Pipes, Plumbing, and Play Toys Plyers

Wow...what a way to start the new year. So I get an urgent email and phone call on January 2nd telling me that our home in Seattle has mold! Needless to say I was slightly stressed. Turns out that both the renters and I drilled into the wall to hang things in the office. Both of us managed to hit the pipe coming down the inside of the wall. It wasn't until I removed the screw before moving that the problem manifested because the screw went in and plugged the hole.

Long story short...we have awesome renters and incredible friends. Jeremy was patient and cooperative in letting us get in there to fix the problems. And Gregg Johnson who runs a division of Regent Home Resources rocks! It is so wonderful to have someone you know you can trust to jump on an issue and fix the problem without over charging you. Gregg was fast, reliable, and just all around accomadating! Can't thank him enough for his efforts and taking care of something while we were 2500 miles away.

SO IF PIPES weren't bad enough...my daughter got her play toy "Squeeze the Plyers" stuck in the toilet. That wasn't the bad part :-) The bad part was the plumber who tried to 'snake' the toilet ended up 'blowing out' the side of the toilet...so we had to replace the ENTIRE TOILET!

I love life...this has been one of the busiest months for Sharon and I in a long time and we haven't killed each other because we are patient. I didn't say PERFECT...just patient.

~David

Water Main Repairs

In December, we had some men working outside the front door on an area in the sidewalk. They were there a couple of days in a row, so I finally asked what was going on. They informed me that they were from the Fairfax Water Department and that there was a small leak in the water main that "feeds" about 16 houses in our neighborhood. They explained to me that the problem was small and it did not affect water flow or quality to my house but that they would need to repair it in order to prevent further damage to the pipes, sidewalk, etc. They were trying to determine the exact location of the leak and prevent themselves from having to destroy too much of the sidewalk.
Two days later (12/17), the workman showed up to complete the work (1 week earlier than I had been told). I immediately began to scramble around the house. Unfortunately, this was the exact day that I had planned to bake 9 dozen cookies and do 6 loads of laundry! Somehow, I managed to get 3 gallons of water in the fridge for future use, all the cookie dough prepared, 2 loads of laundry done, and a shower before the water was cut off!

Two hours later, this was the scene outside my kitchen window....apparently "small" leak does not equate to "small" repair. By Lunch time, the dirt pile was big enough to fill a dump truck!


To my Absolute amazement, the water leak was repaired in 12 hours (with the help of about 10 workers from the Fairfax Water Dept and some Bright lights) but it took 3 days to get the dirt put back and the ground/sidewalk functional. They now have gravel and plywood in place as my "new sidewalk" until the Spring; there is no way to re-brick now. In the cold/wet weather, the ground would settle and they would have to fix it in the Spring. So, they will just wait until then.

And yes, we got all 9 dozen cookies made even with the water turned off. I baked and Sybella sat on the kitchen counter looking out the window & watching the backhoe work.

Packing for the Move

For anyone who hasn't heard yet, we have completed the home inspection for the townhouse that we are buying. We are planning to complete the closing process around Sept 17, 2008. We will plan to try to have the house and carpets cleaned as well as paint 2 of the rooms in the first few days. Then, we will MOVE. We can't wait!

The House is in Fairfax. It's a beautiful and charming historic downtown area. We are 2 blocks away from Main Street and look forward to strolling through downtown.

I have started packing. 14 boxes down and MANY more to go. :) 90 maybe??

Many things I won't be able to pack until we get closer to the move but I figure anything that can be packed now (ie: anything we won't use in the next 6 weeks) should be out of the way.

**The pictures above we taken about a year ago. The tenants graciously passed them on to us.

Victory!

We finally have renters in our Seattle home!

Now you can quote scripture all day and tell me how spiritually grounded you are but I think in these moments your faith can be tested. A year ago (June 2007) the door opened to immediately move to DC as the Director of Business Development at ATS. Little did we know that the move would happen right as the real estate market began to crash. So in April of 2008 we decided to try the rental approach. We had lots of interest, several applications, and none of them worked out.

Now don't forget that during this whole time we are paying to rent a home in DC (can I say costly $$$) and we are paying are mortgage in Seattle...can I say major burden?

This is when you start questioning scripture like: 1 John 5:14-15 that says, "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of him."

Is God really hearing me? We were running an extremely tight budget.

Now lest you think the home had something wrong or we did not do something right...we hired a great realtor in the Northwest (Chuck Bills), we staged the home professionally, held open houses, priced the home below the appraised value, we even had half a dozen realtors walk through and criticize EVERYTHING they thought was wrong or could be improved (and we changed EVERYTHING they recommended). And to top it all off, here is the view in the private, gated community:

But God is clear when he says in John 15:7 says, If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.

It's just not on our time line!!!

This is where the test begins...do you remain faithful? Here is what we learned, God's provision was with us the whole time. He provided a job, a partnership, and the money to pay for everything and we did not fall victim to mortgage crisis. And in looking back I CLEARLY see how if the home had sold, where we would have made decisions in the moment that would have altered and deviated from the path we had been placed on. Funny, how I didn't see those in the moment but looking back there is no doubt that God knew what he was doing. It's his money, his house, his family and if he provides for the birds of the air...HOW MUCH MORE DOES HE PROVIDE FOR ME?

We are 'blessed and highly favored'...and on July 25th of 2008..God brought us a renter!

~David

A Week's Worth of Fun

By: Sharon
Well, we are BUSY having fun at the Simon house.

• B - Built to last, despite being very sick with the latest stomach bug

• U - Unified in our Sickness (all of us are sick - Colin, Connor, Sybella, Me, My Mom, and David's Brother; OK, David isn't sick but it's only because he's out of town)

• S - Stayin' Positive- I mean, It only lasts 2 days and no more than 3 of us overlap at a time--- except Sybella, who has the 7-day version but is so good-natured, only all her soiled clothes give her away.

• Y - Yearning to be healthy and looking forward to a Great Weekend as a refreshed and healthy family!

Ok- so it's part humor and part sarcasm, but I guess a little of both is better than a lot of bad attitude.

Have a GREAT day and try to stay healthy!

Ouch!

This morning before I drove off for work Sharon asked me if I would carry a few boxes downstairs. Little did I know what awaited me...I took the stairs a little to fast and found myself sliding down to the bottom with my left leg extended and my right leg bent backward. Yes that's right... SNAP, CRACKLE, POP! I tore my 'quad'. Not walking very good and the kids are not authorized to sit on my lap as the result is me screaming in pain. I was hoping for a cool sports story to go with this bad of an injury but no such luck. ~David

Patience

I looked up the synonyms for patience today: endurance, staying power, persistence, fortitude, and lack of complaint. I flew into Seattle on Sunday and went to our home to see how things are going. Yes, that’s right; we still have not sold our home in Puyallup, WA. One of the things I have learned is not to complain or ask the question ‘why me’.

Clearly God is helping provide the opportunity to have patience and trust in him. Every time I want to complain about the house not selling, I have to ask myself two questions:

1. Am I being patient? One who lacks complaints.
2. How do I choose to respond/react to this situation?

M2C (my two cents)…I think these same two questions can be asked by all of us in any challenge we face.

~David