Our House Is Under Contract: We Have A Buyer!!!!!!

Whooee, what a difference a week makes! Or a day, for that matter.

OUR HOUSE IS UNDER CONTRACT!!

Yes, that's right we have a buyer for our house and we've agreed on all the details to make the sale happen! WooHoo!

THANKS FOR ALL YOUR PRAYERS AND ENCOURAGEMENT OVER THE PAST EIGHT MONTHS! Lord willing, we'll soon be on our way to Burlington, North Carolina!

How It Played Out

• On Sunday our house was one of three houses showcased as part of a front page feature story in our local paper about the affordability of houses in the Coshocton area.

• Wednesday morning we had a showing at 10:30 so we did our clean the house, take the dogs for a drive routine.

• Wednesday night we had an hour-long open house, 6:30-7:30, as part of the Coshocton Tour of Homes...and the folks that came through that morning came back through that evening for a second look. That made us hopefull.

• Thursday was quiet. Too quiet. We ran errands, worked on MAG stuff, and tried not to get too excited about another house showing. We so hoped the phone would ring, but it never did. We started hunkering down into our still-patiently-waiting mode.

• Friday morning our realtor called around 10:30 and said she'd received an offer on the house. She came over with the offer, we discussed it, and then presented our counter-offer around 1:00. Our realtor called back about 10:00 last night and said the buyer had agreed to our counter offer! So, after eight months, the Lord sold our house in twelve hours. Amazing.

We expect to sign the formal sales contract next week, expect closing to happen sometime between August 12-21, and should be on our way to Burlington, NC shortly thereafter. WooHoo!

Karen's already working on a packing strategy.

Please pray that our house will pass the various inspections and that our buyer's loan will be approved!

Heading To Burlington Tomorrow
I was already heading back down to Burlington tomorrow to spend a another week working with Sean at MAG Headquarters so now the trip takes on a new dimension as house hunting comes into play with some purpose. We've been in contact with our realtor in Burlington and have several houses already lined up for viewing.

Karen will remain home, take care of Tucker and Tanner and launch into packing mode. One of her friends from PA will be out for a visit.

A Sign?
While our counter-offer was being considered, this is what appeared over our house.

Rainbow over 368 McClain

Nice touch, eh? What a confirmation that God was up to something big!

Stay tuned, things are going to start picking up speed around here. We'll keep you posted as best as we can! Thanks again for your gifts and prayers that are making this move possible!

Summer's Here And The Time Is Right For... Someone To Buy Our House!

Both the calendar and the thermometer confirm summer has arrived. It's over 90 degrees today and the chill of winter is nearly warmed from my bones. Nearly. A couple more months of this and I'll finally be thawed out.

Yep, we're still working on the house and continuing to find things to do to keep improving its saleability. Aren't YOU interested in a classic Midwestern, two story home on a corner lot, in a quiet neighborhood, in a friendly small town in east-central Ohio...Coshocton?

 Click here to see our listing.

Note: Contrarary to the listing's info...we DO have a garage that takes two cars!

 Sanding the front door jamb after patching and before painting and re-weather stripping.

Coshocton is home to the National Onion Ring Eating Contest and the Coshocton Indian Mud Run (which is actually being held today!). Our cute house is only a short walk to shopping, historic Town Center, and the Coshocton County Fair Grounds. Not only that, but Shelby Theaters, right here in town, features first run movies for $3 a ticket (before 5 PM) and $5 (after 5 PM). Add a buck to each ticket if it's a 3-D feature. There's a lot that goes on in this picturesque rural setting at the base of Ohio's Amish Country, and you can have direct access to all the thrills and excitement for the low, low price of $69,900! Can you beat that? 1,200 square feet AND full basement for such an unbelievably wonderful deal? $69,900 and this little piece of heaven can be yours. CALL or EMAIL NOW!

Karen installs a new kitchen faucet after I removed the old one.

Actually, photos of our house are supposed to be part of an article featuring the benefits of buying a home in our price range vs. renting. The mortgage on our house is several hundred dollars below what it would cost to rent something comparable. Lord willing, if you haven't already emailed an offer already, reading tomorrow's article in tomorrow's Coshocton Tribune will push you over the edge and drive you to contact our realtor: Debbie Meyers, myersd740@aol.com, 740-502-1589.

Prepping the back door jamb (and also the side door jamb) for paint.

(Doesn't the deck look great?)

Karen planted our side gardens with veggies and some colorful flowers.

And I re-stained the deck (sorry, no photo)...

...while Tanner supervised all our activity.

So, if you can't buy our house...won't you please pray that someone else will? I plan to drive back down to Burlington, NC the 30th and return July 5th or 6th.

Thanks for following our adventure!

The Coshocton-Burlington Commute Continues

Burlington: June 5-9
I returned to Burlington, NC June 5-9 to work with Sean. I prepared material for that week's Board meeting, assisted with assorted administrative tasks, and participated in interviews with two families that are prospective candidates for the MMS/MAG pilot-mechanic training partnership.

The Coshocton/Burlington trip works out to an eight hour drive (one way) with a meal and gasoline stops thrown in. It's a relatively easy drive (no crazy interchanges, excellent roads, typically light traffic) with lots of fantastic scenery to enjoy through the mountains of West Virginia and Virginia.

Preparing packets for the MAG Board Meeting

The MAG Board meeting in session.

As I finished out the week, Sean joined me in the car for the drive back to Ohio as he had multiple meetings scheduled in and around Coshocton.

Coshocton: June 9-14
We arrived in Coshocton Sunday afternoon and arranged for Paul Jones (MAG's Guatemala Program Director) to meet us at our house for a hotdog grilling session. Paul was driving in from Indiana to spend the week in Coshocton for meetings as well.

Sean & Paul on our front porch.

Sean, Paul, and Scott Grote (MAG's Director of Aviation Maintenance) spent Monday in Akron with the director of Hospital Shalom. Hospital Shalom is the Guatemalan hospital for whom we're to provide air support. Paul will deploy to Guatemala in September to begin the many months of groundwork necessary to establish our air ambulance service in conjunction with Hospital Shalom.

Tuesday: Sean met with a local fund raising specialist who has an interest in projects related to mission aviation and providing medical services to remote peoples. Karen whipped up some awesome grilled Turkey Ruben sandwiches and three-bean salad for our lunch. (I should have taken pictures of the sandwiches.)

Wednesday: I was up at MMS with Sean as he conducted a flight consultation with Jason Maust, a prospective candidate for the MMS/MAG pilot-mechanic training partnership. Sean also conducted a Bi-annual Flight Review (BFR) for Paul.

Sean leads Jason in conducting a pre-flight inspection. 

Here they're inspecting the airplane's rudder.

Thursday: Sean, Scott, Paul, and I met with Andrew Tonn, an Ohio based photo-journalist and videographer who as a passion for the people of Rus Rus, Honduras and for our work with them. Andrew came to MMS to shoot hangar footage and conduct initial interviews related to a new video project he's undertaking. Andrew intends to follow Paul Jones to document the story of how he became a missionary pilot-mechanic and to record Paul's experiences as he opens our new field of operations in Guatemala! Is that totally cool or what? Paul is a graduate of the MMS Aviation apprenticeship program.

Andrew interviews Paul in the front hangar at MMS Aviation.

On Friday, Karen and I drove Sean into Columbus to meet with an architect from Kentucky, another friend of MAG, who has volunteered to draw up plans to improve the hospital facility. He's also assembling a team to go to Rus Rus to survey the entire air base and hospital compound!

On Saturday Karen and I returned to the Kokosing Gap Trail to ride our bikes from Howard, OH to Mt. Vernon and back. It was a wonderful day for a bike ride. Here's a snapshot from the public garden along the trail. It's a great place to park your bikes and to take a short break!

We usually park our bikes on the small bridge that joins the trail to the garden.

Flowers in bloom in the garden along the Kokosing Gap Trail.

Thanks for your continued prayers as we live in Coshocton and commute to Burlington. We look forward to God revealing His plans for our move to North Carolina.

Coshocton Flyer and Quick Update

Well, Karen's at home with Tucker and Tanner preparing our house for a showing this morning (MAYBE TODAY'S THE DAY GOD SELLS OUR HOUSE!) and I'm down in Burlington working with Sean. I'll head home Sunday.

Sean's actually coming up to Coshocton to stay with us next week for meetings and an interview/flight consultation with a prospective candidate for our training partnership with MMS Aviation. Right now there's so much going on with MAG that Sean's nearly in Coshocton as much as I'm in Burlington!

COSHOCTON FLYER
Here's our latest newsletter! YAY!

Here's the link to the above mentioned MAG 2012 Year End Summary Newsletter.

We hope you enjoy both newsletters and thank you for your continued prayers!