Thank You St. Jude

Friday: We make our final offer to the bank. We decide this is where we draw the line. If the bank turns us down, then we walk away from the deal. No compromise.

Monday evening: Still no response from the bank, even though closing is scheduled for the next day. We call our real estate agent to formally pull our offer and arrange to fill out the necessary paperwork.

Today 9:30 AM : Rob calls me on the cell phone as I pull up to the public library with a van full of children. "The deal isn't dead yet." Our agent and the selling agent were working to save the deal.

10:00 AM: The cell phone vibrates and I head to the library lobby. It's my agent. She tries to convince me that this is the house for us and we should go ahead even though the bank won't give into our concessions. "No," I say.

10:15 AM: Back to the library lobby. Our agent and the selling agent are willing to give up part of their commissions to make this deal. "No, I say again, "Rob and I have made concessions, you and the selling agent have made concessions, everyone is making concessions except the bank."

10:30 AM: Back to the library lobby. It's Rob. We talk it out. We love the house, we want the house, we can see our family in that house, but we have a fiscal responsibility to our family.

11:00 AM: Back to the library lobby. It's my agent again. The librarians are beginning to look at me funny. She tells me, "You've really been praying over this. Can you offer up one more prayer to St. Jude?" The bank wasn't budging and we needed a miracle.

11:15 AM: I give up getting anything done at the library. I gather up the children, check out our books, and get into the van. I pray silently, "St. Jude, you're the patron of desperate situations and I've got one for you. Closing is scheduled for 1:00 PM and if it's going to happen, the bank has to make the concession we asked for. Please help me. If this house is meant for us, please help it happen. If the bank doesn't come back in the next half hour, I'll accept it's God's will. No regrets. No looking back."

11:30 AM: I walk into the house and the phone rings. The bank conceded. Closing is on. The agent doesn't know if I accept or not as I'm crying so hard. She asks, "You prayed to St. Jude, didn't you?" I finally blurt out, "Yes!"

Noon: I'm in the car. It's an hour's drive to the title company.

1:00 PM: Closing begins. There were some last minute problems to iron out with all the last minute changes, but we sign everything.

3:03 PM: We are officially home owners.

Thank you St. Jude. You rock!