Rigors of Repatriating - May

After spending time with our kids in Utah, it was time for Gaga to drive to Wyoming and play with the Johnson bunch.  Ben had recently accepted a new work assignment that would involve a family transfer to Paris, France.  So, on May 5th, I drove from Murray to Green River where I would help Stephanie begin sorting and selling stuff in preparation for the move. Jill had given me a thank-you gift of a pedicure, so Stephanie, Emma, Paige and I got our toes painted.  Emma showed me her budding gymnastics skills at her tumbling class. I wasn't good at taking photos, but suffice it to say, these cute kiddos kept me busy and entertained.

Upon returning to Texas the end of the week, Bob and I got serious about finding some cars to buy.  Being a fan of Jaguars from the days of his youth when his father owned one, Bob settled on a beautiful 2016 XF.  I struggled to find the right car for me, but Bob's love of the BMW X5's, which he had driven the whole time we were in Korea, ending up being the 2015 car of choice.  The idea was that at some point in time, we'd add a trailer hitch in order to increase our ability to haul things around.  Yeah, Bob likes to spoil me!

The final task was to find the right home.  This was a very challenging task!  Parker must have taken us to see around 50 potential properties as we struggled to find the custom home with acreage that we desired.  The home also needed to be within the Conroe Stake boundaries, and yet be close enough to Bob's work in The Woodlands as well as convenient to the church buildings he would have to frequent with his new Stake calling.  We finally settled on a neighborhood and learned that there were two LDS couples living in the subdivision.  One couple, Jo and Kel, invited us over to dinner and shared insights about the area.  We were thrilled to get acquainted with them and became instant friends.  They were actually considering putting their home on the market and asked if we might be interested.  However, we had been considering a home that was literally next door to them, and in the end, decided we would rather have them as friends than have their beautiful home.  We have been so blessed by their friendship and hope they will postpone moving as long as possible!  We put a low offer on the home next door, which ended up with multiple offers.  Miraculously, without increasing our offer by much, and being the low bidder, we still ended up with a successful contract.  We would close on the home the 30th of June.  The downside in all of this, was that we wanted to do some remodeling on the home before receiving and moving our Houston and Korea storage items into the house.

The thing that really sold us on the property was that this 2004 home was built in a beautifully wooded area with lots sizes of one acre or more.  The lush private backyard amenities mimic a resort-like retreat situated just minutes from I-45 (20 minutes to work) and only 30 minutes from Lake Conroe.  Bob may have been sold by the spacious and well-designed 3-car garage. Although the home is much larger than we had wanted, we are hoping that we will be able to fill it with friends and family on a regular basis.  It felt like home - and is actually quite similar to the home we loved in The Woodlands.

  

Yay!  We are being blessed (although the bank account is somewhat stressed)!