Dear Friends & Family ♥
We closed on our 'new' house yesterday! Poor Boss had to sign about a hundred papers, in addition to the hundred at the loan application. We didn't even get a key to the house since the owners son is still in there :-( Later we rode over there to chat with the son and to walk thru the house. I've only seen it one time, for about a 20 minute walk thru, several weeks ago. It's scary to buy such a huge investment of money & time & sweat over something i've only seen once! The son had promised he'd finish putting down flooring, do some painting, fix the porch screening, and clean the place up ... NONE of which has been done! :-( Starting to regret this decision to move there. Everyday here at the farm is a sweet sad, knowing it will be gone soon. I try to pause and treasure moments of beauty but it just makes it that much harder to let go. This has been our home for over 11 years and we've invested tremendous blood, sweat & tears in it. Maybe it is time to move on, but we both feel like the new house isn't really the right place to be moving forward to. I had felt like God was opening a door of opportunity for us and we would be foolish not to walk thru it, but now i'm wondering if we just rushed into a very long-term mistake. I know the Good Lord is with us no matter where we live and that is the comfort that I cling to. I told Boss 'Home' isn't a house, it's 'US' - him, me, our dogs- and we can make any dwelling our home. I hope i'm right. At our age it's hard to go thru such big changes, but even harder if those choices we've made turn out to be big mistakes.
The house is an antique, built in 1943, it's even older than me! It has 3 bedrooms, one bath (oh dear!!), fenced in yard, a dishwasher (YAY!!), and .... well, that's about it. No celing fans or ceiling lights (oh dear!!) and the neighbors are within arm's reach (oh dear!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). We are so used to the peace & quiet here at the farm, the privacy, the wide open spaciousness, that the new house will be like living in a very cramped, tiny, fishbowl or like being constantly onstage.
We moved out here to get away from all the noise and for the privacy and serenity, and here we are going right straight back into what we were so desperate to get away from! (oh dear ... what have we done???)
So why did we make this decision??
1. For Boss to be closer to his kids in case anything should happen to me.
2. Gas prices are totally KILLING us. Most all our business is in W.R. so we are using a lot of gas regularly,
although,i've noticed that in town we spend an awful lot of time sitting at traffic lights & in traffic, so i don't know
if we'll be saving any money by moving there.
3. Being in the middle of town, we'll have our pick of eatery's so we won't have to cook & mess up the kitchen so much.
4. Hopefully, i'll be able to find a part-time job close to home where i can walk to work.
5. We'll be one & a half miles away from the store where our booth is located so we can manage that alot better.
6. We'll be just a mile from his doctor and the hospital in case of emergencys or urgencys.
7. We already know our way around town.
8. Here at the farm we feel like we have so much space that we tend to hoard and pack-rat ourselves to death, so hopefully
by being forced into downsizing we'll be better able to get tidy and stay that way.
(crossing fingers and praying for that one!)
9. We'll be about 2 blocks away from his church, so that will be convenient, and we'll be right across the street from a
lovely church that i've always admired, and have considered attending.
(The church has loud half-hourly chimes ... something that is going to be either quaint to our ears ...or a very
irritating nuisance!)
10. Boss gets lonely out here and there he'll be right in the middle of thousands of people he can chat up.
11. The church parking lot is perfect for the family to park in when we have large pot-luck occasions at our house.
12. Hopefully our electric bill will go down.
13. The dogs will be fenced in.
14. House payments = Tax-write-off
Now, why are we reluctant to move??
1. Neighbors right on top of us.
2. Noise.
3. Worried about our dogs.
4. Neighbors in less than spitting distance.
5. No privacy.
6. Only one bathroom. (EXTREMELY tiny with not even a place to put toothbrushes ... and has no exhaust vent.)
7. A tad too convenient for drop-in guests.
8. Impossibly small kitchen.
9. The existing workshop is much too small and we'll have to figure out how to build another one or move my 2 sheds
over there, which won't fit under the carport to be moved into the backyard. Seems to be Boss's obsession right now.
10.Neighbors.
When we drove up to the house yesterday, the neighbor to our side was out cutting his yard, while his older-teenage son stood on the sidewalk glaring at us very hatefully as we drove by. We are different skin-color as them, so now i'm feeling very uneasy by the very UN-welcoming.
Anyway, please keep us in your prayers as we keep you in ours. Will take some pictures to post soon.
Love always, 'Belle
