Twenty-one more will open. Well, that is how many doors we counted this morning that will have to be painted. Yikes. So I think you are all past due for some updates. Where do I even begin? I guess I should update you on the past few months in the tiny house first. Things have been going well…just plugging along. We have been super busy these past few months- as most everyone is in the spring. The April storms sent us packing to a hotel a few times, but other than that things have been going well. Have we gotten irritated with each other? Yes. Have we wished we had another bathroom at times? Yes. But nothing has happened that made us say, “That’s it. We have had enough and are looking for a bigger house.” Matt and I have always said that when the time was right, we would know. And let's be honest, family gets irritated with each other even in the biggest of houses. So last Friday, I was taking Callan’s friend home. She lives in the neighborhood down the street. In fact, a lot of the kids’ friends from school live in that neighborhood. I have always thought to myself- this is a nice little neighborhood. Anyway, as we were leaving the neighborhood, Cooper said, “Hey mom. I like that house and it is for sale.” I glanced over and thought to myself- well I kind of like that house too. And as that thought crossed my mind, I felt a little nudge to investigate. Once we got home, I looked up the house online to see some more pictures and most importantly to see how much it was listed for. Then I sent the text to Matt that he hates to receive, “Call me.” So eventually he called and I said, “Hey there is a house for sale at the end of the street in the subdivision. I think we need to go look at it.” “Let’s talk about this when I get home,” he responded. That is always what he says. Drives me crazy. Why can’t we talk about it then? I am a now person not a later person. But I agreed that we would discuss it at home. And we did. Matt asked if I thought it was time to move and I explained that I didn’t know, but I did know that we were supposed to go see this house. It was late and so he said he would call the next day to set up a time to go see it. Matt was on board. The next morning I had to go to a workshop, but I had a hard time focusing. First, I was thinking- is this really what we are supposed to be doing? Second, two numbers kept popping up in my head- the amount we were going to offer and the amount we were going to pay. It was very clear to me that we were going to make an offer on this house and we had not even been to see it! Matt had not even called about it at this point! Matt finally (well it seemed like a really long time, ok) called and said we were could go see the house at 5. We took one step inside and I knew it was the right one. Matt knew that I knew. I am not good at hiding my emotions. Sometimes that gets me in lots of trouble. We finished up the tour (on the tour we saw a baby deer on the property!) and once in the car I told Matt, “I like it. Let’s buy it.” He was like, "Ok." Easy peasy. We are the best big decision makers ever. We can't decide where to eat out for dinner, but we can decide to buy a house in a day. This story is much longer than I intended. I told Matt what we needed to offer. Just for the sake of the story let’s say it was $100,000. He was all like- “Chamie, we would pay 105 so let’s just offer that. I don’t feel right offering 100. Then I told him, “All day long two numbers have been in my head. I know we will pay 105, but that is not the number we need to offer. I have been trying to convince myself that 105 is the right offer as well, but God keeps telling me to offer 100.” We had a bit of a disagreement. A few moments later Matt was daydreaming- or so it appeared. I said, “What are you doing?” I was thinking why are you staring off into space when we have important phone calls to be making?!?!?! “Praying,” he responded. That’s a good man right there, people. I softly responded, "Ok," and felt bad for my previous thoughts. So let me finish this up. Matt called. He offered 100. (That’s a smart man right there. Ha! Just kidding. I am sure he did it because of God and not me.) Finally, they called back with a counter. Know what it was? Yup…105. God is so cool. If only we would listen to Him more often, He has this all worked out for us. He's probably sitting up there like- why are you down there doing your own thing when I have bigger and better plans for you? LISTEN to me! I bet He feels like I do when my kids won't listen. Oops. So there you have it. We are currently in the process of buying a house. Let me answer a few questions everyone has been asking. When will you move? We will move in a month or so because banks operate slowly. What will you do with the tiny house? Currently the plan is to rent the tiny house so I can still threaten the kids that we are moving back if they don’t clean up their rooms. It will be furnished because all of the furniture was pretty much made for the house. If you know someone interested, have them message me. If you know someone selling furniture, message me. What will you move to the house? Nothing. We don’t have much. Actually the kids will all have bedroom suites. Matt and I will buy a mattress and throw it on the floor. Don’t expect anything other than lawn chairs and a folding table if you come over anytime soon. It’s ok though, we will be perfectly content sitting on the floor. Its been a while since we have had a floor big enough to sit on! Were you planning to buy a house? Yes. At some point we knew we would move out of the tiny house we just didn’t know when. I did not expect it to be so soon. We were not house hunting. We were just driving down the street and happened upon the perfect house for us. God was planning for us to buy a house. We just didn't know it. How big is the new house? It is bigger than our old house and is the same size as approximately 7.5 tiny houses. I might lose a kid. Are the kids excited? They are SO excited! We didn't take them to see the house until after the offer was accepted. We didn't want them to get too excited about something that may not be theirs. Cooper is super excited about his walk in tub. I sort of think I might like it as well. They are all looking forward to having their own rooms with a door. Matt is excited that their rooms aren’t close to ours. (wink wink) Are you excited? I am excited. I think that the timing is right. I will miss things about the tiny house, but I am sure we will all find ourselves piled up on the couch watching TV just like it has always been. I am not excited about having to walk around the kitchen to get things. I like everything being at my fingertips. I am excited that my daily step count will increase! I am looking forward to being a part of a neighborhood where the kids can ride their bikes and go visit their friends. One of the things I am most excited about is the neighborhood pool! I have always wanted a pool but Matt has never wanted pool maintenance. Win win! Do you regret going tiny? First of all, I am not one to live with regrets. Once I make a decision, I move forward. Big decisions don’t haunt me. My mother has said that I have always been like that. I suppose it is a blessing, but I just live knowing that once a decision is made I can change what comes of it, but not that it was made in the first place. God has a plan and he had a plan for us in the tiny house. We wanted to teach our children to become less materialistic. In reality, I think I am the one who learned that lesson the most. The house we bought is old and needs lots of updates. I would have never even given that house a second glance a year ago. But when I look at that house now, I see the things it offers and not what needs to be changed. For me that is a big lesson to learn. It is easy to see what things aren’t when really what matters most is what they are. Don’t get me wrong- I am still gonna paint the entire house but you know what I mean. So we have no regrets. I have no desire to be back in our old house. I wouldn’t trade this past year for anything and I cannot wait to experience the blessings God has in store for us in the new house. So there you have it. One adventure ends and a new one begins. In the mean time, anyone wanna go garage sale shopping?
2 Comments
Amye Smith
6/13/2018 04:18:38 pm
Hi Chamie. Congrats on the new house. This is Thomas’ mom, in case you didn’t recognize the name. I don’t know if he mentioned, but we are moving to Texarkana, TX. We don’t plan to take much with us so we will be selling some furniture. We have a large, formal dining table/chairs, a breakfast table, two full cherry-wood sleigh beds, a king (very neutral) upholstered bed, random cherry chests and nightstands and a few other things. Let me know if you’d like to see any of them. 😊
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Chamie
6/13/2018 10:31:53 pm
I would love some pics or I can come see. Let me know. You can email me at my work email! Thanks!!!
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I am Chamie, wife to Matt; mom to Callan (14), Cooper (11), and Archives
September 2017
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