On Second Thought (Third?)

Well, I'm pleased to tell you that cooler heads prevailed. What we thought to be wisdom, others believed to be over-reaction, and the townhouse deal went through. We are now homeowners once again (Mike's swearing "never again" to the contrary). The move-in is scheduled for this weekend. We've actually hired help this time which should also strengthen our marriage considerably. I'm hoping to get the folks or Gerald to take some of them fancy digital pictures for me, so I can show everyone. It's a about 1100 square feet, 30 years old, and not too smelly. :)

Even better, it's only 5 minutes from my office. So tomorrow is my last "commute". This morning there was a terrible accident with fatalities that shut down all lanes along my regular route. The good news is, Mike brought me to work today so he could do some stuff on the house - that meant we got to drive in the HOV and get around the problem. It's not nice to think of these horrible accidents as traffic inconveniences. Someone's life just ended, and the rest of us are irritated because it took an extra hour to get to work. I'm grateful to be getting out of that mode of thinking, sad that the problem continues.

Anyway, Mom and Dad and Gerald are going to help us paint the place before we move in furniture, so I guess we need prayers for harmony and mutual affection! I'll write later about the results.

Flashback

I don't know who made the coffee at the office this morning, but immediately upon my first sip I was back at my dad's office in Harlingen, TX when I was about 7 years old. All they had was coffee, and when we would go down to the office with him on weekends, my brothers and I would drink heavily doctored coffee. So this morning I added a large portion of powdered creamer and Sweet-n-Low (no sugar cubes here) and toasted some good memories.

Disappointed

I was going to title this entry "Retraction", but I just did that a couple of weeks ago. Today we decided to withdraw our offer on the townhouse I was talking about. It's really disappointing because I thought we were finally putting in some real roots here by purchasing a home. Things just weren't coming together right, and it was starting to feel like moving forward with the purchase would not be a wise decision.

We've been praying for direction for so long, I don't know that we would recognize an answer if we got one. But I do think God gives us wisdom when we need it, even when we don't want to listen. I mean, I really wanted this townhouse purchase to happen. I recognize my tendency to force things, so I tried to step back and let Mike decide. But that sweet man doesn't want me to be disappointed, so he was wanting me to decide. Both of us knowing that we should back off but not wanting to face the decision. But we did.

Anyway, this makes life hard (isn't it always?) as we've already given our notice on our apartment, and even without buying this townhouse, we need to still move somewhere closer to my office. So we're apartment hunting again. Yuck! I really should keep packing, but I just didn't feel like it today. Maybe I'll have some renewed energy tomorrow.

For now, I'm simply going to re-read Psalm 31.

My Boy

Isn't he a cutie? This is my nephew who is graduating from high school tomorrow - twenty years after my own graduation. And I get to be there! I'm so excited to participate. Congratulations, Will!

Townhouses

After our last home-buying experience, we swore off the practice as something totally unnecessary. After all, who ever really owns their home anymore? The bank owns it, and makes a fortune off of it. And yet, you are totally responsible for the maintenance, insurance, pest control, etc. And these days, it ain't a given that the thing's appreciating in value. It's what we ex-Nevadans call a crap shoot.

Welcome to our new plan - the "owning" of a townhouse. Unlike a "real" house, other people are responsible for the lawn and bushes, the roof, the stucco, even the water heater (ok it's a boiler, whatever that is). I'm still not clear on who is responsible for exterminating the rats (I haven't actually seen any, but I've heard rumors). We pay for the inside insurance, they cover the outside. Granted we pay a fee for that stuff every month, but around here there are HOA fees when you buy a house, too.

So, we've made an offer. It was countered. We countered. She accepted. Addition to contract made; she signed. We might actually move in by the end of the month. I can't even tell if I'm excited - I think it's shock. The best part is the location. It's less than five minutes from the office. No more books-on-tape during my commute.

Retraction

OK - so Mike worked for the man for a week and that was it. Poor guy could hardly walk on that last day. They had to put him on the "DL". He's feeling very sad and unwanted right now. However, he did get his show up on Saturday and he's well into production on this week's. His current theme is faith - very appropriate (isn't it always?).