The Manor

Hi all, sorry for not posting anything in a while.... Life has been a whirlwind to say the least. This post is to introduce you to our new home: Meadows' Manor.

After 10 long months of searching for a house and having offers rejected, Jake and I finally found the house of our dreams in October 2012. We had placed between 30-40 offers on houses, offers that were well above asking price. It seemed that time and time again we were getting beat out by all cash offers.
This particular house was part of an initiative that would only accept offers from people who planned on residing in the house. Long story short, we placed a very strong offer and we waited. Our offer was accepted, and we waited. This house was bank owned, so the process took quite a bit longer than a standard sale.
I tried to be in control of the situation, but God had to remind me to wait. Finally, on December 31, 2012, our house closed escrow and we were overjoyed. Here are a few photos of this empty shell that we would soon call our home.

 Outdoor fireplace and sink. Woohoo!

 Huge yard for the pups

 Breakfast nook

Inviting kitchen

 A bookshelf, finally!

 Four-car garage, every man's dream

 My very favorite part of this whole house!

 Our half bathroom

  An office that we plan to transform into a bedroom

 Mosaic mirror thing

 Upstairs bathroom

 Loft

 Master bedroom

 Complete with fireplace

 and jacuzzi tub!!

 Walk-in closet

 Another one of the pool

 Love this yard

So we have been slowly but surely been settling in. Here is a recap of the last 6 months...

 The children love their yard and the grass has started to grow back, yay!

 Shiloh really enjoys our new fireplace

 Made a coffee corner

 Filled up my half of the closet

 My talented little sister made us beautiful pillows for our bed

 Filling up that book shelf

 Started painting doors to convert the office into a bedroom

 Got them installed

 Just can't get over the views here

 Family dinner with the boys

 We love our new walk, the views are unbeatable

Started laying out pretty early this year

 Another family dinner

Got these bedside tables for free, sanded them and painted them. They look great with the pillows my sister made for us.

 A family outing

We love to spend time by our pool

 And have campfires

 And enjoy the view on our walk

 So that pretty much sums it up... Those boys in the pictures are friends who stay with us. We have a full house, but things are changing. God has been burdening us with a heart for children. We are taking the initial steps to begin foster care. Being that I am a pediatric nurse, I would like to use my background to take care of kids while providing them with a loving home. We hope to adopt children someday. We have been so blessed and we are hoping to share this wonderful house that God has blessed us with. More to come....