We got the keys this afternoon!

On Saturday, Dad and Mom brought a ton of boxes and went to town packing. Of course then the power went out...and we had a house showing!!!

Today, we went out to the farm and took the first load of STUFF. I have WAY too much stuff! Only 15 loads left!

Pictures to be loaded soon....

Oh, and in case you haven't noticed the new ticker....Farm Warming party on October 24th. Watch your mailbox for more information!!

We found a farm!!

An email I sent to our family and friends this morning....

Dear Family and Friends-

First, I'm sorry to not send out a personal message to everyone, but things are in fast forward here. Let me tell you what is going on!

As most everyone knows after my surgery, we put the house up on the market. We've had tons of showings but not the greatest feedback. So only one offer that had us paying them $10K to take the house...umm no thanks. We haven't been willing to drop our price because we didn't have anywhere to go.

Now we do! God is so GOOD!!! Last Sunday, MAN found a farm for rent for a very reasonable price. We went and looked at it yesterday. I don't want to say that it is perfect, but it's very nearly perfect. 90% of the things we felt the new place would need are in place and almost ready to go. The shop is bigger for MAN's business (which is quite busy right now) so hopefully he can have room to do things a bit differently and not have to work quite so hard to get his orders done. It has a HUGE two story animal/hay barn. It needs a bit of work before we can get any new critters, but the work needed isn't too major. Plus all the pastures are already fenced and ready to go. There is a huge area fenced for the garden (I wish it were spring again so I could plant it!! But as my sweetie pointed out, we probably need the fall and winter to get everything else in place...so God's timining is perfect.)

It has a chicken house and fenced chicken yard. That is completely overgrown and the house has not been used for about 5 years, so it will need work. But there are some things that are there that I now won't need to buy that I've been needing (There is a 6 box nest box set up-now that the new chickens are starting to lay, we've been needing a 2nd box. And it has a brooder set up, so it will be easier to add more chicks to the flock). The house is wonderful. Huge kitchen, open layout. Old farm house with really neat details (Decorative hardware on the doors from 75+ years ago) Huge windows. I'm so excited, can you tell???? 2 staircases! How wild is that?! Wood floors. Big separate laundry room (who would think I could be excited about laundry!) 3 BR, 2 bath.

There is also a pump house that has been insulated and set up as a root cellar. Plus there is a storm cellar below the house that I"ve been told has an additional washer/dryer hook up, and a good amount of storage space. There is an additional smaller barn that everyone says looks to be unusable...but I'm not yet convinced. Pear trees, apple trees, crabapple trees. A cute white picket fence around the back of the house. It's only about 3 miles (and only 2 turns) from a major highway. It's only 30 minutes to work and about 20 to church.

So now the fast forward starts! We made a verbal agreement with the landlady last night and will be getting the lease today. The current tenants are going to be out on October 1st. My plan is to get the majority of our stuff packed and ready to go, so we can move in right away. Because the new house is smaller than the old some furniture will not be going. The plan is to empty, clean (carpets, etc) and stage this house with the furniture left, and be moved into the new house. Then all the bad feedback (too much clutter in the house) will have been addressed (our stuff, our chickens, our dogs will all be at the new house) and then we'll drop the price to pick the interest back up. When we first listed we had 18 showings in 14 days. It has since dropped off. Then we are praying God will bring a buyer quickly so we aren't having to make a mortgage payment and a rent payment for long.

Now I have to get in gear and get the fall stuff done here, get packed up and ready to go. Then when we can get in, move and come back here and paint, clean, stage the house and then back to the farm to start unpacking and settling in. MAN will be busy too. He has to move the whole shop (Oh my goodness there are alot of tools out there!!) and get the new shop set up, and still be working on orders that are currently in queue. Even before we added the move, the business was booked out to mid/late October with orders!

So, that's what is going on over here. In the past, I've always had too much pride to accept help from others, always concern of what they would think of my clutter and too much stuff...my lack of housecleaning skills. After my surgery, there were 5 wonderful women that came over to our house to help me. It was mortifying...and one of the biggest blessings I've ever had. I know when I go to help someone else out, I never think about their "stuff" or judge, so I don't know why I couldn't get past that my friends are like that too. I've learned better. God has blessed me in so many ways I cannot even count. Come October 1st, I may have to use these lessons, and if you are bored and have nothing to do (I don't know ANYONE that this would apply to-REALLY!) I might have to call on you for some help! In the meantime, I'll try to keep up on the blog so you know what is going on. The blog address is http://www.wallacehomestead.blogspot.com/

We love you all and know that many of you have been praying for our situation. I wanted you to see the answer to your prayers. We are challenged but excited!
Picture of the new kitchen, with BOY standing on the cellar door looking in.