2 strikes

We got another offer on the MI house this weekend. It was a LOW offer. Considering we have already lowered the price $22,500 over the last 6 months and we currently have the house listed for the price we purchased it for almost 8 years ago, the potential buyer offered 10k lower than our current listed price. He was not willing to go any higher and we weren't willing to go that low. This is our 2nd offer that hasn't panned out. I wonder to myself if buyers are just so confident that they can abuse sellers that they just make offers on houses they really can't afford to buy just hoping they will find a desperate seller who will give the house away. I also wonder to myself, what is the lesson I am suppose to learn out of this experience? I don't think the lesson is to move back to Michigan, aside from the house, this transition has been unbelievably smooth. All of us have adjusted very well to our new life. Bill and I have jobs we both love, the kids are doing great in school, so I ask again what is the lesson to be learned?

So for all those sellers who have been taken advantage of from their buyers and settled out of desperation, this one is for you. We turned down the buyers offer and said we would wait it out a little longer. Here's hoping the 3rd times the charm!

It was meant to be

I started a new job this week. When we originally decided to move, we had made a pact with each other that I would not go back to work for 1 year as we tried to adjust to our new life, however, as we started to get settled and as the kids started back at school and as the stress of the house still for sale has taken its toll, I had 3 moments of weakness in which I hopped on the computer, found ads for open positions and sent off my resume. 2 times I did that, within hours of sending out my resume, I got a response from the potential employer asking to set up an interview. I went to the 1st interview and immediately fell in love with the idea of having that position. I felt the interview went well and I knew I would get called for a 2nd interview. That same week, I had another interview with the other potential employer. That interview also went well. The first employer was a part-time position at a church. I really connected with the panel of people I interviewed with and I really liked the idea of working in a church environment. The 2nd employer was a full-time position in the medical field. I was not thrilled with the thought of working full-time yet, but knew that part-time positions in my field are hard to come by.

I first got an offer for the full-time position. It was with great contemplation that I decided to turn down that job offer. In a leap of faith, I really felt that I was better suited for the part-time position and that the part-time position fit better with my family needs. It was a tough decision. The full-time position would have been enough money to continue to pay the house payments in Michigan forever and would have eliminated a ton of stress, but it would have also added different stress to our family and we decided it really wasn't worth the strain on the family for me to work full-time. So without knowing if I would get the offer from the part-time position, I turned down the full-time position.

A week later, I returned for a 2nd interview with the church. I got and gladly accepted the offer for the position. As I talked with one of the pastors about the position, he commented that they were really worried that they would find a qualified person who would be willing to work part-time. That struck me as so interesting, because I was on the other side of the fence thinking that part-time positions don't come along very often and I need to grab it while it was available. It was definitely a situation in which God had a plan!

I have only been working there for a couple of days now, but I can already tell it is a place I will fit in well and will enjoy working.

As far as the 3rd resume goes, I have had a phone interview for that position prior to the offer from the church. I am curious if I will be called for an actual interview for the position. I am a little tempted if I get a call to go to the interview just to see if I would get the job offer. Then I would be 3 for 3!

Labor Day Weekend

The Davidson clan

We decided to go visit Grandma Davidson for Labor Day weekend. Now that we have moved closer, it isn't such an ordeal to go visit. We decided to take advantage of the holiday weekend to visit. Grandma was very excited to see the kids. It had been about 1 1/2 years since she last saw us.

On Saturday, the boys were in the back yard playing with some relatives that also stopped by to visit. They were in the backyard building a fort by dragging sticks out of the wooded area into the back yard. They were working really hard on it for a long time. Aaron came on the porch complaining of chigger bites. He was itching feverishly at his legs. Someone suggested spraying him with bug spray. Dad lifted his shorts leg to spray his legs and found hundreds of seed ticks all over his leg! We immediately started trying to get the ticks off his legs while also checking the other boys. Both Aaron and Evan were covered in ticks. Both boys were immediately stripped down to their skiveys and the removal procedure started. We found yet another use for duct tape. It worked the best at getting the ticks off. The boys were crying and howling because not only were their legs itching, but their hair on their legs was getting pulled everytime we pulled a piece off tape off. Evan kept crying telling me "I only like Michigan and Waterloo!" Needless to say, they didn't go anywhere but the porch and driveway for the rest of the weekend.

Aside from the tick episode, we had a great time visiting with family.

The Fort

The tick victim

Preschool has lots of rules

Evan started preschool yesterday. He was a little nervous going into class, but I was able to leave him without any meltdowns. When I came to pick him up, I was walking down the hallway and could hear the class talking. They were taking turns answering get to know you questions. It was Evan's turn (great timing on my part!) His question was what did you do on your summer vacation. Evan stated, I can't remember. I of course was sending him telepathic messages trying to help him out. The teacher gave him some ideas, like did you ride roller coasters, did you go camping, etc. He said, I don't know I just can't remember. When we got into the car to go home, I said Evan, don't you remember going to the cabin, going to the beach, going to the carnival and riding the rides? OH YEAH! He says, my teacher asked me those questions! He also told me "Mom, preschool has a lot of rules". I asked him like what kind of rules, he told me "don't walk under the monkey bars" I said that is probably a good rule!

Back to School

Today was the first day of school for Aaron and Jenna. It was their first day at their new school in their new town, in their new state. They both seemed less nervous about it than I did. I was of course worried that they would find friends to play with and that they would settle into the class without being the obvious newbie. So Evan and I walked them to school and sent them off to have a fabulous first day while Evan and I were off to have a coffee date with some other ladies new to the area. I worried all day that they were doing ok, that Jenna got through the lunch line ok. Finally, 2:30 arrived and it was time to pick them up. I promised Jenna I would be outside the school to walk them home, knowing she was nervous about the whole block she would have to walk home from school. Evan and I made sure we were there before school got out so she wouldn't panic. We waited and Aaron came strutting out as if he had been going to this school for years now. I asked him how his day was, he said great. Then it was Jenna's turn to come out of the school. I saw her smiling face which was a good sign and then I couldn't believe my eyes when I realized she was walking out hand and hand with another little girl. Jenna's first words to me were, "Mom can Maddie come over to play?" I think she had a good day! Aaron summed up his day as this, "Mom, you know what the best part about the day was? We got a brownie with our lunch!"

House still on market

Well, I got the news today, the alleged buyer can't get his financing approved so he has rescinded his offer on our house. Even though he was pre-approved for the loan, he was unable to come up with the down payment. I have mixed emotions about this. I am relieved because it felt like a crappy deal anyway, but I am sad because it keeps us in this stressful financial situation. So back to square one, looking for a buyer on the house, hoping one will come alone before we are totally ruined financially.

Our MI house

We have accepted an offer on our house in Michigan. It is not the fairy tale ending one would hope. We are losing our ass on the place financially, but the silver lining is that we will be able to move forward without having the stress of the unsold property lingering over us. I started "window" shopping for a house here in Iowa today. We'll have to wait until the dust settles from the house from Michigan and we did sign a year lease on the apartment we are living in, but it never hurts to start looking right?

We are taking inventory of the blessings we have in our life despite the loss on the house. We are all healthy, Bill is gainfully employed and loves his job, the economy here is very healthy, we won't have to make a mortgage payment and rent each month, and we still have some savings. So for that and many other things, we are very thankful.