Welp, I've enjoyed my peace in Ennis long enough. It's time to get to work. No more sitting around. Taking long walks. Watching hours of TV and letting the house be torn apart from the kids. My vacation is over. I'm sad to see it go...but I'm not as sad as I am excited to buy a house!
It's kind of unexpected how this house buying thing came back to haunt us. Jaret was not sure about the idea of buying in the small town of Ennis. I, on the other hand, couldn't think of anything else. Since I spend most of my time at home I am always thinking of how great it would be to have my own home I can take pride in. What was enticing to Jaret was the idea of finding something that would be an investment. So, if it had an apartment or we could get instant equity then he was for it.
Once I get my mind spinning about something then all else goes by the way side. I started drawing up house plans that would include an apartment we could rent out. I kept an eye on the housing market and looked for the ideal lot for us. It was mostly a hobby until I kept getting follow ups by a local real estate agent I had talked to when I first came to Ennis. She must know what she's doing because regardless of my "we're taking it slow" comments she was on top of things....and she found us a lot we loved! This 2 acre lot sat next to a couple of small fishing ponds, an open space, it was in a subdivision and it was a straight shot to town. All for a great price! I was almost convinced we were going to live there. Except for the street name the lot sat on. I was trying to get over, "Dolly Varden". I was just not feeling it. Nevertheless, I got to work creating the perfect house plan that would fit me and Jarets wants and needs. I tried every way I could think of the design a nice little house with an extra apartment but when it came down to it we just couldn't build much of a house within our price range. After talking to a number of builders I found myself discouraged. We just weren't finding a way to build a house that would fit our family comfortably within our price point. After leaving our most promising option for building with a small house as the option I felt discouraged. We couldn't build our old house for the same price unless we built in an area that we felt would be hard to resell our house. I called our realtor with my discouragement. She is great and has always tried to be very understanding. She brought a certain house back up that she had been trying to get me to look at for a long time. I wasn't ready to look at it originally because it was at the top of our price point but didn't have the extra apartment. After facing my housing reality I started to see the value in this home. It is only a few years old, it sits on 1.4 acres with lots of open land surrounding it, it's on my walking route and close enough to town to walk, it has uses well water and is just outside city limits, and has nicer houses in the neighborhood which is good for resale if we ever have to leave. We looked at the house the next day and Jaret and I both loved it! It was bigger then we could have built but still modest. We can live comfortably there for a long time and easily add on if needed. We were finally both excited about something at the same time!
After doing some number crunching and praying about it we made an offer. It was accepted and we are excited! I find myself nervous once in a while because we are going to have to tighten up our spending and make some sacrifices and commitments. We are selling the truck to get out from under the monthly payment and getting rid of our home internet but keeping the net on our phones. The part that makes me the most nervous is that I've committed to work two days a week. I started substitute teaching and am enjoying the opportunity but it doesn't come with a guaranteed two times a week commitment. It has been hard but nice to be able to send the girls to play school while I sub. They don't get a lot of interaction with other kids here in the winter so it's been really good for them to get out a couple of times a week. I find that when I pick them up I miss them a lot. I'm kind of surprised how much I miss them...except the tantrums. :)
We've been so blessed since moving to Ennis. I value the peace and sanity I've felt since moving here more than anything. I feel like there are a lot of things that contribute to this new life. I was offered a job by a friend for the summer, I have less on my plate (which is slowly changing, I knew it would), I am not so "hormonally imbalanced" since I'm not having another kid any time soon, but most of all I have had more opportunities to strengthen my testimony here. I've been asked to fill in for people teaching church classes as well as grow in my church callings. I am remembering how strong I felt the spirit at times on my mission and I'm starting to see that in my daily life. I didn't realize I could feel that way not being a full time missionary. It feels really good. It is motivating to get into more of a habit doing spiritual things more often (like reading my scriptures and the upcoming church lessons).
So, we're super blessed. I am very grateful to Heavenly Father for our new lives. I wish I endured the hard times better because the good ones are so much sweeter because of them. Maybe I can learn from my experiences and do better for the next cycle. ;)
It's kind of unexpected how this house buying thing came back to haunt us. Jaret was not sure about the idea of buying in the small town of Ennis. I, on the other hand, couldn't think of anything else. Since I spend most of my time at home I am always thinking of how great it would be to have my own home I can take pride in. What was enticing to Jaret was the idea of finding something that would be an investment. So, if it had an apartment or we could get instant equity then he was for it.
Once I get my mind spinning about something then all else goes by the way side. I started drawing up house plans that would include an apartment we could rent out. I kept an eye on the housing market and looked for the ideal lot for us. It was mostly a hobby until I kept getting follow ups by a local real estate agent I had talked to when I first came to Ennis. She must know what she's doing because regardless of my "we're taking it slow" comments she was on top of things....and she found us a lot we loved! This 2 acre lot sat next to a couple of small fishing ponds, an open space, it was in a subdivision and it was a straight shot to town. All for a great price! I was almost convinced we were going to live there. Except for the street name the lot sat on. I was trying to get over, "Dolly Varden". I was just not feeling it. Nevertheless, I got to work creating the perfect house plan that would fit me and Jarets wants and needs. I tried every way I could think of the design a nice little house with an extra apartment but when it came down to it we just couldn't build much of a house within our price range. After talking to a number of builders I found myself discouraged. We just weren't finding a way to build a house that would fit our family comfortably within our price point. After leaving our most promising option for building with a small house as the option I felt discouraged. We couldn't build our old house for the same price unless we built in an area that we felt would be hard to resell our house. I called our realtor with my discouragement. She is great and has always tried to be very understanding. She brought a certain house back up that she had been trying to get me to look at for a long time. I wasn't ready to look at it originally because it was at the top of our price point but didn't have the extra apartment. After facing my housing reality I started to see the value in this home. It is only a few years old, it sits on 1.4 acres with lots of open land surrounding it, it's on my walking route and close enough to town to walk, it has uses well water and is just outside city limits, and has nicer houses in the neighborhood which is good for resale if we ever have to leave. We looked at the house the next day and Jaret and I both loved it! It was bigger then we could have built but still modest. We can live comfortably there for a long time and easily add on if needed. We were finally both excited about something at the same time!
After doing some number crunching and praying about it we made an offer. It was accepted and we are excited! I find myself nervous once in a while because we are going to have to tighten up our spending and make some sacrifices and commitments. We are selling the truck to get out from under the monthly payment and getting rid of our home internet but keeping the net on our phones. The part that makes me the most nervous is that I've committed to work two days a week. I started substitute teaching and am enjoying the opportunity but it doesn't come with a guaranteed two times a week commitment. It has been hard but nice to be able to send the girls to play school while I sub. They don't get a lot of interaction with other kids here in the winter so it's been really good for them to get out a couple of times a week. I find that when I pick them up I miss them a lot. I'm kind of surprised how much I miss them...except the tantrums. :)
We've been so blessed since moving to Ennis. I value the peace and sanity I've felt since moving here more than anything. I feel like there are a lot of things that contribute to this new life. I was offered a job by a friend for the summer, I have less on my plate (which is slowly changing, I knew it would), I am not so "hormonally imbalanced" since I'm not having another kid any time soon, but most of all I have had more opportunities to strengthen my testimony here. I've been asked to fill in for people teaching church classes as well as grow in my church callings. I am remembering how strong I felt the spirit at times on my mission and I'm starting to see that in my daily life. I didn't realize I could feel that way not being a full time missionary. It feels really good. It is motivating to get into more of a habit doing spiritual things more often (like reading my scriptures and the upcoming church lessons).
So, we're super blessed. I am very grateful to Heavenly Father for our new lives. I wish I endured the hard times better because the good ones are so much sweeter because of them. Maybe I can learn from my experiences and do better for the next cycle. ;)
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