Oklahoma

So....Oklahoma.

Let's rewind a little bit. After a long search last year for a house we could rent, we came across a house in a great location, with good space. Though the rent was a little too high for us, the landlady was nice and agreed to give us a little break on the rent in order to make it just barely affordable.

While we knew we made the right decision at the time, over the course of the year we had some surprising encounters with our landlady that made us question renting her house. But switching rental houses just because the landlady isn't the best? Wasn't going to happen.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago. Our landlady sent me a text out of the blue saying she was going to raise rent significantly for the next year, and if we couldn't pay, we needed to move out by July 31st. Yes, she knew David was out of the country. Yes, she knew I was out of the state, with our 2 young kids. Yes, she knew our financial situation hadn't changed. No, she wasn't willing to let us stay even just until the end of August to move out. I asked.

The next week was crazy, as I tried to figure out our options. David and I were able to skype almost every night and brainstorm our next steps, and I still can't believe how things came together.

A number of years ago, David and I (with some help) were able to purchase a house in Spokane to use as a rental. David's dad, who is a real estate agent, got to work right away so we could figure out how fast we could possibly sell that house. He also contacted a friend in Oklahoma so she could start gathering a list of houses that would potentially meet our criteria, IF we were to sell our Spokane house and have money to buy something in Norman.

As crazy as it was, our house in Spokane sold. And it looked like there were a really good number of possible houses we could afford in Norman.

So...were we going to move? By the end of July??

There was still the small factor of our current house in Norman. How would we get it packed up and moved by the end of the month?

Pretty soon after this ordeal started, a friend in Norman told me that she, along with others from our church, would do whatever was necessary from that end to make it possible or us to move. Including pack our house. That's right. Pack our house. Who does that for people? Only the best of the best, I'll tell you that.

So now it looked like things were completely falling into place. So were we really going to do it? Move??

Yep.

Fast forward to last week, my week in Oklahoma. My parents graciously went with my kids and me, and once we reached Norman, we hit the ground running and never stopped.

Our house was a mess (in a good way) with boxes everywhere. We knew we had a lot to do still with the house - finishing packing, getting movers in place, renting a storage unit, and getting the house in a presentable order.

But first things first.

The day after we arrived, my dad and Henry and I went out with the real estate lady and in one day looked at 12 houses. And then re-visited the top 3. Yep, we viewed 15 houses in one day. Once we narrowed it down to the top 2, we rested for the evening.

The next day we all went and looked at the top two and I came to a decision on which house I wanted to buy. I did talk to David on the phone, but his response was pretty much just what I would expect from my wonderful (but not helpful in this case) husband. You know, the standard "sounds like you have two great options and can't go wrong. I trust you. You'll make a great decision."

So I made the decision. Then came the offer, signing papers, the counteroffer, the next counteroffer, signing more papers, and meeting with the lender.

Once we got the new house under contract, my parents set out like mad, packing everything else left in the house, organizing, and cleaning. They were there for 4 whole days, and I still can't believe everything we were able to accomplish. We were up in the morning, worked all day long, taking turns watching the kids, and ended each day crawling into bed at night - minds still racing about what we needed to work on the next day.

I left Oklahoma on Tuesday, exhausted. My parents left on Monday, equally exhausted.

I've had comments already saying how people can't believe I did all this on my own. The point is, I didn't. I couldn't. I had TONS of help. From David, who was stressed and trying to do as much as he could from Nicaragua. From David's parents. From our friends in Oklahoma. From our real estate agent in Oklahoma. From my parents.

It's a humbling thing to receive help. It's a lot easier to give, I think. I never truly had to beg for help - people came out of nowhere offering services. But I also couldn't ever turn away any help. When someone says "I'll do this for you", it's hard to know your only response is simply saying thank you, rather than being able to say "I appreciate your offer, but I can take care of it."

I was so overcome with gratitude and appreciation of the love that I felt from my family and friends over the last month that I shed a number of tears. We'll never be able to repay these people for the help they gave us.

I only hope that in the future, I will be the type of person that will pack someone else's house for them.