swift bungalow

Well, now that things are a bit more official... let me share some big news with you:

Christopher and I bought a house!

The last month or so has been a whirlwind of everything, from casually house-hunting to buying a little fixer upper bungalow in the heart of Columbia. We have hesitated sharing much for many reasons: one, because we didn't want to get ahead of ourselves; two, because we really loved the house and didn't want to get our hopes up, and three because we think we are just... well, crazy for actually. buying. a house!

Crazy.

So, in order to process though I thought I would share our home-buying process, thoughts and desires with the home. So, if you want to know the deets, stay tuned. If you don't care too much about all those details, feel free to check out now.

Just know: you will be seeing a whole lot more of our little bungalow on this blog of mine.

Deciding to buy a home

Ever since we were married, I wanted a home. I dreamed of buying a little fixer-upper house, an old one with lots of personality. There were many times in the last three point five years when I tried to convince Chris that it was time to buy a home, that we were ready. But we weren't.

For a while I was planning to go to grad school. Then I went to grad school. After that, it just didn't make sense financially. We prayed. I cried. Chris kept me sane. We waited. I prayed that when the time was right Chris would feel at peace.

This past summer we began to talk again about the home buying process. We had started saving money the year before for a down payment and were feeling much more at peace about it. Even Chris was beginning to get a little excited. But still we were unsure what to do. I prayed a lot and asked the Lord for clarity. For peace. To keep my little heart from going off the deep end and getting too excited.

One night in early September I was driving to the grocery store. I was zoning out about things I needed to take to the post office when I felt the Holy Spirit say: "You will be in your home within a year." My heart lept. But my heart was really scared too. I wasn't sure if that was just me. Was that really the Holy Spirit giving me this hope? Or was it just my impatient heart wanting, wanting, wanting?

I pulled in to the grocery store parking lot, pulled out my journal and started prayer journaling. I asked the Lord to give me more clarity. I walked into the grocery store expecting someone to walk up to me in the aisle and say "The Lord told me to tell you yes, yes, yes buy a house!" I walked around and around getting my things, taking my time, waiting on someone to tell me to buy a house. But no one did. I walked out sad. Pulled out of the parking lot. And then someone hit my car.

I cried the whole way home. I'm not sure why I did, but I did.

Yet, in the following weeks the Lord gave our hearts more and more clarity. We set up a realtor, began looking at homes and realized that it was so.much.fun! Chris began to get a little more excited. I just got crazy excited.

We met with our realtor for the first time on September 17th. On September 24th we met with our loan officer to get pre-approved. We went out for our first home visits on October 8th and found our home on October 15th.

It all happened so fast.

Before this whole process I remember asking people how they "knew" their house was for them. So many people said that they "just knew."

The day we visited our little home for the first time we had already looked at four others. We were a little tired, but having fun. This house was the second to last for the day. We walked in the house and it felt like many of the others. Old with personality, needing some fixing up.

But as we walked around more and more we found things that stood out: the fireplace, the original hard wood floors, the built in hutch and cabinets. Then, we walked upstairs. And that was when we fell in love. The upstairs was us. It was perfect. It was beautiful. It needed work, but it was us. 

We walked out of the house. I was really excited but I didn't want to overwhelm Chris. I decided to keep it cool. We got in the car. I buckled my seatbelt and looked over at him. He was smiling so big, grinning ear to ear.

And that was when I knew. Just as he said: I want to buy that house.

The Nerve-Wrecking Process

That's when it all began to get crazy. We looked at the house for the first time on Monday the 15th. We went back with a friend on Thursday and early Friday. Friday morning we made an offer. And on Sunday we came to an agreement.

During this whole time I couldn't sleep. I was like a kid on Christmas Eve. Everynight I would lay in bed for hours, my mind racing a mile a minute. I couldn't stop. I tried to read to calm my mind but I had so many dreams, visions, ideas, projects that my mind kept going, going, going.

And it still is.

Just this past week we had a huge round of inspections: regular, radon, termite, chimney and engineer survey. And on Halloween it became official. We bought the house.

On Halloween night, I slept well.

Our Plan

Barring any big hiccups our closing date is November 28th. Our plan is to paint all the rooms that weekend and move in the following weekend... just in time for Christmas.

And that is when the fun begins. Because, like I said before: our house is a fixer-upper. (At least a fixer-upper in our terms).

During Christmas break we plan to make a big list of all the renovations we want to make in the next five or so years, taking one project on at a time, prioritizing what needs to happen first. We have big plans. Big dreams. Lots of excitement and tons of anticipation.

We are excited to share this adventure with you. 

So roll up your sleeves, put your hair in a ponytail and get ready. Because the fun is about to begin. 

Join us, will you?