Tah-dah!!!! As of May 13th, it's ours. =D

So amazing. 3 years ago, we were embarking on a new adventure - renting out our home, moving from 2,000 square feet to a 600 sq. ft. apartment, and John starting tech school. 2 years ago, he was in a brand new job in a new field for him, working and going to school full time. We hoped to get a new house within a couple years. 1 year ago we read Dave Ramsey's book and completely changed the way we did our finances, and were able to suddenly start actually saving real money for a home (now realizing we would get nothing from the sale of our last house). Then 8 or 9 months ago our looming suspicions were confirmed: our house would not be selling yet after all.

The time-frame of being able to purchase another house has fluctuated so much over the almost 3 years. At first we felt 2 years would do it. Last summer we had a sinking feeling that it could be another 3-4 years before we'd reach our goal. The more we scrimped every penny though, the more John got raises bit by bit, and worked many overtime hours due to the nature of his line of work - the more we looked into houses of a much lower price range - we realized we were much closer than we thought!

Things worked out so wonderfully for us as well in that we were able to get new renters in our old home, who signed a 2-year lease. So lo and behold we started looking in February, found this house in March, and decided pretty quick we likely wouldn't get it. We didn't even put an offer on it thinking it would be rejected. But after a week, it was still active and the offers that WERE on it had been rejected. So we gave it a shot. To our surprise, it being bank-owned, they actually counter-offered. We crunched numbers. We prayed. We sought advice. We were on our way to look at it one more time and make a decision. On the way there, John found out he got another raise. Wow.

So here we go! Another new adventure has begun. Not our first house, no - our third in fact. The adventure lies in desperate state the house was in, and in undertaking to save it from it's demise, with our own sweat and elbow grease. It has suffered 20 - 30 years of tobacco smoke, jerry-rigging, and neglect in certain areas. Lots of stains, smells, many needed repairs, outdated features to wazoo, water damage...who even knows what else awaits us.

But - it has lots of space. It has a great layout. Good bones. A big basement. It's in a nice neighborhood - nice houses and yards, friendly neighbors, and our favorite park just half a mile away. A fenced-in nice sized back yard, a fireplace, and a walk-in closet. ^_^ Plus all kinds of other little extras that we wouldn't have even thought to put on our wishlist, and would have purchased the home without them - and yet there they are. Thanks God!

Many pictures are to come - we're already in the thick of renovation and making great headway! It's been less than a month and boy have we been hard at work. So excited to post pictures of "before and now", muse over design plans and schemes and ideas, get opinions and advice. Our move-in goal is August 31st-ish, but we'll be working on various projects for months - even years - to come. Boredom? What's that? :-P