Oh, The Goodness of God

Nothing in this life is perfect. Whenever you buy a house, there are concessions to be made. The house I'm purchasing has many of the things my son and I were looking for. It's got 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a large living area that is open to the kitchen, the dining room is right off the kitchen and is more like a breakfast room than a formal dining room (which we prefer), there's a two car garage and lots of space between houses. I could see us enjoying this space that's neither too big nor too small. 

There were a couple of things that we had to consider, though. The current owners of the house stipulated in the listing that they intended to keep their refrigerator, along with their washer and dryer. The sellers are building a new home. They're a family of five with three little ones (one recently adopted), two very large Great Danes and a kitty cat. This house is too small for them now, so they need a bigger space, and they are understandably trying to save money wherever they can. But so am I. Purchasing a new refrigerator, washer, and dryer (plus other items that I will need) is a huge expense, so I offered a lower price than what they were asking, and they agreed. Wonderful! Except now I was gonna have to buy appliances in a market where there's lots of items on backorder due to the pandemic. I didn't want to wait to put my order in for these items; the refrigerator is especially important, since I need to store food as soon as we move in. So, I began scanning stores for deals.

I decided to check out Lowes and Home Depot. Both stores have good selections, good prices, and are near the new house as well as my current digs. I went online and compared what they offered, and it seemed like Home Depot had slightly better prices. Add to that the fact that Home Depot is closer to my daughter's house, and I was ready to place my order.

I went to the store to take a look at the appliances in person. It's one thing to see pictures on the internet; I prefer to take a good look inside and out as well as open and close doors and drawers myself. In speaking to the associate, I was told I could place an order for delivery in a month or more, but they couldn't take an order for delivery so far away. I would have to do it online. That seems odd to me; why is it I can place an order online with Home Depot to deliver to an address in Central Florida but the store can't? He said my only other option was to place my order at a store near my new home, but I didn't want to wait till I moved to get that done, so I told him I'd place the order online whenever I got home.

Before doing so, I thought I should check Lowe's again so I could verify that Home Depot had the better deal. Armed with brand names and model numbers, I looked up pricing, delivery options, and stock. I found one of the refrigerators I'd seen at Home Depot on the Lowe's website for $100 less; that was a pleasant surprise. The washer and dryer were each $1 cheaper on Home Depot's website; not too impressive. And then I saw it. How it had escaped me before I don't even know. It was right there, in plain sight.

Lowe's is offering a Buy More, Save More discount on their website (it's also available in stores) for certain appliances. These include all the appliances I needed to order. The more you buy, the higher the savings, up to $500! To verify, I went ahead and made an order on Home Depot's website as well as Lowe's website. Sure enough, by ordering from Lowe's I would save at least $500. Not only that, but I could order from Lowe's through Rakuten (formerly Ebates) and get 1% cash back - not a ton of money but every little bit helps. Home Depot didn't offer any discounts. At all. 

With tax and accessories, my Lowe's order came to $2,345.50. The same order from Home Depot was $2,800 before taxes and accessories. Y'all, that is a big difference! I believe God spared me of that. I was at Home Depot ready to place my order. I wouldn't have gone back to check pricing again once my order was placed. I only did it because I was gonna have to order online anyway. I know some people will think it's just a coincidence, maybe a lucky break, but I believe God intervened so that I wouldn't be able to place my order in the store. 

Whenever you place your life and your future in God's hands, He shows up in miraculous ways. It may seem insignificant to some people; after all, it's $500. Big deal. But to me it is a big deal. It reminds me that He is there for me, taking care of even the smallest details. I can trust Him with everything because in everything, He is faithful.

While I'm Waiting

I named my blog Accepting Change for a reason. I don't like change. There's something about things staying the same, in the familiar, even when those things aren't the best. There's a saying in Spanish, Mejor es malo conocido que bueno por conocer. Translation: Better an evil I know than something good I don't. I grew up with this mentality and it's been a difficult one to break. I guess that's why God brings me to these places of change. It teaches me to trust the unknown to Him.

I'm not gonna lie, there have been some sad moments, some anxious moments, some boring moments... Sadness because I was so excited whenever we first moved into our little coach house, happy as we started to get acclimated to our new environment, overjoyed at being in such a nice place and so close to my daughter, only to have everything fall to pieces through no fault of my own. I read the nine page police report the officer gave me a week before we moved out. It was then I realized my neighbor had called the police on me within a few days of us moving in. My son-in-law's parents had a media cabinet of mine that hadn't fit into the Pod container, and they were dropping it off. Unbeknownst to us, they parked the neighbor's driveway. Rather than knock on our door and ask that we move the car, he called the police! I could not believe it. The police never came because my son-in-law noticed where his parents had parked and he told them to move the car right away. He noticed the man on the phone but nothing was said. From that moment this neighbor decided he didn't like me, and his dislike turned to hate. All because of a meaningless mistake.

I didn't think about anxiety whenever I left my house. I figured, once I'm gone everything will go back to normal. Then I heard my daughter's neighbors. My daughter and son-in-law live in a villa that is attached to another villa on one side. Normally it's very quiet; the folks next door leave for work and there isn't a sound from them the entire day. Even at night they're fairly quiet, but I can hear the television set in the room adjacent to mine. A few nights ago they were in the bedroom watching a TV show that was obviously very funny because I could hear laughter. It was after 10:00 pm and I was in bed. Truth be told, it wasn't that loud. Under normal circumstances I could have easily fallen asleep. Instead, I was wide awake till after midnight because every sound seemed louder than it actually was. It was clear to me that the damage done by my neighbor's harassment is still fresh in my mind. 

Then there's the boredom aspect. This is my daughter's house. She's in charge. I hate sitting around and not doing anything, so I started cleaning up for her. She was not too happy. I think she took my helping as criticism of her cleaning abilities. That, of course, was never my intention. She takes very good care of her home, and my only desire was to give her a hand to show my gratitude for them taking us in. My son-in-law, bless his heart, loves that I clean up so he doesn't have to, LOL. But my daughter made it clear that she wanted me to stop. I cried at the thought that I'm becoming a burden to my kids. My daughter came over the next day and said she understood that I'm bored, so she set some parameters. It allows me to help but only in certain areas. It's better than nothing. This week my daughter and son-in-law are at Disney, since it's spring break. I get to stay home with my grand-dog taking care of him and the house. I dream of all the things I want to do in my new home, knowing it will be at least a month before we're there. 

What do I do in the meantime? I pray for those around me. I pray for my kids, my friends, the sellers of what will be my new home, the buyer of my previous home, even my neighbor. I make lists (because I love lists) and I make sure I've taken care of all the little details of moving, like canceling services I'm not using. The sellers are taking their refrigerator and their washer and dryer, so I've been looking at new appliances. I'll more than likely have to purchase them before I move, since a lot of items are on backorder. I will also need a garage door opener because they never put one in. Then there's the outdoor stuff that I got rid of whenever I moved out of my house: lawn mower, weed eater, pressure washer, those sorts of things. I'm also considering whether or not I'm going to paint. The walls throughout the entire house are gray. My son loves it; I'm not a fan. Not that there's anything wrong with gray, but I like warm colors. All my furniture and decor looks best in creamy whites and beiges, not grays. I'll see how everything looks once it's in the house, then I'll decide. I've painted many times before, so it's not something I shy away from. On the contrary, I love me a project - it keeps me busy, and I need the exercise!

Last Thursday I noticed schools were letting out early. Whenever I looked at the school calendar, I saw that spring break was starting the next day. That was just five days after I closed on the sale of my home. I realized that God had planned it so I would be gone before spring break started, and I praised Him because I knew if I'd been in the house while school was out, the neighbor would be hounding me daily. It made the waiting a whole lot easier. 

Waiting is hard, y'all. I can sit here and dwell on the waiting, or I can find peace in being thankful. I choose gratitude.

It's Never Easy...

Last Friday we received the news that we were clear to close. My realtor scheduled us to go to the title company right after the walk-thru Monday morning at 9:00. It seemed like everything was moving along like clockwork. Until the clock hit a glitch.

Originally the buyer had offered $5,000 above asking price. I thought that was odd, since there were no other offers on the table. Then I realized it was a technique he used to insure that I would accept his offer and no one else's. Once the inspection came in, he used it to drop the price down by $7,500. Since the new price was what I had anticipated the house to sell for, I accepted with the understanding that this would be the final sale price regardless of what the appraisal came in at. He accepted as well. The appraisal came in $5,000 below asking price, and the buyer agreed to bring $2,500 to closing. Well, sort of...

I think his realtor wanted to make sure she got commission for the original price her client had offered. To do this, she wrote up the new offer as his full offer with a seller credit of $7,500. My realtor told her this probably wouldn't be accepted by the lender, since it was $10,000 above the appraisal price, but his realtor insisted it had been done this way before successfully. Still, my realtor asked his realtor to verify with the lender so it wouldn't delay any paperwork. She finally agreed to, and found out my realtor was right. The lender would not accept this higher price as the selling price, credit or no credit. Another addendum was added to the contract where the buyer and I signed off on the final sales price and his realtor sent this in to the lender. Now everything was correct. Or was it?

I'm so thankful for my realtor. She received the settlement statement and went through it with a fine tooth comb. It didn't take long for her to find two mistakes: a charge from the HOA that should not have been there, and a credit for $7,500 that was never removed. She tried calling the buyer's agent but it was two hours before she finally got a hold of her. By then it was late in the afternoon and there wasn't a whole lot that could be done.

I didn't find out about this till Sunday afternoon. My realtor texted me to let me know there was a delay because, according to the buyer's realtor, "something happened with the loan." There needed to be revisions done, and she didn't know how long it would take, but we could still go ahead with the walk through on Monday morning. I was more than a little upset because I knew my realtor had told her from the start that what she was doing wouldn't work. 

Monday morning I was up bright and early, despite Daylight Savings Time. I couldn't sleep is more like it. I woke up before 6:00 am. I met the buyer and his realtor at my house at 9:00 and the walk through took less than 30 minutes. They looked around and saw that I'd left everything clean, which they were very thankful for, but other than the air conditioner and the hurricane shutters, they didn't really check anything else. I turned over the keys to his realtor, showed him where the mailbox is, and we left. At this point we still didn't know when the closing would take place.

Thankfully my realtor is on top of things. She emailed the title company trying to get an update. I guess she lit a fire under them because not long after she got the new settlement statement. She forwarded it to me so we could go over it, and what did I find? Two errors. They were charging me a ridiculous amount of money for some letters from the HOA, and they were also charging me March dues that had already been paid. This time I emailed the title company asking for an explanation. Within two minutes I got an email with a corrected statement. Y'all, if we hadn't checked this, I would have been out $555 that would have gone in the title company's pocket! It reinforced what I've always been taught, read everything carefully before signing anything! 

Once we'd looked everything over and agreed that it was correct, we scheduled my signing for 3:00 pm. As the seller, my paperwork is much less and quicker to sign. I got to the title company and the buyer was there, already getting his documents signed. I went in, and was out in about half an hour. The buyer was still there and probably had another 30-60 minutes left before he was done. But finally, all the papers were signed, and my house has a new owner. Hallelujah! I'm so thankful to God for getting me out of that painful and stressful situation. It's like a huge burden has been lifted off my shoulders.

I have to admit, it's bittersweet. I really did like that house a lot. I like the floor plan, I loved how I decorated it, I enjoyed the neighborhood and the location...it was just one person that made it impossible to live there any longer. My prayer now is twofold. I pray the neighbor receives the help he needs. He is clearly disturbed mentally and needs attention, for his sake and for the sake of those around him. My second prayer is that he doesn't cause anymore trouble for the neighbors, especially the gentleman who just bought my home. I believe he will leave the new owner alone because he's a bully but he's also a coward (as one officer told me), but that doesn't mean he won't harass someone else. 

And now, I wait. I won't close on my new home until mid to late April. God is teaching me patience in this season, and I'm willing to learn. 

Another Update - We Are Clear To Close!

We're one step closer to the home sale finish line! It has been a crazy busy week, but God has gone above and beyond everything I could have even imagined. He is so good, y'all!

On Wednesday we finished loading the first Pod container. Whenever they called to let me know they'd be picking it up the next day, I asked about the second Pod. The woman looked it up, then said, "You ordered an 8' Pod, but we don't have any available. We'll have to give you a 16' Pod and charge you for the 8' one instead." I was floored. I had ordered an 8' Pod because a 16' was more expensive and I wanted to save some money. To do this, I had planned to sell a few furniture pieces that wouldn't have fit in the smaller container. I listed three items on OfferUp: my futon, a nightstand, and a media cabinet. None of them sold. I got offers, but even after I accepted them no one showed up. I was then going to donate them to the church. I asked for someone to contact me; no one did. So whenever the Pod company said they were giving me a larger container for the price of a smaller one, I knew I'd be able to take everything with me and still have room to spare. My realtor was so happy for me! She kept telling me not to get rid of anything, to figure out a way to take it so I wouldn't have to buy anything whenever we got to the new house. Now it was possible! 

Thursday we got the second container, and my son and I got to work. We loaded everything we could on our own, leaving only four larger pieces of heavy furniture: his desk (which is a corner desk so it comes in two pieces), my chest of drawers and the media cabinet. I called several people to see who could help us get the last items into the Pod but I couldn't find anyone. Meanwhile the buyer was at my house with an interior designer/contractor. He has plans to remove the wall dividing the kitchen from the dining room. It was something I would have done if I'd remodeled the place, but I imagine the previous owner didn't have the money to do a major remodel so she just changed out the cabinets and put in new appliances. This gentleman is going all out, and I'm sure the unit will look beautiful once he's done. It meant one thing for me: I didn't have to do a deep cleaning of the empty house, since construction will begin right after closing and before he even moves in. Less work for me!

Friday I went to vacuum, spot mop and do some light cleaning. The balcony was still being worked on and I'm so thankful. We all agree the balcony looked 100 times better with the tiles but there's nothing we can do. The buyer is very understanding. I texted the young man who'd helped us load the first container and asked if he was available to help with just these four pieces. E and I would do the rest. It was a last ditch effort, otherwise my son-in-law said he would help, but he wasn't feeling well. He'd eaten something that hadn't agreed with him and he spent the night tossing his cookies. Thankfully our church volunteer said he could come by just to help carry the items down but then he'd have to leave for an appointment. I was so extremely grateful! I told him if he helped carry everything down we'd take care of the rest. 

It was all completed in about half an hour. The house is empty, the Pod is filled, and that afternoon my realtor called to tell me we are clear to close Monday morning! Hallelujah, thank You Jesus! Yes it's been a lot of work, yes my body is still sore from all the moving and cleaning, but my heart is happy knowing my God has been beside me the whole time, and He's still with me now. Praise Him through Whom all blessings flow!

Update - Praising God

In Luke 17 we read about the 10 lepers who asked Jesus for healing. Jesus didn't appear to do anything; He simply told them to go present themselves to the priest. All 10 went to the priest in faith, and all 10 were healed because of their faith. But only one of the men came back to give thanks and praise God for his healing. This disappointed Jesus, because gratitude is so important to God. We should be thankful for His blessings. In that spirit, I want to give praise to God for the past few days and for how He has blessed me over and over. 

The Pod container was delivered on Monday morning, and my son E and I got to work loading it with boxes. Here in South Florida the weather had been hot and humid for days, but Monday was cooler, breezy and pleasant. I think the high for the day was in the low 70's. The sun was hiding behind the clouds, keeping us protected while we worked. I was so thankful that God gave us such a pretty day so we wouldn't be overtired. 

The next day a volunteer from the church came to help us move the bigger pieces of furniture. He wasn't just any volunteer either; this guy is a weight training coach. He is one strong dude! He literally lifted the sides of our sectional over his head and carried them downstairs and into the container. Let me just say, those things are super heavy! We had that container loaded to the brim in less than three hours! Not only was he a hard worker, but his attitude was so encouraging. Here we had a young guy lifting furniture, loading a truck, and smiling the whole time. I thanked him multiple times, and all he would say was, "I'm happy to serve." I had several offers to come the next day to help some more, but it wasn't even needed. The container was full!

(And the garage was empty, LOL!)

I got the results of both the home inspection and termite inspection for the new house on Tuesday. Both were good reports! No termites or evidence of termites, and the items marked by the inspector were minor. Of course it's a newer house so that helps, but just because it's a newer house doesn't mean it won't have problems. It's true there's no perfect house, but I thank God there's nothing major that can't be easily fixed.

I put a few items up for sale on OfferUp, specifically the couch/futon, a nightstand and a media cabinet. I'd ordered two Pods because I knew we wouldn't be able to fit everything into one. I chose one large and one small because they are pricey to rent and I'm gonna have to keep them in storage for longer than I'd anticipated. Today when the company called to confirm pick up of the loaded container, I asked when they'd deliver the second one, since it's supposed to come in the same day. The lady checked, then said, "Oh, you ordered an 8' container, but we don't have any available. We're gonna have to give you a 16' container and charge you for an 8 foot." I couldn't believe it! None of the items I'd posted on OfferUp got sold, and I didn't know what I'd do with them. Now they'll all fit in the container with room to spare! I don't believe in coincidence. This has to be a God thing.

The only thing that was concerning me this week was the work on the balcony. They'd taken the tiles off but hadn't done anything else, and the balcony looked rough. I emailed asking when the work would be done, but all I got was "soon." Even my realtor emailed and said the buyer didn't want to close on the house until the work was done. I prayed that God would take care of this. Sure enough, today they were grinding the patio smooth! I don't know how far they got, since I only stopped by for a moment to pick up a few things and left, but I'm hoping the work is complete, since tomorrow the buyer is coming to do the walk thru.

Tomorrow will be a very busy day. The first container will be picked up between 7:30 and 8:00 am. Then the walk thru is at 11:00 am. Meanwhile we have to get as much of the remaining furniture into the garage so we can load it up and be done with that. Then I have to give the place a good cleaning, since I don't like turning over the house with it being a filthy mess. Each day we are one step closer, and each day I praise God for walking me through this difficult season. God is so good y'all! I will shout it from the rooftops, 

Our God is Greater,

Our God is Stronger,

God You are Higher than any other,

Our God is healer,

Awesome in Power Our God, Our God!

The Week In Review

 Every time I've moved I've said the same thing: this is the last time I'm gonna do this. I hate packing, I hate the mess, I hate the work, and I don't want to do it again. Famous last words.

Guess what I've been doing all this week? That's right, packing. My house is filled with boxes. It's the kind of chaos that feels overwhelming and gives me anxiety. At the same time, I'm filled with hope for what God has in store for us in Central Florida, and that's what keeps me going even though I'm exhausted.

This is what you see whenever you first come up the stairs to my house. I took down all the decor from the walls except for the large clock, so I can see the time. I emptied out the bookshelf, then put some of the boxes in the cubbies for two reasons; 1 - to get them off the floor and out of the living room, and 2 - to see how well they fit. My plan is to fill the spaces with boxes once it's in the Pod container, so we can use every bit of space that we can. There's a lot of boxes and furniture to load, and we have to use the space to our best advantage.

Since I moved those boxes the living room doesn't look near as bad. I could barely get in and out of the living room thanks to all the boxes on the floor. This gives me a better idea of how it'll fit into the Pod.

Boxes in walkways, boxes on counters...

Boxes and bags and rolled up rugs in the dining room. The dining room table is leaning up against the mirrored wall, legs removed so it takes up less space as well. The bags are filled with throw blankets and pillows. I like using throw pillows to decorate, since it's an easy way to change up a look. I didn't realize how many I'd accumulated till I started packing them up. And here I thought I didn't have more than a few. 

I actually have two Pod containers coming, a large one and a small one. The small one will be the last to be loaded and the first to be unloaded. It'll contain all of our essentials: the beds, bedroom furniture, bathroom and kitchen necessities, things we need right away. I'm keeping these items in the master bedroom so they don't get loaded onto the first Pod.

The kitchen cabinets have been emptied out, and on top of the counters I've just got the toaster oven and some cleaning supplies. The cookie sheet is old and will not be making the trip. The pantry has some food items but those will be going to my daughter's house.

I've confirmed the first Pod for tomorrow, when we will start loading boxes from the garage and inside the house. Then Tuesday we'll have church volunteers helping us load the heavy furniture. I can't begin to express what a blessing it is to have this kind of help. My son E and I could never get this done on our own. 

The tiles came off the balcony. I was sorry to see them go, especially when the workmen confirmed what I already knew: the tiles were not the cause of the leaks in the neighbor's unit. It was a structural issue. I could tell just from the look of the slab whenever they removed the tiles. No cracks, no water damage, nothing to indicate any seepage of water anywhere.

Now the workers have to come back to smooth out the concrete so it doesn't look like this. I've emailed the management letting them know they have this week to get the work done before we close on the sale of my home.

My neighbor was in an uproar whenever he saw the men working on my balcony. He made all kinds of noises all weekend long, then stayed home from work on Monday just so he could slam doors, bang on the walls, throw things, play loud music and television, and make a general nuisance of himself. I emailed the management to let them know what was going on so they could tell him the work was being done for his benefit, not mine. He calmed down a little after that, but the noise hasn't stopped entirely. It's affecting my health in a negative way. I feel my anxiety rise whenever he starts with his ruckus. Add to that my allergies and asthma, and I can't wait to get out of here.

I have to remind myself constantly that, no matter how bad my circumstances seem, I have a lot to be thankful for. I was able to sell my home in just two days. I have my daughter who has opened her home to us so we don't have to pay for a hotel or a short term rental. We have food, clothing, and help from our church family. God has provided just as He always has. He is so good! It reminds me that I have nothing to fear because my God goes before me. He has a plan and a purpose for all this, and will use it for His glory.