Our home of eleven years was now under contract with a lovely couple who would be getting married in the fall. They want to raise a family in the same home that we have raised our boys. It was time to move on.

All of our friends and family are in the Clackamas/Multnomah County areas. We really wanted to stay in Clackamas County. We kept looking on Zillow and were not finding anything that worked for us. Either the property was great and the house wasn’t or the house was awesome but the property was limited. We thought that one acre would be a good start. Didn’t want to ask for too much. Being fiscally conservative people we don’t believe in a high house payment. That put a huge restriction on us but we were committed. We decided that we could look at Marion County as well. Prices were much better. Unfortunately we didn’t see anything that grabbed our hearts.

Back on the home front my mom and dad had some good news for us. After 34 years of divorce they were going to get remarried. To each other. Wow. That is something that only God can do. It was very cool. It was my own version of “The Parent Trap” (Haley Mills version) except I had nothing to do with getting them back together. It began to dawn on me that God was telling me it was OK to move out of Clackamas County. All of my life I’ve always been protective of my mom. I always wanted to make sure she wasn’t alone. We talk on the phone almost every day. I don’t know that I could have left if she was still single. Now she had someone and it was my dad. The one she was meant to be with. I felt that I could move a little farther away (not too far of course). A God solved problem.

Deawn took us out the next Saturday and we looked at four homes. From Silverton, to Canby, to Colton, to Mollala. A lot of driving. None of them were a good fit for us. It was suggested that we look at Yamhill County. I changed my search requirements on Zillow and began to see some amazing options. One in particular, a 14 acre farm , caught my eye. It was within our price range. It had all the out buildings we would need. It had triple ovens. At that point I was sold. I’ve always wanted double wall ovens and this one had that plus the standard free standing range. Pitter patter went my heart. I told Michael about it and the next time he was down in the area he drove by the house. He loved the area but wasn’t sold on the quick drive by. He thought there was something wrong with the roof. This seemed like a potential problem. The boys and I LOVED what we had seen on line. How could Michael not LOVE this house?

The next Saturday Deawn scheduled visits to four houses in the area of the farm we loved. The first two were not an option. The next one was so cute. Total “Brady Bunch” house. Still had all the original avacado toilets, orange shag carpet, heavy duty yellow and brown linoleum. As great of a house as it was it wasn’t a decade we wanted to return to. The last house we toured was the farm house. It was love at first sight for all of us. We toured the upper acreage first where we were chased by farm geese who were protecting their eggs. Checked out the huge pole barn and large chicken coop. They had turned a double car garage into a single and made the other half into a canning room. Oh be still my heart. Complete with a free standing range (can you say fourth oven) counters, cabinets and a sink. Finally we made our way into the house. Great bones. Needed some new paint and some minor cosmetic touches but we loved it. It was decided. We made an offer that day. They countered and we accepted. A God solved problem.

This was it. Farmers we would be. I kept thinking of the show “Green Acres”. Were we ready for the farm life? Whenever doubt crossed my mind I was reminded of how God provided and directed us to this house. If God wanted it for us then it must be good. We must be able to do this if it is God’s will. I know, I know. I’m not so naive to think God’s will is always easy. I do have just enough wisdom to know that His will is best.

At this point I came down with the flu. I missed my opportunity to be at the house for three hours while the inspection was taking place. Oh well, I knew this was the home for my family. What else did I need. Ok, so after a week or so I really began to have some questions. Was the laundry room big? Did the kitchen have a large eating area? Was there a play room for the boys? When you see four houses in one day you get a little confused about which home had what. Michael had the perfect answer to all my questions. “The whole time you were there you had a big smile on your face.” OK, I would trust my husband.

The closing date on our home was looming in the not too distant future. Our next home wouldn’t close until three weeks after we had to leave our current home. This is a problem. What were we going to do? My in-laws offered to let us stay there. That was good. My dad decided that he could stay in my mom’s guest room and we could stay at his house. That house was just five minutes away and had a great yard for the boys. A God solved problem.

We had our dear friends John and Sam Garrick with Ken and Norma Calhoun help us pack the rest of our house into our second POD on a Saturday. We moved out of our house on Friday May 2. We took very little to my dad’s house and we were done. That day was made easier by getting to have dinner with my friends Kirsten and Laura. Ahhh. Girl time.

The day before we moved out a new problem burst upon the scene. I woke up early that Thursday and checked my email on the computer (one of the only things left in the house) and low and behold here is this email chain between our realtors, the sellers realtors and Dianne Schneider our friend and mortgage broker. Our future home is at the end of a private drive that is perpendicular to Hwy 99W. To get to that lane you must cross a RR track. Did you know that you need a permit to cross RR tracks? Yup. $1000 price tag for said permit as well as $200 per year. We could handle that. What we couldn’t handle was the commercial type insurance they were requiring on our auto coverage. Initial investigation into the matter looked like it was going to raise our insurance a good $200/mo. That was going to kill this deal for us. It would take the monthly cost of this home out of our agreed upon limit. I was devastated. Why God, when it was so obvious that you wanted us to have this home is it suddenly becoming impossible?

That night the boys and I went to AWANA. I was so stressed out. I couldn’t see any way around us losing this home. We had an agreed upon budget. I believed in our financial viewpoint to the point that I was willing to walk. I wasn’t sure Michael would though. He loved the place in Amity just as much as the rest of us. I prayed. Please God, help us to be in agreement and in Your will. I was busy going through verses with my girls when Michael arrived. When I finally found him he seemed so calm, so relaxed. How can this be? We are in the middle of a crisis and here he is talking with a friend and smiling. I asked him if there had been any new development. He told me that he had talked to the RR himself and found out what we needed to do that we could afford and that everything would be OK. My knight in shining armor to the rescue. A God solved problem.

There was still a lot more with the RR permit that needed to take place over the next two weeks but between Dianne Schneider and Michael it was all worked out. Natasha and Deawn were able to change our closing date to 5/16 and our move in date to 5/18 which put us in the house eight days earlier than originally planned.

So here we are. It is just over a week. We still are not completely unpacked….remember, I’m eleven years older than the last time I moved. That is what I keep telling my tired brain and body. We are beginning to make some changes. My dad and his friend Bill spent two days removing wallpaper from about three rooms. Michael is currently in the process of putting in a new sink and faucet in my kitchen. Thursday we will pick our paint colors for the interior. We will start school again this week too.

So here is the view from the other side of our pond in the back of our house.

DSC_7860

Farewell from the farm,

Karen