WigHouse Update

This was taken by my Dad before he and my Mom returned to Germany on Monday. I wanted a picture of us in front of our house before we move away so we always remember how little the kids were at this house (in this pic, they're REALLY little!). I updated the pictures in the slide show today...to the tune of 70 pictures! I had to include the best of my camera, my dad's and my mom's. Though, I admit, most of the pictures are my Dad's. Below are my four favorites that he took:



Thanks for such wonderful pictures, Dad! The best part is that they truly captured what a lovely time we had with you two.

My parents graciously watched the kids as we house shopped EVERY day for two weeks! Some how we still found time to enjoy each other. They got to see the house we chose to bid on as well. It's probably silly of me to write about the following now as we should find out in the next few hours whether we won the bid or not, but I'd rather include you all in our journey and not just in the outcome.

As I shared previously we wrestled with all the choices before us. If we were honest, we'd admit we wanted our cake and to eat it too. Slightly roomier house with acreage for half the price! Well, when we looked at houses that were half the price, if they actually had any land with them they were barely inhabitable. Two didn't have a kitchen or a bathroom! As we realized something had to give if we wanted a cheaper house, we looked at trailers and land, houses in town with a yard, we explored all our options. As it began to look dismal, I started to realize my "need" to live debt free was becoming greedy in it's own way. Funny how in their extreme forms both materialism and frugality can reveal a greedy heart.

Finally, last Friday we looked at a great house, roomier than we'd ever need and it had 1.25 acres. I asked God if this was the place and I felt Him say to follow Ben's lead. So, turns out Ben loved it. We made a super low bid on Monday, the asking price is about 20K more than our TOP bid. They came down a little, we came up a little, but still we were 18K apart.

Last night as we talked about how much to counter offer we got talking about another house we had looked at and discussed how much we'd bid on that one in comparison. The more we thought about it, the more we realized that it was just as good of a house as the one we bid on and we'd be just as happy there. We slept on it last night and decided this morning to make our final offer on the big house, knowing we had another house we can bid on if this doesn't work out.

Now we wait..wait to hear how much of a buyer's market it really is right now. The owner says he has 30K more invested than they had in the starting price. Will they come down another 13K just to get it off their hands? I have a peace either way, but I'll keep ya posted!