I can't bear to wake up the kids yet, even though it is 10 in the morning. We rolled into bed at 3am after pulling a LONG night of working after waking up early to begin our long to-do list! And yeah, I am totally the mother that at 8pm, which is normally bedtime, I give my kids a pot of coffee and say, "We are pulling an all-nighter!" We are making memories for sure! Praise God for Nanny Diane, who has offered to keep our little ones as long as we need, they are gettign spoiled and loving it!
Our moving plans are becoming a reality. We have lived in our tiny 700sqft for exactly a year. Despite the fact that we have sacrificed a ton of our material items to move in and sacrificed our large, comfortable personal space boundaries we have found great contentment living in these tiny quarters! I truly did find a love for this tiny house, plus having 4 acres in the country has been amazing for this city girl.
Our moving plans are becoming a reality. We have lived in our tiny 700sqft for exactly a year. Despite the fact that we have sacrificed a ton of our material items to move in and sacrificed our large, comfortable personal space boundaries we have found great contentment living in these tiny quarters! I truly did find a love for this tiny house, plus having 4 acres in the country has been amazing for this city girl.
Click here for the post explaining our move into our tiny house back in January 2014
In August God brought us a family interested in becoming debt-free also and possibly wanting to rent our tiny home for a season. God put a stong pull on our hearts to get out to our other property, a 7 acre raw property we paid cash for over a year ago, that was just sitting there and we are paying taxes on. We were tempted to take out a small loan so we could buy a used home and have it moved to our property. After much thought, prayer and wise counsel from others who have gone before us we decided that it was best we weren't unequally yoked to a mortgage company again. As we let go of this new dream of moving we had a brother in Christ offer to loan us money on biblical terms, no interest, 7 year forgiveness, on a handshake, to buy a home to put out there. We felt that although this was a hinderance to our plan to become debt free it would allow us to follow our strong urge to be where we really felt led to go!
After much shopping and looking at repo/forclosure mobile homes we found OUR house. It was an 1996 Homes of Merit 1904sqft mobile home. It needed new flooring and paint, maybe electrical and plumbing but the bones (as Dave Ramsey says) were BEAUTIFUL! We were able to purchase it for $11,500 and have it moved for $6000, we thought it was a great deal. Of course all big purchases come with "hidden" costs or at least costs that we fail to take into account. Permitting ended up costing almost $2000 and installing a septic system was just under $4000. God has blessed us tremendously by putting charity on the hearts of others. Mr. Rooter donated all plumbing work, a short-term friend offer to do our electrical work for free, and Brian's brother, a contractor from VA, flew in to re-do all our AC duct work, fix walls, repair floors, etc. We even had a sweet friend share our story with Lowe's who in turn let us buy all our supply needs at cost (a 40-60% savings from retail). And God provided any of our other needs through giving friends, thrift stores, free ads on craigslist and even the "trash" on the side of the road! God has been good to us through and through!
So here we are, a week before Christmas, busting our tails to get this house turned into a home and move in! God will work all things out in His timing! We may only have our tree up for two days this year but either way we will celebrate the birth of our Savior, the one who gave Himself up for us and lavishes us with continual, unmerited blessings!
Before and after pictures, prayerfully coming soon!!!
Soli Deo gloria - Glory to God alone
