21 days of neglected milk

According to google, there is much research showing 21 days to be a milestone maker in the industry of forging habits, either good or bad.  There is probably an equal amount of debate on the matter, but I have set out to establish a habit of committing the first minutes of my alert day to spending time with our Creator.  So far this has consisted of reading Romans and the first few chapters of I Corinthians, and listening for The Spirit to speak.  This also, admittedly, has involved warding off a new sub-habit of falling asleep in the process. All in all, day 12 has come and gone showing 12/12 on the scoreboard.

For me, I hope it works.  So many times in the past I have told myself “Self, from this day forth, you shall not drink milk from the carton again.”  Inevitably, I find my lips pressed madly against the jug sucking the liquid down in the hopes that nobody will see me as I rush to wipe the drizzle from my chin and slam the refrigerator door shut before they stroll into the kitchen.  Sheesh.

Forever is intimidating, and that means change. Who wants to change who they are?  I like to think that I’m OK just the way I am.  By forming a habit, you’re simply adding to who you are.  21 days is less intimidating.  If I can do this for 21 days, there is hope for a sliver of discipline in me (by the grace of God, naturally), and that if I allow, God can accomplish something in me.  Even if it is small.

As a human, and of the male orientation, and arguably ADD at that, I find that I only have about 512 MB of RAM with which to store my habits.  My hope is that by cultivating a new habit once in a while, I’ll have less room for the old ones.  This is my logic at it’s finest.

Using man’s wisdom to implement a Godly habit: also debatable, but this is my starting point.  Thoughts on the matter are welcome.

Bohlawitz Update

Since our last series of posts, we have sealed the deal on our home, completed some low risk maintenance on the Jetta, received 9 months notice from The Stork, secured a used Golf, and planted a lime tree and various herbs on our property.

Water thermostat, cooling fan, secondary air pump mounts.

Are you certain? You can be, with “Be Certain!”

Our little lime tree. It has not yeilded fruit yet, but trust it will begin to contribute to this family soon enough.

The Really Long Story

House #5, affectionately dubbed “The Yellow House”:

The bank countered our offer with a price that was a long shot away from our budget and we were downhearted.  The Seller’s agent explained that we could not go that high and the bank responded “this file is CLOSED!”  (Just like that I think, she said the lady was not very nice).

So just like always, we picked up and moved on…..  (side note – my gut kept telling me that we were not done with The Yellow House.  I had felt SO STRONGLY that it would be OUR house).

House #6:  A little smaller, GREAT price, updated throughout, SWEET kitchen….quaint.  I could imagine us living here!  No time to waste, we place our offer.  And then we wait…..

In the meantime…the bank asks regarding House #5, are we going to counter?  We tell them no, again (!), and it goes to a second review (!?).  There’s still a chance!!!!   Wahoo Wahoo Wahooo!  And…..

THEY ACCEPTED!!!  Party dance!

We close this coming Friday!  So now we are gathering up all our cleaning supplies and paint and elbow grease…ready to tackle.  God has truly blessed us – I hope we can consecrate this house to Him.

More pics to follow after we begin work…

No New is Good News?

Sadly, house #4 had a massive leak somewhere underneath it.  It was not meant to be I suppose.  Since we are movers and shakers (or something) we have already moved and shaked on to a new house (the rebound is quicker every time!).  House #5 is CUTE & YELLOW (though someone got a little carried away and painted the sidewalk (?!) leading up to the house yellow as well), like all the rest it needs a little ELBOW GREASE and PAINT (of course), we LIKE IT.

We placed our (pretty darn good if I may say so) offer…about a week and a half ago.  It is a short sale and has yet to even reach the bank, as the seller has suddenly gone AWOL.

When one of our offers is finally accepted I don’t think we will be able to manage our shock.  I still feel really strongly that God is leading us to buy a house rather than rent….what does He have in store for us???  Stay tuned…

Why I love my husband.

Once, I went to driving school for half a day (beware the photo radar, Phoenicians!) and when I came home, my husband had created this little ditty.

100 point to anyone who can name all 8 ‘instruments.’

4 Houses and only 2 hearts

God has blessed us financially this year.  Blessed our darn socks off!  Back in August we began to cultivate the idea of buying a home, since rent is almost as much (sometimes more) as a mortgage payment here in Phoenix (who knew we had such a sweet deal in T-Town…$500/month!) and the housing market is stellar (if you’re buying…not so much if you’re selling).  Anyway, Mama A (aka “our realtor”) has shown us about 1.7 billion properties in our hunt for the perfect home.  There are 4 stories to tell (so far) in this process:

STORY #1 – Cute home, not so far from folks, great price, needs a bit o’ work, awesome backyard, FELL IN LOVE….went back for a second (ok, third) look and…it was already in the arms of another man.  Much weeping and gnashing of teeth (plus an awesome temper tantrum from yours truly).

STORY #2 – Cute home in my childhood neighborhood, scary colors, a little small, lots of potential, good price, FELL IN LOVE….went home to make an offer and….status changed to pending.  A few more tears (but no tantrum this time).

STORY #3 – Cute home, NW Valley (close to church, neat!), not much work at all, sweet backyard with pool, price at our max (tightening of chest…and purse), decorated every room in my head, FELL IN LOVE LOVE LOVE….put in an offer!  Counter.  Counter.  Deceptive agent (I thought we were buds, Mike!) shops our offer and….a better one comes in.  So many tears. Redoing of make up, picking up of bootstraps.  Return to search a little bitter and jaded, but…

STORY #4 – Lovely home, lots of room, pool (!), spa (!!), crazy doors, lots of fans, awesome price plus other financial blessings, some work (but fun stuff, mostly), love the kitchen, FALLING IN LOVE (slowly this time, don’t want a rebound, don’t want another heartbreak), put in offer!  Still waiting.

…..House up North could you be ours?  Will we one day paint your walls, fill your cupboards, swim in your pool?  Lord willing, let it be so! 

If you’re looking for the flyer

If you’re looking for the amazing site with Matt’s drum recital flyer, it’s been moved over here:
 http://bohlingfamily.com/matt_old/