisal does come back, the banks job is super easy (or so I've been told) and we should be able to close shortly after.... so I'm hoping and praying for the end of this week!


What have we been doing in the mean time? We are still at my sisters house. The kids have been having fun playing with their cousins, and although Josh and I are super anxious to get in to our new place, we've been forced to slow down... which really hasn't been a bad thing, even if we're getting antsy! We were under a ton of pressure selling our house in such a short period of time, and planning the vendor fair, and all the other things of life! There were many sleepless nights, packing boxes, hauling, cleaning, mix and repeat. Just A LOT of stuff going on every day! So to immediately come to a halt, was super hard! I almost felt lost without a million things to do!

So life has been going on, and we're all making the best of what is going on, even though it has been weeks since we were supposed to close. Please keep us in your prayers, that the rest of this process will go by speedily, and smoothly, so we can get into our new place and start working!