Old School?

My boys are in the other room, playing Super Smash Bros Melee on the Game Cube. I overheard my younger son, who is almost 13 say, "I'm playing old school."

WHAT?!?!

As I got back up off the floor, from serious bouts of laughter, I wondered what on earth he knows about "Old School?" How do you have "Old School" Game Cube plays?

Okay, it's back to the floor for me.

Colorado Climate

There's nothing like the ever-changing weather in Colorado, especially this time of year.

On Saturday, this was the necessary gear for a beautiful, 70 degree, summery day.



The very next day, this was the required gear for a snowy, wintery, 30 degree day.



Crazy.

The Upcoming Move, Part 2

I know I called the other post "Part 1," but I'm not sure what else I thought I had to say about it. So I don't know why I did that. As we progress along the journey of house-looking and making an offer, etc., there'll be more to post. But at this point, we've looked at precisely one house (on the inside) and that's it.

Many people think this is a wonderful time to buy, with interest rates and house prices dropping. And in many ways, it is. But there are also some things one has to be aware of. Like the fact that some people are trying to get out of their homes through a short sale. In a nutshell, that's where they arrange with the mortgage company to take less money than is owed. But mortgage companies aren't just doing that all willy nilly. You can't just ask them because you want out. It has to be a dire financial situation before they'd even look at it. And it will reflect on the credit of the person who did that. The mortgage company also has to give final approval to any offer made on the property. It adds an element to the deal that you wouldn't otherwise have. One that can delay the process anywhere from a short time to a very long time.

Along those same lines, there are many bank-owned properties. Again, banks don't always respond to offers in the same timeframe that a homeowner would. So you might have to wait awhile after making an offer. None of this is to say that you can't buy a bank-owned or short-sale house and get a wonderful deal, but it doesn't always work out the same as a straight "buy it from the homeowner" type of deal.

For us, we would like to spend less than what we pay for rent, if at all possible. You know, the "live beneath your means" mentality instead of right at the very edge of your means? That's the goal, anyway. Living with high rent and almost $400 utility bills is definitely the edge of ones' means. But that also makes it a little tougher to find the size of house we want in the area of town that we want. We're not looking for a huge house, in fact, we'd even be fine in something a little smaller. We could definitely get more house for our money by moving way to the other side of town, but we don't want to live there. For one, if we're further away from the people and activities of our lives, we'll just pay more in gas, so it won't ultimately save us anything.

Interest rates went up a couple of times during the first week we were looking. I also learned that the going mortgage rate and "the interest rate" that they talk about in the news aren't the same thing. It (the mortgage rate) did come back down at the end of last week, though. It all really depends upon where it is when it comes time to make an offer. I'm learning a lot of information during this process already; short sales, bank-owned properties, interest, etc.

Because we weren't planning on buying a house right now - that was a somewhat spontaneous thing, and due to the aforementioned "living at the edge of ones' means," we haven't exactly saved up for a down payment and closing costs. Never fear, our realtor and lender already had this covered. There is a way to include this in the loan (yeah, don't lecture me about how that's not the best idea), BUT it also means that we will need to make a full-price offer, if not one that's higher. And we have to find the right seller.

Now if I were looking at this from my own, limited human perspective, I'd be thinking there wasn't much chance of this coming together. But I can't go there. It's God's deal. He's taking us down this path. I really thought when we began to discuss moving that we'd just rent again. But He has already enabled us to be pre-approved on a mortgage, which in and of itself was a surprise (due to issues that stemmed from the last house). Therefore, I have to trust Him. He knows what He's doing. He knows where we will live. He knows the entire picture.

I write this more as a reminder to myself than anything. When the going gets tough and my faith is faltering, I want to come back and read this. I want to remember that He's in charge. He's bigger than any obstacles I may see. Can I say that we will absolutely, positively buy a house now? Maybe. I don't always know WHY God takes us where He does. But I always know that He is good and faithful. He always has our best in mind. I will trust in Him, regardless of outward circumstances.

"My soul wait silently for God alone,
for my expectation is from Him.
He only is my rock and my salvation;
He is my defense;
I shall not be moved.
In God is my salvation and my glory;
The rock of my strength,
and my refuge, is in God."
Psalm 62:5-7

The Upcoming Move, Part 1

We are moving. At least to the best of our knowledge, that's the plan. We don't know where or when. We do know that we intend to stay in the same city and we have some notions about what part of town we'd like to live in. So now it's a matter of waiting to see what God has for us.

We moved into our current house almost 2 1/2 years ago. Life in the previous house is a very long story, with all sorts of twists and turns. Maybe I'll get energetic and post it here one day - in multiple parts. Through a series of events we'd never have forseen, we were able to move out of that house and are renting the house we're in currently.

We really like where we live. The house is great for our family, the neighborhood is very nice, and we have good access to most places we want to go. However, since we rent, there are some things over which we have no control. Things like this:



and this:



This would be two of the four designs in the wallpaper in our kitchen and dining room. Not that I'm opposed to the colors green or orange, per se. I just don't really want them to be partners in this busy story on the walls of my areas of domesticity. They also clash something terrible with all the cute red, white, and black checkerboard & cherries theme I had going in the last kitchen.

Then there are the utility bills. Having an old furnace and windows that aren't as efficient as they could be don't really help so much. We do close off the family room, since it's not used much (mostly storage these days), and we don't use the furnace more than necessary. We really do make an effort to keep our usage down as much as possible.

The utility rates have gone up every year, as I'm sure they do all over the country. We're nearing the end of our third winter here and we reached an all-time high of almost $400 in one month! No, we're not having a tropical, run around in flip-flops and bikinis kind of environment here. That was staying fairly cool most of the time. After that bill, we had to move into the "staying fairly COLD" stage of living. The one where your thermostat is set between 59-61 degrees, regardless of HOW cold and snowy and windy it is outside. Brrrrr!

It was at this point, we decided that we really did not want to pay that much money to freeze. It would've been a different story if we were roasty toasty at that price. At least we could've cut some corners. But there really weren't any left to cut. We realized that it must be time to move.

The Concert

Recently, Hubby & I went to see the Boomin Beyond Measure Tour with Matthew West, Jeremy Camp, and Toby Mac. It was very loud, high energy, and a total blast! I got tix for Hubs for Christmas (although I benefitted, as well) and was able to get pretty fantastic seats. A better zoom on my camera might've been nice (obviously), but otherwise it was great.

It was pretty cool seeing people of all ages and walks of life at the concert. I don't remember ever going to a concert in my BC(before Christ) life, and I went to quite a few, where there was such a wide variety of attendees. Loving Jesus crosses all boundaries.

Best of all, every one of these three men gave God all the honor and glory. They brought out their Bibles and and shared His word, pointing everyone towards the Lord. It was so cool.

Matthew West


Toby Mac introducing Jeremy Camp


Jeremy Camp


Toby sharing God's word


Toby & Jeremy jamming to Jesus Freak


Cool lights - just cuz


More cool lights