Changes and more changes

There have been a lot of changes around here in just the past 7 days.



Last week at this time I was working on accepting that Madeline will be in school in less than a month. I was working to keep the house clean and hoping and working towards finding a buyer so that we could purchase a bigger house in a nicer town for our family. I was working on letting go of things I can't control.



And then this past week happened.



In the past seven days homeschooling is once again on the table. We are now looking into becoming landlords and renting out our house. And the price of the house went want dropped another $12,000.



I'll start with the biggest change- becoming a landlord. This is nothing I ever planned to do, but our house is not selling. And getting mortgages is becoming more difficult. Our realtor feels that, based on these facts, if we want this particular house (and we REALLY do) we should consider renting out our house. He tells us that there is a need for rental properties, especially houses, right now. We have enough for a down payment without selling (with the new house price) so we are looking into the ins and outs of being landlords and getting qualified for a mortgage while still owning our current house. It is a scary prospect, but also exciting.



Jon and our realtor went and looked at the house we really want. After the extreme price decrease we were becoming concerned that there were more problems than we had originally seen or that the mold had taken over more of the house. The mold is still there but has not progressed much. It still looks contained to the basement which means we can demolish the finished walls, clean it and be done. Obviously inspections need to be done to ensure that there is nothing else wrong, but we are cautiously optimistic.



As for the homeschooling, that change a large shock to me as Jon was the one who suggested it. There is a reason for this. In our current city if we were to hold Madeline out this year (for homeschool or preschool) she would be required to enter first grade based solely on her age. Because of this fact Jon was pushing for kindergarten this year even though we are not convinced she is ready. He didn't want to keep her home and then be required to send her to first grade, whether she was ready or not. The other option, of keeping her out for two years, is not something he sees as ideal. In discussing our possible move the idea of holding Madeline out a year came up again (I was talking about a mom I know who held her son out for an extra year in the new town). Jon didn't realize that if we move to the new town and we choose to keep Madeline home another year we can still enroll her in kindergarten next school year if we choose, regardless of the fact that she will be 6 at the time. Because of this he would prefer to keep her home this coming year and homeschool her with the kindergarten curriculum. This way the following year we can decide, based on Madeline herself and not her age, whether she is ready for first grade or needs another year of kindergarten. Needless to say, I am ecstatic at the prospect.





I never expected so many changes in 1 week. At this time last week I was struggling so much. But now everything is falling into place. I know nothing is definite, there are still so many things to figure out, but I am so much more optimistic. I am very scared at the prospect of becoming a landlord, but all of the positive things that can come because of it are slowly helping me to realize that this is a risk that will help my family. I am a believer that we control much of what happens to us through our choices. This past week has shown me that although I can control many things I still need to open my eyes and look at options that are not familiar to me and be open to these changes.