The Background
We have been living in the suburbs for almost 7 years. We lived in a 1 bedroom apartment in Naperville for almost 2 years, a 2 bedroom apartment in Aurora for 10 months, and a 2 bedroom condo in Wheaton for 4 years. We absolutely loved the suburbs, but we always kind of knew we'd be back in the country someday. The burbs are fun and busy and were great with really little kids, but they're also extremely expensive!! We went back and forth many times on where to live long-term, and we finally settled on Byron. Right smack in the middle of both of our parents.
The Story
Almost every Fall for the past few years, we start thinking about moving back to the country. It's just SO beautiful out there during harvest season, and our kids absolutely LOVE being there. Last October, there was a run down foreclosure for sale on 5 acres close to Nat & Nate's house. That's what really got us weighing the pro's and con's of living in Byron. The only real con was Ryan's commute to work. We both grew up close to family and we really wanted that for our kids as well. So, we offered on that house and all week I was on egg shells. I didn't know if I wanted it to be accepted or not! There were a few other offers, so we had to give our "biggest and best offer," and know that God was in control. We didn't get that house, and I think we were both relieved. I'm thankful for that experience though because after that, we knew we wanted to keep looking in that area specifically. We toyed around with the idea of buying land and building, flipping a home, buying a rental, etc. In January, we looked at one that had been on the market for a while. We'll call it "Big Blue." It was bigger than we were looking for, but it had a beautiful wooded backyard in a great country neighborhood, which is what I wanted. I grew to like living by people after our time in Wheaton =) We offered on it that same day and they countered. I was ready to accept the counter, but Ryan wanted to wait. The next day, they came countered again with our original offer, plus another $2500 for updates, but by that time, we had done a little more research on the other homes nearby and thought it was still overpriced, so we didn't agree to that. Looking back, it was totally God protecting us. Our biggest prayer throughout this process was that God would make it CLEAR which house He wanted for us. At this point, things were pretty hazy. I was kind of bummed and was worn out by the process, but there was another one that would "maybe" work, but it had a pool and all the pictures were of the closets. I didn't even really want to see it, but Ryan likes to see all the options, so that same weekend, we looked at "Closets Galore." It was cute, big back yard, but it was all finished, and we were looking for something that we could renovate. We put in a low offer just to see, and they didn't accept.
We were okay with keeping our eyes on the market to see what would come up next, but in the meantime, Nate went over to his neighbor's house and asked them if they would ever sell and she said yes! I'd had my eye on this house for years, and I thought for sure this is what God wanted for us. We ended up walking through the home a few weeks later and we were shocked. The outside was beautiful, the inside was horrible. Everything needed to be redone. As in, there wasn't any flooring in one of the bedrooms and there was water damage. We left there really unsure if we would even want that place! We ended up sending her a low offer as well, but she didn't really need to move, so she didn't accept it. Nothing new had really come on the market, so we went back to option #1, Big Blue, who had recently added a 6K bonus at closing for updates. We offered on that one again, but they came back with a higher number than they originally said the first time around, and no 6K. Sheesh! This is getting old! We really thought we'd wait another month and then offer on it again, but God had another plan. We went home for Easter and looked at every single house on the market in Byron. Every one was a let down. Weird layouts, some bedrooms downstairs, no yard, priced to high, etc. We thought we would just have to keep on waiting, but then we started to reconsider Closets Galore. When we went to look at it the first time, the backyard was covered in snow so we couldn't really tell how great it was. But it was the only place with 4 bedrooms upstairs, it was all updated, but we did like the updates, and it had room for little improvements. It was on a dead end street, it was a little smaller than we were originally thinking, but it was all well-used space, so...we offered again! This time they countered and they had 2 showings that weekend. Once again, I was ready to pounce on it, but Ryan wanted to wait. We talked to our realtor on Monday and he said one of the showings booked a second showing for the next day. We put in our final offer and they accepted =) Wow! That felt so crazy. We didn't know whether to laugh, cry or barf! haha. We were excited, our families were thrilled, but we really felt like we chose the best option in Byron, not necessarily THE house we had been looking for. (Side note - it is really hard to decide between wants and needs when you're house hunting. It's a very humbling experience). We drove out to the house a few days later to sign some papers and we were so nervous in the car. Was it as great as we remembered? Was it going to be too small? I didn't really want a pool... etc. Well, once we got there and walked through it, it was even better than we remembered! And it wasn't small ;) Also, since the yard was covered in snow the first time we were there, we didn't see the HUGE garden in the backyard!!! That was one of things we really really wanted. We also saw how secure the pool fence was, which made me feel much better. When we finally left that evening, the kids were picking up worms off the driveway and chasing me with them them. That was our weird confirmation that this was the place. We wanted our kids to be able to run around outside & enjoy nature, and they were already playing with worms.
Our close date was 7 weeks later, which worked out perfectly. Ryan did an awesome job getting all of our stuff in order for financing and everything else, Parker was able to finish school, I was able to finish BSF and say a slow goodbye to my friends. We closed and moved in on May 27. Praise be to GOD!!!!!
The following weeks we just saw over and over how God had this place picked out for us from the beginning, and it became crystal clear that we are where we are supposed to be =)
