Standing In Awe

When Roy and I found out we were moving to Texas, we began diligently searching Trulia and Zillow and realtor.com. You know...house hunting. Fairly quickly into this game, I received an email from Chas-bo, my sweet BIL, regarding a house for sale in Keene. One of the team members in the Advancement Department at SWAU, Rachel--whom I liked immediately and would have been on the same "team" as me once I started this new job--decided to follow her new husband who got a dream job in Kansas City. And so, they put their house up for sale and she determined her last day would be July 15.

When Chas told me about the house, my first thought was--waaay out of our price range...even before I heard the amount.

2 acres
Fruit trees
3 bed/2 bath brick home
A shop for Roy
A storage shed

I don't know how much you know regarding realty in Texas at the moment, but it's hot. As in, people get their asking price and sometimes more than their asking price. Often there are multiple bids on one house. Our realtor told us that she saw a house listed at 167,000 sell for 182,000. It's a seller's market.

Anyway, I called Rachel and we set a date for looking at the house via Skype and she walked me through it.

I loved it.

And then she told me the price.

And I said, thanks, Rachel--but no thanks. It's out of my price range.

Doggone it.

Because? It was perfect.

And then we moved to Texas.

And then we looked at houses.

One day Chas came home and said, "There's another piece of property for sale that has 1.5 acres and a house that has been completely remodeled."

And so we drove by it and we thought, "Let's check it out."

But again--it was out of our price range.

However, this time around? Well, we were willing to work the numbers a bit, stretch more than we thought we should, or even could...

And when we wrapped our thoughts around the idea that we could make it work, it suddenly hit me...

We could afford the house with the 2 acres and the fruit trees and the shop.

I called Rachel.

We all piled in to look at the house--as in my sister and Chas-Bo and and my mom and my niece and Jace and Roy and me.

Yeah.

Rachel was unfazed.

Can we keep you, Rachel?

We made an offer.

They accepted.

We arrived in Keene, Texas on June 28, 2016.

Two days later we began the process of purchasing a home that lies on the outskirts of town. It's at the very end of Pecan Street and sits underneath the shade of several large oak trees. The view from the front porch looks out over an open field. The view from the back porch? What will be our very own property that stretches back just about as far as the eye can see. It has a large living room with a wood-burning fireplace that spans one wall. A cozy kitchen. 2 car garage. 3 comfortable-sized bedrooms. A shop so Roy can rebuild his '81 Firebird in peace. An alcove for my little freezer out in the garage. A sound storage shed that will house gardening tools and more. A metal building that could easily transition to a chicken coop.

This morning I got out of bed and stumbled to the kitchen, made myself a cappuccino, and hung out in what used to be the chair in the man-cove. I am surrounded by boxes. My kitchen is a mess. My bedroom is a dive. And my bathroom? Let's not even go there.

But honestly? I am so excited. I am living an adventure. Each day is filled with surprises--some surprises that take me back a bit, make me take a deep breath and remember that I can only move forward one step at a time, conquering whatever is just in front of me...

And some surprises that make me stand in awe.