This is a long post. I’m following Netta’s advice and just writing, rather than try to “catch up” or acknowledge that it’s been awhile since I’ve written. I expect to lose everyone long before the end, but sometimes you just need to write. Right? Heh.
My wife and I drove down to Champaign, IL this weekend to check on a house my dad and I own down here. It’s been rented it out the past year, but the current tenant isn’t going to renew. We’ve been trying to decide what to do with the house, and, in the meantime, it was important for me to come down and take a look at the property. Things seem to be in pretty good shape if we want to rent it again, but there are lots of little repairs (and some big ones) if we want to try to sell.
My dad isn’t keen on selling, especially in this real estate climate, and I’m not keen on overseeing a sale, especially with our upcoming purchase. So, while it might seem like we’re debating, the choice is actually pretty clear that we’re going to rent again. We’ve got about 2 months to find one, or two, or maybe even three new tenants. It’s a must that they go to our old church down here (it’s a pretty big church) because I need to have some kind of support system that can look in on hem, and I need renters I can trust since I’m so far away.
So far, no one has turned up, but there’s time.
Internet’s been a little sparse since we left Dearborn, but both times I’ve managed to check my email, there’s a bunch of stuff to handle. Housebuying stuff, complaints, responsibilities, broken email addresses, and an experiment I forgot to shut down before leaving work. Maybe let’s wait till tomorrow to go back online again, yeah?
I expect we’ll be back in town around 10 or 11pm (EST) tonight; we lose an hour traveling east. My wife made a bunch of sandwiches to eat on the way here, which helped avoid the usual McHunger. I’m not sure that we’ve got anything for the way back, though, so I’m a little scared. The first two months after that bad doctor visit went really well for watching my diet. I feel like the last month has been the exact opposite. I’ve managed to drop a few more pounds, but I’m eating some stuff that I’m really not supposed to be eating. I have another blood test on October 13 (two days before our planned closing, actually), so I need to stay on track at least till then.
My wife and I actually bought a new Bible last week. There’s something kind of trite about that statement. But we did, in fact, roll up to Family Christian in Canton (after a customary trip to Ikea) and pick up something new for us to share. I’m not good with Bible names, but it’s some kind of Life Application Bible. I started using it earlier this week, and I really like it. I’ve been reading through Phillipians, to mirror what we’ve been doing at our Bible Study, and it’s been good.
I’m really excited to have a prayer room in our new house. I haven’t worked out where it’ll be, but there’s a lot of space to work with. I’m leaning towards building a small room in the basement, since we need to do some finishing there anyway, and there’s so much room. At first glance, our apartment seems big, and it is, for what it is. But, there’s not a lot of space to be alone or quiet, and there’s certainly no place to sprawl books and paper out over. Everywhere I currently pray or study actually functions as something else, and thus carries a bunch of distractions. This new place will be quiet and secluded, well-lit, and WON’T have a computer. Just a desk (maybe 2), some lamps, paper. books, a fan, and maybe some music. A good chair with a stiff back (comfy ones put me to sleep when I’m trying to study). In the meantime, there are a few other places I can set up shop.
I want my wife to have her own place too, which could very well be the same room I described above. I don’t think the problem is that we distract each other, as much as the outside world distracts us when we’re trying to shut it out. Yeah, it’s going to be a cool room.
We’ve been staying with the worship pastor of our old church. He’s an old friend, and someone who mentored me as I was learning to lead. He’s actually the same age as me, but a career worship guy, so he has a lot more experience, and obviously is able to dedicate most all his time to that calling. Both nights we’ve stayed up late talking about music, our bands, our plans, and what God does through worship leaders and worship bands. He showed me some awesome software that does a lot of what I currently do manually – the kind of stuff I’d never really know about since I only put in volunteer hours. He burned me a few CDs, including an acoustic Israel Houghton performance that I’ve been hearing snippets of for awhile. It’s exciting, but sometimes makes me feel a little overwhelmed and underprepared.
Usually I’m itching to rejoin the “real world” after one of these mini-trips, but this time I think I might be willing to stay disappeared for another day or two. That’s not an option, unfortunately. When I get back, I need to deal with a second home inspection tomorrow, follow-up to that proposal we wrote last month, a website I’ve been working on for awhile, some weird relationships, remodeling budgets, a toughie worship song I’m trying to arrange, and high cholesterol (which is hopefully still at bay). My relationship with my Bible has been very good lately, and with my wife; those two things are getting me through. I think that’s how it’s supposed to be, though, so, all is well I guess.
Gotta go. I know no one made it this far, but I feel a little better getting some thoughts out. I hope you had some fuuuuuun.
