Do I really have enough...

There are days when i feel like I have more than what I need, and certainly more than enough.  However, there are other days that cause me to question if I have enough at all.  I do agree that I have enough to be considered successful in life, however I do feel like there is a major component that is missing.  I have the house, the car, the kid, the education, the friends, the faith, but I do not have the husband.  I know it seems crazy, but I do feel like something is truly missing.  

Do not get me wrong, I have a very supportive family and group of friends.  I have a daughter who I love very much.  Despite all the love and attention I get from these two groups, the love and attention of a spouse/significant other always falls in a different category.  This is the attention that I crave, do not have.  (I know I am supposed to wait on him to find me, and trust me I am trying to do just that. I am just in a place where I feel like if I do not express the way I feel I just may scream.)

I come home, and a home it is indeed, however, I feel like I am missing the husband to welcome me here.  I would love to have someone to debrief my day with, to hug and fall asleep with.  I would love to have someone to come home to to cook for and do all those really adorable things we see in the movies and all go, awwww over.  

Beyond the desires for these things, I also want someone to sit next to during church.  I want to get in the car on Sunday mornings and drive in to church together.  I want to stand around as he talks to someone, and he says Honey, I will just be another minute, sorry to keep you waiting.  That would just melt my heart.  I cannot wait to say, " let me talk to my husband, and I will let you know."  I am excite for the husband God created for me, I am really really excited.  

I have a friend who gave me a very smart piece of wisdom, she told me just as I desire to meet him, I need to cover in him prayer now.  I never thought about praying for my husband, as much as I did praying for a husband.  It may not seem like a big difference there, but there is.  I often pray specifically for the husband I have not yet met, but the one I know God has chosen and is keeping for me.

Tonight would be a great night to hug him goodnight, since I have not met him, I will pray for him and be satisfied.

Flash Forward and Move In

Well, it has been a while and yes, I have many, many things to share.

The last time I posted I had run into a snag with the financing and had pushed back the closing date.  Well I am happy to say I have been in my home for 19 days now, and I am loving it!

We were able to get the financing finalized and were set to close on April 26th at 9am.  I was all packed, down to the couch pillows and headed to pick out new counter tops when I received a call from the lender saying we would not be able to close as scheduled.  Well the underwriter decided they wanted to do a few more things and closing was pushed back a day.  Well this put everything on hold.  I had to call my movers and let them know that I was not moving that day and would try to keep them posted as the process continued.

I was able to close the next day, at 4PM, 30 minutes before a ministry perfomance, but finally, it was closing time.  I took my mother with me and we met the Realtor at the title company, and we were ready to sign on the dotted line.  The blessing in the situation was that I did not have to bring any money to closing, in fact I was told that I had over paid and would be getting a check back.  That was an awesome sound, I mean it was MUSIC to my ears.  So we closed, I received my key, talked to my Realtor, who I consider an amazing friend, and was on my way to my new home, after the performance of course.

By the time I was able to get home, it was after 9pm and way too late to unload the truck.  So, I grabbed what few blankets we could see on the back of the truck, a vacuum (that I went to borrow from my mother) and went in for the night.  We had cleaning supplies ready and cleaned the bathrooms so we could at least be comfortable if we had to go.  We vaccuumed the whole house, and went to sleep. 

MOVING DAY!!!

Since I had already had my movers on stand-by for two days, I couldn't pull myself to ask them to do another day.  So instead, I called on a few of my teens, my bff, and a friend from high school to get the job done.  We unloaded the truck, and went back to collect the last few items.  As we were loading the second truck my mother and another friend were at the house cleaning and unpacking. 

After a couple hours of loading and unloading, we were HUNGRY!  Pizza hut to the rescue!

It was awesome to be in the new house...but...what is all this beeping....

All the batteries in the smoke detectors were about dead, so there was a constant beeping, as each room has one.

So replacing those were on the to do list...

Housing update...

First, I apologize for dropping the ball on the housing blog, but things have been CR-A-ZY!!!

So the offer on the house was accepted, GREAT!!!  There were a few things left to be done.  In the contract the seller agreed to purchase a fridge and update the counter tops, JACKPOT! 
Now with an accepted offer, I needed to get an inspection and set a date for closing.  One thing I learned very quickly, is that you have to be present for everything!

The inspection was scheduled and I was ready.  The day of the inspection, I took a few hours off work, had cash in hand and headed to my new home.  I walked the behind the inspector the whole time, and learned a lot about my new home.  I walked through every detail, except the roof.  I was happy to find that the inspector had a hard time finding much wrong with the house.  While I knew the house had been rehabbed, I was not sure how well it was done.  Much to my satisfaction, it was done very well.  At the end of the inspection, the inspector printed out a copy of the report, put it in a notebook and went over it with me.  It was helpful, he told me the major as well as the minor things that needed to be taken care of, what the expected cost would be and even offered to come back out and reinspect once the work was done. 
I also got a termite inspection since, it was an additional $50 and well worth it to know that there was no sign of the mites!

After the inspection, I put in a request to the seller to fix the things that came up in the inspection, and what do you know, they agreed!  The biggest thing that needed replaced was the electrical panel and that would have cost me a few thousand dollars to get done.

Finally, it was time to schedule closing, April 4, 2012!

It is such a great feeling when things work the way they are supposed to, except when they dont.

I ran into a snag with the financing.  There was an old debt that had not been taken care of and now I have to push my closing back.  A new date has not been set, but I will update you as soon as I know when it is. 

I will do a special blog, with many picture on: THE PACKING PROCESS....

Hampton's Home-buying Happenings --We have a decision...

So I was at work as usual when I remembered I scheduled a meeting to sign papers about the house.  I raced out of the office to the place I should have been 10 minutes before I actually arrived.  While checking in I missed a call from Mikki, so I gave her a call back.  She had been trying to get in touch with me since the night before.

She had something important to tell me, they reviewed the offer and accepted it!!!  Yay, one step closer to owning a home!  Now the important details...financing...I have a lot to say about this and cannot do it just right now...I will update in the next few days...this process is exciting which leads to exhaustion!  

Hampton's Home-buying Happenings Placing an offer..

So Tuesday was a really big day for me.  My kid had a performance at school, and she was awesome.  Beyond that, it was the big day.  It was "Make an Offer Day".  I met Mikki at Subway none the less, (I love that she is so accommodating) to sign the offer.  We had talked earlier in the day and decided to offer $1000 above list and ask for a new fridge, counter tops and closing costs.  It was a little nerve racking.  We gave until Friday at 5 PM for them to make a decision on the offer.

I was not worried about them accepting or countering the offer.  I believe this is my house and I guess I don't feel like things will be anything but decent and in order when it come to the whole situation.

I have since had to sign many papers and prepare many documents that reflect income and such.

So I waited to hear back on Wednesday...

I heard on Wednesday that the listing agent had no issue with putting a Fridge in the house...Uh yeah, a good sign!

More to see--Hampton's Home-buying Happenings 2/28/2012

So I started this whole home search process a few months ago and have viewed many homes.  I must admit I have grown slightly anxious about finding the home that had everything I wanted and did not require me to compromise.  After what felt like looking at a billion homes online, avoiding house hunters for a few months (ill explain why later) and taking my lunch hour to view homes.  I believe I found my jewel.

Not that I am a professional or anything but here are somethings I found helpful along the way.

1. Finding an amazing Realtor, Mikki Armstrong is by far the greatest at what she does.  My Realtor made it a point to make me know I was a priority.  I mean there was one night I was up until the wee hours of the night looking at homes online, I texted Mikki to ask if she could include one of the houses in our Saturday viewing.  (Mikki had given me permission to text her at ANY time)  I sent her a text at 11:30 thinking she would see it the next morning, however, about 10 minutes later she replied letting me know the game plan for the next day and continued working on the details that night, or should I say morning.

2. Know what you want and be willing to reconsider.  I went in knowing I wanted a 3 bed 2 bath, finished basement and garage.  Anything else was a bonus, anything less was not acceptable.  However, I also knew my price range and quickly learned that in my price range what I wanted was definitely possible I just had to decide if I wanted more in terms of space or upgrades.  Going in I wanted both.  I was being unrealistic.  That is another place my awesome Realtor stepped in and explained to me the differences in what I wanted verses what I could afford.  She was very knowledgeable and was able to find a place that gave me both and was less that what I budgeted!  JACK POT!

3. Do your homework.  I researched different home buying programs that are available in my area, and ones that gave the biggest benefits since I am a first time home buyer.  With the help of Mikki, we found a program that works for me.  It is amazing, it pays 20% down on my home as well as some closing costs.

4. Go home and sleep on it.  I did this after each showing.  I knew right away there were some homes that I had no interest in at all, but there were also some homes that I thought I would love to live in.  After getting home and having a chance to go over the practicality of the homes, I often found that the houses I REALLY liked were not always the best option for me.  I had to consider things such as utilities.  While I would love to have a HUGE sitting room, with vaulted ceilings, how much would it add to my monthly expenses to heat and cool those rooms?  These are things to think about, even when you get an AMAZING price on the home.

5. Consider your visitors.  For me this was a very important aspect because I love to entertain and just have people over.  I had to consider if having a home without a large driveway would work for me.  I wanted to find a place where people could park on the street and not cause me to be hated by all my neighbors.  I did not want a place with too many stairs for several reasons. It was also to have a place with sidewalks out front because I am know as the "kid house".  I have a young daughter and am a Children Ministry Teacher so I always have a kid running around some where.  Sometimes thinking about the smallest details will make or break a deal and save you headache in the long run.

6.  Go with who you know.  One thing my Realtor did for me was recommend people to me that she had also used.  She told me at the beginning that she has worked with lots of people in the profession and has lenders that she prefers to work with.  She even went a step further to say, I recommend people that I have had to work with on a personal level first.  She recommended people that she had her own children use, and that made me feel so much more at ease.  I must admit that all the people she has put me in contact with have been AWESOME!!! They work with me as if I am the only person they have to deal with and that make me feel like a Queen!  I love it!

Where has the time gone...

So I am not so great with this whole blogging thing, but I continue to try my hand at it.  I have started another blog about my journey to fitness entitled: Feeling for Fitness.  I am in the early stages, and enjoying ever minute of it.  I will soon be blogging here about the home buying process!

Things in life are going well!  I am in the process of buying my first home!  It is both fun and frustrating at the same time.  I think this will be a large part of my blog focus! 

Well this is it for the moment!

Back to doing better

So, its been more than a few months since my last posts.  I make no apologies but I have had the urge to blog so here I am.  I've been listening to poetry this morning, so I thought I would try my hand at it.

Changes

Are things that happen over time
Often necessary, but rarely embraced
Causing the worried look to rest upon the face
If only it was a different time or place
I mean, I would if I could, and yes I understand that I should
However right now, the time just isn't good.

Sometimes I fear it, but pray that God bring me near it
I want to adjust and be different but it just might hurt
I pretend to be void of strength when i am really just lazy and don't want to do the work

It requires me to deny the things that seem sweet like pie
Makes me face the truth and escape the lie
That everything is okay and life is just fine
But really I know that is just the enemy's favorite line
Convincing me to flee from God and his perfect love for me

Change is a blessing and from it is taught a real true lesson
God came and made a change, sinners like you and me still think its strange
He gave his only son, to save us from our sin
The funny things is despite my lifestyle He would do it again
 Thank you Lord, that through your change in me, I've read the back of the book, and I know I win!

When you enter...

Psalm 100

A psalm. For giving grateful praise. ¹ Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
 ² Worship the LORD with gladness;
   come before him with joyful songs.
³ Know that the LORD is God.
   It is he who made us, and we are his^[a];
   we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
 ⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving
   and his courts with praise;
   give thanks to him and praise his name.
⁵ For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
   his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Yesterday's worship was nothing short of amazing.  It is so true that when you enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with Praise that the Lords shows up and shows out.  Just to give an indication of how the Lord worked in our worship services yesterday...We started service at 11 am...and are normally dismissed from service about 1:15, 1:30 at the latest.  Well yesterday, the Minister didn't get up to minister until 1:05ish!

The presence of God was truly in that place.  Healing, deliverance, restoration, forgiveness, was abounding yesterday.  I don't really have the words to express the atmosphere accurately. 

Worshipers came in with a mind of worship.  No one was looking to the left or the right, but had their minds on Christ and was able to enter into his presence.  It was truly a beautiful sight.  Ministers were humbling themselves and were kneeling at the alter, confessing their situations to the Lord.  This was awesome, it opened the door for others to come and come boldly to seek Christ.  It was truly a place of healing.  Bondage was set free, and yolks were broken. 

Intercessors moved through the congregation without limits, praying and laying hands on people.  Petitioning Christ on behalf of others.  You could see the burdens being lifted.

I've not experienced anything more amazing, than what I did yesterday.  I am thankful to be apart of God's Kingdom.  Apart of something so miraculous.  I am grateful for my spiritual gifts, prayer is a beautiful thing!

When your story is told, what way it say?

I have been going back and forth with myself a lot lately.  Trying to decide if what I am doing is what I should be doing.  There are many questions that remain unanswered.

As we all know, we are living in the last days and have been for a while.  This causes me to think about many things.  One of which is, when its time to tell my story, what will it say?  I find myself going out on limbs for people, who often, leave me there alone.  I find my heart supporting the dreams of those who need supporting, but aren't always willing to take the necessary leap.  More importantly I find myself saying yes, when I really want to say no, but something forces the three letters out before I can form the two.

I am in a decent position in life, but by no means where my heart desires to be.  For years I have given excuses for why I am not able to do what I should be doing.  There is a bigger one in my way currently, that I can't seem to figure out.

I am stuck in a place, trying to figure out my story.  I want to tell a story that touches hearts and sparks a desire to change for the better.  I want to tell a story that makes me look back over my life and smile because I honored my heavenly father and made change here on earth.  I want to tell a story that is uniquely mine.  It doesn't have to matter to everyone, be read by anyone, as long as it seen and needed by at least one.

So much...

So much has been going on in my life, there are times when I am not sure if I am coming or going.  As you can tell I have given up on blogging everyday.  There simply is not enough time.  I am going back to the goal of strong meaningful posts!

I have not jumped ship!

I have not forgotten my mission or my commitment.  However, those very things are keeping me from blogging. I will do a general recap of the days I have failed to blog.  Sorry

I have not jumped ship, I will get back to it!

One thing I am excited about it a new budget setup for June!  Details to come!

Day 18

Today was a good day overall.  It was not very busy, but it was a good day.  There is not a lot worth mentioning.  I wanted to blog to keep my commitment, but I do not have anything great to say.

The best thing that came from this day was my Mini Me coming up with the wording for the Teens Shirts:  Solid teachers teaching solid soldiers!  I am so excited to see where this goes!

Day 17

Today I must admit, is a reality check for me and I am not happy with the results.

I have been uneasy the last week or with the different things that have been happening, and especially with the weather.  I have even been questioning if I am doing all that God has called and asked me to do. I know that I have fallen short recently and that is a big factor.  I have done what I know I need to do for repentance, but for some reason (conviction) I feel like it hasn't been enough.  I know that one trick of the enemy is to use guilt to make us feel like we have done something to awful to be redeemed from whatever it was that you did.  I know that my heart is sincere and that my sins are forgiven.  I guess it is knowing that I sinned against my Lord, that hurts me the most.

Today was a challenge because we had sever weather that required us to evacuate our office.  I was fine at first, I grabbed my wallet, went to the hall and began to pray.  I was fine, I knew everything would be okay.  Then the hype began and instead of being the calm through the storm, I got caught in the storm.  I began to freak out too.

I talked to my BFF who confronted my fears and quickly reminded me that as a believer I have no business being scared.  That was enough to calm me down. 

I have been dealing with this situation all day.  I am going to pray my way through it.

Day 16

Today is Tuesday, and I am having a messy day.  My emotions are all over the place and I am not sure how I feel about much of anything today.

Today I decided I needed to do something nice and selfless for someone else.  I stopped on my way to work and got a rose for a great friend of mine, TM!  I know she like fresh flowers, and I wanted to brighten her day.  I didnt want to be overwhelming, but simple enough to let her know, she makes a difference. 

 

I was able to see my friend Sir today.  He came up to my office to chat for a bit.  It was pretty awesome to talk to a friend that I dont see often.  I was able to talk and he was available to listen and that made the day go better.   He gave me a couple of gifts which was sweet.   A book on prayer, something I plan to start today, and a card game, scattergories.    It was really nice seeing him!!!  We are gonna have a game day on Monday, and I am EXICITED-

I bought a pair of Fila Skele-toes yesterday, and I believe I love them.  I am wearing them for the first time today and they feel awesome.  I think I am going to spring for another pair.  I want the Vibrams because they have five individual toe spots and they come in several colors and styles.  I really really like these.  I am going to get some toes socks and be HAPPY!

I had lunch with my Mini Me, we went to eat Chicken, it was good but the company was even better!

The evening went well, I picked up my kid, we did a little shopping and spent the rest of the night with each other.  We had Bible Study, we were in Ephesians 6 looking at the Armor of God, prayer, dinner, made dessert and went to bed.  It was a cool night, the kid even slept in the bed with me!!! 

This is our pan of brownies before going into the oven.  We made chocolate brownies with Caramel (the heart and zig-zag line are the caramel).  We were not able to eat them because the kid had to go to bed, but tonight we will enjoy them with milk!

Day 15

WOW!!! Where to start for today!  I woke up and was getting ready for work, when my TSINW showed me this BOULDER on her finger!!! She went to take her guy to meet her parents over the weekend, they gave their blessing and he proposed yesterday!! EXCITING!!!

 

I wish my entire day was as great.  I was on my way to work and ran into an issue with a shower I am planning.  I was able to handle the situation without loosing my cool.  I had just been reading in James and it really helped me keep my tongue, Thanks James LOL!

I ate the lunch I brought to work today, which was good.  I am trying to be more fiscally responsible, but it is not as easy getting adjusted to as I would like.  I enjoy enjoying life and I want to get to a place where I can do that on a larger scale.  I have decided that I will no longer eat my cation, but I will live it.  That being said, I need to brown bag it instead of going out to grab it!

My plans for the evening were to run errands and prepare for a few showers I am helping with, but life caused things to go differently.  I received a text asking that I pray for a young man that went to High School with many of my youth group teens.  He had been shot, so that evening my BFF invited me to go to the mall with them.  We went to the mall and clowned around like we always do.

A
Funny Story:  We went into wet seal at the mall, they were having a 1 cent sale for things on clearance.  This bracelet was there so I tried it on, okay well I forced it on my arm.  I had to pull and pry it off.   As I hid behind the wall in shame...my bff tried to take a picture, "for the sake of the blog" is what I was told.  I know my BFF enough to know better.  I was able to pry the bracelet of, so I wanted to take a picture of such a painful yet cute bracelet.  My kid was happy to model for me. 

 

Me and the Kid in JC Penny next to the Khaki Working Men, just seemed like a good photo op!

 Me and the Mini Me doing what we do best, acting a fool!!! I know you cant tell but we are SQUEEZING into the awesome Ninja Turtle jackets.....one of us even needed help getting it off!  LOL!!!

 

The Kid felt like trying some things on as well, she does know how to accessorize!

 

We were going through the mall and were trying many of the free demonstrations, Summie was able to get her hair curled as this lady tried to convince us to buy the next new thing.  A flat iron that was 100% ceramic, but when I asked about it versus an Ionic Iron, she said " I am trying to remember 8th grade science, not a good sign, most ceremic irons have ionic technology built in and...well enough said.  Her hair was cute afterwards though!

 

After the mall we went and got dinner, while there we got a call saying the young man earlier did not make it, and we went to the hospital and supported our teens in a difficult time.  While I did not know the young man personally, it hit me extremely hard.  I thank God for our teens and the fact that they are being honest in what they do and who they are.  I pray that they continue to grow and evangelize to their friends.   

I had a talk with my TSINW when I got home, there are some things that we have to deal with before I can celebrate with her whole heartedly, this is challenging for me, so I am really praying my way through it all.  I have been in this situation before, except I was on the giving end, which makes receiving it that much more difficult because I have to deal with the pain I caused as well as the pain I am experiencing.  EEEK!!! Looking forward to healing and tomorrow!

SORRY ITS MESSY

OK!!!! So I started some blogs and saved them so I could add pictures, some I thought I posted but did not, so my days are a bit out of order, I am sorry!  I will try to be more organized, but I make no promises!  On a side note, they are all labeled!

Day 12

Phew!!! I didn't think this would happen!  I am caught up on blogging!

Today I didnt everything I wanted to do, NOTHING at all.  I took the kid to school and spent the rest of the day in my in house out of town vacation!  I laid around, watched TV (netflix) and had milk and cookies.  I did a little laundry, made some jewelry and took a nap.  I woke up, went to get a pedicure, out to dinner and am now back home, blogging!

At the nail shop, it was interesting.  I got the deluxe pedicure, and I must say it was worth every dollar. Mixed with two leg scrubs, a mask, and hot towels.  I tried the crackle polish, first it was the white top over pink polish and it looked like I had some fungus!!! So I switched to pink over white, much better!

I wanted to go to Golden Corral for dinner, so we went to the one in Independence, which was out the door packed, so we went to Cheddars, they were just as busy so we drove to OLATHE to eat at Golden Corral, they were not busy at all.  I went with Maze and Mini Me.  We laughed, joked and had a great time.  I was even able to make my Mini Me drive home.  She forced me to hold the keys, I bet she regrets that now.

I am going to enjoy the rest of a quiet evening here at home!  Til tomorrow- toodles!

Day 8-11

This is a cheat and I know it, but I am okay with it.  This is covering an entire week.  I have been busy and not able to blog as I planned so I will make this one cover a larger span of time in an attempt to get caught back up.

Monday
Monday was a good day.  Not a lot of things happened.  I had a rough hair day because I decided to take my hair down that morning.  Which was not really the problem, but I did not have a game plan once it was down.  So I had a portion that looked like a puff and a portion that looked like a fresh twist out.  By the end of the day, I was shamed!!!

I indulged in a guilty pleasure during the day, I drank a pineapple pop.  my dad calls it picnic pop, I call it good!

Held a youth leaders meeting at my house. We had sandwiches with cheddar cheese, smoked turkey, tomatoes, pickles, horseradish mustard and potato bread.  Homemade (country time) lemonade and strawberries! It was fun to laugh and joke with adults!

Tuesday
I was super excited!!! I ordered a box chain necklace to go with one of my graduation gifts and it arrived!! It was awesome, I really like the gift and was stoked that I could wear it!  It looked even better because I had done my hair that morning, which meant I looked fly from head to toe!

Wednesday
Wednesday was an awesome day.  At Youth Group we celebrated all of our graduates from the class of 2011.  We had cake, ice cream, drinks and games!  We played Taboo and Scattergoires.  Both awesome games, but not necessarily easy to play when you are playing with a room full of teens!

Thursday
Thursday was a good day.  Before the day started, I decided I would do something nice for my kid.  She fractured her thumb a month or so ago and has a cast on.  I thought it was be a good idea to add some jewels for coolness.  Then it was off to a long day at work, but good none the less.  For lunch we had Charlie D's fish and it was awesome!  For the evening there was not a lot I needed to do, which is always nice.  I ran a few errands and came home to relax.  Talked on the phone and called it a night!

Day 14

GRADUATION SUNDAY!!!

Today was an awesome day!!!  Many of my teens graduated from High School and I got to see it happen.

My day started off with prayer service.  It is always nice to help set the atmosphere of praise and worship for the days service.  We had Sunday school class and it was interesting.  We came from Matthew 24 addressing the false prediction that the world was coming to an end yesterday evening.  It was refreshing to hear what my kids felt and thought on the subject.

Children's church was pretty fun.  We are going through the full armor of God.  I am trying to get my kids to understand that they NEED to have their Bible's with them everywhere they go, but especially to church.  I often remind them that "coming to church w/o their Bible, is like coming to church naked!"  Saying the word NAKED to a bunch of small kids is the perfect way to get a reaction!  So today we began our unit!  I will keep you posted.

My friend bought her guy friend to church today for the first time, I've met him before, but this was a big step for them.  I blew it!!! I didn't speak to him at church, and they had a intense discussion about it as they drove from church.  So I took a trip to where they were to personally speak and apologize!!! Might I add I had to climb over 30 steps in the heat!!!

GRADUATION
Today I got to see four of my teens graduate today and they were awesome!  The ladies looked lovely!!! Afterwards we went to Golden Corral for dinner, it was delicious!  Needless to say I am exhausted and headed to bed with a sense of accomplishment, my blog is up to date!!!