DONE!

So THANK YOU GOD!! our mortgage is done ~ ~ ~ aaaaahhhhhh ~ ~ ~ what a relief! AND we prayed that we would be approved for a LOC for buildling costs which grow higher than the scheduled bank draws, and the lady we met with at the bank said it shouldn't be a problem! THANKS AGAIN! All that is left is signing/closing the lot deal, which will happen within a week or so. How fantastic <:D We were also quite pleased to hear that our lot value went up significantly since our initial offer a couple months ago, thanks to spring-$-fever of wealthy Albertan tourists. They bought out two whole lake-side developments in less than 2 weeks, raising everybody's property value significantly! And since we are building our house ourselves (Kev's self) our house value has been estimated as double what we're paying for it (we took a peek at the appraisal when we were at our bankers office when she ran out to the photocopier). Considering our house is a very basic, rather small, box shaped, cabin type home, and is worth less than half of what most homes in this area are worth, we are extremely fortunate to double our value! It's quite shocking really. I just can't express in words how greatful we are to God for this opportunity to get ahead. I realize every gift is completely undeserved but can't help feeling that it's been a long time coming, struggling, waiting and sometimes begging. Greatful. I'm also going to take this opportunity to thank Him ahead of time for providing for the somewhat large mortgage payments to come;) Thanks for all your prayers!

Gas Prices

I came across an email from a friend titled, "Gas for less, really!" I thought it was a brilliant idea (if the masses would all participate) and passed it on to all my fellow Canadians who were able to participate. I got one response. Have a look at the initial forward and then the response:) I had to laugh. (ONCE AGAIN, SORRY FOR THE RUN-ON PARAGRAPHS...I STILL CAN'T GET BLOGGER TO COOPERATE ON THAT ONE) "GAS FOR LESS - REALLY!": This was originally sent by a retired Coca Cola executive. It came from one of his engineer buddies who retired from Halliburton. It's worthy of our consideration. Join the resistance! I hear we are going to hit close to $1.50 a litre by summer and it might possibly go higher! Want gasoline prices to come down? We need to take some intelligent, united action. Phillip Hollsworth offered this good idea. This makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the "don't buy gas on a certain day" campaign that was going around earlier! The oil companies just laughed at that because they knew we wouldn't continue to "hurt" ourselves by refusing to buy gas. It was more of an inconvenience to us than it was a problem for them. BUT, whoever thought of this idea, has come up with a plan that can really work. Please read on and join with us! By now you're probably thinking gasoline priced at about $.79/litre is super cheap. Me too! It is currently $1.10 for regular unleaded in my town. Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us to think that the cost of a litre of gas is CHEAP at $.79 - $.99, we need to take aggressive action to teach them that BUYERS control the marketplace..... not sellers. With the price of gasoline going up more each day, we consumers need to take action. The only way we are going to see the price of gas come down is if we hit someone in the pocketbook by not purchasing their gas! And, we can do that WITHOUT hurting ourselves. How? Since we all rely on our cars, we can't just stop buying gas. But we CAN have an impact on gas prices if we all act together to force a price war. Here's the idea: Starting June 1 of 2007 DON'T purchase ANY gasoline from the biggest Company in Canada. Petro Canada ! If they are not selling any gas, they will be very quickly inclined to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit. Think about this. Petro Canada has 1500 retail locations and the entire country consumes 68 million gallons a day. Yes per day. And Petro Canada is Canada's largest gasoline retailer, the doesn't it make sense that the consumer can bring this giant to its knees and force them to lower their prices. But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of Petro Canada gas buyers. It's really simple to do! Now, don't wimp out at this point.... keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions of people. I am sending this note to 30 people. If each of us sends it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300) ... and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000)... and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth group of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers. If those three million pass it on to ten friends each, then 30 million people!! Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people. That's all. (If you don't understand how we can reach 30 million and all you have to do is send this to 10 people.... How long would all that take? If each of us sends this e-mail out to ten more people within one day of receipt, all 30 MILLION people could conceivably see this within the next 8 days!!! Acting together we can make a difference. If this makes sense to you, please pass this message on. I suggest that we not buy from Petro Canada UNTIL THEY LOWER THEIR PRICES TO A REASONABLE PRICE AND KEEP THEM DOWN. RESPONSE EMAIL: Morning Kendra, I admire your optimism, good luck with that! I suspect that the author of the plan may not have a firm grasp on the realities of supply and demand. If in fact the only reason gas prices are high is that the gas companies are ripping us off, then the plan may have a chance. If, as I suspect, wars in gas producing countries, terrorist threats to production and supply facilities combined with our own insatiable greed for fuel has something to do with the price, then there is no way this will work. At best you may force the prices down very briefly; at worst you would drive one or more companies into bankruptcy leaving you at the mercy of the remaining companies with reduced competition. The end result would be still higher prices due to reduced refining capacity. Just food for thought. Have a great day! Love, Dad.

Ugh...

...well, I'm back to that frusterating moment of wondering how long my computer will take before it finally decides to cooperate with Blogger... uuuuuuuhh. I have some great pics I've been wanting to post for over a week but I'm still not able to. Anyway I can still give an update I suppose. :) Today is one of those rainy days that leaves you with too much time to think. I sometimes try to escape those days by watching a good movie, or I'll try soaking up and enjoying the refreshing weather with a cup of tea by the window. But today it seemed impossible to escape and Kev and I both found ourselves a little discouraged. Some days it's hard not to think about the price of living around here - like when you drive past the gas station ($1.29/L) and have to make numerous trips to a small city over an hour away b/c it ends up being more cheaper than paying for groceries at the local grocery store. It's also difficult not to think about when you suddenly become aware that there are things to pay for which you don't have the money for... such as our vehicles. We just got Kev's work truck fixed (which breaks down on a monthly average) and now our trooper (SUV) sounds ill. It actually needs a lot of work done on it to make it a relatively pleaseant drive - right now it's barely getting by with a smashed back door, broken AC, broken ABS, a few electric issues with the rear wiper, back power lock and passenger power window, a majorly cracked windshield and what seems to be a wheel bearing in need of replacement. Kevin's motorbike is the nicest of all our vehicles and we had a serious caller today from Vancouver Island who may just buy it in a week or so. THAT is actually great news financially!!! and I'm praying it goes through! However it's still frusterating to think that after we pay out all we owe we will still be in the red. Perhaps it's a reality for most people and you just never hear about it b/c it's become an accepted part of life for them? I just can't accept living like that. Did God intend for us to live beyond our means when we are rarely indulging in anything more extravagant than a trip to the hot springs or DQ once in awhile? I believe he desires to bless us beyond the basics of life. Perhaps this is just a period in time where we need to continue to be patient? I can't help but wonder sometimes if I've missed the boat somewhere. He's been teaching us quite a bit about finances in the past few years, but has he provided some profound knowledge or means to living "better" (in the black) that we've floated right by? I pray not. Another thing we've been beginning to wonder is how long we will be happy in Canal Flats, where we're planning to build. Although in a beautiful area, it's further from our friends here and is quite a tiny town. Our mortgage is a fixed 5yr. term so we're pretty much committed for some time. We're asking ourselves ~ will we be happy there for so long? will there be a church nearby to be a part of? will we make friends nearby? It's times like these where we both miss Kelowna so much. But we believed this to be a good move so we're trusting blindly that God will bless us with the necessities of life, good friends, good fellowship in some form, etc etc etc. :) I feel a little burst of joy b/c I know He will provide and don't need to dwell on the emotions of dreary weather! So I'll end here:)

We have a walker!!!

Atalie started walking today :D Yeaaa!! It's seemed like a long time coming but our little crawler is now becoming a walker. She's had good balance for months and has been walking while holding onto things for just as long, but she seemed afraid to let go and take that first step (she tends to be very cautious, which is rather mysterious b/c I don't think she gets it from Kev or myself). Kev came home from work and we thought we'd try coaxing her to walk from one person to the other, only a few feet apart. She actually went for it this time! From then on she was back and forth, back and forth... she even walked half way to Kevin and decided that she didn't want to go that direction so she turned around and headed to the diningroom! We were quite pleased to say the least, however this does seem to come at an akward time ~ we're going camping this weekend and I can imagine the amount of dirt she'll be rousing from the ground every time she falls down. Oh boy... it begins;) Now if only I could figure out how to get the video from our camera to the blogsite (our computer doesn't download videos very well so I'd have to bypass it somehow and upload directly to a site of some kind)

On our way...

So I heard from our mortgage broker today. Our mortgage has been approved but we are waiting on word from the appraisor, which should happen by Friday (3 days from now). YEA!!! In reality, I have no idea the significance or effect of the appraisors estimated lot value on our mortgage but I am thrilled to be past the money stage. WOOOHOOO!!! I couldn't handle any more talk about expenses and estimates... I'd almost rather shoot myself in the foot than have to dig that all up again. Now don't any of you "experienced" builders get me wrong - I realize the biggest challenge of KEEPING the budget is yet to come. But it's such a relief to be thinking about stage two! I'm praying that the mortgage will continue smoothly until the papers are signed and we can order our house package. YES! I guess then the new prayer will be for wisdom and speed in building this thing. Anyway, here's another glance at what we've been looking forward to (scroll to the bottom of the page once opened). Thanks for all your prayers (and please don't stop!) :D

Mothers...of all kinds:)

Yesterday was Mothers Day ~ my day:) Infact, it was my second one ever and it was quite something to think back to when Atalie was just a wee little one who couldn't talk or crawl or really do anything "noticeable" to anyone other than Kev or myself. She was (and still is, to a lesser degree) completely dependant on us. If she were in need of anything, all she'd have to do is cry and we would "fix" it. Well, I couldn't help but smile this morning when I saw another mother doing the same for her little one(s). Much to my dismay, I noticed a nocternal, smelly little creature running back and forth along the road infront of our house in broad daylight! It was a skunk, and she was in quite the hurry! She wasn't wandering around or trying to be discreet, she was in plain site rushing back and forth, back and forth. I'm not sure how many times she's done this already but I just noticed her going by for a fourth count, but this time she was carrying something tiny and floppy in her mouth. Food?! was my first thought. No. Not during the day like that. I got a better look to see that she was carrying one of her babies in her mouth:) She must have been moving them to another location. And now I'm just dying to find out why and where, and boy would I love to get a better look at those lil' ones (it was soooo tiny!!). Anyway, I'm not about to sneak up on a skunk - that is for sure. But it was just the sweetest thing I've seen an animal do! Clearly her babes were in danger or she likely wouldn't be moving them in broad daylight, running tirelessly in plain site. I don't know why but it was touching:) I hope she gets them all there alright (and that "there" is not near our house).

Icecream Monster!

...continuing the previous post, we made a quick trip to Dairy Queen for some icecream...mmmmm! Atalie is just too dang smart already. The moment we sat down she hollered for icecream ~ then decided to give it a try herself (maybe we just weren't fast enough fo her?!) as she just learned how to use a spoon and is loving the new-found utensil! pretty dang good ...right down to the last bite! :D

Mothers Day weekend

This weekend was a good one! We started out by having a relaxing day Saturday... pancakes in the morning and yard work in the afternoon. Atalie had a blast sitting on the deck watching Daddy mow the lawn, then trim the hedges, then mow it again (this is Lawn Master art coming into play) ;) Well, truthfully there was quite a bit of "stress", shall we say, between the pancakes and yard work. Getting the lawn mower out of the garage was quite the effort, as it was tucked behind all our storage boxes in the very back... Kevin came out stinking like gas and grumbling about a sore back b/c he had to lift it over his head (thus the gas smell - poured out all over him). Saturday evening I got to go for the first cruise of the season with Kev, then we had some friends over for a bbq and fire (complete with smores!!!) in the backyard. Sunday was also pretty good, inspite of a lack of sleep from the night before. Mom :D got breakfast in bed ~ french toast, orange slices & tea!! We headed out for lunch after church and came home to spend the reeeeest of the day indoors, as it was quite a wet, droopy day outside. We're ending it off with a trip to DQ :) YEA!! Here's some pics from the weekend:

Summer Fun (in Spring)

Most of these were taken today. The one of Atalie and Kev BBQing was last night (burgers..mmm!). It's been so nice here lately that Atalie and I have been summerin' it up outside in our shorts and tanktops:)

Something nice :D

Taken today. As you can see, Atalie is learning how to use a spoon, and another spoon, and there's even a "dipper" in there, which is supposed to help them learn the hand-mouth coordination... she chose all three:) Taken last weekend ... we appreciate our weekends so much here!! It's fantastic living infront of the lake and going for walks now that the weather is sunny and warm! Kevin works four 10hr days so he gets Friday, Saturday & Sunday off. Yea!! Atalie loves to climb all over her Daddy and will take any piggyback ride she can get. Taken after opening a belated birthday gift she got in the mail from her good friends in Kelowna. She was very pleased to get some new shoes ("soos") and pj's... the shoe thing seems to be quite the fascination(!), I think it may be the velcro. Taken from the kitchen window as we were making french toast last weekend. This little guy hung around each time we came outside and didn't even mind me sneaking up to him outside while he was taking a sunny nap!

Change of plans

So... I'll put our rental situation in a nutshell: we had to be out of our current house by May 15th and were in quite a rush to get packing and find a place to rent. So when we got a phonecall on Sunday saying that a place suddenly became available, we thought that finding something so soon was an answer to prayer which came at just the precise moment. But come to think of it I think we were just excited to have found something so quickly (which we needed!) and thought it might be foolish to turn away from the opportunity at the time. I spoke with the landlord again today to confirm some housing/moving details and well, our (lengthy!!! one-sided) conversation just didn't sit right with me. It's one thing to have an "odd" neighbor who you happen to see once in awhile as you're pulling into the driveway, but it's another when he lives in the same building as you, is home all day, likely very lonely b/c he obviously doesn't know how to carry on a two-sided conversation with another human being, and has a key to your suite... not to mention me being home alone with 1 (soon to be 2) little ones. Don't get me wrong, he didn't say anything too inappropriate, but he sure has a habit of saying whatever strange thing comes to his mind and rambling on for any amount of time (he's retired - at a young age). And what's interesting is that up until this very evening, I would have been the first person to say "well just b/c he isn't very social doesn't mean he's a bad guy" or "I don't want to pass judgements on him based on 2 conversations" or worse "I'm sure nothing will become of it, we just need to trust God" and "with God I have nothing to fear". Now I say that those last two are the worst b/c I think that the knowledge of God's desire to protect us can lead us to make foolish decisions based soley on that fact - when really, two means of protection which He has given us are the Holy Spirit (intuition) and a brain (which include intelligence and logic). If we ignore those two very useful tools we are only getting ourselves into trouble. It has been a weakness of mine to put "too much" faith in God (meaning, misdirected blind - blinder than a bat - faith) even though it is often with great intentions. As well, I make too much effort to give people the "benefit of the doubt" (perhaps this means putting others feelings before my own safety, which is not always heroic - especially when responsible for little ones). I have learned that if something inside of you wants to say no, you just go ahead and say it! So I used my God-given "tools" this evening. I called our current landlord and he graciously agreed to let us stay until the end of the month, sacrificing his vacation time here over the long weekend. And when Kev got home from work I simply explained my concerns to him, telling him also that I would leave the decision in his hands, and if he decided not to take this rental place, he would have to call the landlord b/c I had had just about enough meaningless conversation with this creepy dude for one day. :) And to end the story, I'll tell you that I was quite relieved when Kev agreed not to take the place... complete peace, even joy!!! Woohoo!! A good solid choice! And that leaves us waiting... again... and trusting... again... that God will provide something BETTER than our first option! So please, keep prayin:)

We found rent!

So the title is true. We found a place to rent today. I had talked to someone who had an ad in the paper about a week or more ago. He originally said he had found tenants but I guess he ended up kicking them out a week later... so he called us:) It's quite a distance from Invermere (25min. South) but is significantly closer to Canal Flats(10min. North), where we'll be building. In the end that is what counts (and it is cheaper than anything in Invermere). We had to laugh as we were walking through place (duplex style house) today to have a look. It's a one bedroom with a large livingroom, small kitchen, average size bathroom and has a common entrance with the owner. The funny part is the owner. He's a character alright... kinda reminds me of our old neighbors in Kelowna - real "characters". I was a little surprised to walk into the main entrance and see, what looked to be, a rather scraggly stuffed open-mouthed squirel hanging on the wall. ??! Good Lord! How's that for character? We also couldn't help but notice the 70's decor throughout (orange carpet, yellow curtains, low to the ground mix-matched furniture, oversized heavy matching bed frame, night tables & dresser). Also extra character I suppose... which is okay in the end b/c it gives us extra incentive to build this house - and fast. So that's our new-found living space. Thanks for all those who have been praying!

Spring has Sprung! Woohoo!!!

So I decided to put up a picture of the tree in the front yard. It's beautiful!! The colour green must come in a million different shades and yet not one seems to be captured quite accurately... And how exciting to see a rainy day. Really! Refreshing and crisp. Less allergies. Warmer than winter but cooler than summer. All the benefits! It also means summer is on its way of course. Very exciting! And speaking of new things to come we are moving along in the course to getting pre-approved for our builders mortgage. It should happen within the next week, I'm guessing... Our rental agreement is also up in two weeks, which means we need to find another place to rent until the house is built. It's interesting that not one place within a 20km radius of here is available under $1200/month (and there's only 2 of those right now). Since we simply can't afford that we're praying for something we can afford... and waiting:) I guess I'm not in a panic b/c I've learned time and time again that our time is not God's. He is mysterious (!), he is in charge and he knows what's best. So whether the best is not yet available, or whether he's chosen to stretch our faith a little more, I'm okay. I can't help wondering if he sometimes gets a kick out of how rediculous we can be when things don't happen exactly when we expect them to. I can imagine him moving his grand scheme of our lives about, while we run around like chickens with out heads cut off in an absolute frenzy b/c we have lost complete control. Well, since when has being in control ever really worked for us anyway? And exactly where have our expectations come from? Who knows?! Whatever happens, it will happen. That's all I need to know. Infact, it's kind of nice having someone else be in control & doing all the work (until packing and moving time that is!). Hmm... to avoid people getting the wrong idea when reading my theory of "someone else doing all the work", I should perhaps mention that we have been scouring the classifieds, calling every last one, putting our own "need to rent" classifieds in, checking every local billboard and asking almost everyone we know about any available rent - all for months now (and we are NOT picky - belive me!). It becomes difficult to find reasonable rent in this particular town of 5,000 b/c 2/3 of the homes are owned by vacationers who alllll move back May-long weekend, when the population begins to rise to a whopping 30,000... and I must add that throughout my phonecalling I've discovered that most people seem to either want us to sign a year lease (which we can't do while building) or think they can charge an arm and a leg (perhaps b/c realestate is doing so well? dunno). But we've put a notice in our local church, asking people to please call us as we need to find something asap. So we'll see:)