New Beginnings… New Blog Name

Happy New Year, fellow Bloggers!

2013 was a crazy year for me… getting my business off the ground, travelling, family weddings, etc… it has really challenged my blogging mojo, hasn't it?  Well I am back in 2014 with a renewed desire to blog and a new name!

New Beginnings is the theme for my new blog and our life beginning in 2014.  I am so grateful to God for allowing me the ability to "make lemonade" of the circumstances of infertility but that all feels miles behind on life's highway.   Not only do I feel like I've turned a page on that chapter of life, Hubby and I are about to embark on turning the page on a new chapter… moving to our second home (finally!).

In November, life was plugging along as usual, nary a thought of moving on the horizon… until a 2 car garage, 3 bedroom, end unit town home in our complex (on the same side of the street as our current home… with no neighbours behind except the police station) came up for sale.  I had always been keeping an eye out for a 2 car garage unit so I was interested in taking a peek when they held an Open House one weekend in early-November.  Hubby and I took a look around the place and were intrigued by the possibility of purchasing this slightly larger unit, without having to take a large mortgage again.  The day after we toured the home, Hubby was off on a business trip to California.  His union was contemplating a strike at the time so house-hunting wasn't maybe the best idea at that time of uncertainty but Hubby and I both felt the prodding to move forward with considering this house.  I decided to visit the Open House the following day, with tape measure in hand, to see if logistically our furniture and things would fit and we could truly make this "home".  On the following Tuesday I visited Ridgeway Kitchens, to speak with my brother-in-law's, nephew-in-law who owns the renovation company to see if reworking the kitchen at the new town home would be a possibility as the current kitchen as is was a deal breaker in moving forward.   Marcus needed to measure to see what options we might have and miraculously (thank you Jesus!) our real estate agent was going to be in my neighbourhood right around that time and was able to get us into the house to measure.

I won't bore you with each detail but that week while Hubby was in California, we prayed about God opening and closing doors.  There were huge hurdles to jump over (like the union strike) and we kept asking God to show us His will for this house by moving such hurdles.  By Thursday, God had answered prayers as the strike was being averted and ratification was scheduled for Sunday.  We had decided with this news that we would go look at the house again at the coming weekend's Open House before putting in an offer.

Sometimes God puts obstacles in our way to test our faith and that Friday we encountered one such obstacle.  I got a call from our agent, Linda, telling me that someone was coming to put an offer on the townhouse that evening at 7pm.  Hubby was literally unreachable as he was in the airplane heading home from California.  We would have to forego putting in an offer too and we would have to let the house go.  It was strange as this was happening though.  Similar to 20 years ago how I felt after my first date with Hubby, I had such a strong sense that this house was "ours" but I trusted God and held it loosely.  Our agent told us that sometimes deals don't go through and that she would contact me the following Friday to update me on the status of the sale.  "Okay God… I will trust in Your will!"

Fast forward to the next Friday.  I was out shopping when I got a call from our agent.  "The buyer's financing fell through.  You can put in an offer if you're still interested".  Hubby again was preparing to board an airplane home from his business trip to Massachusetts so again I had to tell Linda that we were on hold.  Saturday morning, after a myriad of questions, we began the process of moving towards an offer by visiting the bank for a deposit draft and later that evening meeting with our agent to "get the job done!"  After a few pass backs between us and the sellers, at 10pm on Nov 23, 2013, we purchased our second home (conditional on home inspection).

SOLD… TO US!!

Now came the crazy process of preparing our current home and getting it listed for sale.  God miraculously gave me supernatural energy and endurance and I was able to get the house ready within the week.  In that week another townhome in our complex came up for sale… a unit similar to ours with 2 bedrooms and 1-1/2 car garage.  This home was refinished to the max and ended up with a bidding war, making it the highest selling unit in our complex.  Again, I saw God's timing in this because in the time frame between us purchasing Unit #8 and getting our unit on the market, the "value" of our home was able to be increased by $10K due to the sale of that similar unit.

On Wednesday, Dec 4 our unit was listed and officially on the market!  I was leaving for a Seminar at Sea aboard the Norwegian Breakaway cruise line out of NYC on Dec 7 (Sat) and Hubby was leaving for Connecticut on the 8th (Sunday) so fortunately we weren't inconvenienced too much with showings and the Open House held on the Saturday.  By mid-week, while we were both away, two offers came into our agent with one offer sticking around.  There I was on the high seas off the coast of NC on Friday, Dec 13 signing a copy of offer to be faxed back to our agent.  Our house was sold conditionally!  Only God can move things this quickly I believe!  By the following Friday the SOLD sign was on our front lawn and we could relax over the Christmas break before starting the massive job of packing up by our January 31st closing date.

Our First House SOLD!

So… we come to the meaning of the new blog theme which comes from our new home.  When I told Hubby's twin sister the unit # of our new place, she mentioned to me the spiritual significance of the number 8… "New Beginnings".  I got chills when she told me because not only is moving into our second home a "new beginning", closing the chapter on this home with it's reminders of broken dreams and hopes that never came to be (and leaving our Noah's Ark "nursery" behind), it is also the year Hubby and I both reach the milestones of turning 50 and celebrating 20 years of marriage.  New Beginnings… absolutely!!  So join me as we pack up the past (with both good and not so good memories) and move up the street to our new place and our New Beginnings!!