Car issues, investment strategy, Mama’s resume

When I met Mama for lunch yesterday she let me know that the kids were coming to join us. Sounds like fun, right? Well, Cori called about the time I got my soup warmed up and told Mama that they were having car trouble and needed Mama to come and get them. I told Mama that did not make sense. If they were at the farm why would she need to get them to come to Decatur for lunch? (Mama told me they were at the farm.) What Mama did not know before she left the church to rescue them, was that they were at Walmart in Decatur. The engine alarm came on as they were starting the vehicle to come to the church to meet us. That made a lot more sense to me. I had a feeling neither Cori or Nate would have Mama run to Chico and back just so they could have sandwiches in the gym.

Nate dropped off the vehicle at a local repair shop that people in the church use on a regular basis and all of them came to the church. The repair shop is supposed to run a diagnostic to see what the issue could be, but as far as I know, no word has come back yet. So far, the vehicle they bought has done exceptionally well for them. We are praying it will continue to do so through the end of May – when they are planning on relocating permanently to Honduras. The Goings family, the administrators of the home in Honduras, are going to be state-side during the earlier time Nate and Cori were planning to leave the US, so they requested the later date in order to be there to help Nate and Cori make the entry into the country. I believe that is a wise decision. Anyway, the vehicle needs to be ready to go as soon as possible. With meetings scheduled in the Northern States for the last two weeks of January and into February, they need trustworthy transportation for what could be difficult travel.

Meanwhile, back at home, Mama and I are going to a seminar this weekend to investigate tax lien investing. We looked at the investment process while we were in New Jersey but could not make the system offered to us at that time work for us. The way things are done in New Jersey did not fit our personality or investment style; too rushed, too high dollar, too aggressive. Now here we are, looking at the opportunity again but the company offering the help has a completely different approach to the process. One that looks like it will fit us much better. We’ll see when we attend the seminar – translate that sales pitch – Saturday afternoon. I have been looking for something Mama and I can do together. This may not be it, but she is willing to investigate the potential opportunity with me. Real estate is something she understands and knows how to research.

Also, I recently put in an application to Hope Children’s Home in Tampa Florida. That is the ministry that the children’s home in Honduras operates under. Their recent news letter mentioned several openings. Mama and I have long-term plans of working for the home as part of our retirement, but if they could use us at an earlier date, we are wiling to go. Anyway, they responded to my application by requesting that I supply a resume for Mama also. Their practice is to hire husband and wife teams. So, I took a resume template home last night so Mama could help we with dates and other information. As we paced through it, things got cute. We talked about helping her Dad and Norman doing lawn care, providing childcare in the home, home schooling, etc. Then I wrote down, traveled extensively.

That started Mama and Cori talking about the trip they took from Amsterdam to Paris with a missionary wife who was living in Amsterdam at the time. Mama was having some potty issues on the trip, much to the consternation of their guide – who had mapped out their time in fifteen-minute increments. So, Cori offered “You can she peed in Amsterdam and Paris.” To which I added “all over England and Scotland.” We laughed and continued on with the real resume theme until Mama began to look over what I had written down. When she got to the line about peeing in Amsterdam she shouted, “Timothy Owen, you actually wrote that down!” And proceeded to cross it out. I assured her that the piece of paper it was written on was not going to be submitted for review, but she scratched it out anyway.

I told Mama even though it would not show up on her resume, it might show up in my blog.