POLISHED POPE | STYLES

Hopefully, you read the latest post because otherwise, this one won’t make much sense. Be sure that you are caught up reading the first part of this post titled, ‘September To Remember’ before pursuing to read.

My husband could sense my reserves and thought that I wasn’t happy about beginning the process to the home ownership, but to be honest I was just extremely nervous and felt unprepared. I had never witnessed anyone go through this process. Nobody even ever really talked about the importance of homeownership. I was unsure of how much money needed to go into everything like, the down payment, closing cost, appraisal, inspections etc. I felt unprepared and as the planner that I am I was not feeling very confident in the logistics of this decision. I also didn’t want to get my hopes up and something fall through because we hadn’t planned things out. That all changed when we scheduled a time to sit down with my wonderful friend and realtor Shawanda Dodson-Crawford.

You wouldn’t believe how Shawanda and I met! One Sunday morning the family went to church, Elyssa decided that she wanted to attend children’s church. We had made it to church early enough for her to attend and after church services ended, I went to pick her up and to my surprise she had made a decision during the children’s services to be baptized. We were so shocked, humbled and grateful that she had come to this decision at the age of seven years old. We had never spoken with her about baptism so it was a true miracle that she was led with the decision to do this on her own. In the next couple of weeks, we attended her baptism classes to learn more about her decision and to make sure that she was confident and understood the decision that she was making.

On August 7th, 2016, the morning of her baptism we had family come in town and everyone was in great spirits. Preparing for the baptism, we were taken into a room where Elyssa would change into her baptism clothing and there we met Shawanda. She had such a sweet and welcoming spirit. After Elyssa was dressed, she asked me what I did and told me that she was realtor and would love to work with me. We exchanged information and have been really good friends ever since. I tell her all time how blessed I am to have her as a friend but I am sure she doesn’t even understand the magnitude. When we met there wasn’t much discussion about her selling me a house but she poured encouraging and motivating things into my life. We built a genuine friendship, she introduced me to two of my biggest interior design clients to date, and has introduced me to endless opportunities to share my talents. I know that this is a lot of information and I hope that you are keeping up because miracles really do happen and I don’t want you to miss whatever message that is intended for you through this testimony.

Birthday plans quickly disintegrated and turned into home purchasing plans. Hubs and I made an executive decision to stay in Nashville and put all funds towards our new home. On Thursday August 3rd, 2017, Hubs and I set down with Shawanda as our realtor. She made us give her a list of our wants and needs for our future home. We laughed, we signed disclosures, we were all set on sometime next year closing on our home. There was no pressure and she was in it for the long haul. About an hour into our meeting as we begin to wrap up, Shawanda’s face lit up and she said these words, “I have a house for you!”. We were confused because for an hour we sat there talking about locations, front and back porches, the amount of bathroom and bedrooms and all of sudden she has a house?

Literally, that following Sunday she provided us the address to “this house”. She told us that it wasn’t on the market yet because the seller had some updates that she wanted to complete but just wanted us to take a look because it had the amount of bedrooms we were looking for. It was also in one of the areas that wanted to purchase, and it was also in our price range. We road pass the home. It was seven minutes away from our apartment so we drove past it, and I’ll be honest I wasn’t completely sold but was anxious to see what was inside. Shawanda arranged for us to take a look at the inside of the house the following Monday afternoon, August 7th, exactly one year after Elyssa’s baptism and meeting Shawanda. The house was built in 2006, the previous owners kept the house up really well. There were 4 bedrooms, 2.5 bath, two car garage, a open floor plan, screened in patio and a huge backyard, it was perfect for our little family!

August 10th came and we submitted our offer on the home. Again, I was still a little in denial and didn’t know what to anticipate but I kept moving forward. That next week, on the evening of August 15th my Bishop had a church service. During that church service he prayed over the church and I felt a release. I mean he really prayed, he prayed over people's business, finances, education, families and he laid hands on every person that was present at that service. I begin to feel a release of fear. He also asked us to sow a seed and declare and decree our desires. Of course, I sowed and without knowing what was going to happen exactly one month later declared a home for my family.

Coincidentally, our apartments lease was due to expire September 30th so time was limited, and we really need to make our next move our best move. Fast forward, August 30th Hubs and I celebrated our anniversary. My 30th birthday approached, and I worked on submitting documents, slowly purging to prepare for packing up, and trying to keep our new home a surprise for the littles. Everything moved fast. We paid for the inspection, the appraisal and was scheduled to close on September 15th. The home was appraised for a little less than we offered. The previous owners accepted our offer, and even though the home appraised for less than our offer they still as requested, paid for pretty much all of closing cost. We had enough money to pay our down payment and all additional fees, and we had a dedicated closing date. The night before closing, we asked the littles draw a picture of what they wanted our home to look like. Of course they still didn't know that we were buying a home.

On Friday September 15th, exactly one month after Bishops service, Hubs and I made history as homeowners of the 4 bedrooms, 2.5 bath home! After leaving the signing, we were overwhelmed with so much gratitude and we can only give honor to God for making everything come together the way that it did for our family.

Homeownership is the best anniversary/birthday present that I could have ever asked for and I have my forever love partner, my husband and my very best-friend to thank for that! Keep scrolling below and you can check out our first home video and our first 'Pizza Friday', where we reveal and surprise the littles and I would like to thank my new found friend Cam Murray for recording this moment. Thank you very much Shawanda for our friendship and assisting us with the purchase of our new home. Thank you TJ Dyer and Jessica Boyd with BancorpSouth. Thank you to my friends and family who continue to uplift and support me. Thank you my children for motivating me to do better for myself and our future. Thank you to my husband for making me happiest wife of the year. This journey with you truly gets better and better and I am so lucky to be married to you.

Outfit Details:

Shirt: Forever21; Goodwill

Pants: Mossimo; Goodwill

Robe: Loungewear By Goassard (Vintage); Black Shag Vintage

Shoes: Steve Madden; Marti & Liz

Sunglasses: Charming Charlie

Earrings: Rainbow

Bracelet: J.CREW + Vintage; Music City Thrift

Handbag: Unknown (Vintage); Goodwill

Photo Credit: dbrown615_photography

This Is, Fall Beginnings.

MATTHEW 7:7-11 EFFECTIVE PRAYER.

7 “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.