Patrick is now working with Modern Woodmen Fraternal Financial and we needed to find a home near Hwy 27 so he could serve the Sebring/Avon Park area. We began searching back in November. We drove all over these two towns and looked at nearly 30 houses. Too far out, too small, no yard, too high priced, terrible neighborhood, perfect! ... contract pending :(... Then we found one with four bedrooms, large garage, family room, living room & dining room, with 1/2 an acre, out of town, but close to stores, nice neighborhood, decent price... we made an offer... we were getting desperate... sorry, going to auction.
So guess what we did? We got up early and drove to Orlando for the auction. There were about 130 houses on the block... the one we were there for was 12 from the bottom. Hours later the bidding started... opening bid... 1st bid, 2nd bid, Patrick raised his number... do I hear $5,000 more?... sold to the highest bidder!!!! What?! That's us! We won! Unbelievable and for less than we had originally offered. Thank you, Lord!
Now the waiting. The seller (a bank) had 15 days to accept or reject our winning bid. Merry Christmas! We received news on December 23rd that our bid had been accepted. Now we had 45 days to get our financing. Here we were with an excellent credit score, ZERO debt, a good paying job, and a fare amount of cash in the bank, but the bank decided that Patrick hadn't been at his job long enough. Maybe if we jumped through this hoop and turned in this paperwork, maybe they'd loan us the money. We jumped. We got the paperwork turned in and then more hoops were required. All along the deadline loomed. The seller kept pushing us to close in 30 days (Jan. 22nd). A miraculous technicality was used. The seller didn't sign the contract until January 4th, so we had a little more breathing room in our deadline ~ Feb. 17th was the final date.
January 20th the bank denied our loan, but told us if we did this or that, maybe they still might loan us the money. Oh Lord, what are we to do? Then another in a string of miracles. Dear friends of ours heard of our plight and graciously offered to loan us the money. Praise the Lord! February 11th we signed the papers and took possession of our new home!
Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye Heavenly Host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye Heavenly Host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
We are busy unpacking now. Patrick took a trip up to Tupelo to get our stuff out of storage. The Lord's timing allowed us to help our friends the Dischers carry a load of their things to their new home in Missouri and then have help from Ed and Peter to load our things in Tupelo and unload them back here. Pictures will follow soon.
