Borrowing, Mortagages, and Presuming Upon the Future

Back when we first decided to sell our house (hmm...maybe 2 years or so ago almost!), we talked with a realtor, one of Dave Ramsey's ELPs. He took us through evaluating our home value and what we would need to do to coordinate buying & selling. We knew, back then, that just putting our house up for sale and then just buying whatever was available would not work for us. We needed a miracle to be able to pay cash for a house! So we decided to save up money like crazy, buy a place with cash, and then sell our home once we got moved out. He appraised our home at about the same price that we purchased it for 10 yrs. ago. A little disheartening, but at least we would be able to pay off the mortgage with a little profit.

Now, here we are with our new place bought, trying to fix up our current house - and we call the realtor again to talk about putting our house on the market. Bad news. The housing market has plummeted, and our house (best case scenario), is worth about what we owe on it. That means that after paying the realtor we will actually have to PAY MONEY to sell our house! It's worse than breaking even. It's true that "riches maketh wings and fly away". This is all due to banks lending people money who can't afford to pay it back, and those people actually BELIEVING the banks and BORROWING more money than they can pay back. What's more, now that banks have changed their lending policies, fewer people qualify for a mortgage. That means, too many houses on the market, esp. foreclosures which are being sold for not much at all, and not enough people who can afford to buy! As the realtor says, "People don't want to buy your house, they want to STEAL it!"

Borrowing money is presuming upon the future (Jim Sammons quote). Presuming that your house will always be worth more than you owe on it. Presuming that you will be able to sell your house if you need to. Presuming that you will always have an adequate income to sustain your mortgage. Houses are not always appreciating assets. Jobs change. Moves sometimes need to be made quickly.

What if we took our financial limitations to be a sign of God's direction? If we didn't have the money to buy something, then that must mean that it isn't God's will for that time. "God's work in God's time will never lack for God's funds" - Jim Elliot. What if, as Christians, we decided to live in, drive, wear, and use whatever God has provided the cash-in-hand for? What if we taught our children how to work hard and save at an early age, so that by the time they are ready for marriage, they will be able to pay cash for their first home (however humble it may be)? What if, instead of foreclosing or filing for bankruptcy, we paid back what we owe, even if it took a long time? What if we believed God for the impossible?

We don't know what will happen with the sell of our house. We just know that God provides. I love how Dave Ramsey says that when you start moving in the right direction, it's like God puts a moving sidewalk underneath you, accelerating your progress in the direction He wants you to go. Will God work a miracle and help us to sell our house with enough money to pay off the mortgage and the realtor? Will He, in spite of a low selling price, provide the money from another source to pay it off? Will we find a renter instead to tide us over until the market recovers? Will we just have to scrimp and save (hey, we've done THAT before!) to make up for the difference? We are paying our stupid tax, as Dave Ramsey says. If it isn't too late for you, please heed the warning - the one in Scripture "The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender." Proverbs 22:7 or "Owe no man anything but the debt of love" or what about this one: "If thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger (banker!), thou art snared with the words of thy mouth (or thy ballpoint pen!). Do this now, my son, when thou are come into the hand of they friend; go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend. Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids. Deliver thyself as a roe (or gazelle, as Dave Ramsey says) from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler." Proverbs 6:1-5

Preparing for a Move

Well, let's face it - we've been preparing for a move for 7 months now, BUT we are actually getting CLOSE now! The list of things we have LEFT to do is actually shorter now than the things we've gotten accomplished. The children's bathroom, boys' room, girls' room, living room, laundry room, and kitchen are all complete now! What remains is the master bedroom (installing carpet and baseboards) and master bath (take out old shower, replace flooring underneath shower as needed and possibly sheetrock behind shower, install new shower, paint, replace broken mirrors, install vinyl flooring, and replace countertops/sinks). I'm sure we will discover even more than needs doing in this bathroom, but that's our list for now. We also found a good deal on a steel frame, metal building that we will be using as a storage shed. What a load off my mind to have storage! The biggest stress for me living here was going to be lack of storage; glad it will not be a problem. The neighbor behind us does concrete, and he is having his trucks stop off at our house to pour concrete on the way to another job. He is able to give us a good deal that way. We are getting the best quality concrete because of the job he is doing on the way, and we are getting the highest storm/wind rated building in the hopes of using the building as a storm shelter as well. Our neighbor was just telling us about a tornado passing right over our homes a week or two ago! It went back up and caused no damage to our homes, but he could hear the roaring of it passing overhead. That is the second tornado this season that has passed so close by us. Thank the Lord for his protection! We are but dust, and our lives so fragile, yet He cares for us. We know that we will not leave this earth one day sooner than our appointed day, so there really is no place for worry. We know we are in His will doing what we are doing now, and in that regard, we are in the safest place on earth.

An Inspiring Story

Today I was listening to a CD from the Pineapple Story collection by missionary Otto Koning. You can get this from the Institute in Basic Life Principles, and I encourage you to, because it is really good! Funny, inspiring, humbling, all at the same time. He was the telling the story of a widow lady who, like most widows, had almost no money. The was a housekeeper and made 4 or 5 thousand a year, and she had children. She wanted to give money to a particular missionary, and so she told the Lord that anything she made over her basic needs, she would give to the missionary.

The next day, as she was cleaning the house, the man of the house left for work, and on his way out the door, she told him she would be praying for him as she cleaned his house, that the Lord would bless his business. He kind of grinned at her and just left. Well, he had an AMAZING day at work that day, and he asked if she had indeed prayed for him, and she told him she had. He ended up giving her a raise. She did this with all her customers, and the same thing kept happening. The extra money she got, she gave to the missionary. One of the men noticed she was always wearing the same old black coat, and he gave her money, and told her to go buy a new coat. She thought, "This coat is just fine, and I don't need two coats, " so she gave that money to the missionary as well. Before long, he realized that the lady never bought a new coat, so he thought, "Man, she must really be poor and using that money to buy food for her family instead of for a coat," so at the grocery store, he told the grocer to put all her purchases on his bill. How surprised she was to find out that everytime she went to the store, she owed nothing! So, she was able to buy better, more nutritious food for her family, and give her food budget to the missionary.

Soon, other customers were doing similar things. Her rent was paid for the year, her utilities paid, people were even sending delivery trucks with new mattresses and furniture for her house. She had just kept the same old ones because new ones weren't a need, and she had promised the Lord to give it to the missionary. So, not only was she able to give her entire income to the missionary, but the Lord was providing new things for her, as well.

When the missionary came home on furlough and visited the church, he asked to see the wealthy family who had been giving him large sums of money every month. The pastor told him there was no such wealthy family at his church. The missionary told him the widow lady's name, and the pastor was astonished! "That can't be her", he said, "she just a widow lady receiving from the church's benevolence fund." Little did he know that the church's benevolence fund was going to the missionary, too! As it turns out, she was giving 5 TIMES her annual salary to the missionary, and all her needs were met! Keep in mind, she had been given raises as well, so she was giving incredible amounts of money!

Otto Koning was trying to point out what God can do through us, if we yield ourselves (and our money) to God. He also challenged everyone to keep their same possessions for a year (furniture, clothes, cars, houses - or move to a smaller one), and give that money to God. Wow! What a story! Do I have the guts to do what that widow lady did?

Fixing up the Mobile Home

I can't believe it's been so long since I've updated! Life is so busy, of course! Where do I start...

The old house is gone, along with the huge dumpster that holds its remains, burned or otherwise. So, with the exception of a pile of metal we still need to recycle, nothing is left of it. The neighbor behind us came with his bobcat, took some dirt from our next door neighbor's land, and leveled off the old home site to make way for the mobile home.

Now, LOTS to do in the mobile home! One huge blessing God has provided for us is that our neighbor is giving us some carpet he's not using. It's probably enough to carpet our bedroom, which is the only room I'd want carpeted anyhow. The mobile home had old green carpet, very dirty, but I told the Lord I'd try to be happy with it, if that is how it has to be. Thankfully, he provided another way. The rest of the house we plan to do in a combination of laminate wood and vinyl flooring. I'm thinking attractive, yet easy to clean, with the focus on easy to clean! We just went through a bout of stomach virus in our house, which definitely reminded me, once again, why carpet in a house with little ones equals disaster! Too much poop, puke, and pee in our house, and now that we are moving to the country, add dirt, mud, and animal poop to the list, and you can see why I need something that can be mopped. I'm very much looking forward to our UNcarpeted dining area (that, of course, adds food to our dirty equation).

Speaking of animal poop, we now have 2 horses, 1 longhorn, and 3 calves grazing on our land. Not ours, but the neighbor's! We get to enjoy the animals without having to actually own them right now. I'm very glad to actually be able to do something for our neighbor, however small, since he has been so kind to us. Jeremy told him that he's the best neighbor we've ever had, and it is so very true.

Back to the mobile home. We've ripped up carpet, swept up all the dust and dirt from THAT, washed the walls in the living room, and now, we actually primed the walls in the living room. So much left to do, but it is progress. Last weekend I scrubbed and scrubbed until I was sore in the kids' bathroom. It is probably the smallest bathroom I've ever seen (well, except that in a camper!), yet I've never scrubbed for so long in a bathroom! It is clean, though. The good news is, about 10 or so of those vinyl tiles should cover the whole bathroom floor, and a sample quart of paint (or the leftovers from painting the bathroom in our current house) should take care of it. We just need a new tub surround (who thought WOOD would make a good tub surround?), and a new sink (the plastic sink is cracked). We found a new sink for about $16, so it isn't setting us back very much. We could superglue the crack for a while if we had to, but the sink is so cheap, I think we'll be able to just replace it. The bad news about pulling out the carpet is we found some rotten plywood from leaks that we'll probably have to replace. We got some of that Thompson's waterseal, and we're planning to coat all the exposed plywood with it, so that we have no more rotting floor problems. I'm really surprised that the floors are made of plywood that hasn't been treated, and just covered with carpet. Plywood seems to buckle at even the slightest hint of water, and yet nothing was protecting it from the water, not even in the bathrooms. Strange.

We were hoping to maybe be moved in by Thanksgiving, but I think we've scratched that idea. Now we are hoping to be moved by Christmas. We have to basically paint the entire house, and replace all the flooring, except that in the kitchen/dining/laundry room, so that's a lot of work to be done still. We're painting over wall paper, so we're having to do primer (more than one coat), and possibly more than one coat of the actual paint. And we've never laid floors before, so we don't know how long it will take us.

It's all fun, though, in spite of all the work and the driving. We are making memories that we will never forget. It's fun to work together to accomplish goals, and it's fun to trust God and watch Him provide. And He is definitely doing that.

Jim Sammons & a Wedding Miracle

In addition to Dave Ramsey's advice, Jim Sammons' Financial Freedom Seminar really changed the way we looked at money. His seminar is filled with testimonies of miraculous ways that God has provided for people, when they follow His principles. Praying for God to provide things that you actually have the money to purchase, so that you can have a testimony to share, was a breathtaking concept. To think that God would really care about such "small matters" in my eyes is just amazing. So, I tried it.

The first thing wasn't even a prayer, just a desire I discussed with Jeremy. One Sunday night, I told him I'd really like to get a small desk to put in the breakfast area to use as a sewing desk. Not even a couple of hours later, as Jeremy and our 4 yr. old were riding bikes around the neighborhood, they saw a desk on the curb with a sign that had $10 crossed out and "Free" written right next to it. And now it is my sewing desk.

For my sister's wedding, the boys needed pink ties, and our 4 yr. old needed a black suit coat. We had already borrowed a tux for our two year old, and I wanted our 4 yr. old to have one, too, but I decided that since he already had black dress pants, our NEED was for a suit coat. So, I put out a request to our homeschool group, thinking it was a long shot. One friend replied that she knew another friend whose little boys had pink ties , and she was willing to loan them to us. Another friend with twin boys my 4 yr. old's age, said she had 2 tuxes she had been wanting to pass along to someone (and hey, we only needed one!). When the lady with the ties couldn't find one of the ties, I was worried for a second, until I realized that I already had a bowtie pattern in my sewing stash, and a 40% off coupon for fabric. God not only provided my need, but my desire as well.

I can't wait to see what God does next, but in the meantime, I hope I get to be a part of someone else's "miracle"!