It just amazes me to stop and think about how much our life has changed in just one year. One year ago we were really enjoying some changes that we had just made to our home and looking forward to a few more upgrades.
Last June we had just finished having some beautiful wood floors installed in our living room and family room. This was something I had wanted for such a long time and I was so thrilled with how they turned out. The Living Room Reveal – New Floors was posted on June 30, 2016 and was one of my most popular posts.
The new floors & rug totally changed the look and feel of the family room too. It just seemed to come to life.
We were also in the process of doing a kitchen makeover that was badly needed. Going from dark chocolate to white made such a difference. I felt like we had a brand new kitchen. At this point I was really thinking about new appliances and granite too.
We had pretty much gone through the whole house and refreshed everything. The master bedroom makeover was one of my favorites – – –
and I absolutely loved our master bedroom closet makeover.
I had missed having a pool so much, so our children had just finished adding this fabulous little pool to our backyard. This was the most wonderful gift and I loved sitting and soaking in this little dream.
This was such a fun spot to cool off and relax in and the water fall was such a pretty feature at night too.
Just when things were “almost” perfect at this house, the Lord rekindled my desire to move back closer to family. We lived too far away to enjoy any of those spur of the moment times that make so many wonderful memories. Only problem, the area we wanted to move back too was very expensive and mostly older homes that needed a lot of remodeling.
Before we did anything else to our current home, I decided to call a Realtor and see what was available. It was really eye opening to see what we would face if we made the move.
I shared some of what we saw with these two posts here and – – –
here. Everything we saw needed tons of work and the prices were totally staggering. Most of them didn’t have a pool or if they did the price was really outrageous and most of the pools needed work too. I just couldn’t find anything in an area that I liked and in our price range.
At this point I was so frustrated and wasn’t sure this was what the Lord had in mind at all. We had looked at quite a few houses the whole months of July and August. So I finally sat down and had a good old fashioned talk with myself and turned it over to the Lord. I just needed to “Let Go & Let God”.
We continued to look as homes became available. We didn’t list our home, we just felt like we had to make sure this was going to be the right thing to do and if it was, then the right home would come along. 3 months later, we found a home that I knew I could remodel and make it just perfect for us – we made an offer. This place was in a great area only 12 years old and totally “Builder Basic”. I wouldn’t have to redo anything someone else did, I could start from scratch and put my own stamp on it. Best of all it was in our price range too and would leave me with enough money to have a pool built. The icing on the cake was it was really close to family so we could get together on a minutes notice for some of the most fun spur of the moment get-togethers.
They accepted our offer so we listed our house and it sold in just a couple of days at above asking price. November 19th it was definitely a go. We were moving. My dreams were going to become a reality and movers were scheduled for December 17th.
At the end of moving day, this is what I saw in our new home – the movers just unloaded everything and piled it inside the front door. Wow, I had a lot of work to do. No time to think about putting this house together, we still had carpet cleaners and some paint touch up to do at our old house before we turned it over to the new buyers. We handed over the keys on Dec 21 and in 4 days we went from this – – –
to this. Enough set up to have a small tree and all the family over for Christmas night. How Blessed could any girl get?
That was just the beginning – when God is running the show, he makes all kinds of things happen in a minute. Two weeks after moving in our contractor had some time available, so our Kitchen Remodel got started – (this is what it looked like when we bought it) Not too many cabinets and the appliances barely worked. Only 2 burners on the stove would turn on and the oven was 50 degrees off. However – – – –
by the first part of February, it looked like this. I am positive the Lord was in control of this too, because it came out so much better than my dreams. You can see the complete makeover reveal here.
After that we started hunting for the right people to transform our backyard. One of the blessings of this house was that the back yard was a good size and had absolutely nothing in it. A total blank slate to do anything we wanted.
We spent March getting quotes from several pool contractors The biggest thing on my wish list for a new home was to have a pool. Well God didn’t disappoint here either. We found the right builders and by the middle of April they dug the hole. You just can’t believe how much this means to me. Living in the desert with temps way above 110 for a good portion of the year, this is the only way you can ever enjoy being outside. By the first week of June Our Pool Was Finished.
I know for sure when you have a wish list, the Lord fulfills every single detail.
There have been so many more blessing in the 6 months since we moved and this house is really turning into the perfect home for use. You can see how many changes have taken place inside with my Summer Home Tour. You can see what it looked like when we bought it here.
There is no way to explain how Blessed I feel and how thankful I am for our new home and how the Lord orchestrated the whole thing. I would have never thought that in one short year life could be so different. A beautiful new home and living closer to family was a dream that He made reality.
If you are praying for something that is on your heart, sometimes you just have to “Let Go & Let God” and trust. I know how hard that is to do, but when He is in control and works things out in His perfect timing, it always turns out best and way beyond what you ever imagined.
P.S. Thanks you all so much for the wonderful response and comments on my “Let Go & Let God” post. I loved hearing the stories about how so many of you are in the same boat I was a year ago with a deep desire for some kind of change and nothing is happening. I do know that waiting on the Lord is the hard part of any wish. One thing I do believe in deeply is the phrase – “God Can’t Steer A Parked Car”. I think we have to have our eyes, ears and hearts open to what He is putting in front of us and when he opens a door be willing to walk through it. My hunt started out for a move-in ready house in a really nice neighborhood and with a big yard and pool. The door He opened was for a Builder Basic Fixer-Upper in a nice neighborhood with a big yard and no pool but at an affordable price that would give me enough money to remodel a few things and to build a pool. In the end I got the perfect place for us. So be flexible and be willing to see what He has in mind.
