Ok, so my husband and I have agreed that we are going to move, but we are a bit nervous. Here is the reason. We are going to rent, but the house needs major renovations. The owner is going to provide ALL the supplies, we provide the elbow grease and the young backs. I'm talking new EVERYTHING! Doors, windows, ripping down all the drywall, putting in insulation and new electrical, putting up new ceilings and walls (my Dad used to do drywall for a living, so my walls will look great!), new flooring, the owner is putting in a new furnace, brand new kitchen (woohoo! I sell Pampered Chef and I love to cook), all new bathroom. It is a structurally sound house, as far as we can tell...yikes if we find out otherwise, but at least we won't be the ones forking out the big bucks. It is a bit larger than where we are now.

Why are we doing this? Well, we will get to live there on extremely discounted rent for over a year in exchange for providing the labor. (And yes, my husband knows how to do most of the stuff and the owner has been professionally flipping houses for over 25 years, and has assured us he is not going to say, "Here it is. Fix it up nice. Bye!") Then, if we decide we would like to buy the house, we can rent to own. Great deal, huh?

However, we are supposed to try to be ready to move in by January! THAT IS WHY I AM NERVOUS!!! I know we can do this, but my husband works for the State of Ohio and drives over an hour to work so on the days he works he'll only be able to do 2-3 hours and then on his days off he can hit it hard. I am going to do as much as I can, but we have 3 young children (6yrs, 2 yrs, and 4 months) and I homeschool our eldest. His family is in Tennessee, my family is in state but most of them live an hour south. I know we'll be able to count on them and our great friends to help whenever they are able. Plus, our pastor's wife has agreed to help decorate after we move in (she is pregnant, so no painting for her...but she has a great eye for interior decorating. I think I'll lay out all my stuff and let her order me around!)

So, here we go! Oh, and by the way, yes, we'll sign a contract to make sure that we don't do all the work and then he sells it...that would be a major bummer.

If you have advice please share it! If you have encouraging words feel free to let me hear them. If you think it's a bad idea....please keep it to yourself! We are already in for the long haul and I need to stay positive! Thanks and God Bless You.