becoming all the wiser

This past month has presented a huge learning curve for Jeremy and me. We really feel like grown-ups now that we figured out how to buy a home! Thanks to Jeremy's hard work, we closed just 3 days after we were supposed to, which we've been told is a miracle these days. We were still able to move in on Saturday! And now it's my Spring Break, so I can spend all week unpacking!! We feel very blessed and grateful that everything worked out for our good. But it was mostly very stressful and confusing. Here's a few things we learned. For those out there more naive than us, maybe this can help you in the future.

• Make sure you have a spouse with a lot of ambition, who is really smart, and who is willing to fill in the gaps when you can't/don't. There is no way this would have happened without Jeremy.
• Don't ever throw your W2 forms or tax papers away- even from several years ago. You're gonna need them to buy a home.
• Don't wait around for people at escrow to file the papers or get them ready. It's up to YOU to get on their case and make it happen. (Good job, Jeremy!)
• Escrow will try to charge $250 to send your documents from one office to another. Just offer to transport them yourself, and they won't charge you.
• Make sure you get both electricity AND water set up before you move in. No one reminded us about the water. (Small detail that makes a BIG difference). Luckily we still could go potty and shower in our old apartment for 3 out 5 days that we didn't have water in our home.

• Magic erasers are the best for cleaning an apt. If you haven't used one of these, you've got to. They get rid of every scratch and scrape. I swear, we left that place SPOTLESS. (We better get our deposit back!)
• Try to find the blessings in all of the incoveniences. There was a huge earthquake on Sunday. Maybe Heavenly Father knew that if our water was on, the earthquake would mess up our pipes, so he made sure we didn't get our water until after the earthquake. Who knows?!
• Remeber that when you are applying for a loan, all of your financial info is at risk. Be ready to have people steal your identity. That happened to Jeremy. But at least we have brand new credit cards now!
• Craig'slist is wonderful. We were able to sell and buy several important items in record time!
• God answer's prayers. I knew we would close and move in on time because we had been praying earnestly and doing our part. That's all it takes!