Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Just a Note
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Ready to Go!
Yesterday I had a great big list of things to do that would make today a much easier day. Unfortunately, all I accomplished yesterday was all of the laundry and ironing. Oh, well. It was a start.
Today was the big septic inspection day. I really, really like the guy who came out. I stood and chatted with him (over that nasty smelling stuff--bleagh!) most of the time he was here. He was so, so nice and I was able to talk with him about the Lord just a bit. He told me He found the Lord a few years ago and his life has just never been the same. I asked how he found the Lord and he said that he found the Lord sitting on the couch one day. HA! I didn't ask for clarification. "Did you find THE LORD sitting on your couch?! Or you found Him while YOU were sitting on the couch???" ;-) Anyway, I wasn't real sure what to do with the conversation after that, so I ended up giving him a Saved to the Uttermost tract. Ha! Actually, the conversation sort of veered after that, so I gave him the tract because I had been unable to clarify if he had actually repented of his sins and all that. I wrote Brother Chris' phone number on the back and he acted like he really appreciated it. Pray for Bill. :-)
As for the inspection itself, he hasn't actually completed it yet. It's a long, grueling story and I'm sick and tired of long grueling stories about this house. In the end, the septic tank is not in the greatest shape, but Bill thinks he's got a relatively cheap and easy fix for us that will enable us to avoid replacing the whole shabang (at $14,000, remember!)... so now we do some more waiting and praying and hoping for the best! He'll work on it this week while we're away, then send off the paperwork to make sure the county approves it for the sale of the house.
The other major project of the day was eating as many leftovers as possible. ;-) That project actually started yesterday. We're trying to eat everything that would spoil, turn green, or grow legs while we're away on our trip. Sounds appetizing, hu?! Ha! We did well. I glanced in the fridge a few minutes ago and all I found was half a tub of whipped cream and a few odds and ends. That left me with no choice but to open the freezer and dish out some Blue Bell Cookies and Cream. After all, it might grow ice crystals while we're away so it's only my duty to eat some before we go. ;-)
Got to make sure the house is show worthy while we're away (so tired of that!), so I got the den and the boys' room vacuumed, the wood floors swept and swiffered, and both bathrooms shining. I'm washing the towels and bath mats right now. I got everybody packed and even persuaded James to pack earlier (he usually waits until LATE on the night before we leave, or early the next morning) so I was even able to load the van! Wa-Hoo! Love that. :-) The only thing left to do (aside from folding the towels and throwing down the mats) is vacuuming our room. I can't decide if I'm going to do that tonight or in the morning. It probably depends on whether James is in bed or not when I go in there. If he is, I'll wait until morning and use the vacuum as his wake up call. :-)
So we'll leave tomorrow for Alabama. We'll stay in a hotel somewhere along the way, though we have no idea where. We'll get to Bessemer sometime on Thursday, but we have no idea when. We've never made this trip before, so we're planning loosely with all of that "no idea" stuff. ;-) The Powells, some members there in Bessemer, have been so kind as to allow us the use of their fifth wheel while we're there. It will be parked at the church next to Mom & Dad's camper. FUN. :-) I think I mentioned this last time, but we are soooooo excited about this trip! It's about time we made it. ;-) I have serious doubts about there being wi-fi available in the church parking lot, so I don't know if I'll be able to get online while we're away. If not, we'll be back... oh, sometime! Probably Friday or Saturday of next week. If you don't hear from me before then, you'll know why. :-)
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Me Again
Yesterday was a gloriously normal day around here. After devotions I got busy in the kitchen in preparation for today's pot-luck. I made a pumpkin roll, a double batch of sugar cookies, a Mexican casserole and a turkey noodle casserole. Katie helped me make the cookies, then all of the kids helped frost them. They turned out sooooo good this time--just like Emilee's. :-) We used our autumn shapes cookie cutters and ended up with orange and orangy-brown (ha!) leaves, acorns, and apples. Then we put fall sprinkles (in the shape of tiny itty-bitty yellow and orange and brown leaves) on top. They looked so cute on my purty fall platter with the pumpkins all around the edges. Simple, silly little things like that that make me happy. :-)
Hhmmm. That's about all I can remember about yesterday.
Today was a GREAT day. Had to get up earlier than usual to do some final pot-luck prep and make sure the house was in tip-top shape (still gotta be ready for "showings" at all times, you know!), but we actually weren't late to church. Wa-Hoo! I'm ashamed to admit that we're way too close to being late most of the time. James would deny that, but you could take a survey at our church and I'm sure the majority would verify that statement. ;-) I can't remember the last time we actually WERE late (except for a few weeks ago when traffic was backed up because of an accident--not our fault), but it seems like there have been a LOT of times when we come flying into the parking lot, slam 'er in park, and rush into the building with only a minute or two to spare. Ha! We've GOT to get better about that!!! ANYWAY...
Sister Galaviz did a good job with the Sunday School lesson today. She always does a great job. I will miss her teaching. If we ever actually move, that is. Ha! JUST KIDDING! We know we'll move, we're just still trying to work out the details. ;-) We had a good song service as well. Our last song was Some Day and the Lord really began to bless and move. At it's conclusion, Brother Chris asked a few different people to stand and read the final verse and to read it like they meant what they were saying. "My loving Savior I shall see, Some day, Some day! With Him in glory I shall be, Some day, Some Day!" Then he had sister Yolanda say it in Spanish, followed by Brother Platero in Navajo. It was so cool and such a blessing! I love the thought that all of us--from different backgrounds, nationalities, and languages--are all partaking of the same thing and SOME DAY we'll all be together with our Lord in glory! And as much as I LOVE hearing people praise God in different languages, I'm sure I'll love it even more when we're all speaking the same language. :-)
Brother Chris then proceeded to preach a message that just stomped all over my toes. He's good at that though. ;-) It was very much like Brother Dustin's message at the General Assembly about knowing and LOVING the truth. Lots to pray about and enact in my life. I love messages that give me direction.
After the service we got busy enjoying all of the food that had been prepared for our Harvest Missions Pot-Luck. Everything was soooooo good! Often times at pot-lucks I'll make Mexican Luncheon. James hates it, but it's one of my favorites--so pot-luck is the only time I really feel like I can make it, you know?! I was disappointed that there wasn't any left after the meal today, but it all worked out okay because we came away with some of the Platero's Navajo fry bread (WOW--it was soooooo good today, even better than last time!) and some of Sister Yolanda's pasole. I'd never tried pasole before, but I really liked it. Even though it has hominy in it, Mom!!! Aren't you proud?! I remember being very young (when we lived on Eastcrest) and you tried to serve hominy at dinner one time... Ha! That didn't go too well, as I recall. ;-) Anyway, I decided today that when we get to Alabama we're going to have to win some Spanish people to The Church of God right away. We need them at our pot-lucks!!! Ha!
After we got everything cleaned up Brother Chris gathered us together and shared just a few scriptures (about the man and the treasure in the field--the souls who would be saved--and the pearl of great price--The Church of God) before dismissing us. It was a wonderful day with lots of wonderful people, wonderful fellowship and wonderful food. :-)
We made it home at 3:00-something, I think. We all put our pj's on right away. I love that on Sunday afternoons. :-) Then we let the kids watch Facing the Giants while I dinked around on the computer. I've been sucked in to Rummikub! A couple of weeks ago Mandie sent messages to all of us former Colorado Springs girls (Melissa, Tammy, Cathy, and me) saying we should set up a game night where we could all play Rummikub online with each other. Ha! Sounds great, right?! I mean, HOW COOL that friends who live in Montana, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas could all "get together" for a girls game night! I decided I'd better learn how to play the online version so I'd be able to beat them all (I like to think ahead like that--ha!)... and now I'm addicted! I usually play one or two games at night after I put the kids to bed. It's a nice way to wind down... but still, it's bad to feel yourself pulled toward something like that! Ha! I haven't been able to play with the girls yet. Though last night I was online and Mandie sent me a message inviting me to play The Price is Right with her. Crazy! Melissa and Cathy were online too and it was a disaster trying to get all of us into the same "game room" at the same time! We were writing messages back and forth the whole time and I don't know about them, but I was cracking up!!! Ha! It was a blast. Even though we never all made it to the same place at the same time, TRYING to get there was hysterical. :-) And all I have to say is, Mandie is one mad Price is Right player. ;-)
I told Mandie at some point that I was going to have a hard time explaining to my mother that I'd spent the evening playing games with Melissa and Mandie instead of proofreading the Evening Light. ;-) So when we finally gave up trying to coordinate a game together I did read the first half of the paper before calling it a night. That was good, right?! I read the rest of it this afternoon, so I'm all ready with my corrections now. AND I enjoyed a mad fiasco online with Melissa and Mandie last night. :-)
Guess that's it. Tomorrow we have our septic system inspected. We're not doing it for the Crazy Lady (I think Jason convinced her not to make another offer--we're not going to include anything else for her!), James just thought it would be good to have it inspected and make sure everything is good and we can pass and all that stuff. We'd hate to get into a sale contact with somebody and THEN find out if we have issues, throwing a kink into the closing date and all that. This inspection is good for the next three months, so as long as we sell the house before that (oh, please?!) we won't have to have another inspection in order to sell.
The only thing on my list this week is laundry, ironing, cleaning house, and packing for our trip. We leave for Alabama on Wednesday! Wa-Hoo!!! At one point in time I would have expected that we'd be leaving for Alabama in a MOVING TRUCK by now (!), but not just yet. We're going down for Minister's Convention this weekend. I am so looking forward to it! I'm just so thankful that we'll actually BE where we're supposed to be, even if it's just for a little while this time! James will go back pretty quick if we don't sell the house soon, but I'll enjoy being there this time for as long as it lasts. We'll be in Convention on Friday and Saturday, then we're planning on going to the local services at our home church, Bessemer, for the first time on Sunday. We'll spend the next few days checking out houses in the area. That will be fun. I love looking at houses. :-) Mom will be with us, too, so that will make it extra fun! Dad is preaching a revival in Bessemer beginning next Wednesday, the 27th, and continuing through Sunday night. James says we'll stay for at least the first night of that, but then we may have to head back home. We'll just play it by ear and see what happens. For now I'm just so, so, so happy and excited about this trip! We're praying for a glorious Convention and looking forward to meeting all of the folks down there. :-)
Friday, October 15, 2010
~Relief~
The latest development is that the Crazy Lady (I'm capitalizing it because that's all I ever call her--it's her official name around here now) is trying to worm more out of us. Shocker, hu? Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up. No, it's too complicated. Let me explain. ;-)
New regulations were passed in 2006. As long as a septic system passes inspection and doesn't fail, nothing has to be updated to meet the new codes. If your system fails and needs replaced, your new system has to come up to the new codes--but that's the only reason you would have to mess with it: if it needs replaced anyway. As of 2015, you will no longer be able to sell a house without an updated system. But it doesn't have any affect on buying or selling until then--five years from now.
The Crazy Lady is having an inspection done on her system to make sure it will pass and she won't have to fork out the money to upgrade. (Rumor has it this costs about $14,000. A pretty chunk, for sure.) But she wants to offer us the same offer she'd made before (that we had accepted and she then bailed on)... but include an addendum requiring US to update OUR system to the new codes. Are you getting this? She wants to sell her house without worrying about it, but wants us to pay $14,000 to buy her a new septic system for this place--on TOP of everything else we're already throwing in, including all of the appliances AND paying the big fee for her to get her loan (!), as well as some smaller fees that rightfully belong to her, not us. I'm telling you, the woman is INSANE!!! Our septic system is 20 years old. I've done some studying on it and found that the average life span of a septic system is 30 years. Sometimes they fail before that, but they can last much longer than that if properly cared for. James treats our system every month as well as when we take trips, which is quite often. We've never had a lick of trouble with it. Are you doing the math, here? This system will probably last another 10 years, possibly 15 or even 20. We have no reason to believe that it won't pass inspection, enabling us to sell the house without upgrading. But she wants us to pay $14,000 to replace something that might break down and need replaced 10 years from now! Or 15--or more, maybe! Say it with me: Aaaaaaaaaaauuuuuuuuggggghhhhh! The woman is a lunatic! There is nobody in the world insane enough to DO that for her! It's not OUR problem if something at this house needs replaced 10 or 20 years from now! If we had a pipe burst a year after we moved in, we couldn't blame the guy we bought the house from, declaring that he should have had the plumbing updated even though it was perfectly fine when he lived here. What is she thinking?! Does she want us to leave a ten year supply of light bulbs, too? I mean, eventually they're all going to burn out and have to be replaced. ?! It's just nuts. If our septic system fails inspection then we'll just have to swallow it and fork out the dough to have it replaced. If it passes, replacing the whole thing with a new system is simply not our responsibility. (If it DOES fail and have to be replaced, you can rest assured we will NOT be making the same deal with the Crazy Lady! Ha!)
We told Jason to let the Crazy Lady and her realtor (who I really like--such a nice guy... but apparently not bold enough to tell the Crazy Lady that she is, indeed, crazy) know how we feel about the situation so they don't waste more time (theirs and ours) writing up another crazy offer that we're not going to agree to. My Dad says the woman ought to show a little integrity and follow through with her first offer. I love hearing him say things like that. He's so often dead-on in his judgment of these matters and it reinforces my predetermined belief that the woman is insane. Besides, he can say in one sentence what it takes me three pages to say. ;-)
I give the update because I know there are those out there (though they be few) who actually want to know all of the details of what's going on. I, personally, am done with the situation. I'm done holding out hope that we'll make a deal with the Crazy Lady and can honestly say that I DON'T CARE anymore. Not in a sad, hopeless sort of a way though. No, in a joyously surrendered and victorious sort of way!
I felt like I was finally able to "break through" in prayer today. I feel like this house junk with the Crazy Lady has been consuming my life all week long. Consume: absorb, engross, use up, exhaust, deplete, squander... I haven't been able to think or pray about anything else, I've been so tied up with this stuff. I feel like I've been thinking, praying, eating, breathing, sleeping this stressful Crazy Lady ordeal and it's just been consuming my life! I've prayed so much this week... but it's almost all been about THIS. I've been feeling so guilty over it the past day or two, knowing that there are other things that I have been neglecting in prayer, things that are far more important than a house sale. There are people in situations far more dire than ours, needs of far greater and eternal significance. I feel like I've been weighed down with my own problems and situations and I just felt so heavy and self-centered. So I begged God for forgiveness and asked him to empty my heart out of all of the worries and cares that I've been carrying, the cold, hard things rattling around in my heart (it made sense in my prayer--really! Ha!) and to fill it up with joy and thankfulness and worship again--and with love and true concern for others and their problems and needs. And I'm happy to report that God is just as loving and merciful as He used to be. :-) I've been able to pray for all the things that I ought to be praying for instead of just my own issues. I feel so RENEWED today. I have felt a song in my heart and joy in my soul and freedom from this situation. I still pray for God to sell the house, of course, but it's not a solo-prayer anymore. If we keep putting it in His hands and trying to follow His leading I know that it will happen in His good time, but I don't want to squander my time and prayers and energies on it anymore. It's so relieving to not care anymore. Ha! I feel like I just don't care. I don't care about trying to make a deal with the Crazy Lady. If it doesn't work out, God will provide something else.
And isn't it just like God?! WHILE I was praying and receiving this PEACE over everything, Jason called. He was calling to give more info on the septic mess, but he also said that Ed had called him. Ed is the realtor for the people who offered us full price for our house and didn't ask for anything special, but who can't buy it until they sell their own. He was checking with Jason because he saw that there was no contract on the house yet and that it was still on the market. He said his people still want it, and that they had three showings at their own house yesterday! Wowzers! That's a miracle in itself in this market (!), but add in the fact that it's a 2 bedroom home (so few people looking for those) and the fact that it's priced a lot higher than most of the other 2 bedrooms, it's AMAZING. If they get a contract on their house, they say they will immediately put a contract on ours. Just because they had three showings doesn't mean anything will actually come of it, but I took it as a blessing from God. A little reminder that He is still in control of this thing and can work whatever miracles are necessary to perform His will. AND I thought of Sam. Every time this Crazy Lady mess has come up in conversation Sam suggests the same thing: "We just need to pray that those other people will sell their house so they can buy ours." When I hung up with Jason I called Sam into the room and told him that perhaps it was his prayers that had brought those three people to look at that house and told him to keep on praying--maybe that WAS God's answer for us! :-)
In other news, the insurance adjuster came out today to inspect the hail damage. Verdict:
*All three roofs are trashed and need replaced
*The house and office need to be re-stained (the golf ball sized hail pelted them fiercely)
*The kids' play fort may have to be replaced entirely (if just the tarp can't be ordered)
*The pond liner needs replaced
*The deck needs re-stained
*The window needs replaced
*The trim on the same window may need replaced
*All three sky lights need new domes
Seems like there was more, but that's all I can think of right now. He should get his estimate to us in the next day or two. We're not real sure how it works after that so we'll have to take it a step at a time, but it's good to know that they're going to take care of everything. :-)
James made a trip into town to pick up sky light domes that didn't actually get to the store today like they were supposed to, but at least he got a hair cut while he was in town. The kids spent their day doing school, running around the yard, catching praying mantises, and writing songs. Sam wrote a truly great song today called "God Sent the Cookies from the Sky." Something about it being a snow day, but it wasn't snow--it was cookie dough! They put it to music and had James play it on the piano for them tonight so they could all sing it together. :-)
And that's about it from around here. We feel peace and joy and deliverance--and feel like our faith has been strengthened through all of this. It's so cool to serve God. He turns all things into good things for us. :-)
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
The Mighty Roller Coaster
We went into Jason's office Monday afternoon to look at the TWO offers on the house. That's right, we had one come in Sunday afternoon and another Monday. Sounds promising, right??? The first offer was a FULL ASKING PRICE offer--they were willing to pay top dollar and didn't ask for anything special at all. Catch: they can't buy it until they sell their own house. The second offer was 10K less than our asking price, the woman wanted lots of things included: the fridge, the washer and dryer, the tv, the air conditioner in the office, and the soda fountain. AND she wanted us to pay lots of fees that are customary for the buyer to pay, not the seller--the biggest of which was $2,000 all by itself. BUT... we would close on the house soon and be in Alabama one month from now. We told Jason we needed to pray about it over night.
Yesterday we went back into town to meet with Jason again. We chose to let the top dollar offer sit and we'd make a move on the second offer. We felt very confident it was the right thing to do. We are so anxious to sell and get to where we're supposed to be, so we made only very small changes. We told the lady we couldn't give her the soda fountain (it's already spoken for and no longer ours to give away), but told her we'd throw in the freezer instead. We're just nice like that. Besides, James hates moving freezers. ;-) We agreed to pay some of her fees that she'd asked us to cover for her, but declined to pay the $2,000 one and asked that she pay that herself. We thought we were being soooooooo generous and she'd have to be CRAZY to turn it down.
She's crazy. ;-)
She was highly upset about our counteroffer and just couldn't believe the way we were trying to "nickel and dime" her. Hu?! She was the one who asked for everything INCLUDING the kitchen sink! (Ha!) I'm surprised she didn't want all of the furniture and wall decor thrown in. But we were the ones nickeling and diming her??? Jason, the Wonder Realtor, could tell that we were $2,000 away from a done deal and went to work on it. He made several calls at about 9:00 last night, including the owner of the loan company and got that $2,000 fee reduced to $1,000. We had been praying hard for God to give us an answer. When Jason called with that info James said that we'd pay that fee, too. So the lady is getting everything she wants, except we traded out the soda fountain for a freezer. That oughta make her happy, right?
Not necessarily.
She had until noon today to respond to our counteroffer. This morning Jason called and said she wanted to come and look at the house one more time. ~sigh~ I'm so tired of this! We got it all cleaned up again and James took the kids and left. James and I both felt like maybe I should stay at the house this time, so I did. I really prayed ahead of time that God would help me to set aside my feelings and emotions of frustration (there were plenty of them! Ha!) and that He would love her through me. I keep reminding myself that there are souls involved in everything we do in this life, buying and selling houses included.
She was surprisingly nice when they got here and I was sure that I was, too. I told her that I was sorry about the extra stress that I know everyone had been feeling the past couple of days--on both sides of the issue--and that we just really want what's best for everybody. Whether she is the one to buy this house or not, we just want everybody to be happy with whatever decision is reached. We want what God wants for ALL of us. She acted like she really appreciated that and shared that she's just scared--this is a big investment. It is. We understand that. ANYWAY...
I could ramble on forever about this--there have been sooooooo many conversations flying back and forth between our realtor and hers and septic inspectors and environmental agencies and you name it--it just doesn't seem to be coming to an end.
This lady and her realtor have determined how much our house is worth according to the square footage of the houses that have sold in this area in the past year. What they come up with is $8,000 less than what she offered, and $18,000 less than our asking price--which has already been reduced considerably from our original price. Of course, their estimate doesn't take into account the fact that our house is log sided, has a finished office with electric out back, a nice storage shed in addition to that, a fountain and pond, a great view, etc., BESIDES the fact that our house is in immaculate condition and a lot of the other stuff that has sold has been anything but that. One thing that hurts us is the Oak Hill monstrosity. We've always called it that. It's a HUGE house (3,000+ sq. ft.) that we looked at when we moved here. It was foreclosed on and the bank owned it for a few years, and it finally sold this past year for an insanely low price compared to what it would be worth it weren't completely trashed and in need of total renovation. That makes the average price per square foot in this area go WAY down. So if you're going to just look at the figures I could see why they might think we're overpriced. But ours is the only house this lady has looked at. She hasn't seen what else is on the market and what else has sold--she has no idea how rough a lot of those houses are. James heard her estimate of what she thinks our house is worth and had me tell Jason that if that's what she wants to pay for a house she can buy the dump one street over--not this place. Ha! We feel like we're priced aggressively and were willing to come down beyond that to this lady's offer (even with her crazy stipulations), too. But NOW...
She said she needed more time. We were all really getting the impression that she would probably submit a new offer, lower than her initial one--the one that we had come around to agreeing to. The more that we talk and pray about it, we just don't feel comfortable coming down any farther. We're already taking a loss--something we're not used to doing! Ha! James had me call Jason today and tell him that we have already accepted her terms and that's what we're willing to do--don't let her waste her time, her realtor's time, Jason's time, or our time by submitting anything other than what she already agreed to. Not agreed to--we agreed to it--it was HER idea! It sure feels like she's welshing on us though. She didn't get an answer to us by noon, which means the contract is now dead. Isn't it morally and ethically wrong to welsh on a deal that YOU initiated??? It's so frustrating that we're giving the crazy woman everything she asked for, but she somehow thinks it's not a good deal now.
So we've been through the whole spectrum of emotions today. I feel pretty well exhausted and have pretty well given up on actually getting the house sold right now. That sounds much more desperate than I actually feel (!), but I can't think of how else to say it. I keep praying and trying to surrender it to God, trying to make sure I'm totally yielded to whatever He has in store for us. I trust that He'll sell this house in His own good time, but until then we need to look realistically at what the next step is to be. We've got to get at least James to Alabama, even if the rest of us can't go right now. We're all going next week for Minister's Convention, but after that we're going to have to start making arrangements of some kind if we don't have a contract on the house.
There's still a chance the crazy lady will come through, but I'm certainly not holding my breath. The full price offer people are still out there, but they have to sell their house (and it's a two bedroom--much harder to sell than 3 or 4 bedroom homes) before they can buy. And they're not bound to that offer anyway (it expired Tuesday night)--they probably just offered full price because they knew we were receiving another offer and were hoping we'd go for theirs because of it. The only thing that I KNOW is that it's going to take GOD to work any of this mess out! Ha! I'm just sooooo tired of it. I want it all to be over with. I feel like I've been on the verge of tears all day today, like I just might plop down on the floor and sob for a while. It hasn't actually happened, but I've felt close. I kinda wish it would just happen and I could get it over with, then go on. That's the way I function under big stress. One good breakdown can carry me for a good, long while. ;-) It's like it gets me to a whole new level of surrender and I feel so peaceful afterwards. As of yet, I still feel sort of heavy about everything and just... Oh, I don't know--the word DRUDGERY keeps coming to mind, but I can't seem to form a sentence with it to express my feelings! Ha! It's really not nearly as depressing as I make it sound, I just feel worn out with everything and I want it to end. But God has a perfect time for everything, right? I believe that with all of my heart. There are probably some valuable things He's trying to teach me through all of this. I need to find a way to refocus myself in that direction.
As for James, he's been handling everything extremely well. Well... except for when Jason told him that the lady was mad because we were nickeling and diming her! Ha! He wasn't just real happy about that. ;-) Still, he's handled everything well and doesn't seem stressed out (for those friends who worry about that happening around here--ha!), but he does feel HEAVY. I can feel it when he walks in the room. It's not even so much about the house deal falling apart as it is that he's got a Minister's Convention coming up next weekend, we leave one week for now, he's got soooooo much preparation to do for it, but he's spent the last 3 days consumed with all of this house stuff and hasn't been able to work on Convention stuff at all because of it. --And now it's looking like it's all to no avail anyway! Frustrating. Sources of irritation, is that what we're dealing with, Mom? What are we supposed to do when we encounter sources of irritation??? I think it has something to do with yielding our rights. Our right to sell the house when we want to... the right to sell it for the amount we'd like... the right to have this chaos come to an end... the right to spend our time on what we had planned to spend it on... The right to punch somebody in the nose for welshing on a deal that she initiated... HA! I feel so much better after typing that last one. I should express myself more freely. It works like therapy for me. ;-)
THAT'S IT. My sad and depressing ramblings (ha!) for the week that was SUPPOSED to be full of rejoicing over answered prayer and the open door to get where we need to be... Gotta give up the right to that, too, I suppose. ;-) Thanks for all the prayers. God is hearing and He is answering, even if we can't see it right now. He is good. We are blessed. :-)
Sunday, October 10, 2010
House Showings & Balloons
Jason had told us that we would have a house showing Saturday morning (a second showing for these people--have I already said that?) so we worked real hard Friday evening and in the morning Saturday to get the house in perfect shape. Well, as perfect as it can be with all that hail damage we're waiting for the insurance dude to come check out for us. ;-) We were still working on the last few things we wanted done when we got the call that the realtor was on her way, so we finished up real quick and hit the road. Stopped by a garage sale and pet a shih tzu (we spent more time playing with the dog than looking at the people's stuff), then a little flea market type thing they've just started up in the mountains. We ate at Burger Boy for lunch. It's a quaint little joint up here where they treat you like family and never charge you the same price twice--the menu is really of no consequence. Order what you want and they'll fix it up for you, then slap a price on your ticket. :-)
We had been home for less than an hour when Jason called and said we had ANOTHER showing--and they were on their way! Wa-Hoo! Two showings in one day--how exciting is that?! Besides, the house was still shining from the first showing so I didn't even have to clean again--this one was free. :-) We couldn't figure out where to go since we'd already done everything we could think to do up here during the first showing, so we just parked up the hill from the house where we could see the driveway, but nobody would know we were sitting there spying. Every so often we'd drive by the house and look to see if the people were wandering around the yard or still inside. (They probably kept hearing the van pass by and thinking, "Boy, this is s busy street!" Ha!) They were there for nearly 30 minutes, so we took that as a very good sign. We've never stayed at a house that long unless we were really and truly interested in it. :-)
We had tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner. I love days like that. :-)
Today I got up at 5:30 (which is way, way to early unless you have a good reason) so we could go to the Balloon Fiesta. Today was the last day and we knew it would be our last opportunity, so it seemed like the right thing to do. It wasn't quite as impressive as last year (it was a little windy this morning and the balloons were sailing by so fast and sort of spreading out all over the sky, so we never saw hundreds of balloons all bunched together this time), but it was still really neat. Though James never did wake up enough to join us. Oh, he was in the van--even did the driving--but he was never really WITH us, if you know what I mean. ;-) The kids and I enjoyed it anyway. We found a nice spot in the parking lot of a bank pretty close to Balloon Fiesta Park to watch the balloons sail over us. Here are some pictures...
I love it when they fly right over you. So cool. :-)
This one was a unique teardrop shape instead of the usual "guitar pick" shape. That's what Joe said when we drove into town. "Do you see all the balloons, Sam? All those little dots over there, shaped like a bunch of guitar picks!" Only Joe.
We didn't see very many of the shaped balloons this year, but Smokey the Bear was there again. We heard there were balloons from 17 different countries this year.
It was in the 40's when we drove into town, so some of the viewing was done from the warmth of the van. ALL of James' viewing was done from there!
After a while the kids got out, but stayed wrapped tightly in the blankets they had brought with them.
Before long Sam's blanket had turned into a cape as he repeatedly ran along this little wall and hurled himself off the end while yelling, "To infinity... and beyond!"
I loved this one. It looks like it's been around for a hundred years. :-)
This one was neat, too.
I always love the bright, happy ones--especially the ones with yellow. They look so pretty once things warm up a bit and the sky gets nice and blue.
We left the balloons and grabbed some breakfast at McDonalds, then drove to church. We were nearly an hour early, so we napped in the van for about 40 minutes until people started showing up. Ha! It must've done the trick because I didn't need a nap this afternoon. :-)
We had a good service today and Brother Chris preached an EXCELLENT message on charity. Good, good stuff. Plenty to pray about. :-)
We came home and had sandwiches for lunch, then the rest of the family took naps while I dinked around on the computer and worked a little bit on the puzzle I had started a few days ago. We got one of those puzzle mats at a thrift store a few weeks ago so I can roll it up and save it for later if I don't get it finished. It's great. :-)
Tonight was supposed to be BTI service, but God had other plans. We had received news of a soul being saved this morning--someone we'd prayed for; the family member of a church friend in the Region--and Brother Chris shared about her giving her heart to the Lord earlier in the day. We took some time to just THANK GOD for it, and the Lord really began to move and bless. The Holy Ghost moved on several and it was so amazing how He worked among us, encouraging and strengthening our faith as we pray for our own family members who need to be saved. It all really fit into what Brother Chris had preached this morning about charity and how we should really and truly bear one another's burdens and take them to the Lord in prayer as if they were our own, and how we should really and truly rejoice with them when the victory comes and they are rejoicing. I felt that so strongly in my heart and just felt sooooo blessed to be a member of God's Church where this beautiful "one body" thing is so much more than a cliche. We feel and experience it all the time! What a privilege. :-)
Without delving into more talk about the house (I'm so tired of it!!!), I'll just say that Jason called today and let us know that he expects good things to happen very soon. I'll spare you the details until something actually HAS happened. Right now we speak by faith and say that GOD IS GOOD and we trust He is bringing the answers we need very, very soon. :-)
Friday, October 8, 2010
And Since Then
We got home from our trip to Colorado on Tuesday evening to discover there had been a major hail storm while we were away. We pulled up to the house and noticed the tube for the real estate fliers was busted into several pieces and the fliers were all over the ground. We assumed some punk kid had bashed it with a bat or something, but when we got out to clean it up we noticed all of the tree fragments all over the place and the cover to our motion sensor laying out in the gravel. It didn't take too long to figure out it must've been a pretty ugly storm that passed through. (Which is far better than an ugly teenager, right?!) The whole yard had twigs and small limbs from the trees lying all over it.
This is the gutter above our back door...
Looking up into the sky light in our den... (Both sky lights on the house were broken as well as the one in the shed--lots of stuff out there was wet, but I don't think anything was actually destroyed.)
The boys' bedroom window...
The tarp on the kids' play fort...
The side of the house has several dings and nicks, as well as the window frame--and the shingles along the edge of the roof have lots of nicks out of them, too. The pond was low by the time the storm came through and the liner was exposed in several places, so now there are numerous tears and rips that are NOT the fault of a Hays kid. I threw that in just for you, Brother Dustin. ;-) Seems like there were a few other things damaged as well. I'm sure James will remember what they all are.
The only moment of dread we had was when we saw from the outside (before going in the house) that the sky lights were shattered and the plastic was all over the back yard. We pictured the inside of the house all wet and who-knows-what-all damage might have been done in there. We were so relieved to discover that only the top layer of the sky lights had been broken; the bottom glass was still intact. Praise the Lord! Same with the boy's double pane window--only the outside glass was broken. So in the end, the outside of the house sustained some considerable damage, but nothing inside was touched at all. James is trying to get an insurance adjuster out to let us know where to go from here, but it might actually end up to be a blessing in disguise. I'm sure a new roof would make happy whoever eventually buys this house. :-) I've been so wowed by how well James has handled all of this. He has been so calm and cool about the whole thing--not stressed out or tense over it at all. We had a good friend (one who knows us too well apparently!) call and check on us, particularly interested in seeing how the stress level was around here (ha!) and I was pleased to inform him that things have been sooooo relaxed. It's really not a big deal. First of all, it's just STUFF. It's not of any lasting importance at all. Secondly, insurance will take care of things if it's super expensive (if we need a new roof) and if not we'll be able to take care of most things pretty cheap by ourselves. We're blessed. We missed out on the terror of a killer storm, and we know that it's all going to work out and be okay. Nothing to be stressed out about anyway. And besides that...
God loves me so much. The storm came through on Saturday night. If James would have KNOWN about it there is NO WAY we would have stayed over again on Sunday night, much less Monday--he would have wanted to get here and start getting things taken care of. Just think of all the great laughs and memories we would have missed out on! ~sigh~ I'm so glad we didn't know. :-)
Anyway, as soon as we got home we called Jason to tell him about the damage, then James spent the duration of the night on hold trying to find a real person to talk to at the insurance agency. We were able to get the hole in the roof (from the busted sky light) on the shed covered up so no more rain could get in. (It was sprinkling at the time, still.) We unloaded the van and got unpacked and I started on the laundry and even got caught up on some e-mails. A very eventful first night home, I must say!
We all slept in a little bit on Wednesday, then got busy on school and laundry. James spent most of the day on the phone taking care of hail damage stuff and Alabama stuff. That night I used the left-over pork roast and made some pretty fantastic chimichangas for dinner. Yum. I played a game with the kids, then stayed up and finished up the last of the laundry and did all of the ironing, too. Glad to have that behind me. :-)
Yesterday I was sooooo tired all day long! We did manage to get through school, so that's good. We left the house at about 2:30 to run some errands in town before church: the bank, the Post Office, the cleaners, the car wash--and the polls. James and I wanted to vote early and get it behind us, not knowing what the coming weeks will hold for us. I get so frustrated when we vote here though! I walk in, hand them the slip of paper that came in the mail from them a few days ago and a code of some kind. The lady punches in the code, prints out a paper for me to sign, then hands me a ballot. That's IT! I was really nice about it, but I finally asked her, "Do you guys never check anybody's identification?" She stared at me with a bewildered look on her face and I told her that anybody could grab that slip out of my mailbox (and a hundred others!) and come and vote for me without my knowing it. She stuttered for a moment and finally said, "You can show me your ID if you want to." HA! Yeah, THAT'LL fix the problem, lady! It's not the people who WANT to show ID that you have to worry about!!! Crazy. I told her, "No, that's okay. It really is me." !!! She said with a sly look on her face (as if she was really proud of how sneaky they are), "Sometimes we'll ask for your date of birth." O-o-o-o-o-o-oh, that makes it all good. ?! It's nuts here. That's one thing I WON'T miss! Ha!
We enjoyed a good BTI service last night, then enjoyed visiting with the Clarksons once more afterward. Is anybody else tired of me saying things like "I sure am going to miss those people!" and stuff like that?! Ha! I'm the one SAYING it and I'm getting sick of hearing it! I'm thankful for whatever time we have left though we are getting increasingly anxious to get to Alabama, especially now that we've made our farewell trip to Colorado to see everybody.
James took Joe to town with him today, so Kate and Sam and I were here for a few hours working on school and house stuff. James came home and worked on some outside stuff--trying to get the rest of the broken window OUT (it looks so tacky to have a broken window!) and I went around and cleaned all of the unbroken windows :-) that had mud splashed all over them from the hail storm. I used the very last of the pork (that hadn't made it into the chimichangas the other night) and made barbeque sandwiches for dinner. And then...
Jason called to tell us that the lady who looked at the house on Monday (a DIFFERENT lady than the one who finally got approved for the loan and who we are hoping to get an offer from on Monday or Tuesday) wants to come back and look at it again tomorrow with her husband! Wa-Hoo! That's a good sign, right?! She liked it well enough she wants to show it to her husband. :-) Maybe both families will really want the house and get into a bidding war over it! Ha! No, I'm really not interested in anything like that--though we have joked about it. We're not trying to get rich, we're just trying to get the thing sold so we can get moved and settled where we're supposed to be. We just need one person--the right person--to buy our house. No need for several offers. But it is exciting to have some interest in the place! Wa-Hoo! KEEP PRAYING. God is surely moving and answering all those prayers. :-)
So I've spent most of the evening dusting and vacuuming and trying to get the house looking extra nice for the showing tomorrow. :-) In the morning I'll touch up the bathrooms and wood floor and call it good. And that's it from here. I think I'm all caught up now. :-)
Colorado Trip, Part 3 -- The Hays' House
By the time we got to the Hays' house and got everything unloaded it was already 9:00. We commenced getting six filthy children bathed and put to bed, then gathered around the game table. We always start with I Buy, and this time Brother Dustin & Sister Jamey had a special gift for James before we began. I didn't get a good picture of it, but it's a card holder that clamps onto the table! So James not only has a handy-dandy card holder so he doesn't have to strain himself (!), but NOW he doesn't even have to hold the card holder! Pitiful. Only people who have played games with James can possibly appreciate how perfect a gift this is for him. Ha! He loved it. :-)
I don't think we'd even made it through a whole game of I Buy before James staggered into the living room and collapsed on the couch, declaring he was way too tired to be able to play any more.
Brother Dustin was beside himself. "What?!?!? It's not even midnight!"
The plan had been for us to stay the night there on Saturday, go to church in 'Springs on Sunday, then Pueblo that afternoon, then drive home afterward. We all knew this was our "last night" with the Hays and there was no way we were about to let it end with James going to bed before the first game was even over with! Brother Dustin finally made a deal with him: we would let him go to bed (after finishing that game--but we'd forgo the traditional Balderdash game) if he would agree to come back to 'Springs and stay again the next night. I think James would have agreed to just about anything to win the privilege of sleep at that moment! Ha!
So Sunday morning we went to church in 'Springs, then ran through a drive-through and headed down for the 2:00 service in Pueblo. We enjoyed both services, though James had developed some sort of pain that he thinks was coming from his kidneys. We prayed for him several times that day and he seemed to get progressively better as the day went on. James had preached in 'Springs that morning and we really enjoyed hearing Brother Hawkins preach the very same message in Pueblo a few hours later! Ha! Guess some of us needed to hear it twice. It was great. :-)
After service we all hung out at the fellowship hall for a couple of hours, enjoying a pot luck with turkey and roast and all sorts of goodness. Our contribution was a bunch of stuff from Wal-Mart (mac-n-cheese, potato salad, a cake, etc.) since we didn't have time or opportunity to do any cooking. It worked. ;-) It was nice to have some time with the Clarksons and Lewises and Kaufmans (who were still there contrary to their previous plans--ha!), though we spent most of our time with the Clarksons. We had a hard time getting out of there, but I'm glad we were finally able to make one departure without any tears. That was a nice change! I'm not sure how we pulled it off, except we knew we were on our way back to the Hays' house for more fun and fellowship.
When we got to the Hays' house on Saturday night I saw the chair sitting in their living room... that is an exact match to my green plaid couch! Amazing. (Almost as amazing as the fact that Jamey got it for free!) On Sunday night James and Dustin both showed up in their pj's... that matched. (They were both wearing their IYC shirts.) And then all three boys came downstairs wearing identical pj's, too! Ha! I had to get a picture. Come on, say it with me: "Aaaaawwwwwwwww, that's so cute!" HA! Just like the girls in junior high who always dress to match. ;-)
I must confess that Jamey and I have the same pj's too (we both got them for Christmas this last year)--but we weren't wearing them at the same time like the guys were. They were just so adorable. HA! HA! HA!
That night we were able to play I Buy AND Balderdash, as tradition demands. All throughout the night the Brother Dustin was working on James, trying to get him talked into staying one more night. Before long Jamey and I had joined in--and I was shocked when I began to realize that James was actually considering it, if only slightly for quite a while. When James would leave the room the rest of us would discuss how likely it was that he would actually do it. As the night progressed I remember us reaching what we felt like was about 70%... Ha! In the end, though he never verbalized it (he loves to keep you in suspense like that) we knew he had decided to stay one more night. Wa-Hoo! I never cease to be amazed at the power of influence Mr. Hays seems to have over James—there’s no way anybody else in the world would have been able to talk him into that! Ha! I love it. :-)
We had great fun that night, though I don't have the pictures to prove it. The only thing that I remember specifically was a brand new impersonation that James performed for us. My camera is way too slow these days and I couldn't get pictures to take until several seconds (30 or more sometimes!) after I wanted to, but this particular impersonation was so great that it had Brother Dustin in the fetal position on his kitchen floor, laughing so hard he couldn't breath. :-)
I'm really wishing I had just taken a video clip of it because I'm fairly confident it will never happen again. I'm really not sure James could DO it again! And he wouldn't think of doing it for anybody but the Hays--it was just the right time and the right place, I guess. He wouldn't have let me post a video clip anyway--I'm not even at liberty to say what it was, only that we nearly laughed ourselves sick. It was deep, gasping, painful laughter. Ah yes, more great memories! :-)
Can't remember what time we went to bed that night. 2:00ish, maybe? We got up the next morning and I did a load of laundry (we were already a day past the "going home" date--and staying for another) and Jamey took care of some house stuff. The kids played outside on the fort and we just had a nice, relaxing morning. Brother Dustin had two jobs in the morning, but by noon he had called in and told the secretary not to set anything up for him the rest of the day--he was taking off. It kills him to know there are PEOPLE to be with and he's missing out. One of the few things he and I actually have in common. ;-) We had lunch, then were sure to institute nap time. Not for the kids--for the adults. Ha! The kids played games and whatnot while all of the exhausted adults crashed all over the living room. We needed some sleep after the severe lack of it during the Retreat and the two nights since--not to mention the one coming up.
We went to Carino's for dinner that night because they have their family platters half price on Mondays--it's a GREAT deal. Makes you feel totally okay with getting Italian sodas for everybody, especially since the refills are free. I restrained myself this time and only had three. I've been known to have as many as five. ;-) Carino's had been part of the bribe dangled in front of James to talk him into staying another night. :-)
After dinner we headed to Mardel, one of the things James loves to do when we're in 'Springs. (Yes, another part of the bribery.) I think it was the first time we'd gone there with Brother Dustin and I must say, it was a whole new experience! Here he is, your General VLB Coordinator...
Looks like he's going out, trying to convert somebody to whatever it is he's doing...
He said he's going to get something like that to wear during the VLB program at the Assembly next year. HA!
And here we have the State Overseer of Alabama, the three headed version of him.
Lillie did NOT like the rubber snake that "Brudder Hoe-wn" (as Aleah says) found. Her Dad took it upon himself to make her good and upset with it.
Here he is trying to make up.
And finally... I can't really explain this. All I know is we turned around to see this, and hear James saying in a squeaky voice, "I am that hero!" (I'm telling you--he is a DIFFERENT PERSON when he gets with that Hays character!!!)
Jamey amazed us all (but not really--she has quite a reputation) by buying a hardback book for her kids for nineteen cents, and a DVD for them for sixty-nine cents or something crazy like that! HA! She is soooooo cool. James always teases that she can buy ANYTHING for a quarter. She just keeps proving it to be true! Ha!
We finally went back to the house and let the kids watch the new Veggie Tales we'd just bought at Mardel. We played games and, to tell the truth, it was really pretty low-key for most of the night. We finished I Buy, put the kids to bed, then visited for a while before playing Balderdash. We had a good time and several good laughs as we always do. We realized at the end of the game that we were doing a card that we had done the very first time we ever played together nearly three years ago. That means we've come full circle--played the whole game through, almost entirely with the Hays! It was sort of neat and sort of sad for our "last night." Somewhere toward the end of the game (when we were way beyond tired and apparently a little loopy) James read one of the old definitions Brother Dustin had written for an earlier game. I should say he tried to read it. He laughed so hard it took him quite a while to get through--which, of course, made the rest of us laugh just as hard. In fact, by the end my sides and stomach were hurting soooooo bad from laughing (no doubt compounded by the painful laughter the night before over the impersonation)--and I was sore and aching for three days afterward!!! Ha! Crazy. I don't laugh that hard very often, but it was a grand and glorious way to spend our "last night" with the Hays. We kept saying that ("It's our last night!") and using it to try to talk James into one thing or another, that's why I keep mentioning it. ;-) God has truly blessed us with a special friendship with that family and we are sooooo thankful for all of the wonderful fellowship we've had with them over the past several years. They are some of the very best in the whole Church of God and we are going to miss them way, way too much. But I'm not going there, because I know Brother Dustin is going to read this and I don't want to make him cry again. He's been such a wreck over this, just sobs and sobs every time he thinks of us, can't go to work any more because of the depression he's battling and all that. I don't want to make it any worse for him. Okay, so it's probably not THAT bad... but almost. ;-) I stayed up to write a thank you/goodbye note to them the last night we were there and I just cried and cried while I was writing. I found out a few days later that Brother Dustin did the same thing when he read it! I know he'll appreciate me publicly sharing what a sap he is. ;-) He's about as sensitive a guy as James is, so I took it as a great compliment that he's shed so many tears over us! Jamey and I don't have any problem with the fact that we're cry-babies over this, but I have been truly surprised at how hard James has taken this whole leaving-the-Region thing, and by how hard Brother Dustin is taking it. I don't mean it to be cruel, but it makes me so happy! Ha! I guess I'm just glad to see that both of them have hearts, whether they like it or not and whether they want to admit it or not. And they're going to miss each other. Aaaaawwwwwwww, that's so sweeeeeeet. HA! (Can't wait to hear their response to this post!) ;-)
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Colorado, Part 2 -- Goodbye Party
We had stayed up late (past 2:00am, I'm sure) playing I Buy with Daniel, Haley, Tammy, and Tayde, then visiting with Brother Chris and Brother Dustin. I love listening to Brother Chris talk. :-) He's got the greatest stories in the world. I especially love to hear about the revival he held were everybody in the building was either asleep or clipping their fingernails. Every night! "I didn't know you could GROW nails that fast!!!" :-)
Boy, that was out of sequence. Just trying to think of what I missed last time. ;-) Before I forget, here are a few more pictures from Retreat. I stole these from Kristin's Facebook. :-) She was a picture taking fiend over the weekend, I tell you! I didn't get any pictures of the Hawkins myself (what a loser!), but I thought this one with Sister Julie was really good.
Love this one of Kristin with Emilee--so cute. There were two others with Em that I almost posted because they are truly grand... but I'm sure Emilee would rather see this one. Ha!
This is my favorite of all. :-)
The Hatch folks cooked lunch on Saturday and it was, of course, the best meal of all. I finally kicked Brother and Sister VanDeventer out of the kitchen (you've never seen such stubborn old people in your life! Ha!) and took over the dish duty and then I realized... the Hatch folks' food is a lot better than ours, but their dishes sure are worse! Ha! It was worth it though. :-)
After we got everything cleaned up we all gathered one more time. The time I'd been dreading--our Goodbye Party. I think I saw Jon recording it--I'd like to get a copy of it because I really can't remember much about it! I know that I cried through the whole shabang, but that's no surprise. Tammy headed it up because she's the one to put all of the thought and work into that kind of thing. Emilee and Jamey had both helped out, too, with punch and cookies and stuff like that. Tammy shared a few words, then Jon came and sang that song I posted a couple of days ago. That might have been my favorite part. It was probably everybody's favorite part! Ha! I loved it. I was cracking up, but the tears just streamed down my cheeks through the whole thing. Then Tammy gave people the opportunity to share a few words if they wanted to. That's the part that I can't remember much about and wish I could. ~sigh~ We love these people sooooooo much and sometimes (particularly at goodbye parties!) it feels like it's just ripping our hearts out to leave them! I HATE that part!!! Anyway, the Craig church had gotten Colorado coloring books for the kids (I was looking through them the other day--there's all kinds of cool information in them) and a Colorado puzzle, along with a picture of their congregation--framed perfectly. :-)
The Region, no doubt inspired by Tammy (since I know she got it at my aunt's store in Texas--ha!), got us the coolest doormat in the world. It's a heavy rubber "frame" that has mats that can be switched out. They are sooooo cute--and you can get one for every season, or for whatever your tastes prefer. Thinking back, I'm sure we didn't act nearly grateful enough--I was so distracted with trying to hold myself together a little bit that I don't even know if I said how much we appreciated it! Anyway, here are some pictures of the three mats they got for us.
Cool, hu?!
After the gifts Tammy asked if we wanted to say anything. Oh, brother. You HAVE to say something because only a jerk wouldn't. Ha! Besides, you'd feel incomplete in the whole "goodbye" thing if you didn't say something. You feel the NEED to. And you WANT to. You WANT to try to express just how dearly you love everybody, how much you appreciate them, what a blessing they've been to you, how precious the time with them has been, and just how desperately you're going to miss them... but it's still miserable! First of all, there are just no words. There is NO WAY I can put into words what I feel in my heart for all of these people. I'm not sure there even ARE words to express it. Secondly, you TRY to convey your feelings, but in the end you feel like you didn't even scratch the surface and almost like you've done them an injustice by not portraying just how deeply you feel. And finally, you can't help but cry all the way through--and I'm so tired of crying!!! Actually, I had done LOTS of mental prep for this part and I was somehow able to hold myself together a lot better than I would have expected. I failed to express myself well (who knows what I said or didn't say!), but at least I didn't blubber uncontrollably through the whole thing. Just moments of it. ;-) In any case... oh wait, I should say AT ANY RATE ;-) we made it through. Then it was the final bittersweet portion where everybody comes by and hugs you and tells you goodbye. *Insert long drawn out groan here* That is sooooo hard! The only thing I remember saying when it was my turn to talk is that I keep wondering how in the world I'm ever going to live without all of these people--and that's what comes to my mind now as I think back on telling them all goodbye. Aaaaauuuugggghhhh!!! I'm not sure I can live without them!!! I don't know HOW to! And sincerely, I don't WANT to! But THANK THE LORD we're all in The Church of God. There is a bond that will hold us together across the miles and I know that I WON'T really be living WITHOUT them--we'll still be laboring together in the very same body, still part of one another. That's the only relief I can find in the whole thing! Ha! I won't be without them. I'll just be desperately jealous when they all continue to get together WITHOUT me! ;-)
~whew~ Enough crying for one night (it will end one day, right Mom???)--I'll try to finish the Colorado Trip posts tomorrow. The next one should have more laughter than tears. I hope!
HOUSE UPDATE: When we got home from church tonight we had a message from Jason saying, "Great news! We got the loan approved!" Sooooo... now we keep waiting and praying and trusting. Just like before. Nothing has changed, actually. At this point we don't even have an offer on the house, just know that there's a lady out there who has been approved to buy A house somewhere (not necessarily ours). Jason spoke with her personally a few days ago though and said she WANTS to buy the house and doesn't even sound like she's planning on looking at anything else. So we're HOPING to receive an offer, maybe even tomorrow. Trying to keep the excitement level down and be patient and wait for God's will in God's timing. He knows best. I'll keep you posted. Keep praying! :-)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TAMMY!!!
Because I love you so. :-)
You are one of the all time bestest friends a girl could ever ask for. Do you realize it's been TWENTY YEARS since we met?! Crazy. So glad we're getting old together. And I'm so glad you're a few years ahead of me. Ha! LOVE YOU!!!
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Colorado, Part 1 -- Ministers Retreat
We got settled into our cabin, then went back to the main lodge for service. Brother Clarkson did a great job moderating his first function as the new Regional Overseer. :-) The folks here will be so blessed to have him. Brother Hawkins preached a really good message about the power of prayer and about truly trusting and believing that God is going to answer our prayers.
After service that night we had a Welcome Party for the Clarksons. That amazing ABM guy had arranged it, of course. He called the Clarksons up front and introduced each of them (as if they were new here or something! Ha!) and then everybody came and greeted them, pinning money on them as they passed.
I had to post this picture of Sister Shanda posing for Haley. :-)
Kristin was ALL ABOUT having her picture taken with EVERYBODY this weekend! Ha! Love that girl. :-)
I told Sister Shanda that I hoped they at least got enough money to buy new shirts for everybody since these ones are now so full of holes. Ha!
I really liked this new campground. This Retreat was scheduled there so everybody could see if they'd like to use this facility for camp next year. I thought it was terrific... except for the fact that there's no dishwasher! It wasn't a big deal for 60 people over the weekend, but it's NOT going to be fun for camp! We all took our turns...
Then there's Sister Jamey. She was slicing apples to snack on after church that first night and just about took her thumb off. Okay, so it wasn't THAT bad, but she sliced DEEP and it bled and bled and bled. She walked around like this for the rest of the night since somebody told her she was supposed to keep it elevated. Ha! It's a great conversation starter and makes for even better pictures. ;-)
Jeremiah, hanging out with the girls...
I can't recall anything real specific about the rest of the evening, only that I think we went to bed at about midnight. That's pretty early for this group, so we did well.
I don't have a Retreat program... and that's what I always go by when I need to blog about a function--I use the program to refresh my memory! I know that Haley thought a fantastic class on personal evangelism. Sister Missy taught a really good lesson to the pastor's wives, too. In the service that night Brother Hawkins preached another really good message (of course, I ALWAYS enjoy listening to Brother Hawkins!), then we prayed for a bit, then Brother Chris preached the message he had planned on preaching the following day. We ended with another prayer time. I was richly blessed through ALL of the Retreat--felt almost like I was so full I couldn't really retain any more though! I'm so thankful God allowed us to be there.
Brother Chris Thompson led the devotion on Friday morning and did a great job. He was a blessing to me. :-)
Brother Luis is one of the best CPMA leaders I've ever known. Love that guy. And his bright yellow fleece. I want one. :-)
Sister Keila never disappoints either. :-) She gave an interesting, informative, and inspiring Sunday School boost. It was great.
Jon and Brother Chris tried out the horseshoes that were sitting out back. They didn't to so hot. Ha! It was fun to watch, however. :-)
And here we have Brother VanDeventer, making the most of Minister's Retreat. :-) He is so cute! And boy was he in rare form this weekend! He always has a streak of orneriness, but it oozed out all over the place for three days straight! Ha! I loved it. :-)
~whew~ I'd love to write about the rest of our trip, but I'm too tired. --I'll pick up where I left off next time.
But before I go, an update on the house...
I talked to Jason again tonight. The yard sale lady (she does have a name, but this is sort of catchy so we'll stick with it) is having a hard time getting approved for the loan. She and her daughter have excellent credit scores, but don't bring in enough income to carry a second mortgage. Her Dad has the income, but no credit history. Long story. Anyway, Jason has got her set up to meet with a different lender at 9:00 tomorrow (Thursday) morning to see if this guy can get them approved. Jason said he should know something within a few hours of that and he'll give us an update as soon as he hears something. Another lady looked at the house over the weekend and really liked it, too--wants to bring her husband to look at it when he gets into town next week. So even if the yard sale lady doesn't work out, at least somebody else has LOOKED at it--and even LIKED it! That's huge in this dead market! Ha! I feel so at peace about the whole shabang. We're still in limbo, I guess, but I don't feel like it. I just feel like I'm resting in the Lord and He's going to work it all out just like it needs to be worked out. 'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus. :-)
Until next time...
