Plan B, Chapter 8

We met with Lora again to finalize the options and colors for our future home. We kept most everything the same except for adding a 50-gallon water tank (instead of the standard 40-gallon) and I changed my tile and countertop choices for the kitchen and bathrooms. For the countertops of all three, I chose a very pretty medium beige textured style called "Parchment" which will go great with my plans for a red and cream kitchen as well as my color choices for the bathrooms. Both the kitchen and master bath will have a medum sage tile with a sort of rust marbling in it. For the second bath, I chose a beige tile which is almost the same tone as the countertops. This will permit me to introduce more color in the towels and accessories against the neutral backdrop, since I already purchased navy towels and navy/burgundy/cream lighthouse-themed accessories for that bath.

I am so relieved that we are moving ahead in faith with making this home a reality. For something as major as this that we both have awaited for decades, it is crucial to get it right, and I know that this is the right choice. The next step is to get our septic approved and work on getting the necessary permits, and Rex will work on that in the coming week. With rainy season already upon us, we hope to be able to get everything resolved as soon as humanly possible - and of course, with the help of our God who led us to our home and will provide the way for it to be ours soon. I really believe that now, more than ever.

Plan D is Dead...But Plan B is Back!

What a difference a day makes.....after the events of this week, I was on the verge of renaming the sub-title of this blog, "My Dream (sort of) Realized". But God willing, the Dream -- the Real Dream we found a few weeks ago -- WILL be a reality.

A few nights ago, we did make an offer for the cute used mobile we visited last Saturday. We really did like it and due to the timing of it becoming available, I really felt God intended us to have it as our new home. My husband did some calculations and came up with an amount to offer the seller that would have paid her remaining loan balance off completely. Any higher than that and we would have to instead consider Plan E (a new mobile of a similar size). The seller had actually been looking for renters, but apparently was having trouble finding suitable tenants. We were told she would be agreeable to selling provided she could get the money quickly. So we felt pretty optimistic. But the next day, our agent friend informed us that the seller rejected our offer. The seller apparently made a counter offer but it was such that the deal was probably not going to be doable from our perspective.

That same day (two days ago) Rex then went to again look at a 1,188 sq. ft. mobile from another builder that we had briefly looked at a few weeks ago. I recalled that for the size of the place, it was extremely well-laid out and the kitchen was really big with a considerable amount of counter space. He spent a lot of time "crawling underneath" and concluded this new home is built a lot better than the gently used one that our offer was rejected on. The builder offered us the actual model we walked through, at a better price than if we were to have a new one built to our specifications. Rex brought home the papers and I signed them, but with a sinking feeling that I was now settling for much less than we hoped for. The kitchen was spacious, but the living room and master bedroom (and especially that bedroom's closet) were much smaller than the lovely model we fell in love with 3 weeks earlier, and the master bath only had a shower stall and not a tub. Rex was able to sense my discomfort with making this deal, so when I came home from work yesterday, he said he didn't turn in the papers yet because he wanted to make sure I felt comfortable with the deal. So he told the builder to hold the model till we could come and see it together Saturday. He also said he did some measuring when he went back yesterday and that the living room really did not have space for furniture beyond what we have now. I recalled the place was cute and despite both our misgivings, I figured that if this smaller home was God's will for us, I would know it when we went back Saturday. I kept telling myself it was important for us to not stretch beyond our means and to be able to keep up with the monthly payments. All this to try to convince myself that we really are not supposed to have the home we drove to Vancouver in a hailstorm to see a few weeks earlier and knew was right the second we walked in. How could this be?

I came home from work tonight and my husband told me he realized the home we were supposed to see together tomorrow, while it has its good points, is not what either of us really wants. We have been waiting for a house our entire lives and after all these years, it needs to be right, not just something we both are settling for. He had spoken to our mortgage lady, and apparently the monthly payments for the small place would only be a couple hundred less per month. Being the practical type, he broke that down further to $50 a week. He said, we can make this happen. He has his hands full in the coming week with all the site prep, permits, rearranging the dogs' fencing, etc., but after that, he said, he WILL find a way to bring in more income. The Dream is resurrected and it will be a reality, because THIS is the house God wants us to have. I will have my real-life refuge with the cute little TV room with double French doors, the large picture windows that run almost from floor to ceiling. the three arched openings separating the living and dining areas, the walk-in closet almost big enough to be a bedroom, the large master bath with the huge tub, the kitchen with the alder cabinets and full center island. Moreover, this home will again officially be referred to as "Plan B". The house deal that fell through in the spring did not have the character or personality of this one and was a false alarm. Plan A was the log cabin in the woods, but this one will be almost as beautiful. We still need to obtain the financing, but we WILL, because I now know as surely as I have ever known anything, we are supposed to have this house. And so tomorrow, instead of going to look at the barely big enough home I have been trying to talk myself into, we will go to the local office of the builder of our refuge and finalize our color choices. The color choices for the home that is really intended for us, the one I have waited and prayed for all these years.