The Offer is In...!

And so it is.  

Optimism + prayer = amazing things. This was Tony's fortune from his after-dinner cookie at Mama Fu's last night.  :)

We also had the most magnificent dessert there, because we totally needed that.  We absolutely needed to find out, firsthand, how cheesecake, cinnamon, and raspberry sauce combine to make magic in your mouth.  Ohhhh my goodness! 

We started off today, around 6:30am.  I did my scolio exercises and showered and we "rinsed through" - as Tony would say - different scenarios and aspects of our move on both the WI and AR ends.

We then went downstairs to breakfast, where, for the 3rd day in a row, I feel like a Loser with a capital L... it's so weird to not be taking care of anyone else!  I just look at what I want to eat and then eat it?  

No drama 

(well, except for the bitter kitchen worker hollering "HOT FOOD", rather than, "Excuse me, please", as she restocks the hot food items).  

No overflowing waffle iron (just the beeping of that thing makes my blood pressure rise in anticipation of batter overload), 

no, "Please eat something healthy before the Fruit Loops or donut."  

No spilled juice toppling from a 4oz Dixie Cup or one of the kids excitedly, yet somehow completely surprisingly to themself, ramming into other hotel guests.  

Nope.  Just us, and our ham, eggs, and coffee.  Weirdness.  

I do get over it pretty quickly so that I enjoy myself :)  hehe  

Above, is Tony, working via phone, with his replacement in Appleton, while also awaiting return phone calls from relo consultant and our lender.  I was on the left for moral support ;D (ok, maybe some Farm Heroes/email/Facebook too), and also trying to get in touch with a plumber to fix a minor issue needing correction, for the buyout. I also spent a couple of hours editing, my dear Dana!  I'm almost there!

It was time to leave to drop Tony off at the office for meetings.  We'd had the necessary conversation with our relo consultant, but were still waiting to hear back from our lender.  Yesterday, we'd found the house we want to call Home, and we just wanted to be sure all things were in line, so that we could make an offer today!

I took Tony to the meetings, and kept my phone on alert so that I could talk with our lender when she did return the call. 

Ava's really been wanting me to try and find the Duggar family... I googled and searched best I could, but could not (not surprisingly)find an exact address.  I decided to go to Springdale "for Ava", anyway.  I had JimBob's car dealership address; it took me to a dealership, but not one with his name on it.  In one of my searches, I ran across the Duggars' eldest son, Joshua's (Anna)address.  It was listed as only a few miles from where I was at, so I decided to go for it.  

I arrived at the address, and texted Ava...

After the cruise south, I got back on highway 540 and headed back.  

I wanted to stop at the church that we are planning to attend!

From there, I drove to the house, thought I'd see what the drive was like.

It took less than 15" to get from the church to our (praying!) new home.  And the drive was so pretty!  It's unbelievable how much this area resembles WI.  With its' winding country roads and tall trees, you'd hardly know the difference between the two, in some areas!  But then something like an armadillo reminds you that things are not always what they seem.

On the drive, our lender called, and I was able to speak to her about estimated costs of taxes and insurance here, in AR.  I also let her know we were planning to place the offer (and the amount - we'd already done pre-approval)today.

I picked Tony up after his meetings, and off we went, to the house, to pull together an offer for this house! It's a beautiful drive, too, and less than 4 miles from his office.  :)

The absolute best thing, to *me*, about the house, is the functional laundry room with lockers!  My, never-waning enthusiasm for this, above.

The laundry room comes right off of the garage entrance,and sits between the entryway and the master bedroom closet. There is a pocket door, between laundry room and closet.  This will all be so helpful in helping control clutter!  I am trying to be very intentional about the things I keep... and controlling the visual chaos.


After we looked at the house some more, we signed the offer.  We then went to Abuelo's (another 1st)for dinner.  After dinner, we decided to take a drive out to Bentonville's Aquatic Center.  It was closed but we were able to assess the amenities, somewhat.  Looks like a super fun place for the kidlets!We drove, too, to Rogers area to check out the Sport Complexes, and the new Aquatic Center.  It's more like an all-out water park.

 

Skype with the girls! I was sooo happy to see them smiling, and no tears at all tonigh.  It's been rough on all, to be apart. Soren seems to handle this by focusing on having fun... We have not Skyped with him or heard much, except that he is having a total blast.  :)

We really love the location of "our" house... the space... everything about it - will be praying God feels it's as great of a fit as we do, and that we receive confirmation, quickly, in the form of an accepted offer, tomorrow!

LoVed these signs at Grace Lutheran, visible to members as they leave church.