We moved!

We have always thought we might move back to Galesburg (we lived in a small town right outside of Galesburg for the past two years). We just never thought it would happen so fast. One Friday night, at small group, a friend was talking about moving in the next year or two. I thought that we'd love their neighborhood and had Brad drive through to see their house or any others that might be for sale. There was a house right when we entered the neighborhood that was For Sale by Owner. We grabbed a flyer and went home. It has 5 bedrooms on the main level, tons of closets (current house has none except small bedroom closets), and a partially finished basement. Some more bonuses were a fireplace, screened in porch, and a den that will be great for a playroom off of the living room. It had more than we ever thought we would find in a house already built. We started dreaming already and Brad started packing :)

We contacted the owners Sunday night to see the house on Monday. It turns out that I knew the wife and she is from the same town as me. We have many mutual friends and my grandpa even depantsed her brother in high school, lol. We really liked the house but we thought we better see what else is out there. We made an appointment with our realtor to see everything else that was available in Galesburg with similar price and sq feet. Nothing compared to it. We came back to see it again Wednesday night with Brads mom and made an offer the next day. In the meantime we needed to deep clean our house to get it ready to put on the market (something we weren't even considering just 5 days before). 

We had it pretty clean and several things packed in totes and moved to the garage before our realtor came over on Friday. As we were talking to him the boys managed to get out all the toys that weren't packed and made a huge mess. We were discussing how we were going to keep the house ready to show with two little kids (and a big one) in the house. We continued to pack and agreed on price and conditions on Saturday. On Saturday night we contacted the sellers to see if we could rent the house until we closed and would try to get a bridge loan until ours sells. We knew we need to have our house empty to have on the market. Whew. Our heads were spinning and our kids didn't understand where all their things were going. We got all the details worked out and moved in on that next Saturday. It was less than 2 weeks from when we picked up a flyer and considered moving to when we moved everything and stayed in our new house. So crazy! Only God could have been in a those details. It was also a new start to the quarter in school and Isaiah was going to change schools, so we hoped it would happen sooner rather than later if it was going to happen. 

We are so thankful for our new home!! The boys LOVE it!! They can run around and play and have so much more room. Isaiah  loves the basement and having his own space. He did not want to move and leave his friends, but he is making some new friends and he still gets to play basketball with his Knoxville friends since the season had already started. We are so thankful for that! He now goes to school with Brad, which I'm sure they both think has its advantages and disadvantages. 

We love being closer to everything and not driving as much. After being there 3 weeks we realized neither of us had been to the gas station since we moved! We are just so thankful that we are making new memories in our new home!!
Here's the few pictures I took in the first week!