We have a winner!

So I believe in the last week I have looked at 11 houses.  That's 11 kitchens, 11 gardens, 11 hobs, countless tiny bedrooms and a lot of stairs.  We have seen some not so good houses.  Like the one that had a view of a dump yard across the street.  Or the one where I could stand in the kitchen and touch all four walls from one spot... wow.  

Or there was this one that was enormous, but hadn't been updated since 1973 and had a purple tub and toilet, and a green tub and toilet... but no shower.  Hmmm.

We have also seen some amazing houses.  Like this one with the most amazing stove I have ever seen.  This house had huge amounts of character, but was right after a blind curve on a really busy street, so cars were driving by it really fast... not safe for the boys.

Did you see the eight burner hob?  Now I could crank out a dinner on that thing!

We also saw a really neat brand spanking new four bedroom 3 1/2 bath house in a new development.  

Then we saw the house that beat all the houses.  Here she is...

This house has five bedrooms.  Three of them have their own attached bathrooms, making 4 1/2 baths.  It has hands down the best kitchen I have ever had the opportunity to call my own.  Built in fridge, freezer, microwave, double oven, and six burner stove.  The entire third floor would be the master suite complete with closets (rare) and built-ins.  It has a cute little back yard that doesn't require much maintenance.  It is situated in the exact neighborhood that we have been looking at, playgrounds galore and is within a walk or bike ride of town center.  It is even within our budget.  We loved the house.  We loved the neighborhood.  The only negative is that it is a 25-min drive from base, which is farther than we really need to be, but we were willing to make that sacrifice for the experience.  

But even though the house was seemingly so perfect, we were still having reservations.  But then we would talk ourselves back into it.  British neighbors we would say, what a neat experience.  And our guests would have plenty of room and their own bathrooms.  And the kitchen.  Oh the kitchen.  I was in love.  So yesterday we decided we would rent it, and would file the paperwork first thing in the morning.  We were done, decision made.

Then we slept on it.  And woke up this morning, and both of us felt like it wasn't the right house for us.  And oh yeah, the day before we found out we could get a base house near the base next door.  Yeah, I was thrilled to hear that after being told I couldn't have a base house, and then spending weeks of my life looking for off-base houses in the area.  

So after a week of house-hunting and seeing the house of my dreams, we decided to take the base house!  Ah the irony.  We're laughing at ourselves quite heartily.  We will be living in a 3-bedroom base house just outside the gate of the base next door.  It is a 15 min drive for E to work, and a 15 min walk (or 5 min drive) to N's amazing preschool.  (More about that in another post... it has a farm!)  Because it isn't actually on base, we can still walk to the local pub, and I can walk N to his British pre-school.  Our back yard leaves a little (OK a lot) to be desired, we will need to give it some love.  But through the fence topped with razor wire (it's a tall fence and the razor wire poses no threat to the boys... it's just the base boundary fence), you can see a horse pasture.  Yes, our back door neighbors are horses.  Literally.  The house is built to American specs, so the bedrooms are really big and there is an open kitchen / family room layout.  We're planning on using the dining room as a playroom.  We will still have a guest room, so still plan your visits.  

We just feel that this is the house God had for us, and that we were being tempted with the larger house.  The base house felt like home as soon as we saw it, and I think it will be a really good fit for us.  The big house was a great house, but I don't think it would give us the best life.  Life is going to be much simpler for us in the base house, and I think we'll all be a little less stressed for it.  So sorry, when you visit you won't get your own bathroom attached to your bedroom, but we'll show you our new favorite pub, and you can walk with us to N's school!

So now you're all going to complain that there are no pictures of the house we will be living in... bear with me.  We should move in next week, and I'll get those too you!  God is good, and we just needed to stop and listen to hear his plan for us here.  I think we found a home.