House Number 2 in the Crosshairs

The Haps

The house we're trying to get now.
Tara calls it a "cottage", but I prefer "castle".

We're negotiating on a different house now, one that we first looked at last weekend. It's an impressive place, much costlier than the other one but without all the issues it has. Tara and I are pretty much in love with it. 


It has a lot of space, including a completely renovated basement with a big "man room" for my instruments and my Total Gym. If I ever record another album, that will be the room where it happens. I'd like to get back into podcasting, too, if my career and family allow me the time I would need.

Tara is 28 weeks pregnant now.
I finally took a good picture of her!

It's looking like church could keep us pretty busy, too. We joined this church last Sunday after our first visit. We attended a membership class at the pastor's house and were pretty hooked. They expect a lot out of their members, so we'll probably be just as involved there as we were at our church in Saratoga.


Thoughts
I hate to complain, but we're so sick of this hotel. They're not even trying to actually clean our room anymore. It's a relatively cheap room, as hotels go, but the cost adds up really fast. We're paying a lot more to live here than we were paying at our nice condo in New York, so it would be nice if our quality of life were a little better than it is now. As it stands, we're very motivated to get outta here.


Today's Scripture
2 Samuel 9 (NKJV)
Key Verse: (1) "Now David said, 'Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake?'"


Reflection
This short chapter gives us a strong glimpse at the true nature of David's character. We all know about his incredible relationship with his friend Jonathan. I wonder if he feels guilty over the deaths of Jonathan and Saul. He showed no mercy to the man who confessed to killing Saul at his own request, to end his misery (chapter 1). It was the Philistine army who killed Jonathan and mortally wounded Saul, and it was an Amalekite who struck the death blow. But that man went straight to David, probably expecting him to be happy about it. David seemed to go out of his way to show the Israelites that Saul's death was not at all what he had wanted.


Now David is desperate to do anything he can for Jonathan, and since he can't do anything in life, he wants to do something for his family. How happy he must have been to find out that not only did Jonathan have a son still living, but that this son was lame in both feet and had been cut off from Saul's servants somehow. It must have been a great relief to know that he could honor Jonathan's memory for the rest of his life by showing great kindness to his son.


When was the last time I sought to honor someone or show them kindness when I wasn't expected to? I think about that whenever it's time to buy a gift for a family member or friend. There are so many times when I'm expected to show kindness that I sometimes forget to honor someone because they deserve honor, or that I should show someone kindness because God's word says I should and it's the right thing to do. Maybe I should take a lesson from David and really think about other people once in a while, and not just what I can do for myself and my wife.


Prayer
Lord, is there anyone to whom I can show kindness this week? Whom can I honor who wouldn't be expecting it? What difference can I make in someone's life for Your sake?


Thank You for showing us the ultimate kindness by sacrificing Your Son. Thank You, Jesus, for teaching us how to live for God's glory, and thank You for Your death and resurrection. May we give You all the glory You deserve; we pray in Your name.


Final Thoughts
Ok, it's time for babies to get down. They started out in a yin-yang formation, but they were both breech at our last ultrasound. I read that using headphones to play music for them in the womb might be useful for encouraging them to get down, turn around, go to town and boot scootin' boogie to where they're supposed to be for birth. I wonder if that song would work!

Still Seeking a Home

The Haps
Listening to: Rose Melberg, Cars Can Be Blue and similar artists on my "Recommended Radio" at Last.fm, which always plays me a lot more "twee" than it ought to. Kind of nice on a hazy Saturday morning, though.

"Please, we just need a house
before I'm as big as one!"

This has been a much quieter week by comparison. We're not much closer to getting the house than we were last weekend, unfortunately. Tara is still working hard with our realtor.


She woke up noticeably larger yesterday. She showed me an illustration of what our babies look like now, and they're a lot bigger than I realized. We're getting into the third trimester now!


This week I got to write copy for a "tear pad" for cancer patients. It's just a stack of sheets with chemotherapy information that the doctors will rip off and give to their new patients. While lung cancer is a very serious condition, it's exciting to me that one of the first things many newly diagnosed patients will receive will be a page of information that I wrote! That's the kind of thing that drives and motivates me in this job.


Tomorrow we'll finally visit a church and try to make some friends. We could really use a few right now! I guess it's been three weeks since we had anything to do with church. The one we're looking at seems exciting.


Thoughts
The difference in my attitude this month and my attitude when I started my previous job has been very obvious to me. At the end of 2007, I had just been let go from a job, been on unemployment wages for two months, ended up having to move literally a thousand miles away to be employed again in a place far from any place I'd ever been. Not only that, but I had just become engaged to a girl I'd known for about nine months, and it was to be a very short engagement! Looking back, I'm actually happy about how well I was able to get through it, and I know it's only because I was looking to the Lord, and He was beside me the whole time.


How completely different it is this time! My last company actually misses me now, because I suddenly got a lot better at my job at the end of 2009. I'm in one of the happiest marriages I've ever seen, back in a state I already loved, in a workplace that amazes me with really nice people, and about to have twin girls! And, importantly, I have twice as much confidence as I had a few years ago thanks to the experience I've gained since then. I no longer feel like the account executives are talking way over my head--just a little over it sometimes. In short, I'm pretty much right where I want to be in life.


The only question now is...am I where God wants me to be yet? With the Holy Spirit living in me, I can't help but ask that. And I'm glad, because that lets me know He indeed lives in me!


Today's Scripture
2 Samuel 8
Key verse: (11) "King David also dedicated these [gifts] to the Lord, along with the silver and gold that he had dedicated from all the nations which he had subdued..."


Reflection
A short but action-packed chapter. King David is taking over large chunks of the Middle East, including strong nations such as Syria and Edom (an ancient kingdom in what is now Jordan). Apparently God did not have a problem with Israel subduing peoples beyond the borders of the land He had promised His people. It seems as though David made a hobby of that, though it's more likely that he was merely defending his country from the surrounding nations who were threatening it.


David had a rare, special relationship with the Lord. The more powerful he became, the more he recognized the hand of God in everything that occurred. This is very clear when we read his Psalms. How opposite is his mentality from that of so many Israelites in the Old Testament who forgot the Lord in the good times. Unlike them, David didn't need to be defeated by an enemy before he would remember the Lord. He walked with Him in good times and bad and constantly looked for opportunities to show the Lord his gratitude. Who would have expected his predecessor, Saul, to dedicate to God precious metals acquired from his enemies? The word "dedicate" is not used in the Bible during Saul's reign at all!


Prayer
Lord, thank you for this time of blessing in our lives. May we always look for ways to show you our gratitude and give you all of ourselves. Let us walk beside you closely and call upon you in times of peace and plenty as well as in times of need.


Please help Tara and keep her healthy during this final trimester. Help us to find a place to live soon so we can fully prepare for our babies' arrival. And please provide friends for us who will be willing to help when we are in need. Thank you, in Jesus' name.


Final Thoughts
We finally drove through downtown Columbus the other evening, and I felt a little let down. I expected it to be like Dayton only bigger and more exciting. I was not impressed. Fortunately, we really like the northern area where we are staying and working, and we like the little town north of Columbus, Delaware, where we are hoping to live. Northern Columbus is the booming part of town, and it's exciting to be here.


UPDATE: Before I was able to edit and post this, we went up to Delaware to look at the house again. While we were up there, we looked at another, more expensive house. We're seriously thinking about switching. We'll let you know!

First Week in Ohio

The Haps
Current location: Our temporary home at Extended Stay Deluxe Columbus, Polaris. Not sure what makes it "deluxe"...the DVD player? The place isn't that impressive, really, but it's five times the place we were originally going to move into.

Our temporary dwelling.

Listening to: Faceless Sonic Boom, the new, free album by the band girls in the eighties. Lovin' it. They're a noisy pop band playing music similar to the stuff Tara and I did on our album only probably lots better. They sound like a whole choir is singing on a lot of the songs. Very upbeat. Their frontman is my friend on Last.fm, but I would recommend them anyway. Download here. [[Parental Advisory: Explicit Content]]


So many haps in the last two weeks. Our belongings were put on a truck, and we hauled our Pathfinder behind our Expedition all the way to Columbus. Since then Tara has been hard at work finding us a place to live, and we've already signed a contract and starting talking with a mortgage broker! 

The house we hope to get.

We just had the house we want inspected. It's ninety years old, and it has some issues, so there's still a lot to negotiate. I learned a lot about foundations, guttering, mold, furnaces, and lots of other stuff this morning.


Meanwhile, my job is going well so far. I have a tiny office in a huge building. Hundreds of people work at GSW, so there are many opportunities to make friends there. Everyone looks like they're having a good time. It's a really cool and interesting place. I'm spending most of my time learning everything I can about chemotherapy for patients with lung cancer.

"The Eclipse", the "wind kinetic structure"
in front of the building where I work.
There are many such structures by the
same artist in Columbus.

We've also had dinner at a family's house and had a few date nights already. We're getting to know our new surroundings and the community we hope to live in, which is Delaware, Ohio.


Whoa, it's raining like crazy now.


We're spending tomorrow at the hospital where our girls will be born. We'll go to a birthing class for parents of multiples, and we'll get a tour of the delivery area and the neonatal intensive care unit.


Thoughts
Most of my thoughts lately have been about how to make the most of the new opportunities we have here, particularly regarding my new job. When I come home to see Tara, I'm fighting to think about anything besides lung cancer, so I'm definitely engaged. If anyone sees me posting stuff on Facebook, know that those times are the little bit I'm taking during the day to clear my head and think about something else for a minute! When I come home, I'm still reading and learning, or at least thinking about what to do with what I've learned.


I'm the luckiest husband in the world to have a wife who does all the house-thinking for me! She lets me be involved as much as I want, but she's the one who organizes and runs everything. She's more particular about where we live anyway, and I just want her to be happy, so it's really nice that she is leading the way in all the decisions that need to be made.


Today's Scripture
2 Samuel 7 (NKJV)
Key verse: (21) "For Your word’s sake, and according to Your own heart, You have done all these great things, to make Your servant know them."


Reflection
No action in this chapter, but I still love it. David and God have a conversation via Nathan the prophet, and it's a very positive talk...unlike one they'll have a little later in the book. Verse 21 resonates with me a lot right now because it's exactly how I've been feeling toward the Lord lately. His recent blessings toward Tara and myself are tremendous, and it's for no reason that we can see except that He wants to. 


Granted, everything He's blessed us with has caused us some amount of difficulty, but it could have been a whole lot worse, and we have so much to look forward to in the months to come that you'll never hear us complain! We usually have to go through a little bit of hardship to get to the best stuff in life, and this time we can see it coming miles away! 


The crazy thing is how little I deserve any of this. Yes, I serve the Lord, but only when it's fun and easy. I'm no great servant by any means, but He treats me like I am...even though I like to listen to music with explicit content. So I'm crazy grateful to my Lord! 


There is a verse I've been reminded of this past week, and it's weird because it's literally a satanic quote! But it's in Job 1, where God is glorifying His servant Job in a conversation with the devil. In verses 9 and 10, Satan responds to the Lord saying, "Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land."


Prayer
Lord, I do fear you. I know that all you have blessed me with could easily be taken away tomorrow. You give and take away--blessed be the name of the Lord.


Like that old serpent said, you've made a hedge around me, my household and all that I have on every side. You've blessed the work of my hands, and my possessions have increased in the land!


And to quote David, "For Your word’s sake, and according to Your own heart, You have done all these great things, to make Your servant know them." I am so thankful. As he said in verse 26, "Let Your name be magnified forever."


If it's Your will, please continue to help us through this process of getting this house. You see how much Tara wants it...but we want Your will.


Thank you, in Jesus' name.


Final Thoughts
Tara and I were just discussing whether we might have to give up on this house and move into a nice three-bedroom apartment. At this point, we're at the sellers' mercy, and timing is a big issue with our pregnancy. I won't bore you with the details, but there's your update. Thanks to all of you who have prayed, and you can keep it up if you want!