MOVING DAY APPROACHES!

LORD WILLING...TWO WEEKS FROM TODAY WE'LL BE MOVING TO NORTH CAROLINA!

"Okay, take a deep breath. Relax. God's in control--He has all the details covered. Remember to laugh. I'm so sad. I'm so excited. This hurts more than I ever imagined. Be thankful for the blessings of the last 16 years in Coshocton yet look forward to the blessings ahead in Burlington. Quit talking and PACK FASTER!"

Oh my. The thoughts and emotions, struggles and successes, the pains and joys of looking ahead while not wanting to let go of what's behind. We're in the whirlwind. At least the stresses and strains of buying and selling a house are (nearly) over.

We're good to go on our house down south and everything's ready to roll up here as soon as our buyer is approved for her financing. We should hear for sure on that next week. It will be good to be out of the "land in-between." To finally be somewhere after so many months of being neither here nor there. We'll pass our new address along as soon as we know our buyer's loan is approved!

Lord willing we'll close on our Coshocton house by August 21st and close on the house in Graham, NC on the 23rd.

Now it's just the "joys" of packing our lives, hopes, and dreams. I do so much better at "staying" than I do "going." But God has called us to GO!

August 21: close on our house up here and load the moving van.
August 22: drive the moving van and cars to Graham, NC.
August 23: close on our house down there and move in.

The U-Haul is reserved, loading and unloading crews are standing by, and I'm making repeated trips to the cardboard recycling dumpsters collecting sturdy boxes to fill.

Karen's sister, Brenda, is up from Virginia helping with the packing for a couple days.

Brenda & Karen work on packing the basement.

Tucker and Tanner are wondering what's going on. Their lives are about to dramatically change, but  then so are ours!

Thank you for each of your prayers and gifts enabling this move and our transition to service with Missionary Air Group in partnership with MMS Aviation. We eagerly seek your continued prayers and gifts as we finalize this transition and begin this new season of service in North Carolina.

We Found A House In North Carolina!

Our Heads Are Spinning
After eight months of waiting, in less than than two weeks, our house in Coshocton went under contract to be sold and we entered into a contract to buy a house in North Carolina! When God moves, He can move rather quickly! We're still trying to catch our breath!

Of course nothing's "for sure" yet, as everything's still totally "contingent" on the required inspections and our buyer receiving her financing...but should everything come together, after looking at more than 50 houses in Burlington and Graham, the Lord's opened a door for us to move into a relatively new development located toward the south end of Graham, North Carolina. It's located about two minutes from MAG Headquarters and about 7 minutes from our hangar at Burlington Regional Airport.

It's been a serious challenge for us to find affordable housing in a safe area that will hold its value over the ensuing years. We believe this house meets all three of those criteria. It had only been on the market ten days when we viewed it and a second offer to buy it was received just an hour after we submitted our offer! We'll provide more details as the details are finalized.

Thanks for your prayers for this ongoing transition. And, as we organize to finally make our move to North Carolina...please continue to pray!

Graham Video Link
To watch a short "Welcome" video about Graham, NC, click HERE!

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!