Our house, in the middle of our street

Our house, was our castle and our keep
Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, that was where we used to sleep
Our house, in the middle of our street

I love that song. Our house was in the middle of the street.

Anyway, so, I feel...not lied to, but inadvertently misled.
I grew up buying the line that buying a house is always a wise investment. Even in the middle of house prices plummeting, and us being back in to a corner with our house, I got this preached to me. I had to restrain myself from smacking the guy. Well, now I know that sometimes buying a house is an idiotic thing to do. Don't get me wrong, we made a huge profit from our first house, but our second house in Cedar, well....

It's April 2007 and we are in trouble up to our knees - no waists - at this point. The bank? Not so much happy with us about our non house payments. Foreclosure has been brought up. This hit us before the whole country started experiencing a foreclosure problem. We were experiencing it because Scott was deathly ill, not because of the other typical reasons others later experienced it, and we were in lonesome and new territory.

Anyway, I'm freaking out. Seeing these visions of begging someone to move in with them, declaring bankruptcy, the whole 9 yards. I needed some answers - some peace on the matter. So I kneel down and pray. I ask "Are we going to lose the house?" I get an answer - yes. Inside I totally panick, and why I thought asking the opposite question would be useful is beyond me, but I did. "Are we going to keep the house?" I get another yes. Okay I was totally confused. So, then I said (as if I was schooling the Lord), "Lord, both can't happen. We either keep or lose the house." I get an answer....'Don't worry about the house.'

Totally comforting answer - in a way. I mean, I didn't know what 'don't worry about the house' was supposed to mean as far as keeping or losing the house, but at least now I'm not going to worry about it....right?!

Fast forward to August 2007. The bank? Still not so happy about our non payments. We're getting certified letters, we're avoiding their phone calls. It wasn't looking good. I start freaking out again. "Lord, please, just tell me if we're going to lose the house, do I need to prepare to leave?"

Well, I got the most gentle chastisement I've ever had. 'Amy, I told you not to worry about the house.'

"Okay, okay...I'm sorry."

The whole rest of the year and the first 3 months of 2008, as the heat got more intense from the bank, I used all my energy to do as I'm told. Everything will be fine with the house, everything will be fine with the house. When Scott got his job, we spent another 1.5 months working things out with the bank, but we felt good about working out a deal and finding renters so we could move and Scott and I actually live in the same city instead of having him commute and seeing each other a handful of days per month.

When we decided to keep the house and rent it out, as soon as I can, I start advertising. We had the sign up, were telling people, and I'm craigslisting like crazy.

Long live Craig and his list.

Our move date is July 1st. We started paying rent on a house we felt very led to on June 1st. So, doing the hard math, we need renters by July 1st, cause we can't do 2 house payments.

There were a few soft leads on the house, but no one had signed on the dotted line. Then June 26 came around. By this time my dad is peeing his pants in nervousness for us. But what has Amy been told? Don't worry about the house, so I didn't. On the 26th, I get an email from someone wanting to look through the house, and I set the appt for the next morning. She comes on Friday morning, walks through the house, loves it, wants to sign papers right then. I'm thinking, whoa...slow down horsie. Turns out they needed to be out of their place by July 1st and she has seen nothing but crap houses. Ours was looking pretty good to her. I told her to wait, come back in the morning with her husband and when Scott was there, and we could both sleep on it. So, we sign papers the following morning - 3 days before the 1st. They are moving in to our house as we are moving out.

I thought my dad was going to shed a tear when I updated him. "Oh, it's a miracle, Amy. A miracle." I said, "Well, yeah, but I told you that I was told not to worry about the house."

Tender mercy # 5 billion and 1