Tom and I finally made it to the water!! I once heard that heaven is a little closer on the water. It won't take much for me to believe that. Look at the view! SO AWESOME! It has been on our hearts to get a place on the water for many years. And Praise God and all glory to Him, we made it!  

        We have to attribute our desire for a home in Galveston to our many years of family gatherings that were afforded by my grandparents. They would lease 4 houses for each of their children's families to enjoy for a week every summer for probably 10+ years. Each family would feed the whole group under their house at least one night out of the week. So you had 4 supper meals accounted for. You were on your own for the rest of the meals. We made awesome family memories in those days. When my grandparents passed away, they stopped doing the Galveston trips. We skipped one or two years and missed it so much that we started our own tradition of trips to the Island.
         We decided to make our traditional week July 4th holiday each year. So through our son's college years, we would celebrate July 4th week with his college friends. One year, Tom and I decided that we should try the bay side. We did, and we never went back to the beach side. Galveston Bay is so peaceful and calm. We absolutely love it! When we want to go to the beach, we drive the golf cart, which is a very popular thing to do there, and it is quite fun in itself. In the many times that we stayed there, we managed to stay in all the different neighborhoods and were able to narrow down our preference to two of them, Sea Isle and Pirate's Cove.                          

          Well, July 4th week in 2015, we stayed in a nice place on the canal with a bay view and a pool in Sea Isle. The two things we really were adamant about having in the homes we stayed in as well as the home we wanted to purchase were a pool and waterfront on the canal. If we had a bay view, that was definitely desired and a huge bonus. Well, during our stay on the canal in Sea Isle in 2015, we discovered a little home across the canal that looked like it needed attention and did not have much activity except for a little man that would appear each day and simply piddle around the place. My husband decided to visit with him. Come to find out, he was caring for the place and the owners were an elderly husband and wife couple that had passed away. The family was planning to sell it, but they had to probate the will first. He said he would give them our name and number. So for the next year, we would periodically call him and check on the status. We would look at other properties, but would drive by that particular one on the way home just to see if anyone was there. Eventually, we couldn't get the caretaker on the phone anymore. Come to find out, he passed away. Oh my goodness! We were beginning to believe that we should just move on to something else. However, we would always drive by it on the way home after looking at other properties just to see, if by chance, someone was there.
            Finally, I told my husband that I was going to write a letter and send it to them. I wrote it and set it on the desk. It stayed there for quite a while. We looked at more properties with no luck of finding anything or seeing anyone at the one we really wanted. So, one day, I told my husband, I am going to send the letter and just see if we get a response. Guess what?! The letter did it! The son and daughter-in-law were so impressed by the letter, they wanted to know who wrote it. They couldn't believe how much our story of coming to Galveston every summer was so much like their family. They wanted to meet us.  So, in June 2016, we met them at the property, and we made the deal that day. The home offered 3br 2 ba, three canal views, 1/2 extra lot (perfect for our pool), and a BAY VIEW! It needed updates and a lot of work, but we were both sold!
            Incidentally, we had a vacation home already scheduled for our July 4th week for 2016, and believe it or not, it was a block away from our new home.  Our vacation was July 1st - 8th, 2016. And we closed on the property on July 8th at 10 am which is the same time we needed to be out of the vacation rental. How is that for timing! God is so good!
            We absolutely love the before and after, or transformation, if you will. This one has been a beautiful one! I am happy to share each phase of our renovations with you in this blog.  I hope you enjoy the Property Transformation on the Island! The first phase was raising the ceiling.  Click the link below!