When life gives you lemons....

....then you may have to have a mini-meltdown, mutter inaudible choice words under your breath, whine and complaint a little bit, and throw yourself a pity party before put your big girl panties on...

...and then make lemonade.

* * * * * * * *
Our latest batch of lemons are of the real estate variety.
You may remember we listed our house for sale in the Spring.

Twenty couples went through our house and 93 days into the process - we got an offer!

We were beyond thrilled since keeping the house 'show ready' with Hurricane Gianna was beginning to take a toll.  The buyers were solid and wanted a closing 45 after we negotiated a contract instead of the customary 30 days.  That was awesome for us since we wanted a little time to secure a house in LC.  We found one quickly - perfect for our family and beyond our expectations.  It was in a precious neighborhood on a cul-du-sac with only one other house (only two houses on the street.)  Everything seemed to be falling into place - and our big confirmation was that the name of our street was our last name.  We just knew that was a sign.

So inspections were done on both homes, appraisals were complete, and all the hoops were jumped through.

Closing date on both homes was set for August 10th.

That's today.

It didn't happen.

Neither of them.

Two weeks ago we had a hard time getting exact information on the closing of our home.  The buyer's lender wasn't returning calls to the buyer, his agent or our agent. We were concerned, but not worried since we heard that many of the big lending companies sometimes drag their feet.  The buyer was furious with his lender and pulled his profile and said he'd be getting another lender.

It all went downhill from there.

Ten days ago, we got a call from our realtor (and good friend) to tell us that the deal fell through.  The mortgage company denied financing (they had already given them an approval letter) and his government job was in jeopardy due to budget cuts (so he says.)

So, not only did we lose the sale of our house - but the new house in LC was contingent on the sale of our home.  We were sick.  All three families had packed up their homes.  We have been hauling boxes to a storage unit in LC for weeks.  About 80% of our belongings are in storage.

(Gianna keeps telling people, "You wanna come to our house?  IT'S EMPTY!!!!")

We felt so terrible for the people whose house we would be buying.  Even though we weren't directly responsible for the breakdown of the deal - we knew how horrible it would be for them.

We still had the hope that maybe we'd quickly get a buyer so we could purchase the awesome house we loved -- but today we learned that there is a new offer on that house. So, here we sit....in an empty house, back at square one, having missed almost six weeks of showing our home during prime buying time and now having to start from scratch. UGH!!!!!

For us, it felt like being left at the altar.  Oh, it could have been MUCH worse and we are very aware that these are definitely first world whinings. We are blessed to have a home as nice as we do, our health and our family.

Interestingly, we just went through a similar upset in our adoption journey.  I haven't even wanted to blog about that, because I haven't fully processed it all.  The thumbnail version is that back in April we were told we were chosen by a birthmother.  We were thrilled to learn that the baby would be born four weeks later.  We told no one ~ not even our parents.  We decided that we would tell people as soon as we met with the birthmom.  Two weeks later, Iain took off work so we could travel to a neighboring city and meet our birthmother for the first time.  As we got ready to get in the car, my phone rang and I heard the regretful tone of our social worker's voice.

"I'm so sorry, the birthmother changed her mind."

It was a kick in the gut.

Part of the negative is having to prepare Gianna for possible big changes in our lives, get her psyched, and then completely change gears.  She is such a trooper! She is playing with TWO toys since everything else is in storage.  And she continues to pray for 'Ms. Karen to sell our house' and 'for God to send us a baby brother and a baby sister." (She says 'and' - I say 'or'!!!)

So, we're in limbo - not just in the adoption arena, but in real estate as well.

We really do have faith in a bigger plan that we cannot see.  We really do have faith that God has not forgotten us and that He has our best interests at heart.  Even though we are not quite so sure what these events are supposed to be teaching us - we do believe that we are called to be faithful - regardless of our understanding of God's Plan (or lack thereof.)

We are praying that we will handle this challenge with positivity and grace and that we can trust in God's bigger plan.

Sooo....I've got my big girl panties on, but I'm still a little whiny when we are

reminded of all the ways this event has inconvenienced our lives.  We do know this is small potatoes in the grand scheme of things. Twenty years down the road, this will just be a "remember when..."  But for now, it stinks.  We feel much better than we did last week when it all happened. Maybe for my next pity party, I'll be able to serve lemonade.

This is certainly not the end of the story.

I look forward to watching God's plan unfold....

maybe while drinking a glass of lemonade. :)