Big Changes

To start off, I will update everyone on the status of our new house. We are scheduled to be out of our apartment by this Thursday (May 15th) and our house is supposed to close by then. We are still waiting to sign the final papers, which will probably happen tomorrow (Monday) or Tuesday and then we should get the keys to the house by Tuesday or Wednesday. It makes for one very hectic week!!! I have to finish packing and get everything moved in to the house within a couple of days. I originally wanted to paint the walls before everything got moved in, but I don't think I'll have the time. In addition, my co-worker Delynne is gone in Las Vegas the whole week, so I can't take off work on such short notice. And, this week is particularly crazy at the Teen Center because the Spring Prom for the middle-schoolers is this week and I am the only one that has experience in selling tickets- particularly important because there will be people coming in and out of the building all week to buy tickets and the phone will probably be ringing off of the hook! So, to compensate, Jesse will probably take a little time off of work so that we can sign the papers earlier in the day and move everything in in one day. And I'll be painting and unpacking during the morning hours before going to work each day, and then finish the day with Jesse helping. I can't wait to make the house our own and will be proud to show it off online and have several house-warming parties!!!On another note, I graduated yesterday!!! After 18 consecutive years of school, and 5 months out, I returned to my now alma mater, donned in my cap and gown to cross the stage and receive my fake diploma (since I already received the real one in the mail). At first I thought that maybe it wasn't worth it to have waited 5 months for the ceremony- maybe I should've just done the December ceremony instead. However, once I got there and walked through the baccalaureate with my old friends, I realized how proud I was to be there. There were 91 students receiving Associates, Bachelors, and Masters degrees combined, all in 1 ceremony. And there were roughly 9 of us receiving a Bachelors of Arts degree in Psychology. I got to sit by, and walk across the stage with, my closest fellow students- those that shared my psychology classes for more than 3 years. In addition, for years there had been large tree in the courtyard of the school. Everyone loved this tree and it was really common to get pictures taken in it on campus. However, the day of my wedding, they cut the tree into pieces! One guy in my class, though, took pieces of the tree and carved wooden cross necklaces out of it for each one of the psychology graduates. On each one is engraved "NCC 08". It means a lot to me to have this memorabilia and I now have it hanging from my rear-view mirror so that I can see it everyday. Along with Jesse, my mom, brother, cousin, and aunt attended the ceremony. It was a little disappointing that many others who were invited didn't show, but I'm thankful for those who did. It's nice to have my family there supporting me during my big life events.In other news, Jesse's football games have been going really well. His team is ranked #1 and are currently undefeated with only 2 more games of the season. His next game is this Saturday @ 6pm at Churchill High here in Eugene. The next week his team has a bye, and the following week they will play in Medford. I am quite certain they will make it to the championship playoffs, though, which results in 3 more subsequent games. It's been a challenge for Jesse this season. It's nothing like high school or college was. They currently only practice once a week and have games nearly every single week. Each away game is every other weekend and at least 3 hours away. The guys on the team also take everything really seriously. While Jesse just wants to play and have fun, his teammates often grumble and complain about everything, even when they slaughter the other team. They get really upset if Jesse messes up on snapping the ball and give him a lot of crap if he misses a game or practice due to other life situations. In addition to demanding so much of his time, this affects Jesse's attitude towards being there. He gets frustrated and questions whether he wants to continue to play next year. However, once he's out on the field, he gets so full of energy and is so pumped up to be there. It brings him back to his biggest passion that consumed most of his life. He goes back and forth about whether he'll continue to play next year, but I think that we will just have to see how things go. Right now, it's just a stressful thing when he's got so much going on in his life outside of football. I figure that when things calm down, Jesse can make a better decision about whether he really wants to play next year or not. He's done awesome this season, though, and I'm so proud of him. He plays with all of his heart and maintains a positive attitude through it all. Despite never having been into football before, and barely understanding the rules, I can't help but cheer with excitement as they score a touchdown each time.Well, it's getting late and I want to post pictures of all of these events. So here you go:

Update on House

Originally, the house listed for sale in the new development was one that was not even built. It was just a piece of land where a house would be by August. Therefore, when we went to check out the house, our landlord's mom (who works with her) took us through a house with a similar layout that was still under construction. Yesterday, though, my realtor called and said that the original house (the one yet to be built) had been sold, but there was another one that became available just then when the buyers fell through with buying it. This new house would be finished in May and wasn't even listed online yet. It was 100 sq ft. bigger than the previous house for only $2,000 more, still well within our price range. In addition, because there is so much competition for these houses, the previous house is going to go up $2000 to the price of the new house, while the new house is also going up $2000 higher. However, because we are getting to view this house as soon as it is available and before the price rises, we can get it for the cheaper price, essentially the same price that someone else will buy for the house that's 100 sq ft smaller. Ironically, when we went to check out the actual house we would be buying, it ended up being the same house that we previously toured that was under construction! This time, however, it was clear that we'd be moving into this particular house and not one that was similar to it.While we were there, we began to ask our realtor some questions about paying for closing costs and other fees. We were afraid that if we had to close the deal on this house by May, while still paying for rent and putting every penny we had on a down-payment, we'd end up not having the money for the final fees and costs which could add up to $2000-5000! We told our realtor that while we love this house, we wanted to make sure that we were making a wise decision and not getting into something we couldn't afford. To this, our realtor replied, "Well, why don't we pray about it?" I was thrilled with that suggestion and we gathered around, held hands, and prayed that God would give us direction and guide our steps. I was so overwhelmed with gratitude and peace that it brought tears to my eyes.So, following our prayer, we agreed to meet back up after I got off work in order to jump on this deal and write up an offer on the house. We agreed to pay the full asking price since these homes are in such high demand. We feared that anything lower would only get us denied and allow someone else to step in and get it first. Furthermore, we found out that all of our closing costs and fees will come out of the $20,000 down payment that we are putting on the house. There will be NOTHING out of pocket. In addition, because the lender that we met with connected with us at our first meeting, he said that he wanted to help us out because he liked us. So, there's a chance that our full costs would total just above $20,000 maybe equaling $20,250-$20,300. However, if this is the case, our lender has agreed to pay the extra money, the $250-$300 out of his own pocket!!! He is also ensuring that we will not pay more than $1000 a month for our total mortgage payments, including our property taxes, mortgage insurance, etc. There is no way, basically, that he will allow us to spend a penny more than what our budget allows, which is a huge blessing for us.So, tonight we meet with our lender and he will explain everything that we need to know about our loans and payments. We hope to hear a reply on our offer by Friday and will pay our Earnest Money, a type of deposit, on Monday, and if the building and paper-signing goes according to schedule, we should have the keys to our new house by May 19th at 5:00pm.

This is the neighborhood that is completely finished right next door to our block:




This is our neighborhood, the houses that have construction completed:



This is our house, still under construction:



This is the view from the front of our house:



And this is the playground really close to the house:

Mandy's 1996 Ford Explorer XLT

Jesse's 1994 Ford F150

New, New, New

Since last writing, a lot has happened. As I previously mentioned, we were going to take the money we inherited to pay off our bill, buy new cars, and put a down-payment on a house. We have stayed true to our plans and I wanted to share with everyone progress we have made. I was hoping to have pictures posted of our new cars, but have trouble getting both of our cars home at the same time, during the day-time, due to our opposite schedules. I'll do my best to get it posted soon, though.Meanwhile, I will tell you that it was absolutely God's hand in the car-searching process. For months we had been scouring the web pages of Craigslist and perusing any ads we came across. I had my heart set on an SUV, the car of my dreams, and I happened to find a Chevy Tahoe for sale from a local U of O student. At the same time, I found a Dodge Durango that I loved as well at a small local dealership. However, despite loving the Durango, it was more than I originally wanted to spend and I could only get it down to that still-too-high price by trading in my car. In addition to that, the dealership was a really odd and slightly shady place. The employees were awkward, didn't seem to know the right information about their products, and did weird things like just give us the keys to test-drive the car without telling us anything about it or riding with us, and then handing us $20 and asking us to gas it up! And, while I still loved the Durango and had always dreamed of owning one, the more we were there, the more body damage I found on it and the less I trusted the dealership to not sell me a lemon. That left me leaning towards the Tahoe sold by, I thought, a more reliable source.Buying the Tahoe quickly turned into a very heavy-pressure situation. We met with the guy and first test-drove the car on a Sunday. The only thing that I immediately found wrong with it, in driving, was that the brake had to be pressed all the way to the floor in order to get it to stop while the gas was really sensitive and would rev up quickly with very little pressure. I thought this was simply an adjustment that needed to be made, tightening something up, and would be easy to fix. Although, because I am so short, it frightened me a little bit to be driving such a big car that was so hard to stop. In addition, there was some serious interior damage in the back of the car, but I wasn't very concerned because the guy had already made arrangements to have it fixed. And I felt like the price for the entire car was very good. We were ready to write the guy a check, but couldn't access our money until the next Friday because of the temporary hold the bank had on it. Because he would be held liable if we were to get into an accident if he gave us the car with a post-dated check, the guy actually pulled out on us and refused to sell it until we could have cash. While we completely understood, little did we know that this was an answer to a prayer that we hadn't even prayed yet. This is where the pressure began, though. The guy happened to be going to Washington the following weekend to go back home and wanted to buy a new car while he was there. Because of that, he first wanted us to contact our bank and ask for the money in advance, which we knew we couldn't do. Then, because he wanted to set up his new car with the dealer in Washington (and didn't want to back out on the dealer if we backed out on him), he now wanted us to pay a deposit on the car assuring him that we'd for sure buy it and assuring us that he'd save it for us. First, though, we wanted our mechanic friend to check out the Tahoe and make sure we were making a good buy. This caused even more pressure when the guy, in turn, wanted us to meet on his timing with the mechanic despite our work schedules. By now, I was beginning to get frustrated, feeling like we, as the buyers, should have the upper-hand, not him! We shouldn't feel so much pressure to buy something. So, now it was Wednesday. Our mechanic was going to check out the Tahoe and we'd pay the deposit up-front, following our mechanic's approval, and buy the car by Friday upon which the guy would head to Washington and buy his new car. Our mechanic looked under the hood and beneath the car and took it for a drive around the block. Then we asked the guy to allow us to talk to our mechanic before paying him the deposit. He hesitated to do this, in such a hurry to get his money, but finally agreed. As soon as he left, our mechanic informed us that this car was a piece of junk. The brakes, in fact, going to go out at any moment, making the car unsafe to drive. In order to fix this, the master cylinder needed to be completely replaced (for a few hundred dollars), the brake pads needed to be replaced, and there were oil leaks all throughout the engine. In short, he said that no matter how much money we spent fixing it up (which would add up to quite a bit), it wouldn't be worth it in the end. From this point, we had to apologetically pull out on the guy who was not happy, to say the least. He tried really hard to convince us that his mechanics had already checked it out and that it was a good car. We, however, really trust our mechanic and weren't going to cave in. Despite of all of this, or maybe because of it, even though it was discouraging to be back at square one with no options at hand, it was actually a huge relief off of our shoulders to no longer be pressured into buying this car. I realized that I had doubts all along about the Tahoe, but kept convincing myself that it was, on paper, everything that I wanted it to be. We had been praying about everything all along, asking God to give us wisdom to buy the right cars and felt like God had answered despite our ignorance.From here, I found a 1996 Ford Explorer for sale from a lady who happened to be moving out of state in an RV within a week and HAD to sell her car since it couldn't be towed. Because of this, she was offering a really low price for it. We drove it and loved it from the beginning. This car was this lady's baby. She adored it and was sad to be selling it. In fact, she hadn't even told her kids about it because she was having such a hard time parting with it. She told us that she'd probably cry when we drove it away. She happened to be a mid-wife as well and told us that there's no way she'd sell us a bad car knowing that we intended to put kids into it in the future. We both felt an intense peace that this was the car I was supposed to get.When it came to Jesse's car, it was also quite the ordeal. He was planning on buying a 1992 Ford F150 from a co-worker. However, each time the guy was supposed to do something to get the truck ready, he flaked out and didn't end up getting it done. For example, the co-worker agreed to replace the tires before selling the truck to Jesse, and the same day that I got the Explorer, we were supposed to meet the co-worker so that Jesse could go with him to replace the tires. However, after calling him for 9 hours straight, Jesse could not get a hold of the guy and was fed-up with the flakiness. We then began a search for Jesse's truck at local dealerships. It was a very trying day. It was pouring down rain and hailing and at many of the dealerships, no one would come out to help us. We were so angry and ready to give up and go home. But Jesse wanted to check out one more place before going home defeated.Here, Jesse found a 1994 Ford F150, nearly identical to his co-worker's truck. It was listed too high for our budget, but Jesse hoped to haggle it down to the perfect price. We spent over an hour there going back and forth on the price and negotiations. In the end, we got the truck down to our price, made the dealer pay the DMV fees, and traded in my car. While I had hoped to sell the car and make more money, it was actually a relief to not have to worry about fixing it up and selling it. And while I was completely frustrated with the salesmen who wouldn't stop pressuring us, Jesse ended up with his dream truck. He frequently looks at it with admiration and talks about how beautiful it is! :-)After completing our car search, we began searching for a house to buy!!! We met with a realtor who happened to graduate high school with my mom. She is a Christian and works with lenders and inspectors, etc., who are also Christians and are available at all hours for our convenience. She answered many of our questions and gave us a notebook that gives us directions and information about every step of the home-buying process. From there, we met with a lender who told us how much we could afford for a house and what loans we were eligible for. Because we can't afford very much, especially for the price of homes in Oregon, we had to sift through a lot of fixer-uppers to find some nice houses. We quickly discovered that the houses in our budget were those that were built in the 40's and 50's, and we could either get a small 2-bedroom house 600-900 sq ft. that had been completely remodeled or a bigger house (possibly 3-bedroom) that needed a lot of repairs. So small and move-in ready vs. bigger and needing lots of repairs. Furthermore, we found out that many houses built in that era had low ceilings, barely higher than Jesse's head and tiny rooms, smaller than 10x10 ft. Then, we came across a brand new development being built in the Thurston district of Springfield. These were homes built in 2008, just under 1000 sq ft, 2 bedrooms, and very contemporary. It had higher ceilings, bigger rooms, open-floor plan, vinyl siding, modern colors, and was cheaper than the previous houses we had looked at. Many of the homes aren't even finished being built, but it is a very nice neighborhood and has a pretty view of the mountains and a brand new playground on the premises. Because it's in a housing development, we would have certain rules we'd have to follow about parking and outdoor decor, but nothing that we wouldn't want. Furthermore, it keeps our neighborhood in nice condition. This is the house Jesse wants. He says that if we only had one kid, he could live there forever! So, this afternoon, we are going to check it out once again, the specific house we would move into, not one under construction, and will begin making an offer on the house because this house will go quickly.It's pretty exciting to be doing so many big things so quickly. I realized that I got married, graduated from college, bought a new car, am buying a new house, and trying to have a baby all in 1 year! Those are some pretty big life events!!!Lastly, Jesse had his first football game last Saturday, playing for the Eugene Oregon Outlaws, a 2-time champion semi-pro football team. It was raining and snowing and very, VERY cold, but the team did great and blew out the other team, winning 47-7. Jesse loved every minute of it. He was excited since he had not played a game since high school, and remembered once on the field why he loved it so much. I'll post pics soon of everything, but have to leave to go check out my new possible house!