Possessions Aren't Important

The Lord wanted to remind me about the relative importance of possessions. You'd think I'd know this, but I have to confess that I've been coveting a new home recently. I was browsing the home listings yesterday and I saw a home for $150,000 that is almost the same size as our house--but on one level. Plus, there is an equally large unfinished basement. That is a total of over 3,000 sq-ft. Plus, it was built only a few years ago. That means current plumbing and electrical that I wish our current home had. Oh, the bounties for the buyer of the short-sell.

But as much as I want that snazzy new home, I just can't afford it yet. I'd need to have a sizable down payment with the tighter lending standards. And I'd have to be able to sell my current home or have enough financial cushion to be able to surf the uncertainty of the rental market. In short, I just don't see it happening, as nice as that would be.

God knew I was still fantasizing, though, so he allowed me to have a reminder that the most precious thing in my life is already here. My wonderful wife and family were in a car accident today. They were all an their way up to my office to spend lunch with me and then head up to visit Keryn's sister in Salt Lake. The freeway was very congested and a whole bunch of traffic braked all at once. Keryn ended up rear-ending the person in front of her and the person behind her rear-ended her in turn.

The van is pretty smashed up. We'll hear within a couple days if the repairs will be less expensive than the value of the car.

As I zipped down to pick Keryn and the kids up, I found that I was just so incredibly grateful that they were all okay. I didn't give two figs about the van. I was just happy to be able to load all the kids into the borrowed car and shuttle them back home. Ezra has a bump on the back of his head and Keryn has a sore knee, but other than that, we seem to be doing great.

The thing that matters most, my family, is just fine.

Missionary Mail

Everyone - Steve's sister Lori had a brilliant beyond brilliant idea. She asked me to see if any of you were interested in helping out. She thought it would be fun to organize ourselves and send Ty a package each month.

She wanted to send him a package for Christmas as many of you have, but realized that Ty would get a lot of mail and then none. So, she thought we could each take a month and send him a care package. It doesn't have to be anything big. You can even just have all your kids write him or draw him a picture. He would love getting the mail. (As all you former missionaries can attest!)

So please post a comment as to what month your family would like if you want to participate. I will fill in the gaps. Let's just do 2011 for now then see how it goes.

THANKS!

The Last Airbender

Too bad Halloween is over. I think that if you put him in a monks robe, handed him a staff, and painted an arrow on his head, Gideon would be a dead ringer for the Last Airbender cartoon guy. :)

St. George anyone??

Hey all you investors. The Ross Family is looking for a "time-share" investment property in St. George. We are trying to get the best real estate bang for our buck while still staying under $200K. Nicole is looking at a couple properties we found online this Saturday while she is there doing some Christmas shopping. (Condo with pool and clubhouse $125,000 and single fam. home fixer-upper on 1/2 acre for $135,000.)

We want to give everyone an opportunity to "buy in". The payments will be under $250 per month depending on how many of you are interested. Mom & Dad are in with Steve & I for sure. Nic & Theo are interested as well. We are not in a rush as we believe interest rates will remain low over the next year. We are waiting for the right opportunity for a family "get away" vacation home.

Details of how we will share the time and expenses will be hammered out among those of us who are interested. Please leave a comment YES or NO so we can go forward (the more of us that pitch in, the bigger better property we can acquire).