It Has Been A Long Time

I see my last post was May. We have been so busy that I have not been able to take the time to post pictures of our progress on our new home at 314. Redoing a building for food storage, painting, putting up fans, waiting for new kitchen cabinets, all in the last 6 weeks. We still have not moved in if you can believe it. We knew Katie was coming to visit with her family so we have stayed in our current home so they would have a comfortable place to visit. Besides, our new kitchen is not in yet and we want to have that all finished before moving in. That will take place next week and then the final push to move will take place. In the meantime we are moving a little at a time and have a few rooms finished. I must confess that some aspects of this old house are a little overwhelming for me and I come back to Rockhouse Road and wonder why we wanted to leave this beautiful piece of property and move to a smaller plot of land, essentially starting over with everything, but in the end I know the move will be good for all of us and that the Lord takes care of us and leads us in the direction that is good for us if we have faith. Already, Dad and Kelly are so happy with the move and all they are doing at the new home that it makes me happy to see them pleased. I will be pleased too when I finally get to call 314 home. Rockhouse Road, I will miss you but we must move on. Pictures of all of our projects will be posted soon.

Working Hard

Briggs and Kelly have been working so hard this week on the stone building at 314. We are turning it into a food storage building. They took off the roof and door and cleaned out the floor. It originally was the well house. The new roof is almost done. It is looking good.

 

I have finally gotten the living room painted after a week of interruptions. I love the colo,r "toast" by Olympic, from Lowes. I took the wall paper down in the foyer and plan to paint it "toast" too. I will do it this week, I hope. I have also painted the master bedroom a light blue green called "glimmer". It is by Behr from Home Depot.

Making A House A Home, Quick!

To me, making a house a home is having flowers all around the yard. So, the first thing I did was to hang the 8 geranium plants I had been collecting in anticipation of buying 314 from the front porch. The wraparound  porch has two rows of gingerbread trim so what better setting for red geraniums to hang from? The next day I planted impatiens in the garden in front of the house. They should grow up nice in the next few months and make a colorful show from the street. With the help of Mr. B. we hung a kitty kat flag I bought from a porch post and put up the house number plaques from Mighty Dollar for only a dollar each. They are so cute on the entry step post. I put a new entrance mat at the front door and "instant hominess". One of my first tasks next week will be to paint the front door black and the transoms around it white. I will look forward to that. Our current home is not seen from the road so no one ever sees my garden creations but now our lovely home improvements will be seen by all who pass by. They might even get a glimpse of me out in the yard in my grubbies working away.

"We Did It"

As Dora always says at the end of her show, "We did it, we did it." And we did. We had the closing on our house yesterday, May 1. Should remember that date easy! The closing was very quick and not complicated at all. I was surprised. I give a lot of praise to the realtor, Debbie Perry. She is a wonderful realtor as well as person. Kind of like a friend. After the closing we went over to our new house and started assessing all the things we want to do. I hung geraniums on the porch. I think there were eight. Briggs started investigating all he has to do to make this home work for us. Storage is the BIG thing. And for me it it is a new KITCHEN. But in time it will all come together and we will be settled and happy at 314.

Tomorrow Is The Day

We have our closing tomorrow. It is the day we become the owners of two homes. Oh my! I hope our other house will sell soon. We have a showing on Thursday. In the meantime we are going to the lawyer's at 11:00 tomorrow to finalize the sale and become the owners of 314. Then we will have the key and get busy fixing it up the way we want to. Hope we don't find any surprises except good ones. Briggs is excited to start his food storage building in the old stone well house. I am going to hang geraniums and plant inpatients along the front flower garden. The first thing we are going to do is put up a decorative flag to show that a family is living there again after one and a half years of standing empty. Do you think the old house will be happy about that? I hope so! The Lord has been guiding us through this experience for quite a while now and praise be to Him who loves us.

This Is The Week

Well, this is the week we buy our house on 314. Kind of amazing considering this year of wondering and waitng. We have not sold Rockhouse Road, but I know that the Lord will bless us soon and we will get a buyer in the near future. Meantime, Briggs is so excited about all the building ideas he will be starting this week, after the closing on Wednesday. He is starting with redoing the roof and floor etc of the little stone well house on the property. It will become a food storage room, along with a large crawl space under the house. He is all ready to go. I am excited for him because he seems so into doing this and it will benefit all of us. So.....Wednesday will be the day we get the key.



We Are Moving!

Town History

Glen Alpine was incorporated in 1883.  The Western North Carolina Railroad (later the Southern Railroad) was built through this section in 1868 and the little community called Turkey Tail had its beginning then.  The name Turkey Tail was derived from a tree near the railroad tracks that had the shape of a turkey’s tail.

When two brothers, Columbus and Edward Sigmon (Sigmund), operated a store and a post office in their store, the name of the village of Turkey Tail was changed to Sigmundsburg.

By 1883 this community located six miles west of Morganton had acquired the name of Glen Alpine Station.  In 1896 the word Station was dropped. 

In the early 1870’s, The Glen Alpine Springs Hotel was built.  It was the largest wooden structure in North Carolina, and was said to have had as many as 100 guests at a time. The hotel was closed in 1902.  The building was used as a school until 1909.  The structure burned to the ground in 1934.  After the
 hotel closing the town’s name was changed to just Glen Alpine.

"My Plans For You"

 

Found this great idea for back porch colors. Can't wait to do this Lord.

 

Jeremiah 29:11

  For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 
  
Proverbs 31:25
Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come.

Making A List And Checking It Twice

Go Confidently!

It Has Happened!

It has happened! We just bought 314. Well, the sellers accepted our offer anyway. One more step to sign the papers and we will be the owners of two homes. Kind of scary but exciting as I have dreamed of this day for a long time. Yesterday we met with the realtor, Debbie Perry, and found out about the things that need to be done to fix a few things with the house. We are getting a discount on the house for the contractor's bid. Tomorrow we meet with her, the insect man and the contractor. I am sure there will be some papers to be signed and then things will be getting close to having the "key to 314 Catawba". 

The Lord has had his hand in this long process since last year when we decided we wanted to move and found the home we wanted to buy. He has slowly worked things out, not with a big miracle but with inspiration and encouragement along the way. We give all praise and credit to a kind Heavenly Father that blesses us with the desires of our hearts sometimes. Now it is up to us to live up to the trust he has placed in us and try to make this new cottage farmhouse a place of gospel teachings and love.

One miracle in this saga that started earlier last year was the fact that 314 did have a contract a few weeks ago but in the end it fell through and our cottage farmhouse came back into our hands again and that is why we were able to make the decision to buy it before we sell our current lovely mini-farm. We are hoping that we will sell this lovely spot in the country soon. Another little miracle that we have faith will happen.

In God's Time



Still Waiting

Still waiting. But one thing I know, we have done our part and the Lord promises that if you do your part and have faith that He will give you the desire of your heart. I pray for that, but only in the will of Him.

Another Day of Waiting

We are waiting to hear from prospective buyers about our counter-counter offer we gave them on our house yesterday. I figured we would hear something today. We waited all day and I called Teresa our realtor but they have not responded as of tonight. Is it good news or bad news? I am tending to be optimistic and believe it is good news. A no should take no time to relate back to us but a yes would probably take more time for them to think about. I spent the day in prayer. I want the Lord's will and he has a tendency to take his time on important issues concerning decisions like this. That is my experience anyway.

Gatlin and I spent the day in the town where near "our home". We went to "Martha's" park and stayed quite a while. Then we went for lunch at McDonalds. He seemed to enjoy our time together which entailed a stop at Belks and Big Lots. Then we went to "our house" at 314 and spent a while sitting in the grass and walking around. I was dreaming of how it will feel to call that place our home. A few prayers were said and then back home. A few more prayers have been said this afternoon and evening and now it is time to head to bed so I can forget about this long, long wait or maybe dream that we have sold this house and are headed to 314.

Waiting With Faith

Wanting to sell our home here and move to 314 has been a quest of ours for a year now. The pictures I took of 314 from last year show it was springtime and it is spring again. Right now we are waiting on the people that were interested in our home and gave an offer 30,000 lower than we were asking to accept or reject our second counter-offer. We decided to meet them half way and pay their closing costs and home warranty. Our offer was given to them this morning and I guess it is good news that they did not answer it today. Our prayer is that they will accept it. We think it is fair but they seem to be pretty picky. How can you figure people? This has been such a road of ups and downs, decisions and hard work for a year now but we are still sure that we want to move to 314 and begin a new phase of our family's life in this small southern town. I have spent the day in prayer over this new offer to these people and tonight I will rest my mind and heart and wake up tomorrow waiting for the Lord's answer.

Painting by Greg Olson

"Each day, whether you are facing fear or some other issue, God has already given the believer the power, love and sound mind to choose the correct course and to be capable to handle whatever comes our way, with God’s help."

Angie from www.sistersinbloom.com

Back In Our Hands, Should We Go For It?

314 is back into our hands again. If the prospective buyers of our house accept our counter-offer we can go ahead and make the offer on 314. It is a little scary as we are potentially leaving the most beautiful piece of property in our town for a much smaller piece of land and a house that is in good shape inside and out, but needs a new kitchen update and outbuildings which it lacks. But, much prayer has gone into this idea and if it is to be I believe we must go for it. Will let you know. The Lord works in mysterious ways indeed. I hold on to his hand and wait for Him to lead me across the water.

For The Love of a House

It's a house with rooms that reflect a place, a feeling, a memory of the past. -unknown-

Offer/Counter Offer

Well, we have had an offer on our home. It was quite low so we counter offered. It is amazing how possessive you become of your home when someone offers an amount that is almost insulting. Suddenly I almost feel that the folks are my enemy. I have become defensive of my home and all the work and money we have put in to it the last 6 months. We were trying to make it attractive to a buyer and also make everything as nice and working as well as it could. Of course they are not our enemy. They are just a nice couple wanting to find the house of their dreams just as we are. I will try to take this into consideration when they counter offer us. Hopefully they won't. Hopefully the Lord will let them accept our offer and we can get on with the job of acquiring 314. If she is still available. She will be!

Pins and Needles

Need I say more?

Thought For My House Today

      Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do.
So, throw off the bowlines.
Sail away from the safe harbor.
Catch the tradewinds in your sails.
Explore.
Dream.
Discover.
-Mark Twain-

Still Waiting.....

We are still waiting to hear from Debbie Perry if 314 has been sold or not. Poppy and I stopped to visit it last night on our way home from my birthday dinner. I just had to stop by. We walked around it to get a feel if it was truly right and to check some ideas out we have for improvements. I felt confirmation in our decision to try and buy it if it comes available. Look here. The grass is much greener than just a few week ago when I took the pictures of Gatlin in the yard. I hope it comes back to us in a few days. UPDATE ON OUR HOUSE: A couple looked at it on Friday and really like it. They were in touch with our realtor today and asked a lot of questions. Keep your fingers crossed.

314 Stil Not Completley Sold



I surely know that the family that owns 314 needs desperately to sell it. This past week they evidently had a buyer. This made me feel happy for them but sad for us because we want to buy it but have  not sold our home yet. Knowing that it was possibly sold, I started looking, and looking at all homes for sale in the same area. There are a lot of nice homes but nothing grabs my heart like 314. Today I hear from Aimee that the sign is still up and not pending or sold or contrct sign with it, as is the usual course for realtors. Perhaps nothing will come of it for us, but I contacted the realtor and she said it indeed was still not sold and may become available again. I am sooo hoping so. If it does we will put earnest money down, if they will accept it. I want them to be able to sell as I know they must be pretty desperate by now. Last evening a lady and her husband came by and she wanted to look around. I let her look at the pasture and pond and around the yard. She was quite impressed and is coming tomorrow with her realtor to see the house. My heart says that Heavenly Father is working his way in this situation and perhaps miracles will happen. I feel completley unworty of such a blessing, but pray that it will be if it is in the will of the Lord and will be good for our whole family. Mr. B. and I both feel a great need to move from where we are and this may still be a dream come true. Our country, cottage farmhouse after all.

Still Waitng To Find Out

 The Coakley Collection
( http://www.coakleycollection.com/?pg=body_set5|pcat1&type=32)

As of today I am still waiting to find our if the inspection on 314 goes through.  It is my only hope that we may still be able to get 314. I wish nothing bad to happen to the people that have to sell their house, but if the inspection does not go through I am willing to put down earnest money and I think our house will then sell quickly. The Lord is on our side for acquiring this house. I have felt that it was suppose to be for a long time and when I look into the windows I see us there. It is so familiar. Every inch. Just a few more weeks and we will have a buyer and be able to buy 314. I have combed the real estate listing in this same area and town and fine absolutely no house that captures my heart like 314. We have to move for so many reasons. I see it and feel it every day. So, I keep the hope and faith that this will be. Immoveable and unstoppable, I am, with trust in the Lord for his blessings. But, of course "thy will be done".

It Is True

 "Living Water" by Simon Dewey

It is true! 314 has been sold. But not to our family. I am happy for the sellers and I assume the buyers are excited too. The realtor is happy to be getting a commission. But one family is sad today. One simple mom and grandma is trying to come to an understanding of what she believes to be true- that the Lord has answered her prayers in the way that is best for her and her family. One simple mom and grandma still holds on to the hope that maybe the inspection will not satisfy the buyers and then she can come to the sellers and give an offer or earnest money down. Still holding on to the dream? Yes, but I know that in the end our Heavenly Father knows what is best for us even if we think it is the right thing and it may not be. Faith is the principle and I know that one or the other will happen- it is really sold or it will come back to me again. I will live with peace whatever the answer is because I have FAITH.

Dream Slipping Away Tonight?

I do not know yet if my dream of owning 314 has been taken away from me. I was checking on the real estate website for 314 and saw that it had been taken down. The worst that can happen is maybe the home has been sold. The best is that it has been given to another realtor. In the middle would be that they just took their home off the market. I feel for them as I know they needed to sell. If they have, I am happy that they are having their prayers answered, even though mine will not be answered with a yes but with a no. The Lord knows all things that are good for our lives and I have given my desire to own this house to him a long time ago. I will be sad, I will cry, but I will rejoice that the Lord knows best and will bless us with whatever He knows is best for our family. Tomorrow I will find out for sure.

Let's Play

Gatlin and I had a chance to stop at 314 today when we were close by. The day was sunny and nice so we took the opportunity to pull up to "our" house and spend a few minutes walking around. The yard  has a built in playhouse/fort with a slide that I just know will be a fun place for Gatlin, Aiden and Andrew to play. Chloe even told me the other day that she looks forward to having the playhouse for he girl's clubhouse. The playhouse/fort is down the hill in the backyard. When we were there today he wanted to go down the slide. Of course I told him he could. Then I got out my iPhone and took pictures of him enjoying the yard, as you can see in these pictures.

He decided he would like to lay down in the grass .It almost felt like we were living here today. I can't wait until we are. Our short little visit to 314 was so nice.

We walked around the house and onto the porch. I love this porch and see us

spending many hours sitting here enjoying the neighborhood. We saw the school bus go 

by and stop to let a girl get off. I was imagining that Chloe and Gabe were getting off

and coming home from school.

Finally, our little angel said a prayer as Gatlin walked by her birdbath. She prayed that we would be the

family to come and live with her soon.

Wall Of Stone

   314 sits up a bit from the road and all along the sidewalk it sports a nice stone wall. With a little weeding and cleaning I think that we can spruce this wall up to make a very attractive entrance to our new home. I wonder where the rocks came from? How many years ago was the wall built? Did the man of the family build the wall? It would be fun to find out. Someday I am going to make a point of finding out the historyof this home and all it's little secrets. The sidewalk from town ends at 314. I am looking forward to coming out the front door, walking down the walkway to the sidewalk and strolling with the kids down to town. I may even walk Gatlin to school on pretty days. The elementary school is only about three blocks away. The post office and main street, that has a few shops and a cafe, are only two blocks away. Maybe it will be time to start walking for my health since it is not up and down the hills like the road where we live now. In any event, a leisurely stroll with the family every evening will be something to look forward to when we finally move.

 314's stone wall needs some TLC.

God's Light

I still like to think that miracles do happen from time to time. Perhaps they happen more than we really

know. I visit my dream house very often. Even though we live about 18 miles from where it is located, I do have reasons to drive there and visit my grand children or frequent a doctor or store. Whenever I get close enough to 314 I will stop, walk around it and dream of the day that it will be ours. I often take pictures and on this day the pictures I took reflected a beam of sunshine shining atop the house and  playhouse in the back yard. I have seen pictures of light shining from Heaven before and when I look at these two pictures, they give me the feeling that God has stamped his approval upon our move to 314 with his shining light. It is the hope and faith inside my heart that this little sign is also part of the good feeling I have that this move is the right thing to do and that soon His time will be made manifest and someone will buy our house so we can call the realtor and tell her that we are ready to purchase 314. I have had the feeling that Spring is the time it will happen. Springtime is the season of new beginnings. And this will be a new beginning for our family. Spring is not here yet, but I anticipate it with great excitement. Springtime is a good time to move. Don't you think?



What To Do With a Front Door That Isn't Mine Yet?

I am praying every day that our current home will sell and we will be able to move to 314. The Lord has not said "yes" yet or "this is the time" yet, but with prayer and patience I know the Lord will make his will known. We will stay here or we will move to 314, a neat old farm house in a small country town. In the meantime I write this blog as a tribute to 314 and a journal about my feelings about moving and occupying this house that is the dream of my life- an old farm house with a wrap around front porch.

The house has a fairly new front door that has been stained. But it needs refinishing or painting. I opt for painting and as I was thinking of what to say about this door in my blog, I decided to look at ideas for front door colors on the web. I quickly came upon a blog calle "A Meek Perspective", http://ameekperspective.blogspot.com/2010/11/before-after-front-door.html, that had a door just like the door at 314, transoms on the side and all. I loved how they used just a simple black to transform their entry to their home. I think that I will use their beautiful door idea to redo "my" door at 314 when I move in.

 The front door at 314.

A close up of the stained door. It is a

pretty door but in need of updating.

Below is the door from the blog

A Meek Perspective.

 See how similar it is to "my" door?

And see how they painted the transoms white and

the door black. She says it is really a blue black.

I have used that color on the door I have now and

I like it very much. So...I have found just the

right redo for "my" new front door.