Upate on house #2

We made an offer on the house last Monday (4-6-09) and set our deadline at 6PM on Wednesday, but we didn't hear back from them by then. We knew they were probably waiting to get back with us becuase they were hoping for multiple offers. And lo and behold, when they did finally get back with us Friday afternoon at about 4:30, it was to tell us that there were now multiple offers and they wanted our best and final by Monday at 9AM. BLAH!!! Hmmm... that left us NO business hours to work with our bank on the whole loan thing. (This whole thing has been pretty sketch!) So we prayed about it and talked about it, and Jim and I felt at peace offering the asking price. That was Monday (4-13-09), and we're still waiting for an answer. Please pray for patience for us as well as God's will for our future home, wherever it may be! Thanks!

Blessings,
Jim and Ally

Home front update

We got back last night from a long weekend of looking at houses. It was a lot different having Jim with me down there. We had selected about 12-14 houses to look over the weeekend, and intended to look at 4-5 on Friday, the rest on Saturday and save Sunday afternoon and Monday morning for revisiting our favorites and possibly making an offer. Jim was much more... ummm... sure of what he liked or didn't like. This meant that with most of the houses we walked into Jim was ready to leave very quickly, so we ended up seeing all but two houses the first day. Only one of those seemed promising to Jim and I had a definite "UN-peace" about that one, so we decided not to make an offer.

Thankfully, Kimberly, our friend and wonderful realtor found about 5-6 more houses for us to look at on Saturday, and low and behold, the second one we saw that day seemed like a keeper. It is in a nice neighborhood where most of the houses are out of our price range, but since it's a forclosure, the price is right in our target range! There are some definite updates that could be done (especially in the front and back yards), but the house has been freshly painted and new carpet installed, so it would be move-in ready! It is in the perfect location for Jim's commute (or at least as good as it's gonna get.) and the neighborhood has a pool, tennis courts and a lake! Jim and I did decide to put an offer in, and we should know by tomorrow night at the latest if the bank will accept/reject our offer or counter it.

Check out the pictures (sorry... I didn't do the best job with them this time), and let me know what you think. Please keep us in your prayers as we wait to hear from the bank.

Giving Him the glory in all that we do,

The Garrisons

View from the street.

A closer view of the front.

Here, I'm standing at the front door looking in. To my left is the formal sitting room (below), to the right are the stairs, and straight ahead is the kitchen, breakfast room and den.

Standing in the formal living room. To my right is the front door (above) and to the left is the formal dining room (below).

(You can just barely see into the kitchen to the right of the dining room.)

(Above) This is the view through the formal dining room doorway into the kitchen.

This is the kitchen. The formica counter tops are new, as well as the linolium flooring. And I LOVE the window over the sink... I NEED light in my house!

This is the den.

Here's the half bath, which is basically in the foyer on the left just before you walk into the kitchen.

This is the master bedroom (bad picture!). It's a small master (14'8''x 14'4"), but the master bathroom and closet (both below) are nice.

(Standing outside the master bedroom looking down the hall.)

If I keep walking down the hall, on my left is the first and largest guest room (above) and to my right the laundry closet (below).

Next I pass the hall bath on my right (above) and two more guest rooms on my left and right respectively (below).

Here's the back yard. It is defnitely not large, but it's great for a first house. The property is only about .22 acres total. It is very uneven, so we would do a lot of work to it, which Jim is thrilled about because he has been dying to have a yard that he can work in! (I know... wierd right!)

On the home front...

Well... we're heading back to ATL this weekend to look for houses. Please pray for us. Pray that if one of these houses is the one that God has for us, we will know it when we see it, and if He's not prepared to show it to us yet, we will patiently bide our time and wait until he does. Thanks!

Ally

House news...

So it looks like we've lost the house. The seller accepted another offer, and the only way ours will be considered is if something falls through with this one. It seems like the good houses are flying off the market, so we're just not looking much online until right before we head down there again in a week to look at other houses. Please pray that when we see the house that God has for us, we will know it so that we can put in an offer quickly.

Ally

House news...

Well... we put an offer in on the house today, but it may be several days before we hear anything, so keep us in your prayers as we wait. There are four other offers on the table, so we just have to hope that ours was good enough to win. Or if not, God's got a better place in mind for us that He hasn't shown us yet. We'll keep you updated.

Ally

Our pick

Well... it's about that time. Time for Jim and I to start looking for houses in Atlanta that is.

I went down for a Bridal shower last weekend and spent Friday, Sunday afternoon and Monday looking at houses and getting TONS of pictures to bring back to Jim. Here are the pictures for the one we really like. I'm posting them mostly so that my parents can see the pics (since they're too big to email) but hope the rest of you enjoy them too.

Please pray for us as we search and wait for God's will for us in choosing a house.

In Him,

Ally

I'm standing in the foyer. To the right is a formal sitting room (front) and formal dining room (back).

Still in the foyer. To the left is the half bath and beyond that the kitchen. (Somehow I missed getting a picture of the kitchen.) The den (below) is to the left of the kitchen.

All bedrooms are upstairs. Here is the master bedroom, bathroom and LARGE walk-in closet.

Here I'm standing outside the master getting a picture towards two of the other bedrooms (and I think the hall bathroom).

The hall bathroom would definitely need a new paint color.)

These are two of the three extra bedrooms (the top one has a walk-in closet).

This is the finished part of the basement, which is a BIG plus for us. (It also has an unfinished part for storage!)

Here is another shot of the finished basement. If you walk over to the shelves in the above pictures and take a right, this is what you'll see.

Here is the back yard. This is the one drawback since it's VERY shallow, but it is wide, and the view behind the house will be really pretty in the fall.

His ways are higher than ours

So as many of you know, we've been through a LOT emotionally/spiritually over the past two months. First, we lost our baby (after two stressful weeks of OB visits, bloodwork, and scary unknowns), then a close friend of my family was killed in a car accident (at 16), and last Saturday my Gigi (Great Grandma) died.

I have done a LOT of praying over these last months, and have begged for relief from my pain. God is good and has given me temporary periods of joy (through photography and visits with family) to ease the emotional load I've been under.

The last loss of my Gigi brought back the pain of losing our baby full force because one of my life long dreams was to get a picture of Gigi holding a great great grandbaby, and that dream died with her. The last couple of days I have struggled anew with the intense desire to get pregnant again followed by tremendous fear of repeating our last experience. (This is where the really cool God stuff comes in.)

When we first lost our baby, God lead me to Isaiah 41:10 on three separate occasions through three different sources. The passage reads: "So do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." (emphasis is mine) I felt like He was promising to fulfill my dream to become a mom and telling me not to let my fears over losing another baby consume me.

When Gigi died and these fears began to resurface, He did two awesone things. First, my friend Tania (who is teaches at Grayson) sent me a package containing birthday cards from some of my former students that are now in her class. It was on a day that I REALLY needed a pick me up! I emailed several of them to say thank you, and one of my students emailed me back to encourage me and share a scripture that has helped her lately. You can already guess what scripture God laid on her heart. Isaiah 41:10!!! I got goosebumps when I read it... He still hasn't given up on me! He still wants to calm my fears! And He's willing to tell me the same thing four times (or probably more) if He has to so that I'll trust Him!

So while all this doesn't take away the pain, it does restore my hope for children and give me strength to face another day.

"I can do all thing through Christ who strengthens me."

Ally