Selling a House

We went to AR last weekend to look at houses, and let me just say we looked at a ton of homes!! So many that I think my eyes went cross! :) Thankfully I am a genius and created those score sheets! They really helped us narrow it back down to 6 houses we like. Our realtors name is Mike Pierce and he is very helpful...he is our eyes while we can't be there.

It was a little awkward because we had arranged to look at homes with Mike and then a member of our new church wanted to help us so she contacted a realtor friend of hers and had this lady give us a call...her name was Debbie and she wanted to show us houses also.

It worked out where Mike showed us houses one day and Debbie the other. We ended up telling both of the realtors (who were from different companies) that we had meetings with another realtor and we would make our decision on which person/company we would use. Aaron and I liked both of them, but we decided to stick with Mike since we had originally planned to have him be our realtor.

While we were gone our TX realtor had an open house...no one came! She even said the signs would end up missing after they put them out. When she would go our there and put another sign she would see a car full of teenagers drive up, grab the sign and peel out...they were just being stupid! I have to admit it was very discouraging/frustrating!

Be praying that God will send the buyer soon in order for us to get to Little Rock by Aaron's start date...Nov. 18!

That is all for now...keep watching for more updates!! :)

Ponderings...

As I sit here, I can't help but think about all that goes into a move...even if it is just across town! So much comes into play. Since this is my first move as an independent, married women there is so much more coming into play!


Never have I moved before and had to find all new doctors, try to sell a house, think of every possible address change that will have to be "reported" after the move. Not to mention trying to find out the best way to move the "kids"!

My days are spent in constant wonder, prayer, and more wonder. There are times I let my mind run crazy with all the possibilities of what might happen, but I am forced to reign them in and remind myself that someone much greater than I is in control!


I am constantly making lists of things that must be done and there is the ever-present voice in the back of my mind telling me I have forgotten something. It is as if I am abscessed trying to think of what it is I have forgotten! I am sure once the big day arrives there will be countless things thought of that were not on any of my lists, but I pray I will take it all in stride and not feel defeated.


Thank the Lord for friends and family who have already said they are helping us move...even riding with us to Little Rock! That puts my mind at ease!

If one allows ones self to be caught up in the chaos of it all you will find yourself lost and unable to see the way, however, if one simply lets go and trusts, a beam of light sent from above will guide the way. Even if it only shines on a small portion of the road one must still trust the master holding the light. He knows what is a head of you and will bring it into the light when the time is appropriate for you to see. No sense worrying about what you can't see or control.

House Selling & Buying...

Well our house hasn't had any hits on it since we put it on the market, but the good thing is we ran out of flyers once! This coming weekend (Thursday-Sunday) we will be in Little Rock looking at houses, so our realtor is going to have an Open House for us...she seems to think we will get a buyer that way!! Please Lord!!

We have the houses in Little Rock narrowed down to about 20 homes, and me being me I designed a "score sheet" so that we can eliminate any houses that we don't really like after we look at them.

Each score sheet will have a printout of the home we are looking at so that when we are reviewing the scores we can remember what the house in question looked like!! I love being organized!!

Aaron is going to be leading the worship again this coming Sunday! We are excited about that!! It is hard to believe moving day is only a few short weeks away!! Yikes!!

Well until later...

Aaron & Karice

Anicipation…it's killing me!!! ;o)

This weekend past in a flurry of activity! It all started with deciding to use a realtor to sell our house...our neighbor Evelyn Johnson with Keller Williams Realtor is going to "represent" us. We met with her late on Thursday night, and signed tons of paperwork. She went through our house telling us what we needed to fix in order to make it ready to show...after which we both were a little bummed out, but that is okay! God is going to bring a buyer to us!

Friday came with flurry of activities...work, work, and work. That night we intended to work on the house, but ended up spending much needed time with our friends the Tully's...they are moving to Henderson (East Texas) and we really felt they needed encouragement as much as we did.

Saturday came and went in what felt like a blink of an eye! Sunday dawned bright and we set about the house trying to pack, paint, and do whatever else needed to be done. My parents came over and stayed until after 8pm that night. We got so much accomplished...we packed up about 70% of our things, but we still have several big jobs to be done before tomorrow evening.

What an exciting time this is becoming, but along with excitement there is chaos and nervous stomachs!!

Please continue to pray for us... I know God has the buyer out there and He will provide for us!

Oh and a little side note... most of these pictures I didn't take... I found them online! I am going to start using my own pictures though...especially since we are going to be away!

The Decision is Made....

Aaron and I have decided to accept the offer! We are moving to Little Rock! We are planning to move the week before Thanksgiving, however, that is a tentative plan! There is so much to think about now! I can't believe this is happening! What wonders does God have in store for us?!

Please continue to pray for us... we need to sell the house, buy a house, pack and move in the next 5-6 weeks!

Until later,

Karice

The Vote is in...

We received a call this Sunday from the pastor of the church in Little Rock. Here is the result of the vote:

171 - Yes votes
6 - No votes

Now it is up to us... we are still praying for God direction, but I have a feeling we will accept.

I will post more after the decision has been made and we have either declined or accepted the offer!

Please continue to pray for us!

Exciting Weekend!

Hello all!

This is an update on this weekend...the BIG weekend. A.K.A. our anniversary and the "in view of a call" weekend.

Here is the blow by blow of this adventure.

We flew out on Friday night. Our flight was delayed but we still got in around 10:30 pm. We got to the car rental place about 10 minutes before they closed, and because of that we got a free upgrade to a luxury car...it was all they had left! :o)

We got to our hotel, which was a suite at the Holiday Inn Express. It had a very comfortable California King and a Jacuzzi hot tub in the room. It was great!

We had to get up early on Saturday because we were going to meet the pastor and together we were going to go look at this house (long story). In a nutshell, there was a wealthy man in the church who owned the house and was renting it out to a woman in need, but he pasted away and his wife's caretaker could not handle being a landlord on top of everything else she was doing.

We looked at the house...it was a dive and very scary, but on the up side there was a house a few streets over that we looked at and really liked!

So after the "house-hunting" we sat down with the pastor to discuss the job descriptions. The job Aaron would be getting is Music Minister and Education Minister. That just means he is in charge of Sunday school and few other things.

We talked to him for about 2 1/2 hours and rushed back to the hotel to change into nicer clothes before the meetings that night.

Our first meeting was with the music and education committees...there was cookies and punch at this meeting (food is very important to Baptist you know) ha ha. Aaron did really well answering their questions. He said it was good practice for the open forum meeting with the whole church.

At each of the meetings a lot of the same questions were asked. Ex. How do you choose what music is appropriate and what order to put them in? Have you ever lead a choir before? What is your testimony? Have you ever done visitation before? Have you ever been in charge of the education at a church before and do you think you would be able to do it? ect.

Of course at each meeting after about 40 min they always wanted to hear something from me... so I would tell them my testimony and of coarse brag on Aaron. :o)

After the meeting with the 2 committee's there was a dinner and meeting with anyone from the church who wanted to attend. It went really well...a lot of older people attended this one.

After the meeting we went back to our hotel and crashed BIG time!! ;o) We had to be back at the church early on Sunday morning to get ready for the service.

Sunday morning came and this is the order of events:
1. Get music ready for rehearsal]
2. rehearse
3. rehearse some more
4. Lead the service (including sing a special)
5. stand at the door and greet people as they left the service
6. Rush to the fellowship hall for lunch with the musicians and sound crew
7. Another question and answer time
8. Rest
9. Come back to church and lead evening service
10. Rush to small group bible study at one of the younger couple's house
11. Bible Study
12. Go back to hotel and crash! ;o)

We flew back into Dallas Monday morning.

All in all it was a wonderful weekend. The church people are very VERY sweet. We really enjoyed the time we spend there.

We have to wait until next Sunday (Oct. 7) to hear whether the church voted to extend the call too us. Aaron and I are very excited about the possibility of going...we are still praying that God will direct us and close the doors if this isn't his will.

Please keep us in your prayers... until next week! ;o)

Karice