Moving on to "Home Ownership"

     Six years ago we moved to our home in Sandy for Ryan's Job.  We really loved our neighborhood and all of our friends there, but we were renting and knew/hoped that one day we would buy our own home and have to move.  Buying a house was a goal our entire family had.  In family prayers our kids had been praying for a while that we would be able to buy a house.  Sometimes I wondered if that time would ever come,  but a few months ago we felt it was time to start looking to buy.  We then started praying that we would be able to find the right house for our family.  

     We loved the area we were in and did not want to leave it so we started our search there.  It was very discouraging,  but the feeling that it was time to buy became stronger.  So we started to expand our search.  Some were livable, some were not.  there were a couple we started to make offers on,  but we just didn't feel right about them, so we kept looking.  Ryan and I would spend an evening driving around looking at houses,  and I would get a pit in my stomach until we drove back into our neighborhood.  Then it would all feel calm again.  So I knew we had not found the house.  We continued looking, and praying that we would find a home.  

     One day Ryan had to drive from Provo to Tooele for work.  He took the back way just to see how it was.  When he turned off in Lehi, he called me and asked why we were not looking at houses there.  

     So I called our realtor Maryanne and we started looking.    The pit in my stomach lessened and I knew we were on the right track,  but as we looked at houses I still did not feel right about any of them. Even the brand new builds we looked at.  I LOVED the houses,  but something bothered me about them.  

     A couple weeks later I was looking online and found a few houses in Eagle Mountain.  Ryan and I decided that we would drive out and look at them  first before we drug Maryanne out there.  Just to make sure that was really somewhere we wanted to live.  As soon as we arrived in the Ranches we both felt that we had found the community where we would find our home.  

     The next day we went out with Maryanne and looked at houses.  We both found a house we liked,  but again I had a feeling that it was not it.  (Ryan was not happy that I still did not have a good feeling about a house)    There was one house we could not get into until Monday,  so we decided to wait until we could see that house before we put an offer in on the other.  Ryan could not come with me on Monday,  but as soon as I walked into the house,  it felt like home.  It was almost exactly like the other house,  but a little bigger and a few little details were different.  The biggest difference was this house was a short sale so it would be a little trickier to get.  We put the offer in right away and waited.  It was a short sale so we planned to wait a while,  but the waiting didn't take long.  It turned out it had already been through most of the red tape with another buyer and then the sale fell through.  So they just slid us in their place. 

      A monthe later we were told the house was ours and a month after that the yellow moving truck was in our driveway and we were moving into our new home.   

        

     Grandma Bolander provided our last meal in our old house... Kentucky Fried Chicken.......They didn't give us any forks though, and all of our silverware was packed away.  Luckily we came across Valerie's play dishes, so we didn't have to eat mash potatoes with our hands.

Although some of us didn't quite have forks.

The kids had some mixed feelings about moving

Joe was our biggest voice when it came to praying for a new house in family prayer,  but I he didn't realize that a new house would mean leaving all of his friends and school that he loved.   He was very nervous about having to meet new people.  

     Emily was the most excited about the new house.  My friend Laura was really surprised at just how okay Emily was with moving.  I was a little surprised myself.  I remember when my family moved when I was Emily's age.  I was more like Joe.  I did not want to leave my friends.  Emily told me that she has always known we would move out of that house though, because we were renting,  so she was happy we were going to have our own house.  I was glad.  She use to have a hard time with change.

Josh seemed excited about moving,  he was really excited that he was going to get his own room in the new house.  He has always been pretty dependent on Joe though, so we will see how he does on his own.

Valerie seemed fine with the move except for leaving her friend Addie.  I don't think they really understand what moving means.  I don't think we will really know for a week or two how Valerie feels about the move.

Our new home is in a community full of families and kids.  I know it will not take long for my kids to find friends.   I am so grateful for the knowledge we have in the gospel that when making these big decisions the Lord will guide us and help us to make the choices that will be the best for us and our family.  I am so grateful for this blessing of a new home.  We were blessed in many ways during our search for it and I saw the Lords hand many times during this process.  Our prayers were answered,  and I am excited to start making memories in our new home.