He knows the way that I take

“He knows the way that I take...” Job said these immortal words way back 4000 years ago. The truth is still valid today. The Psalmist in Psalm 1 said it this way, “For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous...” (Psalm 1:6). The cool part of this closeness is that God is always in every situation and circumstance. In his omniscience, there is nothing that takes him by surprise. In his omnipotence, there is nothing too big or small for him to handle.

In the last few weeks, I have been working on a real estate deal with several hoops and hurdles that needed attention. Each one came as a part of the UW process. UW means underwriter. Underwriters are what we commonly call “bean-counters.” They don't get involved emotionally in a loan situation because they just want the numbers of their part of the deal to add up. You can give them a sob story, but your tears fall on Teflon® shoulders and drop quickly to the floor.

Now, take a person who lives in Brazil and throw him into the mix, and your real estate adventure will take on a different twist. That was what happened. I found a place just a few blocks from our daughter, Abby, and Cameron’s home. It looked like it might make a good place for Dawn and me when we decide to move back to the States. If you have been following the real estate market in the past few years, you will know that this year has been crazy to the max. There are a few real estate guys that I follow on YouTube (Dion McNeeley, Michael Zuber and Matt the Lumberjack Landlord), and all have said at one time or another that this is the craziest year that they have ever seen. It is nuts.

It is what is called a seller’s market. However, this year it is a seller’s market on steroids. There is little real estate inventory, which means that, during an average year, there would be 3,000,000,000 homes for sale in the United States. This is NOT an average year and thus there are a mere 1,000,000,000 on the market. A million sounds like a ton, but it’s not a considerable number considering the entire nation. The reality here is that you will get over the asking price if you are a seller. I called on one place listed on Zillow for $139,000, and it had been on the market for two days. I sent an email to the listing agent, and he got back to me, telling me that the place had sold for $160,000! Amazing. It’s like that all over.

So, IF you are a seller, you can expect a great price on your property. However, THEN you have to buy a place to live. Unless you are downsizing, your problem will be that you can expect to pay way over the asking price for the same size house you are currently selling.

So, when I saw that place near Abby and Cameron listing for $149,900, I didn't think too much about it. That is when Dawn said, “Did you see that place on Zillow near Abby and Cameron?” Oops.

So, I contacted our realtor and she went to look at it the next day. It is not big, just three bedrooms, one bath, no basement, and a good-sized garage. It's got a nice-sized lot next to it that functions as a lawn. Its in a nice neighborhood in the small town of Center Line, Michigan.

Amie is both our property manager and our realtor and she is so very helpful in situations like we were facing. She sent me a note and said, “It needs some minor fixes but I think that it would make a good rental. I’d offer 120k on it.”

I immediately poo-pooed the idea thinking, "THIS IS A SELLER'S MARKET.” Amie didn't blink, and so I said that we'd like to make that offer.

Dawn and I were praying for God's help and direction and, we knew that nothing is impossible for him. But come on, this is a SELLER'S MARKET!

The next day Amie sent me a note stating that the seller was willing to come down 9,000 on his asking price. Wait. What? I quickly sent an email to Amie asking if she thought he’d meet halfway between our 120 initial offer and his initial asking price. Her email response quickly left me stunned. "He's willing to come down to $127,500 but, that is as far as he will go.

Can you see God's hand in this? Well, just hold on for part two tomorrow!

Daughter and dog...

About six months ago we discovered that Ann was pregnant and were very excited for she and Jackson. We will have babies on this side and that of the Atlantic. We weren't prepared for that news and we we were even less prepared for the news that our little dog is pregnant. To date we have spent more on the dog than on Annie (don't tell her... Ann that is). Ann has yet to discover whether her baby is a boy or girl. Both ultrasound images were inconclusive. Though I did some further investigation of my own and was startled with what I found. to me it looks as if the baby is definitely a boy and has some resemblance from both sides of the family. Take a look for yourself and let me know what you think.

God’s Orchestration

I love to see the Lord work His Salvation miracles. His works are Master Pieces of sweet music. They are arrangements that only He can make happen. Two weeks ago I began my second attempt at cello lessons. I had tried the instrument about five years ago and found my fingers so rusty and decrepit that I had given up after just a few months. So, why my second go? Here’s one short and sweet story. There is a youg man that works with Alexandre at school. He teaches music and is a musical genius. At sixteen he began a city wide music program to train young musicians in Sorocaba. Recently he has worked with two deaf children and has been able to teach them to play violin using a method that he developed. There doesn’t seem to be an instrument that he cannot play. His seventeen year old wife also plays the flute and is studying nursing. They are a very young but very sharp couple. In a conversation after the recent Recital Junior convinced me that it would be a good idea for me to take up...

Abs of Steel with Glasses

Have you ever wondered why Clark Kent always took his glasses off before he turned into Superman? I hadn’t ever thought about it either until this last Saturday when I almost got sucker-punched. Wellington, one of my spunky Juniors, wanted to wrestle. He feigned a punch to my gut and I said, “Go ahead. I have abs of steel!” I think that my gym visits might be going to my head because my abs of steel are buried under a healthy layer of blubber. I have improved my six-pack but it is far from chiseled. It looks more like a quarter of a keg. Anyway, quick as a wink and with near lightening speed Wellington said, “Yeah but up here is made of glass!” as his poke went within a hair’s breadth of my glasses! I belly-laughed. His rapid reflexes and wit had caught me by surprise. And what he said was so true and funny. It was an excellent though brief lesson. I often prepare for an oncoming fray. I get ready, set and then “BLAM”! The proverbial punch comes from a totally different direction. ...

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