A Visit From A Realtor...

So.  We are thinking about selling our house.  Ok, truthfully.....we are hoping and praying and wishing and begging to be able to sell our house and can pretty much think of nothing else right now. 

We knew when we bought this house that it wouldn't take long before we would out grow it.  We had 4 bedrooms and 5 kids at the time of purchase. Then came Chloe.  But shortly after that Liz left to go live at college.  We thought great, a little more room.  Then she came back  --frequently-- (she attend a local University)......something happens when you send a child off to college....they multiply!  Yep, she came back, bringing 1, 2, 3 or sometimes more kids with her.  What college kid doesn't enjoy a good home cooked meal, right?

**Let me just say right here that I'm not complaining about the extra bodies.....I love it when my kids bring their friends here.  The thing I don't like so much is the fact that whenever we do have company things get a little tight, space wise.**

Then something happened one day.  Liz decided that she would come back home to live for her last year of college to save money for her up coming wedding.  So, because her sister was now occupying her old room we made a temporary bedroom in a corner of our basement for her.  We thought, this is great, we just created a bit more space and when Liz graduates in a year and gets married, we will take it down.
--6 kids in a 4 bedroom house....now 5 bedroom, if you count the "pretend" one   ;) 

Then Brenda came. (Brenda is Liz's college room mate and best friend and our unofficially adopted daughter)  **7 kids in a 4 (5) bedroom house**

We invited Brenda to live here for her last year of college because she was having roommate issues and she also needed to save money.  Hmmm, we thought, what are we gonna do now?   No problem....Brenda can have Liz's room, she's leaving soon.  So the room that we were going to tear down after a year, was going to have to stay up for one more year.

Liz gets married and leaves.....enter Hana, last December.  =)  No problem!!  Hana moved into Haylie's bedroom where there was an available bed--thank goodness for bunk beds!

We finally got to tear down our "pretend" room last week.  Brenda just recently graduated and has moved down to Bloomington IN to be near Liz.  So we are currently down to 6 kids living here but we have one more on the way..... Amayah will be home hopefully by this Fall.

Now, the bedroom situation isn't really the big issue, it's the actual house size.  I'm pretty sure that this house and it's miniscule square footage was not meant for this many people.  A few years back when we first realized that we really needed to sell and buy a bigger house, we thought that we would never be able to get out from under this house in this economy and with the housing market like it is.  But we've talked with a realtor and have learned many things....including this:  even if we have to lose money on this end, we will most likely gain quite a bit more house on the other end.  So we are very encouraged......but....we just have to sell this house first.

So. long story short.....sorry, every time I start writing on this blog I end up rambling.....

We've been preparing for a visit from our realtor for a couple of weeks now (she's coming tomorrow).  Cleaning, de-cluttering, and organizing......you know the drill.  But we still have much work to do I fear.  While looking around the house last night and taking inventory of our situation I've noticed that I am probably going to be spending a lot of time with a paint brush in my hands!  Not to mention the fact that we will have to start learning to live here like we don't live here.....know what I mean?  8 people, living in a smaller house, trying to homeschool and carry on with daily life and make it seem like we don't live here.  UGH.  I desperately want to move, but can I say, this is gonna be a toughy??


*Will I ever be able to get my kids to even look at cleaning supplies after this?! 
*Will we have any sanity left after this?!
*Will my kids still LOVE me after this?!

 I did suggest to my husband that maybe we should just clean once and then go live at a campground for the summer.....I thought it was a great idea....him, not so much.

So please pray for us.....this won't be easy.  I know we will survive, what I'm not sure of is what kind of shape we will all be in after this!  We could all hate each other by the time we sell.....what do you think the possibilities are of finding property with many small houses on it?!  We could all have our own house!  Hmmmm..........

On another note....

This house is pretty close to my dream house.....so if you could pray me into this house, I would be eternally grateful to you....

wink wink.....

Have a great day!

Wendy