WE DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do you know how long I have dreamed of buying my first home? I knew that Joel and I would do it one day...but had no idea it would all happen this soon. Wow! Our lives have changed so much in the past few years. I am not a very religious person...but I know that God had a big part in all of this:-) Joel and I started looking to purchase a home about 3 months ago. We had NO idea what we wanted and had NO idea where we wanted to live. We knew that we wanted to be closer to his kids so he can be more involved in their lives...but at the same time we want to stay close enough to my family, Thomas's school and my work.Boy...that's not as easy as we thought it would be. We FINALLY narrowed down our search to Arlington, Mansfield and Grand Prairie.

I would have to say that Joel had a much harder time looking at houses then I did. I thought it was fun...he hated almost every house we looked at for one reason or another. We found one that we both liked and decided to put an offer on it. It was a short sale so we knew that it would be MONTHS before anything happened with this one and decided to keep looking. Then we found another one that we really liked. It had everything that we wanted....after putting in an offer the sellers basically played with us to see how much money they could get out of us...We didn't like the way that was going so we decided to keep looking. Only a few weeks later we found this house online. Joel wanted to put an offer on it the day we fund it online before we had even looked at it. He is so funny! He just KNEW it was the one.

We called our WONDERFUL Realtor, Tonya and she scheduled a showing for that house in two days after seeing it online. We drove out to look at it and Joel and I knew the second we walked in the house that we wanted it....it was the one!!! There are a few things that need to be done to it...but doesn't have to be done right away! I am IN LOVE with the wood floors, the kitchen and the master suite area! Thomas will basically have his own apartment upstairs with a bedroom, bathroom and game room, Haley and Brenden will FINALLY have their own rooms on the opposite side of the house from the master....and Joel will have not one...but TWO garages. He can't believe it!!! He is a simple man.....all he has wanted his whole life is to have a garage...well he has it now!!! and doesn't have to share it with ANYONE...We will use the 2 car garage for our cars, lawn equipment..etc...and the second 1 car garage will be Joel's man cave!!!! He will be in heaven...not sure that I will ever see him again! Oh...did I even mention that the house has a beautiful pool and back patio area that is GREAT for entertaining. Joel and I knew that we wanted a house that would be great for entertaining...and I am not sure what's better then a pool for entertaining in the hot Texas summers!!!

Gosh...this is really it! It's really happening. I can't begin to tell the emotions that I am feeling. I am sooo excited, nervous, proud, scared, curious, pumped!!!!!!

Here are a few pics of the house. Once we get in and start setting it up our way I will post new pics...until then...this is what we have!!!