As usual, my blogging frequency - well, sucks. The past two months have been a whirlwind, and I can hardly remember most days. Nothing spectacular, just the life of a working mom of three kiddos.
Except that I'm no longer a working mom! I took the leap and QUIT my job, giving notice in early May. My last day was last week, just in time for the kiddos to get done with school for the year (and to start arguing non-stop, but that's another post, probably for another blog). What changed to allow us to make this drastic decision?
Nothing. Nothing has changed, and that in itself was the catalyst for me staying home (for now, but more on that later). The sitter was still only committed through the end of the year, childcare was still getting more expensive by the minute (I'd be paying $2200/month right now if I were still working, and that's not even for the best places), and the most pressing of all - I truly feel called to be home with my kids. We spent the last year cutting back and digging out of debt to prepare for this choice, not knowing if we would actually make it happen, but here we are.
It's not going to be easy. The numbers don't work, but they weren't going to work paying $2200 per month, either, so we chose the lesser of two evils (broke and (relatively) quiet vs. broke and crazed). I'm investigating the process to become a licensed home-daycare provider so that I can bring in an income and still be home, but the more in depth on that I dig, the less appealing it is. However, seeing as I need an income, it's likely the best choice for us. I've also been casting a wide net for part-time evening/weekend jobs, but so far nothing has come of that.
For now, we're hunkering down. We have funds to sustain us a few months, and if push comes to shove we can live off Mr. Four Wall's income without touching the savings, but it won't be pretty. It's a giant leap of faith, and we're now in mid-air.
"But what about the house?" you're probably wondering.
Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zero movement. Well, that's not true. We have received the Notice of Trustee's Sale, and the auction date is set for September 9th. That doesn't mean they've denied the short-sale; it just means that the foreclosure people have finally woken up and are starting that process, and it's now a race between the two departments to complete their job first. My money's on the foreclosure department, if the past year is any indication.
For the last 2 months (at least) we've been told we'll have an answer on the short-sale "this week" but we never get anything other than "it's still in review." Now they're asking yet again for all of our financial documents to be updated, which shows me they're dragging their feet and extending this as long as they can.
Not that I care anymore. We've done all that we can to work this out. Extra work, in-laws living with us, being beggars to our friends for childcare, and finally making a concerted effort to sell the house for the bank so they didn't have to go through the time and energy to foreclose.
However, in their non-answer I'm hearing their answer, and I'm moving on. I'll update the docs one more time, but if they have not come back with an acceptance by July 15th, we're told that it's unlikely our sale would close before the auction date.
So we're home and in the home-stretch, either way. While I have strong faith that God will bring us through this in all ways, I have very little faith that the house will transfer over to a happy new buyer anytime soon. I really hope Fannie Mae enjoys our great neighborhood. It's a great place to raise a family, and I'm sure it'll make her very happy.....
