Busy, Busy

So things have been busy lately. We are in "high gear" home buying right now. We have to get all our ducks in a row, so to speak, before our closing. There are just so many little details and so many papers to sign before everything is in place and we can close. Prayers that we get everything done in time and correctly would be great. I think it will all be okay, it's just a little stressful right now. Whenever we get frustrated, Danny and I have just been looking at the pictures of the house as our inspiration to keep working. It's a great house, we just wish all this was over and we could just be living there already!
Work at Pier 1 for me lately has been fine. I'm just patiently waiting to start buying things and using my employee discount! We agreed that we would wait to buy things for the house until we actually had the house. Things at the church have been good as well. This past week Danny held a parents and volunteers meeting which I'm sure he'll want to share more about. It went really well and we are so encouraged and excited about the future of the youth at this church.
Well we haven't posted any pictures in a while so I thought I'd put some recent ones of the youth here. Enjoy!

A lively game of Trainwreck
(you may not have heard of the game, but you get the idea)

Danny with some of our youth after the middle school production of Mulan

Back By Popular Demand

Haha, I'm just kidding. But I thought I, Mary, should post again since I've been letting Danny pummel you all with his long detailed and typo-filled thoughts.
Today I finally went to the doctor to get my knee checked out. It appears that everything is okay, but the doctor thinks I may have partially torn a ligament or tendon. If something were completely torn it probably would have shown up on my initial x-rays and I would have been in way more pain. So she thinks something is partially torn and not healing quickly because I am not resting it enough. Which is very hard to do while working at Pier 1, which involves a lot of bending and squatting to stock low shelves and stuff. So I guess I'll try and find some way to go a little easier on my knee.
As Danny told you, things seem to be moving along on our house purchase. We just cannot wait to get truly settled and really unpack our lives here in Bluffton. Living with 90 percent of your belongings in a storage unit is just a little frustrating sometimes. So we are really looking forward to unpacking in our new house and getting a fresh start on getting organized and stuff.
Well I guess that's pretty much it for now. Love you guys!!

Long time, no hear from...

Sorry it's been so long. Life her is crazy. We re living a rather frantic life. Mondays are my day off so I actually have time to write to all of you.

Hopefully the mortgage stuff is all going on as planned. I just re-faxed some paperwork over to the company so that should be the last of it. Now we just have to wait for the appraisal and the closing date to be set.

Otherwise life has been interesting. I had a looooooooong weekend. It started at 8:30 am Saturday with a 4 hour Leadership conference at the church. After that, I went home and spent time preparing for my sermon. They, at 4:45, I was back at the church to get mic'd up for the ermon and to talk over some logistics. At 5:28, the service began and I gave my message. The service ended around 6:30 (the Sat. pm crowd is in-and-out) after which I grabbed some food with Mary then went home and was just having a bad night. (During my sermon, I was trying too hard to focus on my sermon notes and couldn't "get into it.") Mary gave me some encouragement and pointers and then I want to bed.

Sunday morning I was back at the church at 7:15 (a bit early) and as I was searching for a cassock that fit, I realized that I had made the classic "husband trying not to wake up the wife so he gets dressed in the dark" blunder of wearing the wrong shoes (brown instead of black). So I raced home (at 30 mph) and changed. I get back to the church and spoke with Father Owens (the rector here and "celebrant" at the services) about the liturgy and choreography of the morning's services. The first service started at 8:00 and my sermon was a little looser (in a good way). After the 8:00 service was a time to hang out in the parrish hall (think fellowship hall).

The second service started at 10:00 and the sermon was the best of the weekend. It was nice to actually feel like I was free to preach, not just trying to read my notes. (This was also true at the 8:00 service. I pretty much just had the scripture in front of me upon which I expounded [you're welcome collective grammar police persons]). The energy of the congregants was much better during the 10 am service so I fed off of it and presented a much more interesting and energetic sermon.

After that Mary and I grabbed lunch and I went home and napped for over 2 hours to recover. Immediately after I got up, we went to the Buckwalter Campus to prepare for Youth Group. I don't have enough time to share too much about youth group, but suffice it to say that it was the first time since Ive been here that everyone on the worship team could sing/play adequately and the first time we had a drummer which pretty much made worship, and therefore youth group extraordinarily special.

As an indication of how crazy our life has been, there are 182 transactions in the last 60 days our our checking account alone. With the credit cards and savings, it must be more like 250. Also, today I took all the garbage we've created since we moved here (6 weeks ago) to the dump for the first time. (Apparently, you don't have to pay for trash pick up if you want to do it yourself.) Eventually we will move in to our house (probably mid March) and settle down in every way. Until then we will be living a crazy, exciting and deeply fulfilling life of ministry and marriage.

We love you all very much. Sorry for the 10 days with no posting. even our days off aren't truly "sabaths" so we are working hard to rest. God bless you all! Come visit some time after we move into our house (bring your paintbrush).

Danny

DMV, etc.

So I forgot to mention the DMV. Mary and I went there yesterday to get our licenses and to get her car registered in South Carolina. So we go to the DMV and they tell us that we need all these documents for proof of citizenship and residency and ownership of the car and stuff. So we go home to get everything we have and then go to the "county seat" to pay our tax on Mary's car then returned to the DMV.

We walked in and got our forms and 2 numbers (one for licenses and the other for registration). Within 30 seconds they call BOTH the numbers. So we scramble to the desk and are told that the person I am supposed to see isn't at the main desk, but is around the corner in an office. Anyway, I needed all kinds of paperwork and to fill out these forms but Mary had almost all the legal documents so I end up running back and forth to her to get what I need to get my license.

Eventually it comes out that we don't live where we are getting our mail sent to but we don't have ANY proof that we do live where we live. So they call the manager in, who has had a long day already, and she basically says "just give them their licenses." The woman working with me does something she's probably not supposed to do on the computer and makes it work. Anyway, I return to the main desk and meet up with Mary whose process has been no less interesting.

All that to say we have SC licenses which look goofy to us (who have only known VA ones) and Mary's car is legal.

The best part is that when we move (in the next month or so) we get to update all of this information again and get new licenses.

Worship, comments and life

Danny writing:

Last week I attended my first worship practice. The worship at this church (Buckwalter Campus) is super contemporary and I love it. The guy they have playing bass has a 6 string and is amazingly talented. He is good enough that he can play along with me (running riffs and leads) while I hold the basic notes or a simple riff. It's quite wonderful to have a such a talented bassist around. It makes me want to practice and improve...well, kinda. :-) Anyway, he is going to be out of town this Sunday so I'll be paying bass at the church this week which is cool. I haven't played in a church service since before the MZF sanctuary issues.

I have a meeting with a volunteer (also a mother) who helps coordinate the youth worship. That is basically the final frontier that needs to be addressed in the current youth program. Over the past few weeks I have been "cleaning house" and reorganizing what youth group is and how its run. although it has improved many times over what it was, the changes have been systemic but subtle. For instance I "save" a lot of time to youth group by simply starting on time and not letting the kids run amok between activities. Anyway, the group is awesome and when it is more settled and finalized, I'll write more about it.

About all those fiery comments:

If you want to e-mail me, you can do so at "dgonzalez@thechurchofthecross.net." Apparently you guys e-mail Mary, but I'm not feeling the love anywhere except on the blog. I really do like comments, but that's just because I'm insecure and need an inordinate amount of affirmation. I'm not sure how Mary has the blog set up Quena, but I'll let her adjust things (man code for "I don't know how to do that and probably could find out how, but I'm lazy"...) on the account.

Mary's new cell phone number is (843) 816-1788. She loves calls and text messages.

Life is good. The inspection of our house went well yesterday and there are really no big problems. e both went to the inspection which was good. It was our first time in the house without the owners there. This inspection gave us the freedom to speak our minds, share our concerns, dream of our changes, etc. We really like the house and if we get it you must all come down and visit us (you will all fit) and help us paint and stuff.

Last night, while I was attending my 2nd worship practice at the church, Mary was at home watching TV. She was trying to watch two of our favorite shows but they were interrupted by breaking news of the Dave Barry variety. Apparently there is a sugar refinery in GA very near to us here (probably about 45 minutes away). Last night it "exploded" in some way. Well, as you can imagine this consumed the local media, as it should. However, the reports on the TV lasted for a little over2 hours which rivaled the coverage of the 9/11 attacks. Again, not a problem IF THERE IS NEWS TO REPORT!

I walk into the house and Mary turns the TV to a news cast. The people at the desk are scrambling to fill the dead air. They have resorted to displaying pictures that callers have sent over their phones while interviewing them on their cell phones from the studio. Again, no one was at the scene. Just people who lived near it or heard it or saw it or heard about it.

She changes the channel to another broadcast news and remarks "These people are saying even less!" and they were. They were talking about what year the plant was opened and showing black and white photos of the plant being built. It was painful to watch. I don't mind that they wanted to report this as breaking news. To me, cell phone accounts and pictures do not warrant any kind of exhaustive reporting.

We are too content to feed ourselves an unending stream of drivel instead of digesting fully something of actual substance. Thus ends my rant.

We love you all. Thank you for leaving such great comments and for sending e-mails and for calling us, etc. :-)

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Oafish Ya'll Eagle Disc Lamer:
As Equal Opportunity Family/Friends, we do not discriminate based on means of communication, length, typographical errors, age, sex, race, smell, taste in music, location, or fashion sense.

Imposition of Ashes, mortgage negotiations, etc.

So this morning was a family chapel at Cross Schools (this happens monthly) and this week not only included the usual Eucharist but also the imposition of ashes (getting an ash cross rubbed onto your forehead by clergy). I had the distinction of "clicker" for the 68 slide liturgical powerpoint presentation which was occasionally followed during the homily. Anyway, it was a neat service. There is another like it at noon today and yet another tonight at 7. They try to get all parishioners involved if possible.

Last night I had the distinction of being the "pancake hander-outer" at the annual "Shrove Tuesday Pancake Dinner." It was fun and since it is a free community thing, we had a lot of fun with it. One of the other younger guys in the church, Clayton, started making 10" chocolate chip and mini marshmallow pancakes which were a HUGE hit with the young kids (not so much the parents). It was a also a great opportunity for me, as new staff, to see hundreds of people whose names I should know by now but of course I don't. :-)

Also going on in our lives now are negotiations with two mortgage companies ("When banks compete, you win." ~Lending Tree) and so far it seems to be advantageous for us. God us truly blessing us in every way. It even seems like we might be able to close sooner than the proposed mid-March date, but we'll see how that goes. We have our inspection tomorrow morning which could be very interesting, but we're expecting not many issues because the house was built in 2005.

Mary is looking at some different job options now because she's only working 12-20 hours a week and feeling like it's just not worth it to have a job and make so little. Please pray for this process to be a quick one for her sake. We are very much not settled right now and that should improve with an actual abode of our own, but we are trusting the Lord to do what He does in our hearts during these trying times.

Mary's knees are not healing well so she is going to go see a doctor hopefully this week.

Other than that there's really only a million details and logistical nightmares going on right now, but that's how life is for us right now. :-)

Thank you to all who post comments (basically Ellie and Mom G). It's nice to know that at least someone cares. ;-)

We're #72...for now

So this will be short, but the house we put an offer on is 72 Heartstone Circle. The offer was accepted and is moving forward. Please pray that nothing falls through. Mary likes the fact that it has "heart" in the address.

She also likes her new cell phone. We had to get a plan with a different company because we didn't get reception with our old company (our lawyers won;'t let is say who, but they have an orange, bubbly x as a mascot) . It's sad because we really wanted to have the same company and we liked them, but after a whopping 2 hours and 20 minutes on the phone with aforementioned company and they refused to waive the fee for canceling our pan despite the fact that we don't get reception at the house where we live now, the ones we've put offers on, the church (my job) etc. It stinks, but whatever. Anyway, Mary is super amazingly glad to have a cell phone that you can actually call her on and she can get the call...also that Ellie called...getting calls from family and friends is always amazing so well done Ellie.

Here are some more pictures of the house that we have negotiated.

- through living room to kitchen/breakfast nook

- view of living room from the top of the stairs

- view of kitchen/bar counter from breakfast nook

- master bedroom

- the "orange room" (currently a teenage girl's bedroom); there's also a blue room with a more subtle color on the wall

- view from the backyard (overlooking the lagoon/lake); you can't see it, but there's a little fore pit near the lagoon and a pretty sweet little patio (which Mary loves)

Anyway, we appreciate all the comments that you guys have been leaving. We miss you all bunches. God bless!

We're #1...or are we

WARNING: this is Danny writing this post and Mary has written all of the others so this might go on and on...

As you can imagine, our life is crazy. Soon after we bought the truck, we switched entirely into "house selling mode" which, if you've never done, is a great way to save money on food and extend your work day because you can't eat or sleep properly because of the nerves, the stress and the phone calls. Also, we've been doing this without any proof of residency or anything.

I'm going to try to recreate the circumstances of the whole thing so you understand that the last fortnight has been like.

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The following might be boring to those of you who don’t like numbers, but it is interesting to me so….

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Around January 14th we received an offer on our house, only four weeks since we had put it on the market. The offer was low and they wanted a lot of closing costs assistance, but we negotiated something fair in the middle ($206,400 and $9500 in closing cost assistance [aka CCA]). That means a net sale of $196,900. Since we owed only about $168,000 we were excited to be getting some equity out of the house (above and beyond the money we had pulled out for the truck which was just totaled).

Having walked through the house, the offer also came with a “to do list” of basic/minor repairs on the house (completely cosmetic stuff). Then there was the home inspection which yielded its own share of slightly more expensive/extensive repairs including a requirement to get a specialized chimney inspection for our fireplace (which we used twice in two and a half years). As is turns out, that inspection turns up its own problems. So we hire a chimney company to do their repairs ($800) and hire Nahum’s company (the guy in our church) to do the rest ($1100).

To do repairs, you must be able to get into and out of the house (which the other agent and buyer took the liberty of doing a few times without permission and were appropriately scolded by our agents, who, by the way I recently met playing volleyball at the YMCA while Mary and I enjoyed a $25 three month trial membership won at a silent auction that her prior employer had invited us to, etc.). [That by the way is my ode to long sentences.]

Now getting into the house was not always easy, although there are four keys. Mary and I have one, David and Jessica have one, Mom and Dad have one and finally there is one in the lockbox which you can get at if you are a realtor. I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I got calls from contractors asking to be let in just to be told “There’s one under the flower pot n the left side of the front door. Just go ahead in.”

I fielded about 25 calls every day for a week between my realtor, the contractors, their realtor, the buyer, the chimney people, the scheduling people, the main offices, the title company for the closing, etc. It was craziness. Every time the phone rang something was wrong so I was doing a lot of problem solving from 8 hours away.

There were so many unexpected things going on all the time. We had to pay for the work [even though it wasn’t done] before they could get financing or close. This required some financial gymnastics because we had to strategically plan onto which credit card the charges would go so we didn’t go over our limits. Fortunately, as He does, God provided just the right mount at just the right time. Then, we had to suddenly sign 5 documents the day of closing, and get one of them notarized, fax them and then copy and overnight them even though we had previously given the title company power of attorney. We found this out at 4:05 p.m. while I was at work and Mary was too so I printed them and raced them over to her (at Pier 1), got them signed and faxed them. The next day we re-printed one of them and got it notarized at a local bank. And many more…

Overall, the fact that we sold our house about 15 days after getting an offer and 6 weeks on the market in Hampton Roads terrible housing market, is a true sign of God’s love and care for us. We actually closed a day earlier than we had originally intended to.

In the midst of all of this craziness, God’s providence is amazing. I am one of three church staff (on Monday we’re getting an new secretary which is sweeeeet!) on this campus (the church has two locations running simultaneously) and one of the other employees, Gaynelle Albright, was/is a Realtor on the side. She has been not only a great co-worker at the church but an awesome agent. We have toured already 15-20 homes with her and, from our own experience of driving around the neighborhoods, know generally where we’d like to live. While Jessica, Isabel and Ashley visited last week we toured our “dream home” in 3 different forms (the same design and neighborhood, decorated, lived in differently). This is one of the houses.

We actually put in a offer on this exact house last night but found out that someone else had already put in a higher lease to own offer which the owners have accepted. If we had gotten this house we would have been living at 1 Broadland Circle, thus the title of the posting. So tomorrow after church we are going to put an offer on another house (pictured below).

Something that you should know is that real estate in South Carolina is cheap. The house above is listed at $199,000. If you remember what we were living in and that it sold for essentially $196,900, you can see what the difference is. It has 3 bedrooms (the master suite on the first floor), a huge cathedral ceiling in the living room (maybe 15 feet at the peak), a dining room, breakfast area, a mudroom/laundry room, and, best of all, an unfinished bonus room over the garage which we can easily convert into a play room or eventually a 4th bedroom. Overall, it’s about 1800 square feet.

This is not intended as a show off thing. We didn’t really want to leave VA but we were called to and He provided, even in the real estate market, for us now that we’re here. God is good! Also, we almost put an offer on a house numbered 666, but we couldn’t find the lock box to get in and tour it. I’m not sure if that was God or not...

I need to stop typing because my back and fingers are hurting and I have a lot to do here at the church. Also, one day I’ll write about my job and the ministry which are ultimately more important than where we live and all of that.