List work, church work, Mama

Since Mama and I shifted directions in our business we have been intently reviewing the list of properties in one county in Oklahoma. That has occupied our short evenings for the past week, but Saturday after our Youth Conference we were able to finally complete our initial review of the properties available; all 167 of them. In that review we identified fifty-three properties that we will now go back and do a deeper dive into. We have to narrow that list down to no more than ten that we will prepare to bid on in the coming auction. My real objective is to shrink those final candidates to three that we definitely want to acquire. Even though, of those three, we may only get one. One is all we need to get started.

We have a coaching session tonight. During that session we will be shown how to do all the final research to know any potential legal issues in a given property – liens attached, judgements attached, fees and notices at the state, county and city level, etc. The last thing we want is for our first property purchase to be encumbered with surprises that will cost us more than we had anticipated. On this first investment, we are on a pretty tight budget, so the fear of making an error in poor research is a very real threat to our potential gain. We are confident that Theresa can help guide us past those pitfalls prior to the auction. We area at 21 days and counting down to that auction.

Meanwhile, I and doing the same kind of research on three houses in Arkansas. The three are on the leftover list of two counties. Potential purchase dates on those properties are twenty-one and twenty-five days out. Al of that will happen by snail mail on the appointed dates. Mama and I are going to be busy. In fact, we had to let Brittany know that we would not be available this weekend for her and Andrew to come over with the twins. It is a bittersweet conflict. We want to see the twins and visit with Brittany and Andrew, but this Saturday we have planned a trip to the county where we are evaluating potential houses for the June auction. We are working on setting up the visit for another weekend – but we still hated to be the source of the conflict.

The majority of the weekend was spent in church activities. Saturday morning, I went bus calling with the pastor. That was from 10 am to 12 pm. We had a great morning. After that, I spent a short time at home doing a few very small tasks at the farm before getting dressed to lead the singing at the Youth Conference our church sponsored. That was from 3 pm to 6 pm. From there, Mama and I went to the office to finish going through the Oklahoma list. Sunday morning, I taught the Adult Sunday School Class and Sunday evening, I led the Men’s Meeting before service Sunday night. Needless to say, I did not get much done on the farm, but Mama worked to the point that she was in significant pain by the end of the of the weekend even though she was completing a steroid pack prescribed by the doctor.

The problem with limiting the sensation of pain is that the injury may not be corrected so the source of the pain is not eliminated. Once the analgesic wears off, the pain can often be more intense than it would have been had the medication dulling the pain not been used. That is because, we tend to do more than we should because the pain is not hindering us from tasks that would normally be accompanied by pain; however, what is causing the pain is still an active force in our body. It is only being masked. That is why I often say, pain is our friend. That is certainly the case for Mama this weekend. Hopefully a night of rest and an easy day at school will allow the pain to once again subside. Mama is scheduled for surgery on the 18^th of June. We will have to wait until her consult with the doctor on the 12^th to find out what surgery he is planning. Whether a total knee replacement or a repair of the joint.

Pray for her as she prepares for the surgery and the recovery afterward.