It was exactly one month ago today that we first saw the house we planned to buy and move into this fall.

It was beautiful.  In so many ways.

Well cared for.
In a great neighborhood.
Right next to a school.
Big, beautiful shade trees.
A huge living space where I could see us gathering for small group, Bible studies, hosting Mom's Night Out, having birthday parties, and holiday meals.
A bright cheery kitchen with shabby chic cabinets and whitewashed old fence post pieces as a backsplash of sorts.
Hardwood floors, huge windows, a beautiful stone fireplace, a newly updated bathroom with subway tile.
Space for my office.
And space for Catherine.  Space for her to play and spread out.   A basement for a drum set and big toys, where she could toss a ball without having to worry about it hitting and breaking something.  A paved driveway where she was going to learn how to ride a bike.  A tree swing.  And right next door to a playground, soccer goals, basketball hoops, and space to run wild (yet fenced in for my peace of mind).

It was just about perfect.
Oh, and in a town that we love.

And all along, it was our continual prayer that God would show us clearly if this was meant to be our home.  The proverbial doors kept opening wide.  And we kept walking through them.  And kept saying, "As long as God keeps opening the doors, we'll keep walking through them."

Well, yesterday, God clearly closed the door.  The buyers suddenly decided they don't want to sell right now.  "Nothing personal" we were told.  That didn't make the punch to the gut feel any better.  This was completely out of the blue.  We had paperwork written up, revised, and revised again.  We had details figured out.

We had our home 95% staged.  We had a house cleaner booked for Tuesday and a photographer booked for Wednesday.  We had a website created.  And an open house planned.

Mentally and emotionally we were moving this fall.

And now...

Well, I canceled the house cleaner and the photographer.

I had to break the news to Josh.
And Catherine.

Last night we treated ourselves to our favorite restaurant where we ate our feelings.  No, seriously, my "meal" was fried mozzarella sticks and a giant chocolate chip cookie covered in ice cream, chocolate, and caramel.  (The order disgusted even me.)

At some point we'll start unearthing all the bins and boxes we packed up of things we didn't need for a couple months.  We can put the toaster oven and coffee maker back on the kitchen counter.

Having a 95% "show ready" home has re-birthed my desire to host friends, and I'm happy to say we had a family over this morning.  We made a big pot of coffee, and Catherine helped me make muffins.  I even served them on a pretty cake stand that I had set out for staging.

I'm going to use the pretties as I make my guests feel welcome in our yellow farmhouse with the red front door.  And the big front porch.