No.

Sometimes the answer is no even though you want so badly for it to be yes.

Remember that adorable, brand new house in the cute town called Forest Grove? The one that sits on a hill and has a cute community park? The one that would fit a ginormous shop to build our next boat? The one that we spent hours researching, emailing questions, and had multiple meetings about? 

Well, we have decided not to get it. 

When I first told my mom that we weren't feeling right about it, she was pretty shocked. Not many people go through the process and huge ordeal we went through just to walk away. But, after praying about it, we knew what we needed to do. 

Well, here's the full story. About a month ago we met with the city of Forest Grove to make sure we could build our shop on the property. They said we were good to go and I couldn't believe it! Everything was coming together perfectly and we were planning to put an offer in about a month (today actually). As we were walking out to our car, feeling so happy, I checked my phone and saw I had an email from my realtor. The realtor at Hayden Homes (the builder of our cute house) told us that there was someone VERY interested in our lot and he was probably going to be putting an offer in soon. What?!?! "Our" lot wasn't even released yet, so we felt pretty safe in knowing it wasn't going to be snatched from us. I called my realtor who called Hayden Homes and we decided that we had to put in an offer ASAP so we wouldn't lose the only lot in the community that would fit our shop. We both felt SO stressed and overwhelmed. I was sick to my stomach all weekend. 

A few days later, we received the contract from Hayden Homes. We had been praying to know what to do and we were constantly going back and forth. Something just didn't feel right. We decided that we weren't ready to sign the contract, even if that meant losing the lot. Once we made that decision, we immediately felt such relief. My three-day-long tummy ache was gone, just like that. 

So we knew we weren't ready to sign the contract right then, but we weren't ready to completely walk away either. So we did more praying, more thinking, and more planning. 

First up, we measured our current backyard and figured out that we can fit our new boat back there. It won't be in a nice shop, but Landon will be able to build the boat in a covered, temporary shelter. 

I also went through two years worth of our budget to figure out our "average" monthly expenses. With the new house, our mortgage payment would only be a tiny bit more than our current mortgage so we didn't think it would be a big deal. Also, our current house has gone up in value so much, we were going to be able to put 25% down on the new house, which seems unbelievable. We could definitely "afford" the new house and new payment. But, our current mortgage is going to be $200 cheaper in 3 years when we can get rid of our mortgage insurance. With that in mind, our new mortgage payment (without MI) is going to be cheaper than some people pay for a 2 bedroom apartment in our area. It is ridiculously cheap. It will feel like we are living in our house for free. We got such a good deal on our house because we bought it when the market was at it's lowest low and interest rates were still in the 3% range. How were we supposed to walk away from that?! Just because we could "afford" to buy the new house, doesn't mean we should. 

Remember our priority? It is to have a family. That means I will be staying home to take care of our kids someday and we will be down to one income. Money will be tighter, not only because we won't have my income, but I've heard that kids are expensive ;) So with our current house, we will be able to live comfortably without stressing about money. That is worth WAY more to me than having a nice house with a nice shop. Stressing about money is NOT fun. It is comforting to know that even if Landon lost his job and he had to get a job at McDonalds, we could afford our mortgage. Hopefully we won't ever be in that situation, but you NEVER know. Plan for the worst, hope for the best.

Another thing, we love our current house. It is plenty big (2200 square feet, 4 bedrooms), in a culdesac, great neighbors and friends, and close to everything. Yes, it is "older" and I have lovely brass doorknobs and oak cabinets, but it's still very cute and was very well taken care of. Plus, there's a little thing called remodeling :)

After doing more thinking and constantly discussing the pros and cons, it was clear that we needed to stay in our house. We feel SO happy about our decision and even though we didn't know why we felt unsure about it a month ago, we know now. Heavenly Father has a different plan for us and I have a feeling that one day I will look back on this post and just laugh because it will all make sense. 

There was no major red flag, we can afford the new house, and we loved everything about it, but after thinking about it we decided it wasn't the best decision. Even though we wanted it SO bad, it is actually pretty easy to just walk away. 

I am so grateful for prayer and for a loving Heavenly Father who guides me along. In my patriarchal blessing, there's a part that talks about how much Heavenly Father is watching over, protecting, and guiding me and that most of the time I don't even realize how much He is helping me. But I have been trying more and more to recognize His hand in my life. There are so many little decisions that I have made that lead to such great things, so I'm going to continue to trust in Him and His plan for me. I know it will all work out and one day we will understand completely why we aren't supposed to move right now.