Thursday, November 26, 2009

Thanksgiving '09

We gathered together, those of us who could, and gave thanks for our overwhelming abundance. This year has been a rollercoaster filled with excitement and emotion but, ultimately WONDERFUL! We are greatful for many things
*Our family and friends
*God's provision
*The sweetest most handsome baby ever
*Great relationship and a successful marriage
*A home, and not just any home, our dream home
*Bing's heart condition, without it we may have never met and our life would not have taken all of the turns that have brought us to where we are
*Undeserved grace
This is not an exhaustive list, but it has some biggies:)

Monday, November 23, 2009

Closer, closer, CLOSER!


I talked with our loan officer today, and if all goes well, we should be able to close on Dec. 4th! If we close on the 4th we get to start moving on the 4th. What a whirlwind, even Maddox is shocked at how quick this has gone! I don't even know what to say about it except that we are so very excited and can't wait to have a home of our own.
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Bing has health insurance now....has had it since October. I am a little behind on my updating. With his heart condition, he qualified for CHIP which is a catastrophic health insurance for uninsurable people. The premium is only $200 a month and there is only a 4 month preexisting condition clause, which means he could have surgery January 9th and it would be covered.
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Maddox is teething again and will soon have four teeth on top and only two on the bottom.... awkward. He is still super adorable and has a wonderful temperament. I couldn't ask for a sweeter, more wonderful baby boy.

You can't see it very well in this picture, but tooth number 3 is on the right of his top 2.
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We are heading to Oregon for Christmas. We will leave Billings on the 20th and won't be home until January 2nd. My amazing, wonderful, generous in-laws are keeping Maddox for two nights and putting Bing and I up in an unbelievable rental near Lincoln City. New Years Eve will be spent in Seattle where a gentleman who graduated with Marcia is hosting a benefit ("Bing" in the New Year). 2009 has been an incredible year and I believe that 2010 is going to blow it out of the water. We continue to see blessing after blessing and good things are happening all over the place. What a wonderful life we have.

Our sweet neighbors put rollers in his hair and took incriminating pictures. Thanks guys!


Sunday, November 15, 2009

Ah nuts!

Bing is the best husband ever and is making some beautiful furniture for our new home. His first attempt at making funiture turned out splendidly as you will see. I have two walnut end tables that will eventually have smaller versions to nest beneath them. He is also going to attempt a coffee table made of the same material, once I decide on the look that I want.

Monday, November 9, 2009

L-MoneyMillionaire

We met with a hilarious gal at Western Security Bank today to discuss our financing options and what we can qualify for. She approved the loan for a higher amount so that we can pay off my car with it, apparently that makes me look better somehow. If I work full-time at the wine bar, I personally, without Bing's income, can get a loan to cover our taxes on the house! Our mortgage payment will be almost exactly what we pay now for rent, utilities and my car payment. The house, and the loan are solely in my name, that way, creditors can't come after the house for the medical bills in Bing's name. What a huge blessing! We should be able to close in mid December and be moved in before Christmas.

Praise God for all that is good and wonderful in this world. How can we ever realize his true goodness if we never experience a bit of hardship? He really reveals his power and authority when we admit that we need Him and trust Him for the outcome. Thank you Jesus for showering us with blessings.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Walk this way

Maddox now WALKS. Not just an occasional spurt. He crawls to a solid object, stands up and walks. We are no longer safe in our own home. He watches me go to the bathroom, attacks me while snacking, touches the computer and sound system and insists on throwing away our remotes! I have to check the garbage before taking it out, we now have TWO, count them TWO beard trimmers and no charger. We have lost every remote in the house multiple times and he likes to put things in the toilet and bathtub.... crap.

He is still as sweet as ever. I laid on the living room floor while he was playing and every two minutes or so, he waddled over to me and leaned down for an open mouth kiss before going back to his walking business. He still dances every time he hears a musical tune and he jumps up and down in his crib, all the while watching himself in the mirror and egging himself on. He is the sweetest, most mild tempered and adorable child EVER!!! I am the most blessed woman in the whole-wide-world! I am so happy and I thank the Lord for bringing me Bing and Maddox.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

House update

I have avoided posting news of the house because it seems to change very quickly. I didn't know how to share what was going on without retracting my post and starting over with every little event. I will briefly share the many thoughts and options we've been pondering and end with the latest.

1st- ecstatic, we have a house! We didn't believe we would ever be able to buy a home, due to the massive medical debt and the toll it has taken on Bing's credit rating.

2nd- We were told the income taxes on the house would be more than $100k and we didn't know what we would do. We most likely couldn't get approved for a home loan to pay those taxes and if we could, we probably couldn't afford the monthly payments in combination with all of our other expenses.

3rd- The builders (really wonderful people), offered to buy the house back and build us a less expensive home. By selling, we would have the cash to pay the taxes as well as some of our medical debt and then build something else. We were stuck on this one for a while and were pretty sure this was the solution. It is an awesome solution but not the desire of our hearts.

4th- The appraisal finally came in. The appraiser, knowing our situation, made every effort to appraise the house as low as possible,initially they said it was worth $410,500 but, the final number is...$311,000. Most of the time that isn't a good thing, for us, it means significantly lower taxes and a very, very good possibility that we can finance the taxes and live in our dream home!

That is by no means an extensive list of what has transpired over the last 6 weeks but, the major points are there. Everyday is filled with phone calls, paper work, e-mail, and faxes in order to sort out our debt and apply for financial assistance. We are working hard and praying harder. We are so blessed and we know it!