Dragging around, evenings, house buying

Yesterday evening was a dull evening. It was one of those evenings when Mama and I are both tired and have to scrounge up the energy to go to church. We both laid down for a half hour after I got home and it was even harder to get going after our little nap. We were both sort of dragging around but we did and made it to church on time. It was later than I like to get to church on a Wednesday night, but we made it. I read a mission letter each Wednesday night – except when we have a missionary in attendance who can present their work. I read a letter from the Moreland family last night. They graduated BBTI two years ago and are headed to the Armenia this month to begin church planting and Bible translation. They became friends of ours while they were at BBTI so it was good to hear the news and to share the update with the church.

Hopefully there will be more energy available tonight. There is a lot we have to do around the farm which too often takes a back seat to the things we have to do for normal living – work, grocery shopping, minor auto repairs, cleaning the house, laundry, cooking, church attendance, bus calling, etc. I am not traveling yet so I still have several evenings per week free to work about the farm , however; I am finding it a challenge to keep up at times. The evenings have been almost perfect this week with light winds and cool temperatures. The bugs are not bad yet but that is just around the corner. Mama and I are still doing all the needed chores to keep the animals fed and otherwise cared for and we have mowers and blowers, tractors, trailers and trucks, as well as other equipment to speed up the work processes. At some point, we will catch up to the more urgent things but we will never get ahead of the ongoing tasks, like cleaning the coop and barn, hauling and storing feed and hay, planting and pruning, hauling animals in and hauling animals out. I suppose that is why I like having the farm. There is always plenty to do. The animals and Mama make sure of that. As long as her knees hold up we will be able to enjoy all the life around us.

Brittany and Andrew are enjoying the pleasures of buying their first home. She called yesterday frustrated with the process – especially long distance. I have never dealt with a home purchase from outside of the US but Mama and I have bought and sold houses while we were not on site with the realtors and bankers. If you find a good seller and a good realtor and a good banker all in the same purchase or sale, it is a very fortunate happenstance. Unfortunately, it does not happen that way very often. For me and Mama it has happened a couple times and we were thankful for each of those times. In Brittany and Andrew’s case, what they are experiencing is not horrible but it can be stressful none-the-less. If I heard correctly, they have worked out the details with the bank and the realtor to get the closing done by using a notary at the base. I don’t think it matters at all to the sellers as long as they get their money and the house is legally transferred out of their name. My concern is that the seller will back out of the deal to fix/replace the roof – even if it is in writing. We will see. I pray they are honest people who are locked into the area so if there is a contention, it can be resolved quickly.

Brittany and Andrew will be in Wichita Sunday or Monday and she can take on the issues personally at that point.