ThankFULL

People sure were interested in our new farm purchase...I'm a little offended that I don't get 300 views when I post my latest craft. So I've seriously been contemplating scrapping titles that are related to what I'm writing and using titles like, 'We're Moving to Austrailia,' or 'We've Having Triplets,' instead.

It's been a stressful couple of weeks.

Between organizing family gatherings, visiting grandparents, preparing to move Jamie, planning showers, pendings, closings, buying a house, supper with friends, managing finances, headaches, running a business, roommates, and volunteering all swirling around in my Google calendar, I feel like I'm losing my miiiiind.

But then I look at this picture of our corn crib and remember how blessed Josh and I are. 

Just shut up Mollie, you're life is awesome. 

I have a lot to pack in to one blog. I'll try to keep it from growing into a short story. I'm also resisting the urge to start composing our Christmas letter, so this blog will just need to fulfill my writing urges for now.

Thankful for great friendships: I just had coffee with my friend and connection group leader, Carley. I realized it's been a WHILE since I've talked to anyone besides my family, my boss, or Josh. It was a good way to process everything crazy that's been happening. It's also just been way too long since we'd hung out, and a Venti Iced Vanilla Latte (that was purchased with change I've gathered from the laundry!) was just what I needed this week.

Thankful for Mint.com: Starting August 1st, Josh and I have been on a new, stricter budget...buying a 2nd house tends to put things in perspective...and point out how much pizza we order. Ugh. I'm having a grrrrreat time tracking things with the Mint app. Seeing that the pieces in our August 2013 pie chart have only been spent on gas, groceries, our mortgage, utilities, and very few 'extras' has been really motivating and fun. :)

Thankful for sisters: Summer is coming to an end, and I'm realizing that it went waaaaay too quickly. Our dreams of going on walks every night, grilling, laying out at the pool, crafting, and working on projects will become much harder once Jamie moves into her new apartment on Saturday. I'm excited for my parents to come down and excited to help her decorate and 'settle' into her new place (the same apartments I lived in during my third year of school). But I'm also a little bummed she won't be around to help me get groceries; clean the house like a madwomen; and watch movies in bed with me when there are boys and brothers invading the living room watching scary man-movies with Josh. 

Thankful for ShopVacs: Two weeks ago, our basement flooded due to a semi-funny sleepwalking incident. While it was very stressful at the time (picture 20-ish gallons flooding the basement from my bathroom sink upstairs), it really isn't a big deal looking back on it. I had originally planned to compose a lengthy, dramatic blog post about the events of August 3rd, but now it seems really unnecessary. Everything is drying out well and it was a good excuse to get down there and do some deep cleaning. As of now, it seems that our prayers for the drywall, ducts, and walls to dry out on their own have been answered. We also made $56 from taking back our renter's cans...and that turned out to be excellent State Fair spending money.

Thankful for Tami Hicks: My job is just awesome. I've always known that it is...do you have a boss that says, 'Thanks, you rock,' every time you hang up the phone for doing things like running a simple errand or printing a packet? Because I do. ;) I feel valued and appreciated for crafting adorable pop-by gifts and keeping organized files and calendars. B-T-dub, Tami sold two of her listings this week in less than three days. Yes, she's that good. You should make her your realtor. ;)

Thankful for ScotchGuard: On Monday night in the midst of sewing curtains for Jamie's apartment and friends watching a movie in our living room...beer was spilled on our 6-month-old furniture. While I understand a couch is just a meaningless 'thing' that I can't take with me to heaven...I also think it's important to be a good steward of the 'things' God has blessed us with. Couches included. Thankfully, HomeMaker's wasn't joking around when they charged us $40 per piece of furniture to ScotchGuard (with a warranty!). It was worth every penny. I used the furniture cleaner that came with the set, followed the directions, and boom...looks good as new. Note to all future furniture buyers...ALWAYS PAY EXTRA FOR THE SCOTCHGUARD!

I know this furniture spill is God's way of preparing me for children who will undoubtedly ruin my furniture. I'm confident that if I can handle Nikki, Kate, Jamie, Dan, Ben, Tom, Caleb, AND Josh all making the house a mess...I'll be able to handle almost anything. ;)

Aaaaand just because I like to look at it...here's a picture of the ceiling in our barn.

I plan to entice you all with pictures so you're itching to help us with the mess we've gotten ourselves into. ;)

MmB

We Bought a Barn

There's our little announcement. We bought a barn. Josh is the proud new owner. of. a. barn.

A big, beautiful, white barn that was built in 1880 with beautiful beams that are begging for little white lights to be strewn across them, and a floor that is calling to me to host a barn dance...and possibly adorable fall farm wedding receptions for our future children who will love growing up on an acreage so much that they want to save our money and have their reception under a white tent and a white barn at our house.

Ohhhh dear. I'm getting ahead of myself.

So this lovely barn isn't the only thing we're excited about...we are buying a property that also includes a farmhouse, a corn crib, and two other old farm buildings that all sit on two beautiful acres surrounded by corn fields on all four sides. This property is East about two miles off the I-35 Huxley/Maxwell exit between Ames and Akneny, and is only about a half-mile on gravel.

Church 12 minutes away. Ankeny and Ames, 15 minutes away. 2 minutes from the Interstate, and a great central location for Boersma Lawn Care Corporate Headquarters to reside for the next...well forever.

Hmmmm sounds exactly like the location we've been praying about for the past two years.

We've spent the past two weeks negotiating, praying, getting wise financial counsel from Josh's dad (who I affectionately call 'Vern Ramsey'), crunching numbers, praying, getting advice from contractors, and talking a LOT about our future and what it might look like if we're living on this amazing acreage raising a family.

And after all of that, as of last week...we have an accepted offer, a signed Purchase Agreement, and a realtor who is probably very thankful that the Boersma's are finally done dragging her around a million different houses so she can get back to her 'real' clients. We're really thankful for Tami Hicks and her patient realtor-skills. :)

So now a little more about the 'real' stuff...

I'll be honest. The house is actually a trainwreck. Which is why we are going to clean it up, and rent it out for the next 5ish years. During this time we are going to focus on budgeting (better than we have during the last three years of our marriage), saving, paying down our debt at both houses, and fixing up the outbuildings on the acreage. Josh is also going to grow some sweet corn and I want a pumpkin patch to help decrease the cost of my outdoor fall decor budget (yes that is a real thing).

Note to all frequent visitors: This means endless snacks and ordering pizza 'on the house' will be coming to an end. No more ordering pizza with us, eating half of it, and then not leaving any cash to chip in (you know who you are: ;)...and I'll be laying the smack down when this happens because my dream home is on the line here, people. While we LOVE blessing our friends and family with our house and parties and food and laundry facilities, this new investment means we need to cut back in a few areas, and the hospitality train is one of them (and yes I'm aware that my previous post about Target is another area where we will be cutting back and I'm working on it thanks to my iPad, the Mint.com app, and a husband who is far more patient with me than I deserve).

Okay back to the house story...At the end of this five-ish year period of using the acreage as an investment property, we have plans to tear down the old house and build our dream home in the same location. This gives us the flexibility to stay in our current house until whenever, and build when we're ready...we aren't on a strict timeline, so if that means we're ready to build in three , or we need to wait longer than five years, we're okay with all of that.

Either way, you can bet my 'Build' board on Pinterest and Houzz will be blowing up over the next few months.

We also admitted that while we're excited to move to an acreage someday, we aren't totally ready to leave 422 13th St yet. We would really miss drop-in visitors, college students and our youngest siblings just five minutes away. We're happy that this new (old) house also gives us the freedom to continue with some of the little projects we're working on (the shop, the cupboards, the kitchen floor, and the Man Cave are things we just aren't ready to leave yet) and stay in the house we both love and a location we really enjoy at this point in our lives.

It's been fun dreaming about our future life in the country (and I can have fun talking about this because I know 'town' is a reasonably short distance away)...but our next goal is cleaning up the house and getting it rented in a short amount of time. With that being said, please pray that clean-up would go smoothly and that we can fill that farmhouse with people who have a clean criminal background and an excellent credit score. We close on October 18th, and aren't really able to market or advertise the property until then. Which means...friends and word-of-mouth will be our biggest help spreading the word that we have a 2,000 SF farmhouse on an acreage in a convenient location that comes with theeeee best landlords in town.

I'm being serious. Now please go tell six friends and report back to me. :)

And I'll leave you with a picture of the latest addition to our family...

Happy Homeowners,

Josh and Mollie