I'M TRYING . . . REALLY!

I really am trying to post on this lonely little blog more and more. I cannot always promise pictures but if you will be happy with my words . . anyone who knows me knows I have plenty of those!!!
So this weekend was CRAZY!! The kiddos had a swim meet in a nearby town (no overnight travel, yea!!) They had to be at the pool by 7:45 each morning (Saturday and Sunday) and the meet was over by 12 noon. My phone must have rung about 10x Sat morning and 4 or 5 times Sunday morning . . all business calls. yikes. I got back to as many people as possible. I am currently working about 40 foreclosure homes and the calls pour in. I have become a bit . . . um . . I will call it professionally direct but others may call it cold. Bottom line . . I am not wasting my time running all over South Florida so show a home to someone who has all of $500 in the bank and a lousy credit score. Sorry. Not going there. Ask the kids. Not happening.

The kids had an excellent meet. Especially C. He lowered all of his times . . . some by 4 seconds . . which is huge in the world of swimming. He really needed it. He had one swim, the 50yd breast stroke, where I saw a side of him I have never seen. He is defiately on the small side, in height and weight and he is on the blocks with these large boys . . but he has good techinique so that often compensates. As he was coming into the first turn, the other boys were already on their way back to the wall. So sad really, but let me tell you . . the look on his face was intense . . which of course was accentuated with the goggles. To put it crudely . . he was PISSED! It was like one of those slow motion life moments. He knew he had "left it all in the pool" as his coach says. He truly gave it all he had. The other swimmers were just bigger and stronger. The anger I saw on him was on one level disturbing but on another level, refreshing. The bottom line is he came in last in his heat . . but shaved 4 seconds off his best time. He had to pull something from deep within himself . . although it did stem from anger/frustration, that neither his coach nor I could give him. He had to do it himself. Growing up. *sigh*

The afternoon? I met two buyers at two foreclosure. Wrote an offer on one and am getting an offer with deposit on a second one tomorrow. Manna

We did have a hard week this last week in our family and our small S. Fl family. My sister in law who has been down here a couple years longer than us, was diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer. Ugh. They tested 5 lymph nodes and it was positive in all five. Ugh again. Sharon is 53 and a respiratory therapist at the local hospital. She has been able to sort of circumnavigate the system and get a lot of tests run early. She had a bone scan and that came back fine. Praise God! She has a PET scan on Monday and a MRI on Tuesday. Please pray for clear results. She will meet with the oncologist later this week. Needless to say this has rocked their world. My neice is planning a wedding in August and my other neice is at FSU in pre Med. Please pray for them.

Thats about it. D and I are both working hard and the kids are working themselves into more and more responsibilities at home. That's a good thing.
One more happy note. We have started visiting a small PCA church here locally. Small world. . the pastor and his wife were married at Cedar Springs. It is a small church, the teaching is rich, the music is . . . new to us . . more praise and worship with instruments/piano but the childrens programs are pretty large. (considering the size of the church) The middle school has a strong program and C BEGS to go. Now the younger two want to go as well. All the time. Our new routine is to get up on Sunday like it is a school day, get ready, go to Panerea Bread for bagels, sweet rolls, etc, go to the service at 9:30 and be home by 11:30.

Okay . . I'm done.
Remember Sharon in prayer.
Thanks.