A day for THANKSGIVING!

Thanksgiving Day has arrived. It's 21 degrees here in KC, so it's a bit "chilly"!

There are so many things we are "thankful" for this season. God has been so faithful in providing for our every need this year. We have not done without anything. We have good health. We have a wonderful loving family both biologically and spiritually. We are so very, very blessed! We have stable, good paying jobs, dependable running vehicles, a wonderful home that is heated and cooled to our satisfaction. "God is good all the time, and, all the time God is good!"

Update on the house - I had forgotten all the steps you have to go through when your selling your home. We have a contract with a buyer, that took some "negotiating" which I expected. Then they ordered the inspection, that came back with things that were of concern to the Inspector. The list was unbelievably long! After the inspection they presented us with a list of unacceptable conditions that must be fixed in order for them to get their FHA loan. So I immediately began contacting contractors. Plumber was already been out and complete the one task on the list. That was an easy fix. The Electrical contractor is lined up to do his work. We expected to have to do some electrical work so this wasn't a surprise. Here come the surprises: we have mold in the crawl space under the bedrooms of the house. We contacted three different contractors for mold remediation and finally settled on one. We had to contact a foundation contractor because the south wall in the basement is leaning in toward the room itself. They will be installing seven piers to correct this problem, then they'll be bringing three cubic yards of dirt to put around the foundation of the house in order to get the proper slope for draining the water away from the house. They will also create a "swell" on the west side of the garage between our house and the neighbor's house to divert water away from the house. They will also be installing three "bubble windows" again three of the basement windows.

Appraisal - the appraiser came out this last Monday to do the appraisal. To date we haven't received the final report yet. We are believing that the house will appraise out close enough to the sales price so the buyers will be able to proceed with getting their loan. They've already been pre-qualified for nearly $15,000 more than the sale price. If it doesn't end up appraising close enough to the sales price, I don't know what the next step will be. I guess we might end up going into further negotiations.

The concern at the moment is that the foundation contractor is scheduled to start this next Tuesday November 30th. His bid is the highest bid of all the contractors. He said his job will only take one to two days maximum. If I don't hear a word by close of business Friday, I may call him to tell him to delay the start of the project until we get all the final numbers from the appraiser. The mold remediation contractor will need approximately three days to complete their job. Their supposed to bring some dryers to put in the crawl space to dry everything out down there. (We've got to get the water stopped from flowing into the crawl space before these guys start their part). The electrical guy can start just about anytime.

Friday, December 10th is the scheduled closing date. We've been told that Tamala and I will go in a few days earlier to sign the documents required of us. Then the buyers will sign their "mountain" of documents on the 10th and all the checks will be drafted to pay all the contractors, etc.

THE TEST- I've been pondering this whole process the last few weeks and have come to the conclusion that this whole ordeal is a test. My faith and my character are being tested. I've decided that I will not "re-act" in ways I've reacted to things that haven't gone exactly the way I thought they should go. I will stop and re-evaluate the situation and look for alternative means or other open doors instead of getting all upset about it. When you boil it all down - it's not worth getting upset over. I am reminded of the book "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff, and by the way, It's All Small Stuff".

Shalom!