All Together Separate

Back when I was in high school we had this amazing local band, that our church was particularly close with. And if anyone has heard the song "Paradigm" yep... that's them! Here' what Dex, the lead singer, has been up to:


New Creation from FC Post on Vimeo.

Freedom

"Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not
ours by inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each
generation, for it comes only once to a people. Those who have known
freedom, and then lost it, have never known it again

"We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free." --Ronald Reagan

Webster defines this word as many different things but the first on their
list is this "1: the quality or state of being free."

I grew up as a kid of divorced parents. My Dad a marine who served in Vietnam and spent a lot of his time, before us kids were born, working for the Vietnam Veterans Association taking weapons away from Vietnam Veterans throughout LA. A scary and dangerous job he stopped when we were born... But my Dad didn't walk away from that war unscarred and untouched. Although for the most part a very normal guy, there were others that weren't so lucky. He has a big heart for military to say any less would be wrong. I am so very proud of my Dad, in fact if it weren't for the Hand of God protecting
him from that mortar... None of us kids would be here today. He witnessed the un-American behavior of spitting in his face, or when he returned he tried to get his hair to grow as fast as possible so that people wouldn't mis-treat him.

I so often think about the cost of our Freedom. The freedom's we enjoy to choose our Presidential candidate, and the freedom to say how we feel in blogs like these. I hear  often from people against the war that we shouldn't be there. But at this point I don't care about people talking about the past anymore, what's done is done. I want to move forward and get to the end of this war just like everyone else. We will never get to the end of this war by sticking our tails between our legs and walking away and hope that it fixes itself. Should we have not done anything about the Berlin Wall? Should we have let the Japanese get away with bombing Pearl Harbor? I don't take for granted any life that has been taken during this war I believe their cause is noble because they say it is... but who are you or who am I to say that their cause wasn't or isn't noble? That isn't decided by you or I, but decided by that man or woman who is the one fighting for those freedoms we so easily enjoy. So before you decide to be the first one to cast that stone, think about the cost of Freedom. Don't just proclaim you support our troops, and then go protest in Washington... because our troops see those news reports and they don't need us to be protesting, they need to be supported and even if we don't agree with the reason why they are there- they are there so support them!

I love this quote... another one by Ronald Reagan "You and I know and do not believe that life is so dear and peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery. If nothing is worth dying for, when did this begin...? ...Should Moses have told the children of Israel to live in slavery under the pharaohs? Should Christ have refused the cross? Should the patriots of Concord Bridge have thrown down their guns and refused to fire the shot heard 'round the world?"

I know this may have come off strong to some, but if God was able to create passion inside someone for something they believe it, it should be shared. Everyone is going to have their own beliefs on who should be the next President... that's why we live in America we are able to enjoy Freedom!

Date Night

Tonight was date night for Andrew and I. We left the baby with friends Dave
and Nancy and took off to the Riverside Plaza to watch the movie
"Fireproof" with Kirk Cameron. We just happened to run into 3 other
couples from our church there as well and enjoyed some good conversation.
It is an amazing movie, I really think every married couple needs to see
this movie! Whether you're having trouble or not, you should see this
movie. It was powerful and inpiring, Kirk Cameron did an awesome job. I
hope you all get a chance to see be inspired by the movie.

"Love is not a Fight"

By Warren Barfield. This is one of my new favorite songs, it was used as the main song for the movie "Fireproof"

Love is not a place
to come and go as we please
It's a house we enter in
then commit to never leave

So lock the door behind you
Throw away the key
Work it out together
Let it bring us to our knees

Love is a shelter
in a raging storm
Love is peace
in the middle of a war
And if we try to leave;
May God send angels to guard the door
No, Love is not a fight
but its something worth fighting for

To some love is a word
that they can fall into.
But when they're falling out
keeping that word is hard to do

Love is a shelter
in a raging storm
Love is peace
in the middle of a war
And if we try to leave;
May God send angels to guard the door
No, Love is not a fight
but its something worth fighting for

Love will come to save us
If we'll only call
He will ask nothing from us
but demand we give our all

Love is a shelter
in a raging storm
Love is peace
in the middle of a war
And if we try to leave;
May God send angels to guard the door
No, Love is not a fight
but its something worth fighting for.

Cause I Will Fight For You
Would You Fight For Me
It's Worth Fighting For.

Thomas Jefferson

"We should never judge a President by his age, only by his work"

Cuban- born author blasts Obama campaign

Cuban-born author blasts Obama campaign volunteers for displaying Che Guevara flags

Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 2/18/2008 6:00:00 AM

A Cuban historian and author says it's absolutely "unreal" that two of Barack Obama's campaign offices in Houston would prominently display a Cuban flag with an image of one of the Castro regime's most notorious thugs.

Humberto Fontova escaped Castro's Cuba in 1961, and in 2006 published Exposing the Real Che Guevara: And the Useful Idiots Who Idolize Him. Fontova says apparently some admirers of the Cuban revolutionary are volunteers for Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama (D-Illinois). And in several recent reports on Houston's Fox television affiliate, a Cuban flag with Guevara's image can clearly be seen on an office wall.
 
The Cuban-born author says during the Cuban missile crisis Guevara advocated a nuclear attack on the United States. "He said, 'If the nuclear missiles had remained in Cuba, we would have fired them against the heart of the United States. The Americans are nothing but hyenas fit only for extermination.' The Obama campaign considers this [man's image] an appropriate decoration in their campaign offices?" wonders a disgusted Fontova.
 
The author was not impressed with an Obama campaign spokesman's response to the controversy, who simply said the Guevara displays were "inappropriate." He says one could only imagine the media reaction if a Mike Huckabee volunteer displayed on a campaign office wall a poster of white supremacist and former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke.

"Can you imagine the media hullabaloo over that? And do you think for even a millisecond that Huckabee could get away with just saying, 'Oh well, that's inappropriate?'" argues Fontova.
 
Fontova says it is outrageous that Obama reportedly refuses to wear an American flag lapel pin, but some of his supporters can prominently display a Cuban flag with an image of a communist mass murderer.

Would Obama’s Robin Hood Tax Plan Redistribute Wealth?

Would Obama’s Robin Hood Tax Plan Redistribute Wealth?

Posted using ShareThis

Presidential debate

I was pretty disappointed on the debate tonight, It's a good thing that there are 2 more debates coming up.

One thing Obama just can't seem to get right is connecting with the voters. He's a great speaker, and he's pretty charismatic but is that enough? For me, it's not enough. He can't seem to pull in the emotional side at all, it always seems he's just about business and not about me as an American. I think he made a lot of valid points, however, he does what he does best and that's being a politician- not a leader. I have some really huge concerns with Obama- Why does he have a flag of Che Guevera in his campaign office? Why won't he wear an American flag, or put his hand over his heart during the national anthem? This worries me, because I don't feel like his loyalty lies with the USA. He even slipped up and said his "muslim faith". I don't identify with Obama on any level at this point.

McCain really disappointed me because he hit a lot of the emotional side. I can identify in more ways with McCain, and not just because he's white or whatever people would like to think but because of my own family. My own Dad was a Vietnam Veteran who fought for this country, so can I connect with McCain as a voter. Yes, but why couldn't he manage to at least give Obama one look? One acknowledgment that he was present? Was it because he wanted to portray an image that he is the only commander in chief, I think on some level it made him look a little arrogant and I wish that wasn't how he had come off. I wished he would have stayed on point to the questions asked, and stop saying "He just doesn't understand" These kinds of comments are going to kill him with the undecided voters. The final word for me is McCain, and that is no matter what I disagree with on both sides of the parties- At the very least I know that McCain will be loyal to the USA... his POW history proves this again and again.

No more housy house

So for now, we say Bye Bye to the idea of buying a house! It is a pretty sad decision but we have decided that because of the economy we can't depend on Andrew always being paid by the church which really hampers our hopes of buying a house. So we are actively taking steps to ensure that we are able to withstand the changes of the economy and not strap ourself to something we may or may not be able to commit too. We have decided to take Andrew's pay from the church and just put it in savings and act as though we are extremely poor so that if anything happens we will be able to make it without that income. And we can, we live very below our means but it is a naive thought to think that this economy won't effect us and right now we are just trying to take the right steps. Owning a home is a luxury- not a right and not a necessity so... We are taking this dream of owning a home and putting it to the back of our minds unless God decides somewhere along the road to tell us he has other plans for us.

So awesome!

Interesting little quiz!

Gotta love America's Next top model!!!

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Fireproof- Go see this movie!

It will be in select theaters starting Friday September 26th- Riverside Plaza and think the next closest is in Ontario!




Interview with Kirk Cameron on Good Morning America:

Your marriage masterpiece

I have been reading a pretty cool book written by Al Janssen, it has an interesting outlook on Adam and Eve and goes into great depth about how playful Adam and Eve were with each other and what kinds of conversations they may have had with God before the fall. The first couple of chapters I have read have been pretty enlightening. I think it's pretty easy to get stuck in a rut in your marriage and get in a routine and forget all the little things that you need to do in your marriage. Romance is not dead, and even as silly as it seems we still need to make that extra effort to be loving and romantic even when sometimes it hurts our wallet, or when sometimes you just don't want to do it because it would be too much work. So anyway, if you get a chance, you can go to: www.Christianbook.com and read an excerpt.

Choose cruciferous vegetables

We have all been told by our mothers, doctors, teachers, and other sages of healthy living always to remember to eat our vegetables, particularly those that are green and leafy. The evidence is overwhelming that these delicious and beneficial greens contribute to a well-balanced and nutritious diet, especially those that belong to the cruciferous or cabbage family of vegetables. These are the vegetables, also called brassica vegetables, whose four-petal flowers form the shape of a cross - cruciferous means "cross-bearing." While the terminology may be new, these vegetables may already be a staple in your diet.

Cruciferous vegetables include Swiss chard, broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, watercress, radish, rapini, arugula, spinach, turnip, kale, and bok choy. Packed with vitamins and minerals (some crucifers have more than others), these vegetables boast impressive nutritional qualities and potent anticancer properties.

Nutrition experts often refer to brassica vegetables as "functional foods." Functional foods are foods that have benefits beyond basic nutrition - for instance, health benefits such as preventing certain diseases. Like all vegetables, crucifers possess high levels of antioxidants, including vitamin C, vitamin A, calcium, iron, folate, soluble fibre, and lignans. All these compounds may help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, since studies show that crucifers reduce plasma homocysteine levels, and higher homocysteine levels increase the risk for heart disease. Additionally, because of the high amount of calcium found in crucifers (especially kale, Chinese cabbage, and broccoli), they protect bone density and may help prevent the onset of osteoporosis, particularly in women.

Most findings on crucifers support their cancer-fighting abilities. Researchers have isolated sulfur-containing phytochemicals called glucosinolates that are abundant in cruciferous vegetables and that have the potential to inhibit cancer. These glucosinolates, when chopped, chewed, and digested, are converted into compounds called isothiocyanates, which act to prevent normal cells from becoming cancerous cells by stimulating the body to clear potential cancer-causing agents (carcinogens). Researchers from Ohio State University have shown that isothiocyanates are able to stop cancer cells from spreading. A 2004 study published in the Journal of Nutrition found that the isothiocyanate sulforaphane fights the spread of breast cancer cells, even in the later stages.

Isothiocyanates can also help prevent cancer. Some glucosinolates that cruciferous vegetables have in abundance have been linked to reducing the risk of breast, prostate, cervical, colon, and other cancers.

• A Harvard and Ohio State study that showed that men who ate 2 or more half-cup servings of broccoli per week were 44% less likely to develop bladder cancer than men who ate less than one serving a week.
• A study by the UCLA Medical Center found that people who ate more broccoli (about 4 half-cup servings per week) were 50% less likely to develop colorectal cancer than those who never ate broccoli.
• Sulforaphane has been found to increase the liver's ability to help prevent cell mutations that may develop into cancer.
• Researchers have found that one glucosinolate, indole-3-carbinol (I3C), deactivates an estrogen metabolite that promotes tumour growth, particularly in breast cells.
• Other research found that men aged between 40 and 64 who ate 3 or more half-cup servings of cruciferous vegetables a week were 41% less likely to develop prostate cancer than those who did not.

Before you gorge yourself on crucifers, however, there are some cautions to heed. While they are loaded with beneficial nutrients, it should be noted that cruciferous vegetables also contain goitrogens and nitriles. In large quantities, goitrogens can reduce thyroid activity. Very high quantities of nitriles, which are found especially in Brussels sprouts, can have negative effects on the liver and kidneys. One way to lower the levels of goitrogens and nitriles in cruciferous vegetables is to cook them for 30 minutes or more. This will reduce the amount of goitrogens to one tenth and will also reduce a large amount of the nitriles. While cooking reduces the amount of nutrients in vegetables, it actually increases the amount of antioxidants absorbed by the body in crucifers.

In any case, the many benefits of crucifers far outweigh the small negatives. Not only are they cancer fighters, they also help control the appetite due to their high soluble fibre content, and they are thought to decrease the absorption of fats from other foods eaten during the same meal.

The next time you're planning a meal, reach for cruciferous vegetables, whether they be tried-and-true favourites or new and exciting options. Your body will thank you! And when choosing them, keep these things in mind:

• adults should have 2 to 3 cups of cruciferous veggies a day; children should aim for 1 to 2 cups
• look for firm, dark green leaves or heads; try to avoid leaves or heads that are yellow
• keep fresh cruciferous vegetables in the refrigerator in large, airy plastic bags

Brennan Robertson, Hon. B.Sc. (Nutrition)

Why do people wave?

When they cut you off either on a street or on the freeway... Are they
saying "Hi, I am an inconsiderate selfish jerk who is too stupid to get in
the lane I need to turn in and arrogrant enough to think I drive a big
stupid raised suv that gets 5 mpg and I don't need to wait behind all these
cars going way too slow... So I am just going to cut in here because I am
big and stupid!"

I am sorry... I know that sounds harsh but seriously I get so tired of
people not thinking ahead and getting impatient because they can't drive 60
down a 45mph street. I wish people would learn that this world doesn't
revolve around them... And care about other people. They are the reason car
insurance is so high, people get lazy and stop caring that anyone else is
on the road but them.

Ugh! My frustrating for the day :)

As with other blog entries

I was still annoyed yet again by another vehicle who had a Christian sticker on it and driving like an inconsiderate, dangerous, jerk... and still proclaiming to be a Christian. Yeah!!! You show the world the love of God by cutting them off on the off ramp on the freeway and not obeying the speed limits.... yeah!!! That will show the world how kind, caring, and selfless Christ was.... that is all I am going to blog about this subject right now.

Today is another reminder

Today marks the 4th anniversary of Josh Gladura's passing, this year never comes without some sort of reminder of how thankful we should be for the lives we have. Today was a day of reflection and memory, a day sometimes I dread because I am always too emotional. I can't ever say that Josh and I were ever best friends, and in fact for a long time he HATED my guts for trying to "take away" Andrew from him. Somewhere between hating me and being friends with me, he must have realized that I wasn't going away from Andrew's or his life as long as he had Andrew as a friend. I can call Josh a friend, because those last few months of his life something changed in him and in me and he actually became nice to me and we even laughed about his and my goofiness. He was one of Andrew's best buddies, so to see Andrew missing him is enough for me to feel empathy right now. Josh was goofy and friendly with a lot of people, and he was able to reach quite a few of them in his life... with that said he only had a handful of people who were truly close with him and really knew him- not just spent a few days hanging out with him but truly knew him. I don't pretend to know everything about Josh or even pretend I am one of those handful of people because it would be a lie. I barely started getting to know  Josh when he passed, and I say that because even though we hung out for 3 years we never gave each other a chance to get to know each other because we were too busy hating each other... lol. So where do I go from here? I am going to be real, I am not going to pretend I had some great relationship with Josh, when I barely started to get  to know him. I truly wished that I was able to spend more time with him after we started getting along because I truly miss all his goofiness... I am going to be upfront and real because that is what is right.

I miss a lot of things about Josh, his countless times hanging his head out of the car with his tongue hanging out and wearing his swim goggles and towel on his head, I miss him sharing his video of "Gay Spiderman" and the "Mystery of Britny Spears boobs", I miss the nights in Lytle Creek, I miss that he ALWAYS wanted the windows down even when it was cold outside (just like Becca does too), I miss his laugh, and I will never forget the night Andrew has his windshield wiper sprayers pointed sideways and Josh decides to spray someone in the car next to us and had their window down and those girls happened to be crazy and chase us in downtown Fontana. I mean for goodness sake the first time I met him and Clint we were going off- roading and when we pulled up in Andrew's car Josh was hanging his head out of the side of the truck and screaming "Hiiiiiiii!!!!!!!!" And I can hear him saying Hi in his usual Josh manner like it was yesterday! The only thing I truly wished I could change, would be if Josh could have been there for our wedding, because he would have been standing up there in our wedding party.

Those memories are the ones I will cherish the most :)

Taken from Andrew's sermon today

Really cool, and you can guess he wrote this himself:

"Imagine you are in a darkly lit room you don’t know how you got there or where you are at in fact you are not even sure if it is real it has the feeling of a dream where things or more vivid and colors are little off. Still a little confused you begin to become aware of a scratching sound light but constant. You turn to see a man at an old oak desk writing under a green glass reading lamp which happens to be the only light in the room. You cant quite make out his face but you can see the corner of his eyes are wrinkled not from stress or a hard life but from experience and understanding. As you start to walk towards him he makes what seems to be a final punctuation, closes a book and stands up he takes a few steps and fades into the darkness before you have time to say anything.

It is entirely too quiet now and you begin to notice that every step you take comes with a deafening creak not because it is loud but because it is that quiet. The room smells old and musty, older then any room you have ever been in before. You reach the old desk and can tell it has been well taken care of.  The book the man was writing in was very thick and the cover was a rich and heavy leather the inscription read Jeremiah 29:11 and under that “the greatest story ever written”. You open the book and to your amazement the words “your life” stare back at you the pages written in the most beautiful calligraphy you have ever seen. As you read on you start to realize that this is a story about your life. You keep reading and notice that markings scribble’s words in the margin start to appear and in a different hand then the author much like a teacher grading an essay but some how familiar. How long you stayed there can not be certain but one thing was for sure you finished the book on the very last page was Proverbs 19:21. A loud noise pierces the room and as fast as you can blink you are in bed with your alarm clock going off. You sit up swing your feet around and sit at the side of the bed with your hands on your face. The scribbles underlining and writing in the margin was your hand and they were the changes you felt were needed in your life that you now know were mistakes. What will your next page look like?"

Reminding me of my own love story!

So every time I hear or watch that video (Taylor Swift- Love Story) I can't help but think about my own life and what a cool love story God has written for us. I can say that our love story began when we both fell in love with the Lord first and was serving Him. And somehow, he blessed us enough for Andrew and I to start our own love story. We hung out, laughed a lot, fell in love, and ended up getting married on April 30th, 2005. And this love story just continued on in our lives when Hezekiah was born. A regular, everyday love story that began in our hearts with love for Jesus. We've had our bumps, sure, and having Hezekiah was NO fairy tale... but now that he's here is such a joy. Sometimes, I think it's good to look at our life in some ethereal way, because when thinking about how EVERYTHING works out... it has absolutely nothing to do with us. But, it has more to do with how Christ has allowed our lives to work together in such a beautiful way. Besides, what fairy tale doesn't have some bumps along the road with a happy ending? We are not yet at the happy ending but working towards the best ending of all... Heaven!


This picture was taken on our unofficial "first date" Man, Look how skinny I was!!!!

One of my new favorites:

Okay so here is the music video for Taylor Swift "Love Story". I think I have played this song maybe 20 times today already:

Heitmann-Voight wedding

I photographed a friends wedding several weeks ago and have finally gotten them processed so here are some pictures from that wedding. They had a very casual hawaiian themed wedding, very intimate and fun wedding:
 







 





 

The Audacity

High Fructose Corn Syrup

I am not much of a big TV watcher but... I recently saw these commercials about High Fructose Corn Syrup. Don't be fooled that this is a natural ingredient. They genetically alter the fructose from corn to make this substance. I think it's hilarious that the commercials mention "just like sugar it's fine in moderation". The problem is they put this is almost everything we eat now... Bread, Juice, Crackers, Cereal! I mean come on, how can we have it in moderation when they put it in everything we eat, it's an absolutely ridiculous commercial to try and promote this substance when really it comes down to the bottom dollar. High fructose corn syrup is cheaper to produce and that is the only reason for the switch from regular table sugar. One thing I hate about the commercial, is that it makes health nuts look like we are idiots and we don't know why it's bad. It's a stereotype and I am sure there are plenty of people who act like that lady, it's just interesting that's all!

Here's the commercials, if you haven't seen them:





Also, here's an interesting video from a Registered Dietician on the subject:

This weekend

Andrew decided him and his brother Matt were going to hike Mineral King
near Sequoia, it's like a 1/2 day hike in and out and there is pretty much
no way they can contact anyone by cell phone but they do have a nearby
ranger station. Pray for their safety, they should be returning tomorrow.

Also, pray for my Dad. He always goes to Spain every year for 4 weeks for
missions trip and he caught a parasite while he was over there that has
gotten him severely dehydrated. He is barely able to eat anything and had
to go to the hospital yesterday so just pray for his recovery and health.

So this weekend for me will be pretty slow and I like that. It's nice to be
able to sit around in my pj's all day until I have to go to Target for some
small items. Ahhhh for relaxing weekends.

On the house hunt, we are still looking at houses even though we know that
we won't be ready for a few more months. It's very very exciting, Andrew is
scared silly about being tied to a mortgage when we are used to our 985/
month rent... But I don't think we'll ever feel at ease when we buy a
house, it will be scary but still exciting.

Loan stuff

We met with Tom Tinker, who is the Loan Officer which by the way, we both really liked. Straight forward kind of guy, really nice and gave us lots of information and is going to do our loan approval. It actually seems pretty good what we are looking at for our loan, he did say that a lot of the grant programs have been taken down off the market for borrowers to use so he said the best thing to do is to buckle down and save the money we need for the down. Which we are doing anyway, so it seems like everything is going well we should after the 1st of the year and taxes... of course be set to go on really buying a house now that the grant programs are pretty much out the window now. So.... on to the next step in our search for a house, here we go!

More medical fun!

Found out this morning when I arrived at urgent care because of facial
swelling and small blisters on my face that I now have cold sores... Don't
ask me how or from who I got them from but I now have to takes medications.
Ugh... So this stinks :( They did tell me I could have had them for several
years before and just never had an outbreak of them before today. Wierd!

House # 1 and House #2

Alrighty, so we looked at 2 houses so far... we are not making offers on any of these houses though. We thought #1 would be perfect and inside it has serious potential but when we found out it was a short sale and it had 2 offers already on the table we were already skeptical. House #1 4836 Granada Ave was going for $185,000 3 bedroom, 2 bath, and a den and a HUGE garage. Also, we had our realtor look it and found out that the owner's owed something like 400k so we knew that the bank was not going to approve that. Here is the pic of house #1:


House #2 looked adorable from the outside and it had a nice open kitchen/ eat in dining room, but when it came to the living room and bedrooms. It was supposedly a 3 bedroom 2 bath, but it had a circular fireplace that made the living areas and bedrooms completely awkward. And what was supposed to be the master bedroom was like a huge den of some type and was the only place that had hook ups for cable.The agent stated there were 2 offers on this house and it was going for $194,900 but it was in the right neighborhood. The floorplan of the house wasn't anything we could change unless we totally gutted the house. Here's a pic of house #2 4741 El Molino Ave:

Pre-Qualified

We thought that we would basically never ever ever ever ever be able to buy a house it seems like no matter how much we made or how much we saved it just never seemed like enough. We have been doing some searching and found a couple of different options to help us on that road. FHA loans are pretty awesome for first time home buyers, but even with that you still need 3% or 5% , well where are we going to get that kind of money? We found Riverside county has a Mortgage Assistance Program to help you with your down payment, you put yourself on this waiting list they get you your down payment, but in 30 or 45 years you would owe that money back in 1 lump sum... so we thought well that's cool if we were totally desperate to buy a house but wouldn't help us in the long run. We found through FHA they have these down payment grant programs as well. Basically, non-profit organizations gift you a certain % or amount to you to help with your down payment, some are seriously just gifts and other have more restricted contingencies. On some of these grant programs they literally give you money no strings attached. So we thought, Hey! Let's give it a try and see if this will work for us. We have to find a house and make an offer before they approve the amount you need for your grant. Pretty cool right? I thought if this works, we might actually be able to own a home someday :) It doesn't state anywhere on the information that you have to be low income so we are going to give it a shot and see what we can find.

We decided to go with South Pacific Financial Corp (whoo hoo) for our loan, basically, because I know the company I technically used to work for them about 5 years ago. We are going through the Riverside branch because they are so close to both of our work and they are extremely nice! Lo' and behold the real estate agent we are going through usually uses them for his clients, coincidence? I think not! We talked with Rich and he got our information, checked our credit and he said we were approved for $300,000 or higher if we wanted... Yeah we are NOT going that high for our first home because that would be CrAZy! and not to mention stupid :) So, we are looking at 200k or under because that is the kind of payment we would be comfortable with. So we pre-qualified for a loan.... Yeeeaaaahhhh! Now, we just need to get approved and then then our agent will start looking for homes. Just keep it in prayer, we are totally fine waiting if we need to because there seriously is no rush to be chained to a mortgage but it certainly would be nice :) Whatever happens, the Lord's will be done.

New logo

I have been messing with new logos a lot, trying to make my logo simpler and easier to read, as you might notice the right of my blog under fun stuff is the new logo and if you click it, it will take you to my newly constructed website, I love the new layout and fonts. So here is my newest logo:

Living life in this fishbowl

Sometimes, I have to say that life seems like we are always swimming in circles. You save a little and then it goes out the window. So you keep working and working to save the money again and something comes up and it's out the window again. I try to keep my eyes on God and just focus on Him instead of looking in circles and getting dizzy. It's hard sometimes not to look at what others have and not feel some sort of jealousy because God has blessed them in a different way than in my own life. I by no means, ever, ever want to be wealthy but having a little money in savings wouldn't hurt right?

Every time we hang out with friends or someone has a party everyone seems to always talk about the housing market and I know all the stuff about houses and the process in buying a house, but sometimes I hate talking about it because it is a reminder sometimes of how we're just not at that point in our lives to where we can even really look. We could borrow money from people we know to buy a house but then we'd be paying a mortgage and the person we borrowed money from and that we just could not afford and it doesn't make sense for us. It seems sometimes when looking at the housing no matter how many raises you get and promotions it never seems like enough to buy a house... well a decent house anyway. 

On the upside, I guess if you can see it that way, and that's where I have been taking life from... Work has been extremely stressful because 1) We have construction being done on the outside of our building with jack hammering and all. 2) Because sometimes people in my office don't always pull their own weight. 

I feel like when I am at work I really give like 150% and others sometimes only give maybe 50% and it jsut really sucks sometimes because then I have to work even harder to make up for the many things the other person may not be doing. I just pray seriously, that whatever the Lord's will is at my work that it be done. I don't plan on leaving because the big boss I work for is just amazing, I will be learning so much from her, she is thorough and smart, she's a great teacher. I just wish the other problems could be handled. 

Too late!

Today on a whim some friends stopped by and they were talking about buying a house in the downtown area, so we pulled up the MLS to take a look and got carried away and started looking at all sorts of houses, and we saw one that was going for $160,000 in an okay neighborhood with 3 beds and 1 bath, so we took a drive with them to see the house they were looking at in person and so we decided to would do a drive by at the house we saw on the web but instead found a better house across the way. Since no one was living in this house we took a gander inside and was in great condition, but we had no idea how much they were asking. We asked Andrew's Dad to take a look on the realtor MLS site to see what this house was going for and it was only going for 149,500 but was in escrow... so needless to say we didn't even have an opportunity. We really weren't trying to look for houses it was just on a whim and it looks like now is just not the right time. We need to get finances better in order before we start looking. We will check back at the end of the year before we start looking again. We want to have a lot of money down before we buy and we don't just want to buy some cheap property because we can, we want to make sure that what we buy we can grow into with another baby somewhere in the future and upgrade to a nicer house in about 5 to 10 years depending on the market. Anyway, I am off to decorate my baby's birthday cake!