Re-entry update

So the last 3 weeks have been tough.  Repatriating is harder than you'd think!  On all of us.  Even the one who is back living it up for a few last weeks in Germany again.

When we moved to Switzerland, we at least new where we'd be living.  Yes, everything else, including the language, was new, but we had a home base to unpack our stuff and call home.  Then we met the fabulous O'Brien family at our playground on the first day we lived in our apartment.  In the midst of half-opened boxes, we ran outside and met a boy Aidan's age and a girl Delainey's age and a mom my age!  Instantly, we had friends and a home to call our own.

When we moved to Germany, we again knew where we'd be living.  Jason had already moved most of the stuff in when the kids and I arrived.  We knew another family, the Starkeys, who lived in our neighborhood because they were with us in Zurich.  The kids went to summer camp at school the first week we lived there and made friends right away and got used to their new school.

This move was different.  Yes, we came back to familiar territory and our families.  But, there were so many unanswered questions.  Where would we live? What school will the kids go to? Who will their friends be?  Will they still get along with old friends?  Will Jason and I still get along with old friends?  What specific role will Jason have at work?  Where will I work? 

The kids don't really remember living in Michigan.  They remember some things and family, of course, but not much else.  Distance makes maintaining friendships much harder for kids than adults.  Our kids have changed-different interests since last we lived here and so on.  Their old friends have moved on to other schools or cities and have other friends.  We aren't planning to move back to the exact same place (which wouldn't much matter anyway since they were never in school in Michigan), so they'll have to make all new friends.  But the question of where  to make these new friends loomed. 

I couldn't tell them which school or even town we'd be living in, so I couldn't sign them up for a summer camp or sport camp.  Mommy and Daddy were all consumed with house hunting (which did not go well) and weren't around much. When we were around, we were STRESSED out.  Then Daddy had to go back to Germany for 3 long weeks.  The kids love PatTone and Mamaw and Papaw, but they need friends their own age to play with.  Luckily, they did have Jacob, Corinne and Quinn to play with often.  Lainey loves the time with them and Aidan had fun too, but Aidan still was wanting for an older boy to play soccer with.  Last week, Aidan was crying at bed time and told me that he wanted to just go home, but was sad that we didn't have a home of our own to go to.  PatTone's house is "grandma's house" and is home in many ways, but it doesn't have all our stuff in it and it isn't permanent. 

That's when Jason and I realized we had to make a serious committment to finding a house.  We upped the time spent looking and expanded our search area.  We put an offer in on one house.  It got beat by another bidder.  We compromised on a different one:  a nice house, but not exactly where we wanted to be and one that needed some work.  We offered on that one.  And didn't hear a response back.  So, Jason went back to Germany and I kept looking just in case we never heard from the second house.  The owners of the second house never did really respond, only kept dragging their feet in accepting or countering so I got fed up.  While waiting on their response, I found the PERFECT house for us!  Perfect except for price. 

Feeling defeated, I rescinded the offer on the second house 3 days after putting in the offer. We hadn't heard anything back from them anyway, so I figured it was a dead deal.  The seller's agent was not happy, but seriously after 3 days you don't respond?  You don't get to be upset.  It is over in my mind.

So, we decide to put in an offer on the PERFECT house.  We offer quite a bit less than asking.  We get an optimistic response almost immediately from the seller's agent.  The seller counters reasonably, we counter back at a place where both agents feel it is fair.  Then the seller refuses to come down anymore.  For want of $2,500 she refuses our final offer.  Our agent gets an email from the seller's agent saying "what a shame the deal fell through over such a small amount of money".  We stood firm and refused to go higher. 

I went looking again at houses.  I reconsidered those that I had originally discarded.  I didn't sleep.  I worried and fretted and finally made a decision.  We. Need. A. House.  I called Jason in Germany and we figured out that we'd  have to settle on a house in the right area, but one that we could fix up over time, and that we'd just have to pay whatever the sellers were asking.  So I went back to the agents office the day after our last deal fell through and began filling out yet another set of offer papers.  As I'm chatting with the agent, pondering the cost of re-doing the roof and kitchen and putting in new windows and, and, and...I say "oh I just wish the other lady would accept our offer!"

Then the phone rings.

Debby, our agent, hands me a pen to start signing the fourth set of offer papers, then answers her phone.  Then she takes the pen out of my hand as she sees who is calling on her caller ID.  It is the agent selling the PERFECT house.  The seller decided to come down and accept our offer.  We got the house!!

I couldn't believe it.  I called Jason and he was so relieved.  Finally we could start thinking of "home" again.  A home that would hopefully be ours for a long time, not just 1 or 2 years.  I took the kids through it and they also loved it.  We figured out which school they'd go to and drove by it.  We found the nearby parks. We realized that we knew a family who goes to the same school and had a playdate with them yesterday.  The kids all hit it off and now they'll have familiar faces on the first day of school. Things were looking up!

We had the inspection today and mostly things are fine, but there is one issue.  Luckily, the house is still under builder's warranty so hopefully they will fix the problem.  As long as that item is fixed the house will be ours by mid-August!

Keep your fingers crossed for us.  It has been a L-O-N-G three weeks.  It's felt like three months.  It is nice to finally have some semblance of stability.