Recap on the house...

Hello All!

I got the camera back from Jami so I could take some pictures of the house and put them on paper for you. First there is a little background on the place, and how we were blessed with it.

Jami & I have been wanting some property, someplace pretty, and with room to grow. A place that we could get for a decent price and fix it up ourselves how we like it, and give it our personality. We have found the place.

Before we left Reno, we were praying about finding a place just like this, but we were not sure how God’s plan for us would work out. We became attentive to His leading, and I decided to take a job in Vancouver, working at a desk, and let my recent shoulder surgery heal up. We could not find a house in our price range, so we settled for a place in town on a small lot with a newer house, knowing that in a few years we could sell it and move to a bigger lot, possibly out further in the country.

The job worked out for a few years, then the plans to grow changed, and my position was eliminated. The new position in the company wasn’t a good fit, but I was thinking I would make a go of it, and stick it out. We started looking at houses up in that area, and fell in love with a one acre lot with a decent house on it. After looking at several more houses, our realtor asked us if we wanted to make an offer on the house, and our initial reaction was “yes”, but I had a little check in my spirit, like we should wait through the weekend. This was Friday about 3pm. At 5pm, I was told that my pay would be reduced to a base salary, 14k less than what I was making at the time, with a possibility to increase depending on my new performance. All this in a position that the last two years training had little to do with. We decided that this was CLEAR direction from God to move on, for He had bigger plans for us.

We decided to start looking for a place down in the Lebanon area, and on one of our trips down visiting the folks, a friend of mine asked us if we would be interested in his sisters house. He said they had considered selling, and since we were in the market, we should come by, take a look, and see what we think.

It was a dinky little house, almost 900sf, but it had almost 13 acres, and a ton of potential. The owners had done allot of work on it already, but it still had allot of things yet to do.

We walked the property, and decided it was the place for us. In the following week, we were set on a price, with no realtor, and got all the paperwork ready.

The next step was to sell our house, and although we seemed to have lots of interest, no one was willing to buy it. We think that was also part of God’s plan, because we ended up selling it to some friends who needed a house exactly like what we had, and if we had sold it immediately, they would not be able to buy it. The way things worked out have been extraordinary, and everyone involved has felt like things have been orchestrated from the start.

We have two huge meadows with the year round creek along one side. They are below the house, which sits up on the hill. There is a Quonset for a garage/shop. The house is a little two bedroom one bath. There is a kitchen, living room, and mud room. The mud room used to be the patio, but it was covered and closed in. This is currently where the washer and dryer are.

The kitchen and master bedroom was painted over smooth walls, no texture, and where the sheetrock met, you could still see some of the joints in some places. There was baseboard missing in the kitchen, and where there was trim, it was the old clamshell style. The living room had a meringue look to the texture, high sharp points. We decided to re-texture and re-trim all the rooms, walls and ceilings, except for the kid’s room, which would be done later after a future remodel. This has been a lot of work, and we are still in the process.

The outside needs new siding, a few windows changed out, and something done to the roof over the mudroom, (it leaks). We also have lots to do getting the bushes trimmed back, the poison oak eradicated from the corner of the courtyard in front, the garden shaped up, and some fencing.

We put up a 40’x40’ dog kennel for our shepherds. They like the new leg room when they have to be put away.

Ana & Jorryn have a little playhouse. It’s pretty cool for them to play in.

I have been trying to get projects done around here, as well as working for a dollar to keep the bills paid, and believe me, it keeps me hoppin! I find myself thinking that the days need to be twice as long so I can balance out the projects a little more.

I hope the pictures turn out pretty good, and you can get a good idea of what we got going here. It’s been fun seeing how the place is changing, and how faithful God is in taking care of us in the process.

Hope things are going good for everyone!

Jer, Jami & the kids

Sad News...

I know its been awhile with no news, but things have been a little hectic here. Jami has been trying to get some things ready for the kids and school, I have been working and trying to get projects done around the house.
My StepMother is Janna, and her mother is Grandma Marjorie VanDyke, who has been feeling under the weather, and went in to have some lumps checked out. The result was she has terminal cancer, very advanced throughout her body and she has less than two months to live. Janna is already down at the house with her, and Jami left last Thursday as well to visit. I am here, getting things buttoned up to go down as well with Dad.
I will talk more later as I get news. We only found out last week.
Pray for her in these uncomfortable days.