Monday, June 6, 2016

seven!


I'm not sure any words are needed for this post.
Suffice it to say that our birthday/Memorial Day weekend was a barrel of fun and laughter and food and a few tears here and there. Peter and Jordan (right) both turned one and Noah (middle) turned three. My daughter Katie got this photo which took some darn good skills!

Seven! Who could have guessed? So blessed.

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

the rest of the story

So the last week of April we contacted our realtor in Michigan about the coming season and the plan for getting our property and cottage back on the market. Since this would be the fourth summer on the market, I had a heavy spirit over more showings, low offers and disappointments. I was sick of the whole thing, especially since we'd doubled the driving distance by moving to North Carolina.

Well. On Monday, May 2, I received a text from our realtor Katie. She started out talking about the listing documents we needed to send, but also: " a family spent most of the weekend looking around your place which I just found out. They called this morning and asked for the survey, listing, and want to make an offer!!"

We'd had three years of dashed hopes and promises of offers which never materialized. But as the day progressed and the texts kept coming, we began to have hope. And so it was .... a real, CASH offer by the end of the day. The next morning we countered which they accepted immediately. And they wanted to close by June 1.

June 1. About a month prior, I decided to pray for an OFFER by June 1, but God upped it and brought a CLOSING by June 1. In fact two weeks later we were on the road to Michigan: about 900 miles one way, to wrap it all up. We closed on May 20, just 18 days after the offer.

 
 
We loved the cabin these 14 years. She was our respite, our place to connect as a family, so rustic and charming and had a spectacular view of Grand Lake. But life changed. All our kids left Ohio. My dream of the grandkids bunking in the boat house wasn't practical. And keeping her was too costly.
 
We're glad a family with young children now owns the cabin. We trust they'll love and enjoy her as we did. While we won't miss the massive amount of upkeep she required, we'll miss how she welcomed and sheltered us each summer.
 
I drew closer to God through this long process. He taught me that prayer isn't solely about "getting what I want." It's about strengthening my relationship with Him and trusting His will for my life. It's about knowing He will always be with me and love me no matter what.