WE OWN THE MONSTROSITY!!!

I'm still in a state of mixed thankfulness and shock. Now I'm sort of regretting that I haven't recorded ever single detail along the way because it is way, way, way, way, wa-a-a-a-a-ay miraculous that this actually happened! I'll just share the last little miracle.

Yesterday morning we got a copy of the termite inspection report that was done in August. We had to laugh when we saw that it was done by a man whose ministers license James revoked last year. Not that the last part is funny (!), just that it was crazy that he was the one to inspect the house that we would later buy. Anyway, the report showed that there was evidence of possible infestation in two locations in the house--both of which were near places where the gutter was broken and there was some water damage that needed replaced anyway. So we felt good about proceeding.

We did devotions and school, had brunch, then headed to Sam's Club for the first of our errands. While standing in the aisle looking at a dehumidifier to put in the moldy basement, Laura called. Insert dramatic music here. She was calling to say that the attorney who was doing the closing said that he had to submit the termite inspection report to our bank for approval. Uh-oh. Bad, bad news. It didn't make sense to us because a termite inspection is not required by our bank and we had not ordered one--this report is from when an inspection was made by the last guy who tried to buy the house. Why would it be sent to our bank??? Because as soon as they see it, it's all over. They are never going to give us a conventional loan on a house that has mold (that was miraculous enough) AND "an active infestation." (Is it freaking anybody out that we WANTED to by a moldy, infested house?! Ha!) The bank has been sooooooo picky about everything and has required sooooooo much--there's just no way. This new report was going to sink the deal.

We hung up, sighed, left the de-humidifier aisle (wouldn't be needing one of those now) and went to get a pretzel and a slurpy at the front of the store. To celebrate? Ha! I was disappointed, but didn't sense any tears coming on--I think I cried it out last time we lost this house, or thought we had. Laura called back and James (with his best poker face) just said "uh-huh" a lot. I just prayed. "God, you know that I want this house. But I really and truly do mean it from the bottom of my heart when I say that I only want it if it's what YOU want for us--and if it's not then thank you soooooo much for taking it away from us." It felt so good to just surrender and give it up one more time. James hung up and I fully expected him to say that it was all over. Instead he said, "The bank doesn't care about the termites. We're good to go."

WHAT?!?!? Are you KIDDING me????? What kind of a lousy bank loans on a house full of moldy termites?! HA! I don't know, but I'm soooooo thankful! It just AMAZES me how many things God has worked out for us on this place.

And for those of you who are creeped out, we are going to have the mold and termites tended to right away--we don't have any intention of living with either.

So we went ahead and bought the dehumidifier, stopped at the bank to get a check for the down payment, met Laura at the house for one final walk-through, headed to the title office, signed our lives away for about an hour (was it that long? It seemed like forever!), then sat in the lobby and waited and waited and waited to get word that the attorney had received the signed documents from the sellers (of course--they would have to be late with that! Why break the pattern now?!) and FINALLY got the congratulative hand shake and went back to the house to claim our set of keys from the lock box--and give the grand tour to the Ridlespurges. We had texted several people, but they were the only ones who could join us. It was so great showing it to them. They were all giddy and excited and seemed to be close to shedding tears of joy--they were at least as excited as we were! Ha! It's because they've helped us pray and pray and pray over this house, I'm sure. I'm so happy that they already feel at home there. We hope to be the hang-out for all of the church folks once we get settled. :-)

When it was all said and done I felt soooooo exhausted. I couldn't decide if I was just slap wore out from the months of praying and thinking and hoping and praying and wondering and praying and... well, you know. Or if I was exhausted just thinking about all of the work to be done in the coming months! Ha! It's going to be GREAT. :-)

To all those who have helped us pray,

THANK YOU!