When you finally get around to hanging curtains...

We've lived in our current home for almost 4 years.  We never intended to live here that long, but it's just the way things worked out.  We've made it "home" as much as we could during that time, but since it's a rental we never did a whole lot.  We hung pictures and curtains on most of the windows and that's about it.  But one thing we never did was put up curtains in our dining room.  We have a long bank of three windows and I didn't have any curtains that fit.  And whenever I would mention buying curtains for those windows, Chris would grumble and say something about not wanting to spend money on a rental.  Which made sense, I guess.  So I never bought curtains.  And for three years those windows were naked.

And then we started house hunting.  Two years ago.  We had put in offers on FIVE houses and obviously came up short on each one.  The chances of us actually buying a house were looking pretty slim.  So in one sense I kept hesitating putting up curtains because, you know, we could move any time.  But with each house we didn't get, the more anxious I was to make the house we DID have more of a home.  I wanted curtains!!

Well a few months ago I was talking with a student of mine who was interested in bartering for part of her class cost.  When I found out she was a seamstress, I asked if she would sew us some curtains for our poor naked windows, and she happily agreed.  I received those curtains about a month ago and right away I bought a curtain rod and made Chris hang them up.  He still wasn't excited about hanging curtains in a rental house but he saw how happy it made me and he installed the curtain rods with a smile.

He then said jokingly "You know, now that we've hung curtains, we're going to buy a house and move, right?"

"Well, if that's all it takes!" I laughed.

We continued to house hunt, but I was mentally preparing myself to spend yet another summer in our current house, making the best of our little piece of yard on our small corner lot.  It's a good house.  We've enjoyed four summers here and we can enjoy one more.

But one Friday morning a few weeks ago we went to yet another house showing.  It was a foreclosure on the west side of town (neither of which were very appealing) but it looked big in the pictures and it was definitely in our price range.  So I bribed the kids into the van and bundled ourselves up to look at a house with no heat in March.

It was a 1978 retro looking house on a huge corner lot in a really nice neighborhood.  There actually was a back yard (not something you often see with a corner lot) and it was fenced in.  That's a good start.  Then we walked inside.  The house was dirty, the cabinets were old, and there was this funky retro rock wall in the basement.  And. we. LOVED. it!!

It really wasn't much to look at, but the more we walked around, the more we saw all the possibilities in this home.  And the more we realized that all the "work" that needed to be done was cosmetic and really not that hard to do, the more attractive the house became.  Paint and a good cleaning would go a loooong way with this house.  Plus, it's HUGE!  The house has over 2400 sq. feet, 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms!  Holy giant house, batman!!  It's far bigger than any other house we even looked at, let alone put an offer in on.  Our only concern was that since it was a foreclosure, you don't get a property disclosure statement.  So you never really know what you're getting into.

But we thought about it and prayed about it.  Chris went back a second time with his boss from work and their site manager to look at all the little details.  I mean, who better to "inspect" a house than the president of a construction company and his right hand man.  They climbed on the roof, looked in the attic, checked out the foundation and they both said it looked awesome.

We decided to go for it.  Let's put in an offer.  We both felt really good about the house and really loved all the space in it.  We did our best to not get our hopes up considering our lousy track record with buying houses.  But maybe, just maybe, this was "the one".

So we put in our best offer and waited.  It was a Sunday and we didn't expect to hear about the house until at least Tuesday.  We did our best to put it out of our minds and to be honest, I was already planning my pity party.  How am I going to grieve the loss of this house?  With five other offers and no houses, this was surely going to be #6 in the pile of houses we didn't get.

Well, Monday around noon Chris comes home for lunch - like he does every day.  But this day?  This day he comes in with a box of 'Oh My Cupcakes' and a stupid grin on his face.  Then he says "I have good news."

Shut up!  You're kidding, right?  RIGHT?!?  He was most definitely NOT kidding.  We got the house.  Shock.  Disbelief.  We put in offers on houses.  We don't actually buy houses.  But this one we bought.  This was OUR house.  The boys came running into the kitchen (apparently the sight of their mother squealing and throwing her arms around their Daddy's neck is cause for concern)  We told them the good news and they joined in the celebration because, they too, had been dragged to dozens and dozens of houses all over Sioux Falls in hopes that each would be "the one".  We cheered.  We jumped and danced (for real, we jumped around the kitchen like a bunch of fools).  We hugged and laughed.  And we thanked God.  Thanked Him for his provision and wisdom through the whole process.  And thanked Him for the house that we've been waiting for for so long.

We're so excited to move!  Exited to have a big back yard where the boys can run.  Excited to be in a different neighborhood.  Excited to finally have a place to call our own.

Now, I just need to find a place to hang those curtains ....