The Monthly Newsletter

Can you believe it's been almost a month? It's been a wild and crazy one, that's for sure! I've got several "posts" already written up, just haven't had time to add pictures and post any of them. I don't have time tonight either, but thought I'd give the brief overview to bring everything up to date, then tell you the latest in the ongoing Horne Home Search. I can always fill in the empty spaces later.

We had a FANTASTIC International Youth Camp this year, followed by a FANTASTIC General Assembly, followed by a FANTASTIC little vacation with my Mom & Dad and the Hays family (I still can't believe we pulled that off!), then we were able to go visit James folks for nearly a week and then stay two nights with mine on the way home--all of which was fantastic as well... or had you already guessed that?

As for what's going on now... well, I don't really know what to say. For those who have been wondering and helping us pray (are you there, Jessa? Ha!), here we go!

The other guy's contract on the Quinncrest Monstrosity fell through!!! The real estate company that the property is listed with misplaced our back-up offer (!), so we presented a new one. They got back with us in a few days with a counter-offer, which we accepted. So as of this past Friday, WE are the ones with a contract on the house! WOW!!! Seems like huge answers to prayer, right?

That brings us to today.

We got up early, left at 8:00 to head to town for the house inspection at 9:00. The inspector didn’t do a full inspection. He found several things that we are concerned may prevent the bank from loaning on this property. We've been through this before, you know. ;-) It's TOUGH to buy foreclosures right now. Basically, if anything is rated by the appraiser as "sub-standard" the bank won't give you a loan to buy it--and it's pretty near impossible to make arrangements (since foreclosures are owned by banks) to make any improvements to the property so the bank will give you the loan. The inspector, Gary, is the same guy who inspected the last house we had a contract on and we were so impressed with him that we asked him to be the one to do this one, too. Basically, when James realized we may not be able to get this house anyway (banks are so hard to work with right now, no matter how great your credit is) Gary said he could write up a report that would enable us to back out of the contract due to issues with the property, but if we’re able to proceed, he’ll come back and do the super thorough inspection for us so we’ll know everything about the house. We knew there were issues with the house all along, but it’s not more than what we can handle—we’d LOVE to conquer this house… if only we could get it! Ha!

So we found ourselves at a fork in the road. A) We could go ahead and pay for a full inspection, along with paying for the termite and septic and whatever other inspections are necessary, as well as the appraisal... that ends up being a pretty chunk of money on a house that you have reason to believe the bank won't allow you to buy anyway. Or B) We can bail now and recover our earnest money--and only be out $100 for the partial inspection Gary did for us today. Neither decision makes me happy. Choice A could be a very foolish and brash decision, all for something that I want--would I be pushing my will to choose it with all of the risks involved? But Choice B doesn't set well with me either--it seems so faithless to not even give it a shot after praying about this house for the past month and it actually becoming available, you know??? There's no way I could be happy making either decision. That's what husbands are for, I guess. :-)

James feels like our only real option at this point is to apply for a renovation loan instead of a conventional loan. We'd be happy to do it, but naturally there's a hitch. Our closing date is set for October 12th. It takes an average of 45-60 days to get approval for renovation loans. Way, way past our closing date. Laura is going to try to see if we can get an extension on the closing date, but we really don't know if it will work out or not. For starters, the real estate company that the house is listed with is AWFUL. They never answer the phone and very seldom return phone calls or e-mails. On occasion they're rude, but they're ALWAYS very UNinformative, and we're not even real sure how much information gets passed along to the bank that owns the property--or how accurate it is. They seem to change their stories easily. Did you know it's possible to have an "F" rating with the Better Business Bureau and still be in business??? It's true. I checked 'em out. Amazing.

So today at the house I had a little break-down. It was nice. :-) I'm not sure what caused it really. There have been tons of houses that we haven't been able to get. Maybe it's because I really want this house (didn't feel so strongly about any of the others) and it's not looking like it's going to happen. Maybe I'm feeling like I'm ready to have my own house again, especially with fall and the holidays coming up. Maybe it's because we've been searching and praying about selling and buying houses for over a year now and I'm just weary of it. Maybe because it's so insane that you can't get a loan on a house that's worth tons more than what you're going to pay, all because of a deck that's rotted out or something dumb like that. Maybe it was a combination of all of the above. All I know is that when James said he wasn't going to have Gary finish the inspection, that he was just going to call Laura and tell her we're going to walk, I went into the living room and sat down on the floor and cried. I'd felt it coming on the 20 minutes or so prior to that, but it was finally uncontrollable. ~Aaaaahhhhh~ I needed that. I hate it that I have to come to that point sometimes, but it seems to be the way I'm built. I sincerely try to yield my will over to the Lord and be surrendered to Him throughout these situations. I actively "give it up" in my heart and mind over and over again in my prayers, telling God--and really meaning it--that I want His will more than anything. But it's like I have to have some sort of emotional crash somewhere along the line to get totally and completely surrendered from the very core. As if there's still something inside of me that's not yielded and it can only come out in tears, not thoughts or words or prayers. Kinda crazy, but I know me and I've been wondering when it would happen. ;-) I was feeling such great disappointment over the decision to not proceed with this house. I love, love, love the location and setting--and the house itself after walking through it all again. Even while I was sitting there crying over James' decision to pull out I couldn't help but mentally decorate the room I was sitting in! Ha! The mantle would go here, the piano over there, the couch under the window... But the emotions came in strange waves. Disappointment, leading into despair (though that seems like such a strong word to use--after all, it's just a temporal THING, nothing all that important), frustration, then doneness. Is that a word? It should be. I just felt DONE with houses. Like I just don't care anymore. I don't want to see any more or think about any more or have anything to do with the three ring circus that trying to buy a house has become. James, just pick one out, let me know when it closes, I'll get us all moved in a make it a nice home for us--I just don't want to see it, know anything about it, or have anything to do with the process of buying it! Ha! I was glad to finally reach crash stage but I'm a little concerned because it was really a pretty minor crash and didn't last all that long. What if I didn't get it all out of my system??? Ha!

Yet... after all that I know that God is still in control and He still has the perfect solution for us at the perfect time. I just read through what I posted above and realized that the sequence of events is all out of whack up there and probably doesn't make any sense! Ha! It's like this:

Gary started inspecting the house.

We told him of our issues last time and asked if he thought we might run into the same problems with the appraiser rating the house "sub-standard" (meaning the bank won't loan). He did.

I called Dad for counsel and prayer. He gave both. I love him for it.

James decided to go with option B: Pay the $100 for inspection and walk away.

He went to call Laura and tell her so while I went to the living room to cry. I'd already been to the "office" to pray earlier.

While I was crying, James was talking to Laura and discussing the possibility of a different kind of loan, thus providing us with a "well, ma-a-a-a-a-a-aybe this isn't totally over with YET" sort of an answer. IF they will agree to let us have another month, we might be able to get the renovation loan and close sometime in November. But we don't know how likely that is.

I know that it's every bit as much in God's hands now as it ever was. If He works more miracles and places this house in our hands I will be ecstatic. If He chooses not to do that, I can only be thankful because He knows best. Either way, it's a journey of faith and trust and prayer and searching and yielding. And eventually crashing and crying, then recovering and leveling out over the next hour or two. ;-) I'm back to normal now, though I do still feel weary of all of this stuff. It will be so nice to be done with it some day. Until then, I'm trying to remind myself to just live pleasing to the Lord today, this moment, and not carry tomorrow's burdens and concerns. "Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." Jesus said that right after He said not to worry about what you'll have to eat or to drink or to wear tomorrow. Houses didn't even make the list. Then later on Paul said, "Having food and raiment let us be therewith content." Content, he said. Without a house. Jesus didn't have one. I have so much to learn. He is helping me. We're in a good place. A learning place. How blessed we are! I pray we'll be stronger and wiser nearer to the Lord because of it all.