I submitted my resignation yesterday. It's crazy to even type that! I will miss my school, my students, and co-workers, but am very excited for the adventures that await us!

We traveled to Tennessee over the weekend last weekend and drove all over Eastern Tennessee looking at houses. We met with two different realtors in two different areas and found a home we couldn't get out of our heads. We saw the home on Friday with the realtor, drove by it again by ourselves on Saturday, and asked to see it again before we flew home on Sunday. We prayerfully and thoughtfully decided to put an offer on that home, and once our offer was formally submitted, it was accepted 5 hours later!

The seller was asking $599,900 and we offered $580,000. We offered to close in as few as 15 days or as many as 45 depending on what the seller would prefer. She was also offering extra acreage at only $15.000 an acre. However, with moving to a new state and never having lived in the country before and not knowing how much work it will be or how much it costs, added to the fact that I won't be working (at least initially) we didn't feel like we could comfortably buy extra acreage now, so we added an addendum to our offer asking to be able to purchase upto 3 more acres within 18 months. We also said we would not ask for any repairs to be performed unless repairs totaled more than $10,000. We think it was a fair offer and a good price. Happily, the seller agreed!

Next week my husband is flying into Tennessee for a quick 24 hour trip to be there for the inspection and to take measurements.  Earnest money has been sent and now we wait.

That's not entirely true. Now we can intentionally start packing and figuring out moving options. Not all moving companies deliver to all areas of TN so we needed to know where we would end up so we could contact moving companies. We have already gotten several quotes and are making plans. 

It's crazy to think that we only have 6 weeks left living in California, but we are so excited (and nervous) for this new adventure. The next 6 weeks are going to be crazy busy but so worth it.

Please pray or send all your good vibes to us that inspections go well and everything rolls along smoothly!

Things have been crazy busy lately. We took on a foreign exchange student from Belgium back in December whom we love, but is has added one more layer to our already hectic lives!

We sold our house in the only state we've ever known to move across the country to the unknown. Our house has closed and we are technically renters for the next two months... and also homeless (because we haven't found anything yet).

We have even had a very difficult time getting back to look at homes because of things going on in California (mainly with or for our foreign exchange daughter but we wouldn't change it for the world, we love her!).

In May alone, we have had: a work trip for my husband, a Kentucky Derby party, my birthday, Mother's Day, our daughter's birthday, our anniversary, a trip back to Tennessee, a trip down to Universal Studios, senior night for our exchange student, a district art show for our exchange student, I had to present at our district board meeting for my school, a going away party for our exchange daughter, several graduation parties for friends and family, and probably several things I can't think of right now.... life has been crazy!

We took a whirlwing 4 day trip to Tennessee this past weekend and visited 13 homes all over the eastern part of the state. We think we narrowed in on one and are now deciding on the offer we want to make. We want to get the house, but we don't want to overpay. We want to get the house, but we don't want to be housepoor when all is said and done. We have been running a lot of numbers (and are very thankful to our lender who has answered all of our questions and keeps rejigging the numbers for us!)

I have worked at my job for the last 18 years and it is crazy that I am saying goodbye to the only school I have ever worked at!

Finances have taken a back seat.  We are paying all of our bills and not accruing any more debt, but debt payoff has been slower than we want.  Luckily, most of our bills are on autopilot so they haven't taken up to much headspace. 

Sorry this post is all over the place, but that is how my life feels right now, too.