Keepin' the faith

Worrying about my little family and our future is exhausting. Especially when it comes to our almost new house. 

The house that for two months we have been dreaming about, laughing about, crying about, stressing about, fighting about and scheming about. To tell you that we have done everything possible to secure this diamond in the rough is a COMPLETE understatement. 

I wish this post could be as simple as telling you yes or no but unfortunately we are still in limbo - hence my full-fledged exhaustion.

To start from the beginning:

Nick and I found this beauty in June...right around the same time Nick quit his job. 

This job, ps, was more horrible than my worst enemy and my worst nightmares. Combined. For two months straight - mind you our baby was 3 and 4 months old- I am not exaggerating when I say there were nights were Nick wouldn't get home from work until 2 am. AM! He never got home before 6. Ever. He would be taking calls at all hours of the night and would often have to leave church, home group and family dinners to deal with clients. To this day I tell Nick that if he would not have quit, I would have gone in and flipped them all the bird and quit for him. 

Prior to June, we had been talking the better part of 6 months about possibly putting our place up for rent so that we could follow our dreams and purchase another project. Now that Nick was out of work - for a short time -it kinda seemed perfect. He cleaned and fixed up the place, threw it up on craigslist (it was rented out within 24 hours ) and 1 week later - we moved out. 

The offer we submitted for our almost new house was accepted, first of July, with a projected close date of October 31st. The seller sweetened the deal by saying - close by October 1st and you get your earnest money back and we will lower the price of the home.

From July to September, Nick and I worked our buns off - I mean worked harder and more hours, sold rigs gathered what seemed like impossible paperwork and most importantly saved EVERY penny. 

 - Loan paperwork was submitted on September 6th. 

 - September 12th, we got a call with good news, bad news and hopeful it's-not-over-yet news.

Good news - We received a pre-approval letter from the lender! Financially, we ARE approved!

Bad news - USDA (our loan type) denied our loan due to the fact we own another property. 

Hopeful it's-not-over-yet news - USDA is not allowed to deny a loan due to that reason. 

Where are we today?

Our broker, loan officer and USDA rep are fighting a battle with WA state USDA on our behalf to help us secure an approval.

The home appraisal was ordered, happened on Friday and should be back to our broker today. Once he has that he will send our completed file to WA state USDA and we wait. Could take as long as 10 days - funny enough, we have exactly 10 business days till October 1st. 

The great great news is - if USDA approves our file we can immediately close. This means that we COULD still hit our October 1st deadline. 

I had a quick convo with our agent on Friday. He said that he has never seen USDA deny a loan that has been approved. 

Seeing as though the team Salzwedel morale is my responsibility, I am keepin' the faith. 

While we have done everything possible - EVERYTHING POSSIBLE - it is now our of our control. If this bright, beautiful, hopeful, door closes in our face, I believe it will be God's hands who close it. His plans FAR out trump our measly plans so if the answer is no, it is because Nick and I have something outstanding waiting for us around the bend. 

In the meantime we wait, we pray (THANK YOU for your prayers, encouragement and love) and I  (cause Nick will have no part in it) do ridiculous team cheers cause at the end of the day a positive, grateful, thankful, optimistic heart is what matters!

Soooooooo, cause I can't even handle it and we need something to keep us going until we hear the final verdict  allow me to show you my FAVORITE feature in our almost new house (yeah, I totally snuck into the appraisal Friday to take pictures cause I am obsessed like that). A gorgeeeeee pass through fireplace that sits between the living and dining room. It also continues down into the basement too.

Oh the plans we have for you darlin'.....