Business, guests, watering, Honduras update

Friday evening Mama and I were anxious to get to the office to do some more research for our business. She had called the county and gotten a lot of valuable information on the homes that we had chosen as our finalists. One of the homes had a large sum of money attached to the property that stayed with the property. Meaning, the person who purchased the property would be responsible for that large debt. Two others had been redeemed. That left us with two finalists. What we needed to do was look back at the properties that did not make our first cut in case either of the two properties we were ready to bid on were not available at the time of the auction. We spent several hours expanding our list and got several other propertied selected to drill down on. We have some additional work to do on each of those properties in order to be ready to place a bid, but we have a bigger list should any of these propertied get redeemed or prove to be a poor investment. That should be done by Thursday when Mama will call the county again for an update on our list. We are close. Next Monday is the auction.

Saturday evening, we had guests. We invited a family from church over for dinner. I grilled hamburgers, goat burgers and sausages. Mama made macaroni salad, baked beans and a mandarin orange cake. That was another reason for being anxious to get to the office Friday. We knew we would not have Saturday to work. We had a good time getting to know the family. They are all quiet, but they are all ready to serve when they are needed. The kids all play instruments, but they are too timid to sing. One of the older brothers recently played a beautiful offertory on his guitar. The younger two sing in the choir; quietly. Without the kind of social interactions like we had Saturday evening, there is little opportunity to really get to know someone – regardless of how much time you spend with them in church.

The Walker Family came in this weekend. We have Vacation Bible School this week. Tonight, through Thursday. Mama and I will have very little opportunity to work on the business this week. We are going to the office tonight. We will have to miss the first night of VBS so we can keep our scheduled meeting with our coach. With the auction next week, there are some fundamental questions I need to ask about the follow through once a house is acquired. Mama and I have made none of those contacts for insurance, property management, or general repairs. Plus, we need to know how to deal with the occupant once we own the house. Most, we are finding are, are not vacant. Once we get that process under our belts, we will feel a lot more confident and competent to do this business fulltime.

Mama and I continue the process of watering morning and evening. Even with that routine, the plants are struggling to live. We have lost less than ten percent of out plants overall, but it seems like more. This morning there is a good possibility of rain. One morning only. The rest of the week is forecast to be dry and hot. So far, the fruit trees, berry bushes and grape vine are doing okay. Mama has been keeping up with the blackberry bush. It is about through producing for this season. It seems to be unaffected by the heat. It also seems to love the bed in which it is planted. I have pulled up more than a dozen shoots it has sent out as well as digging up three or four and giving them away. I cannot allow it to take over what I need for the blueberry bushes. Whether or not Mama and I can keep up with the watering needs for the next several months remains to be seen. Fortunately, she enjoys it.

Cori, Nate and the kids are in their house now. Everything was delivered on Saturday – an entire house full of furniture and appliances. The kids were all excited about their new beds. For the first time in two years, Cori has her own washer and dryer. The price to set it all up was about a third of what it would cost here.

They feel very blessed to have been able to do the full house at once.