Woooo Hooo? Or Uh Oh !

Well, I was back in Massachusetts for the inspection on the house I want to buy. It needs a roof, and immediately needs a new boiler and water heater. There are about 3K worth of mold issues in the cellar. Some termite issues in garage. A few plumbing issues. Yadda yadda yadda. The inspector said the house was sturdy, well built and with a neglected infrastructure. Plus it needs cosmetic work, a fridge, and now the inspection says that the built in wall oven doesn't work. The good news is that under the carpet in the den is a hardwood floor. It didn't balance out the rough news.

So now I have submitted a much lower bid and copied them in on the inspection results, and we will see.

When I get over feeling disappointed I will write some great blog entry about how obstacles are meant to be overcome and I will find some tasty little spiritual lesson in all this, but for the moment I want to just wring my hands anxiously and ask God what the heck He has in mind these days.

WoooooHooooo!!!

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

The bank accepted my offer. Next week I drive to Massachusetts to sign the official offer stuff, get a lawyer, etc. It is a buyer's market, folks. I got a great deal on a very nice little house (1,700 sq feet, 8 rooms). It has an eat-in kitchen, formal dining room, large living room, great office space, 4 bedrooms (2 up, 2 down), 1 bath down, 1/2 bath up.

In addition it has great light, hardwood floors in great shape, a 2 car garage, a finished basement, 2 fireplaces (one in living room, one in basement family room), storage shed, fenced yard, mature trees and plantings. From what we can tell prior to inspection, it only needs cosmetic improvements (paint, wallpaper, etc.)


So I am pretty happy, very thankful, and getting ready for the happy day when I move into my very first home that I own. I have been a renter since age 19.

One of the biggest joys? I get to have a pooch again.

Joy! Joy!

Gee, think there was any relation to my getting a house and my finally surrendering this all to God? Well, DUH!!!

Thank you and warm hugs to all who have endured this process and who have been encouraging and supportive friends since I started looking in November of 2006. It will be almost a year...bless you all for your kindness.

The Church of Bert

Robin Brumett of Seattle placed an ad on Craigslist. She asked people to come to her home and speak to her husband who has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. ALS is commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Robin’s husband, Bert, is conscious, sees, hears and understands everything that is going on around him, but is trapped inside his body, unable to speak or move. He blinks to communicate, and uses a ventilator to breathe. Many people have come in response to Robin’s Craiglist appeal to have people visit their home to have Bert see and listen to them. Bert can no longer interact with the universe, so Robin is now bringing the world he loves to his bedside.

One friend called it “The Church of Bert”.

It is a tribute to the profound love between these people.

Lou Gehrig’s disease was named after the famed ballplayer who had it. Other victims of this devastating and heartbreaking disease include Woody Guthrie, the legendary folk singer, and Steven Hawking, the genius scientist.

But back to Bert and his story.

One of his last communications with his wife, Robin, was a love letter.
"I was putting on his socks and shoes for him and it said, 'Babe,' — we call each other 'Babe' — 'Babe, if this was reversed, I'd be doing this for you. I love you forever.' It makes me feel bad when I think about it. But I know that he would," Robin said, in tears.

One man came to read Bert sections of a book he is writing about the civil war. A father came with his little girl and read children’s stories to her during their visit. One man wants to bring his three boa constrictors, but the caregivers are a bit uneasy about that on their shifts. A scientist came to discuss volcanoes and earthquakes. A Peace Corps worker brought her pictures from all over the world.

One visitor described the experience as “raw and beautiful”. People arrive as strangers, and leave as friends.

ABC called it “a vast cathedral of the human heart”.

If you have a story that you would like to share with Bert, or want to just send him and Robin a quick email, please do! If you are in Seattle and wish to visit Bert, just email them at the below address.

Email him at BertUni@hotmail.com

I think it would also be wonderful to have folks get the news out about this opportunity to care.

I am going to send him an email. Surely you can join me.

Too often we think that we must do something large, something grand to change the world, or to live generously in it. Sometimes it also helps to do something small, something intimate, something for folks like Bert and Robin in Seattle, as yet unmet members of our very own human family.

Latest Update on House drama

It seems that is my prime focus these days -- getting a house. Well, I am closer today than I have been during this whole search. I saw a house I loved. I placed a bid. Waited. Waited. The house, it seems, is in foreclosure, so it is bank owned and they apparently take longer to reply.

Well, they countered my offer. Which means we are in the thick of negotiations. It could still fall thru at any second, but I have now submitted by counter to theirs.
So, as I said, we are closer.

I have to refrain from too much imagining -- planning where the Christmas tree will go, imagining the smell and sight of the fireplace burning during a cold winter's night, deciding what color to repaint all the rooms, wondering what sort of things to plant in the front yard.

Anyway, as anxiety producing as the whole prospect is, it is also exciting in a wonderful way. I am that much closer to being able to have a dog, being able to have all my possessions in one place, being able to start up a new business, and generally being able to get along with the business of my life.

PLUS I got news from the auction gallery that they have identified the maker of the grandfather clock that I have put up for auction -- Philip Brown of Hopkinton, NH. The clock was made in 1810-1815. As the original owners were first the Tucker family from Henniker, NH and then the Newton family from Henniker, I am trying to contact whomever I can who is interested in their family's genealogy, and also museums and historical sites in that area to get them in touch with Skinner Auctions before the auction on September 20th. I know that if I had a chance to have such a lovely clock from my family's past that far back, I might try to buy it. There is a whole history of each owner inside the clock put there by the man who bought it at auction in 1906. It states (with a lot more detail):

The earliest owner is Thomas Tucker Jan 4, 1781 -April 1, 1853). Mr Tucker was married to his wife Charlotte on April 29,1804. They had 13 children. Mr Tucker served with the Henniker Rifle Group in NH and was deputy sheriff. Mr Tucker sold the clock in 1826 to Solomon Newton of Henniker(b. 10/14/1783), husband of Sarah Colby whom he married in 1809.

So I am hoping that gets noticed. The clock really is lovely and has a melodious chime and a very pretty face. If I were not in the midst of financing a house and move, I would keep it -- but I am also interested in divesting myself of all the "stuff" that I have that I really do not need.

So if y'all know any Tuckers related to Thomas Tucker, or any Newtons related to Solomon Newton, please tell them that their family's heirloom awaits them !!!

Ah, Destiny

Well, no word on the house yet. My realtor has yet to hear back from the owner's realtor. She reports that when she had called him to follow up this week that his answering machine says "Mailbox Full". I am actually laughing here -- it seems to be the will of the Universe at Large that I have yet to find my home.

Fortunately my week has been full of a lot of things that have kept my mind off the house -- some lovely visits with dear friends, a few more things to auction off at Skinners, lots of freelance work, and some interesting reading. But trust me, there is this insistent hum in the back of my mind that says "house..house..house.."

So I'll head out tomorrow to Massachusetts again and continue the hunt for a few days.

My mother's antiques start being auctioned on September 20th. They will be positioned at some specific auctions ("Primitive Americana") and some general auctions that feature certain items (like September's auction which is general but will feature Jewelry and Accessories -- so her beaded bag collection from the early 1900s will go there). I can't help but imagine that she is a little bit happy about this as she looks down into this life. She always loved auctions, and would be proud to see her things sold at such an esteemed auction house.

So, outside of the fact that I am now in love with Crystal Light Peach Tea (I can feel my British friends cringe), I have not much more news.

Waiting patiently -- not my long suit

There has still been no word on the bid I placed last week on a house. My realtor tells me that if the house is bank-owned that it can take some time for a bank to reply. We are not sure if this is bank-owned, although a chatty neighbor man led us to believe that it might be. So I wait. I try to not pull my hair out by the roots contemplating a move after 9 years here.

It is a big change I am making -- new home, buying my first very own home, moving, packing, selling off Mom's stuff, changing work life, leaving friends, moving back to a place I have not lived since I was 19...and so on. Yet it all seems right -- scary, but right. I made the decision to move last year in a heartbeat, because I saw forward that it was right. Now I get to laugh at myself for my silly anxieties. It will all work out. It always does -- yet I still put myself through the most amazing machinations.

Perhaps that is part of what our brokenness is - not trusting when we know that it is only through trust in God that there is real peace. I am not suggesting that I should collapse in His arms and let Him deal with the details -- I do, after all, have my "to do list" as part of this faith statement, but I could rely on His support a bit more, that is for sure !!

"I surrender all..I surrender all..." That is one tough task...I'd rather be whistling "I surrender a lil bit...." or "I'll tell you what to do..." Somehow I don't think those are the best choices. DUH.