Is this really happening?!?!

No, seriously. Is this really going to happen? Are we actually going to move?! It has been a long road with many highs and lows, twists and turns but I think that just maybe we are on the home stretch. If everything goes smoothly we will close this week and move in starting Friday. Talk about Good Friday! Sorry, that was probably sac religious....

About 30 hours ago it looked (again) like this whole thing was going to fall through. We had passed the City of Salem's lead paint inspection with flying colors (like Josh knew we would) and were about to begin tackling the newest, biggest obstacle.

The Roof.

In order for our buyer and good friend to buy our house the roof had to be in good enough condition to make it past the City of Salem. We had been told we would need to replace the roof prior to closing. What a headache. Roofs take major time and major money. Neither party had either of those things. We did, however, have connections that we thought would allow us to just barely scrape by with the finances and the man power. However, 30 hours ago, just an hour after the plan of re-roofing all weekend was put into place and just minutes after our savior, Lowell, went to our home to measure to roof and buy supplies he comes back to Josh's office. Not a good sign.

Gulp.

Lowell informs us that this just isn't going to work. Not like, "This won't work for today". Not like, "This won't work this weekend. Let's try Monday". But like, "This will not work. Period. Not in your time frame. Not with your budget. Not with your slanted roof. Not without professionals. Not in this weather".

Gulp. Double Gulp.

You see people, we live in Oregon. And it's March. That equation equals rain. A lot of rain. Hard rain. Unceasing rain. Taking a roof off and putting a new one on is not something you can do in the rain. With college students. At a 45 degree angle. So the roof was off. "Besides," Lowell says, "the roof isn't even that bad. In my professional opinion that roof will last two years." Josh praised the Lord because he was not in any way looking forward to working in the rain for the next 4 days. Our buyer and good friend was nearly in tears because it looked like that once again this house dream would be shattered. I was stressed. I was a mess. I couldn't concentrate. But I followed Josh's lead because most of the time he's following Christ's lead better than I am. And Josh felt at peace. God was leading this thing and we needed to just hold it with an open hand. So I followed him. I am his wife. So I follow him. This is one thing I'm learning to do better. Submit is not a cuss word...okay, I'm getting off subject here.

Back to the roof.

So, word was that our buyer and good friend had a call into the City of Salem asking if they could please either make a contingency that the house could close and we would have the roof fixed by end of summer or could they please just let it go? This was a long shot. We were only fixing it for them, anyway. So we waited. I tried to work. Josh had a meeting. We waited.

Then about an hour later we got a call. The City of Salem said, "Don't even worry about the roof. We understand. Just know that our official advice is that you need to replace that roof as soon as you can. But we won't make you do it before you close."

WHAT?!?!?!? Seriously??! WOW! A Miracle. And our buyer and good friend's faith was renewed. Her faith has been amazing through this all. And Josh and I were thrilled. No re-roofing in the rain. A real weekend was on the horizon. Sleeping in, coffee, a long walk....

All that to say, the roof was the last major obstacle standing in the way of our closing. Minor repairs on this house should be done by early week so that we can sign and get the keys on Good Friday. Who knows though, things are always changing. Yet the roof victory was a big one. And we truly thank God for the favor we were showed by the City of Salem.

Hopefully we will have many more pictures of the new house to show next week!

And check Josh's blog for one picture of the front of our new house. He should have it up shortly. It's a little tease, we know. But the suspense should keep you coming back. ;-)