When we returned to the US we knew we would have to find a place to live before our time at the missionary house was over. So Roger and I began praying where the Lord wanted us to live. We hoped it would be in central Texas near our son Nathaniel and his wife, Kelly. The neighborhood where the missionary house is in Belton is an older neighborhood but nice. I hoped we could find a house there. Roger and I walked the neighborhood discussing what we wanted in an house and about the houses we saw for sale.
In September 2008 our searching came to a halt when Roger was asked to consider being a pastor of a church in Georgia. Of course this surprised us. Roger had not considered this but knew if the Lord wanted him to do this he would. Roger submitted his resume and talked with people on the pulpit committee. In November we learned that was not where the Lord wanted us. So we began searching again for a house.
Since money was tight we had no problem looking at fixer uppers. We even saw one that was really bad but knew it had potential. We looked at several in our area of Belton but none were the one.
Our search for a house took us to the small town of Nolanville southwest of Belton. In the past three years the town has gone from around 2000 people to around 5000 through the construction of subdivisions. In mid-November we drove into the Nolan Ridge subdivision to check out one house I had found on the internet. It was not what we wanted but decided to see what else was available in the subdivision. We found one that looked promising and called the listing realtor about it. The house was empty so we could see it immediately. When we walked in we found a house with most of the items we had on our list and then some.
We were looking for a house with 4 bedrooms. The master bedroom not on the same hall as the rest of the bedrooms (my mother would be living with us and I wanted her to have some privacy). Of the remaining bedrooms one that would be big enough for our king size waterbed. In the kitchen a nice size pantry. A laundry room. A plus would be a fenced in backyard. Of course a two car garage. When we walked into 317 Timber Ridge
we found these items in this house including wiring and speakers for surround sound in the living room. We knew immediately this was the house. Our realtor and her husband (also a realtor) were impressed by the house and what had been done to it in the past three years (nice lawn and cedar fence).
So we bid on the house. We learned the sellers were living in Japan. So after about a week we learned we were buying the house. On December 18th we signed the papers and became homeowners again after ten years.
We move into the house January 5th. We moved my mother and her furniture from Mt. Pleasant before Christmas. Her furniture was put into the house but she stayed with us at the missionary house. I wanted to enjoy the time with our kids (Jordan and Kyle home from college) and not think about getting into the house before Christmas. We did work on getting furniture situated and the kitchen organized. Then after the boys were back at Union University we made our move.
After we moved in and realized how much stuff my mother and I had Roger went to work in building more cabinets. He first started with enclosed shelves in a nook area out side of my mother's bedroom. Then built corner shelves in the dining room. Roger (with Nathaniel's help) put up radiant heat barrier in the attic and blew in more insulation to help keep our electricity bill down.
In the backyard Roger with Nathaniel and Kyle's help (during spring break) built a pergola. It has helped keep more of the afternoon sun from coming in the windows.
We did not have screens on the front windows. Roger built full length screens and also put up solar reflective film on the windows to help block the heat.
We have settled into our home now. I know I could be more organized but know with time the closets will look better.
We thank the Lord for this house. He brought us to this house to live in. Thank you Lord!
The nurses had us all guessing what was Avery's size. Avery weighed in at 7 lbs. 1 oz. and 19 inches long.
