Home Buying 101

About five years ago we purchased our first home. Here’s a little bit of what I wish I knew then BEFORE we purchased our home.

If you know you are not going to stay in a home for at least 5 years DO NOT BUY! I didn’t know this even though I did a lot of research prior to buying. We knew we had about 3 and a half years and thought that once Jared was in his last few months of residency we would just list the house and boom it would sell. WELL, we listed the house for 3 months prior to his graduation and received not one offer. Not even a low ball offer! We found renters at the 99^th hour that paid for our mortgage, property taxes and homeowners insurance. That was a blessing. TODAY our home is back on the market and we are looking for renters. We have no idea if it will be sold or if we will find renters in the next 10 days. Once September 1 reaches we will be footing the bill for everything and wondering if and when we will be relieved from this burden. Research shows that it takes about 5 years for you to break even with your home…NOT make a profit, but break even! Let’s think about this for a moment, if I buy a house for $200K and sell for $200K, why do I need to wait five years just for that to happen? Well let’s look at a breakdown of the expenses we had in just our 3 years of owning a home.

Parenting is Hard Sometimes

Hello blog! I know, it has been a WHILE since I last posted! Shrew!

So the latest, I am 17 weeks pregnant and Jayce is turning two…More like the TERRIBLE two. OMG, I feel like I am loosing my mind sometimes.  Parenting can be so rewarding and yet at the same time so frustrating!! Ugh! It’s also something that really highlights our inadequacies.  I lack so greatly in patience and tolerance sometimes. This is the stage for testing boundaries and being very demanding. His new thing now is saying, “mine! Mine! Mine!” And if you don’t give it to him its meltdown mania! It’s constant battle of redirection and ignoring foolishness. But sometimes it’s hard to ignore…And sometimes, though you understand intellectually what’s happening, emotionally you are on a tight rope!

How to help a family who has lost a child

I came across this blog post and found the suggestions beyond powerful! Sometimes we don't know what to do when people hurt in the most devastating ways. Here are some helpful suggestions…I especially LOVE the coordinated effort to write a letter once a week for a year…Amazing!

http://www.gracecoversme.com/2014/02/in-her-shoes-ministering-to-women-whove.html

Am I an authentic friend?

The past few days I have been in a kinda funk. Maybe more like the past few weeks. I’ve been feeling up and down emotionally…It’s one of those things where I feel disconnected from my friends (because of the distance and lack of communication)…And then two major let downs happened and that had me going back and forth in my mind a lot!

ONE of my major issues with myself has been that I have not been the kind of friend I used to be. I used to be the type of person who was unafraid to say what was on my mind. To inform others the error of their ways. To say kindly or otherwise say what was on my mind. good or bad… I was fearlessly honest. Particularly with those close to me…I was never really this way with everyone, but those nearest to my heart I felt comfortable to say what was on my mind…Even if I knew it would be a difficult conversation.

Today I struggle with that. Today I struggle with being an authentic friend. An authentic person. Consider this: You see your best friend incorrectly install her son’s car seat. You know that if they got in an accident the car seat could go flying out the window. But you struggle with offending her…Because if you say something then maybe assumptions would be made that you think you are better than her…OR maybe she may think you are thinking she is a bad mom. OR maybe you struggle with how much should I have the liberty to say. Or maybe that she simply won’t receive it well.

Life in Tallahassee

Hi Blog! WOW, is this really my first post for 2014!? Goodness gracious, time sure does fly!

I’ve been reflecting on our move to Tallahassee and some of my emotions last year as we planned for that move then vs. now. Here is an excerpt from a blog I wrote last year:

I have been on an emotional roller coaster for most of June…I have cried alone…many, many times…On my way to work…At work…At home…NOW…And I have cried together with my husband…It’s not going to Tallahassee that has me sad…Its moving away from my home in NC…It’s saying goodbye to the friends we have made…It’s going into a land of the unknown…A place that could be a desert…I have moved and had people move from my circle enough times to know that when you move people change…friendships changes…and ultimately you LOOSE a lot of your friends…It’s only natural that relationships would change…Physical presence just adds a lot to a relationship. And many people prioritize relationships with those who are physically in their space, over long distance relationships…And because I know this, I am sad because I feel like I am loosing a significant piece of my life I DO NOT want to loose…I am sad because I have felt many times ALONE in my sadness…

My life is about to change DRASTICALLY! For someone like me who loves being in fellowship with other like minded Christians I am afraid I wont find that where I go…I am afraid that when I get there I’ll be in a state of depression….I am afraid that I will be bored to death…I am afraid that I will be lonely….And really, I am most afraid of loosing the friends I have now…I know God will provide…I know that God will take care of us…and I know that most friendships are really temporary even when they seem permanent. I know people are in your lives for a season…And I know our duty is to help bless others. I KNOW THIS! And yes, even knowing this does not necessarily make me feel better…Because we are loosing something very special…