"Homeless"

THE day has finally come. Keys have been passed over. EVERY SINGLE piece of paper work has been signed. AND the check has been deposited in the bank account. The house is SOLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is sold people!!! We are officially "homeless" and what a ride it has been.

Two weeks ago I would have told you that you were crazy to think that we would be closing on May 2. Our realtor worked his magic and somehow got his lender to approve our buyers (after being rejected from their first loan 40 minutes before we were set to close on April 18th) loan in less then 2 weeks... 12 days exact to get the entire loan pre-approved and wrapped up for closing last night. I feel forever indebted to our realtor (yes I know we paid him nice in commission but still he went the distance).

Rewind into our past for a quick recap of our lives in limbo the last couple of years....

A little over 2 years ago we starting packing up our house for the first time to move to Wichita. We moved back into our house 4 months later and only unpacked the stuff that had been moved down to our apartment in Wichita (it had been on the market for those 4 months but no bites) and kept the house on the market 2 more months. I was pregnant with Ashley at the time and we decided that it was not going to work to have the house on the market with a newborn. So after 6 months on the market, it came off. Ashley was born the 8th and Feb and 2 months later I was ready to put the house back on the market (with hopes of finding a house in Overland Park) with a 18 1/2 and 2 month old. 10 months on the market came and went and no offers. Then a beautiful thing happened; on February 18th we received an offer to buy our house. Much negotiation and many headaches later we were under contract and were ready to close on April 18th. We packed up the house, again, and all of our belongings were stored in pods and our day to day stuff was moved to my parents. After one failed closing date, it might as well have been the most messed up process we had in dealing with the other realtor and the buyers loans, but today that is all behind us. On May 2 we were done worrying about 6529 Charlotte.

Don't get me wrong, there are parts of that house that I will miss. Let me rephrase that. I will not miss the actual house. What I will miss is living in the place where we had our first kiss, where we started our lives together as a married couple, where we brought our kids home and where we have made some amazing 4  1/2 years of memories. But there is something great about memories; you can take them with you and start new ones along the way. And I can not wait to do that in our new home!

I'd be lying if I didn't admit and scream to the world that I am so stoked to be starting a new chapter in our lives, a new home. OUR first home. A family home that I have always dreamed of in a family neighborhood. We deserve this. The last 2 years we have been living in a half unpacked house that has been on the market nearly 18 months with two small children leaving a path of destruction comparable to a tornado. Our basement has been full of boxes containing most of what we received as wedding gifts. We have put up with pipes that spew rusty water out of them if they aren't ran for a couple of days. We have lived 4 years with no garage, one bathroom with no storage space and in limbo just waiting for the house to sell. We are ready to be settled. We are ready to be home.

So we are "homeless" and it feels awesome. Rob laughs at the fact that for the first time in his life he doesn't have a key on his key chain and that he doesn't even know my parents garage code (really no reason for him to know it because someone is always here to let him in). But a huge weight has been lifted off our shoulders and it feels so good to not have a home. It is a weird feeling but we see the end of the tunnel approaching us on June 6th when we get the keys to our new place. Fingers crossed that we are truly in the homestretch!

Much Love,
Jenny