“Pre-existing conditions are not covered by this contract. However, for Buyer’s and Seller’s coverage only and for systems that become inoperative due to normal wear and tear, there is no denial of coverage (“No Fault” coverage) for: (a) malfunctions that existed on the effective date of the contract if, at that time, the malfunction was unknown and would not have been detectable by visual inspection or a simple mechanical test, (b) malfunctions caused by a lack of maintenance, rust or corrosion (c) malfunctions caused by improperly installed equipment and (d) malfunctions caused by mismatched system sizes. Undersized or poorly designed systems relative to the square footage are not covered by the “No Fault” coverage.”

Excerpt from our home inspection report which is being cited as the reason behind our denied coverage when the current issue is a fan motor that won’t function:

“The ambient air test was performed using thermometers on the air handler of both Air conditioners to determine if the difference in temperatures of the supply and return air are between 14 degrees and 22 degrees which indicates that the unit is cooling as intended.  The supply air temperature at main home read 61 degrees, and the return air temperature was 70 degrees….This indicates that the main home unit is not cooling properly and a licensed Heat/Air contractor should inspect for cause of problem.”

Recently, I’ve been very frustrated with my “job options”.  When I quit teaching a year ago, the plan was to begin tutoring out of my home in order to bring in a little extra income to support what Ryan was making working full time.  This seemed like an easy goal, so I built a web site, made flyers, printed up business cards, and even paid for an ad in the local homeschool association parent newsletter.  Over the first summer, I had one student, and didn’t get another until November when two kids came twice each.  I finally landed a consistent student in January who stuck with me through the end of the school year, but my one kid for this summer fell through.

When things seemed bleak back in November, I took advantage of another opportunity and began selling Premier Designs jewelry at home shows.  I’ve done direct sales before, and this seemed like a great way to make a little extra cash and maybe even meet parents who needed a tutor for their kids.  I enjoy the jewelry parties, but my heart is in education.  I want to work with kids, and it was really bumming me out that Hope4Math couldn’t seem to get off the ground.

Rewind to the spring of 2008.  I was teaching Geometry for the first time ever (something I was a bit apprehensive about doing, but wound up loving!)  There was a young lady in one of my classes who REALLY struggled.  She struggled so much that her mom hired a tutor.  When she continued to struggle, the tutor called me directly to touch base and see if we could work together on a plan to help her succeed.

I’m not sure how the conversation lead to this point, but the tutor, we’ll call her “Kay”, and I hit it off over the phone and I let her know of my future goal of quitting full time teaching and pursuing a tutoring business of my own.  We ended up meeting for lunch and she shared her knowledge.  We kept up communication during the rest of the year, and the following fall, I received a phone call from her.  She and her husband were expecting another baby, and she was hoping I would be able to sub for some of her tutoring sessions after the baby came.

I started working for her in January of 2009 two afternoons a week.  Kay eventually took back most of her students, but I remained on one day a week from that point on.  During that time, I’ve learned about her business and met most of her students.  We’ve become friends as we’ve shared her new baby, both of our husbands being laid off, and my own coming bundle.

What does this have to do with God and His provision?

Kay’s husband lost his job before Christmas this year, and just this month received a job offer in another state.  To make a long story short, I’ve been asked to essentially take over the business that she has spent the last several years building.

I’ll be going from one student to a full load almost overnight.

God is awesome!

I knew being pregnant in the summer wasn’t going to exactly be “fun”.  I expected to be hot and uncomfortable.  I didn’t expect to be unable to be cool in my own home.

At 35 weeks pregnant, I’ve gained 28 pounds and am finding it much harder to assume comfortable positions around the watermelon that now resides where my stomach once was.  Add to that the fact that our air conditioner hasn’t been functioning for nearly 2 weeks, and it’s pretty hard to take.

We knew the AC unit was old when we bought the place.  However, it WAS cooling the house.  At least it was until we woke up on June 21, the morning after the big party, to a house nearing 85 degrees at 8:30 in the morning and we heard a grinding noise coming from the unit.  NOT cool!  We shut it off, since it wasn’t working.

So, we called our Warranty company to send out an AC repair guy.  Due to busy schedules, no one could come out until Tuesday.  On Tuesday, the brilliant man who came out told us that there was absolutely nothing wrong, that it was just old.  He claimed we needed a new unit.  We turned the unit back on and left it running and grinding, however, so we could at least cool the air a bit.

Unhappy with this diagnosis, we called the AC company and asked that they send us another guy.  This guy came on Wednesday.  This time, the unit was cleaned, inspected, and we were told we needed a new fan motor, which couldn’t be replaced because the unit was so old they didn’t make the bracket needed to install it.  He also tried to sell us a new unit, naming a price that he obviously pulled out of thin air.  He claimed the warranty would cover part of the cost, but he didn’t tell us which part.  These guys left, we still had no cool air, and later that night, the unit completely quit running altogether.  Ryan even resorted to going to Wal-mart at midnight to purchase a small window unit which he finished installing in our bedroom at 3AM.

We again contacted the warranty company and asked that they send us a different AC company, because we felt the prior company wasn’t being honest with us about prices.  We were finally assigned another company last Friday afternoon, but were unable to contact them until Monday.  When I called this guy, I was told that he no longer worked with our Warranty company.  He listed several other companies that he would be happy to do work for, but not ours.  Needless to say, our confidence in the resolution of the situation was wearing thin.

The call was re-dispatched at least twice more, but it wasn’t until Tuesday afternoon that we finally got another AC guy out to the house to look at the problem.  This guy didn’t really tell us anything different, but it’s what he didn’t tell us that made us a bit more confident.  He didn’t give us any estimates until he could talk to the Warranty company to see what they were willing to do.  At last!  Someone who seemed trustworthy!

However, our problems were still a long way from being solved.  As I write this, it is Friday, a full 11 days since we first called the Warranty company with our complaint.  We are waiting on them to decided what to do.  They asked for a copy of our inspection report, which we’ve sent.  However, no feedback has been given.  Since this weekend is July 4th and many people will be off work on Monday, we can’t expect anything to be done until Tuesday at the earliest.

In the meantime, we’re spending lots of time in the bedroom and not even able to enjoy the rest of our house.  I tried to cook once, which only resulted in my nearly having heat stroke with the additional heat from the over.

I’m trying to enjoy the cooler weather God has provided though the rains over the last week.  I’m grateful for the break from the 100 degree days.  However, I will be much happier when this whole situation is resolved.

He asked for tools for his birthday, so what else could I do??

My amazing husband turned 30 last week.  It’s been a crazy year for us both, what with moving, quitting my job, my mission trip, his new job, getting pregnant, buying a house…

With all of these changes, I felt like he had earned an AWESOME party this year.  Since we just closed on our house June 4th, it seemed appropriate to combine it with our housewarming and plan for a slew of people.  I got busy pruning the weeds out of the yard and making plans to feed 30 plus people.

I also planned for some great entertainment.  I enlisted the “Lightening Crispies” to perform their classic rock tunes.  I can’t say I hired them, because they agreed to do it out of love for Ryan and free food.  We are so blessed by the friends God has provided for us.  I told my friend Taylor, the drummer, that it’s probably not unusual to have a friend’s band play your birthday party for free.  The unusual part is that our friend’s band is actually REALLY GOOD!

The Lightening Crispies set up on our back patio. There is a drummer hiding behind the lead singer! I promise!

The cake was also a splurge.  I actually ordered it from what most consider to be the best bakery in town, Candy Haven.  YUM!!!  It didn’t turn out to be as expensive as I thought for the half sheet cake, but it was worth every penny I paid.  I will use them again in the future.

This was a lesson in planning, that’s for sure.  I originally figured 6 pounds of hamburger to feed the crowd, but I went ahead and bought 9.  We ended up using 11!!  I think there were over 40 people in attendance by the time all was said and done.

A view of the band as they warm up. Only a few people now, but this yard was full by the end!

Our grill. We purchased it Super Bowl weekend, but it really served it's purpose this passed Sunday. Over 40 burgers and 30 hotdogs!

This party was also a huge confirmation of the decision we made to buy this house.  Even with the band set up and the rows of chairs for people to watch, there was still plenty of room for the kids to throw a football.  When it got too hot, there was plenty of room inside the house for people to sit down and visit without feeling crowded.  The kitchen is plenty big to prepare and serve the food, even with separate stations for drinks and cake!

Sunday was AMAZING!  We’re so grateful to all who have loved us over the years and have assisted us in the process of buying this house and planning our awesome party.  Thanks for sharing it with us!

Here are answers to the most common questions I hear for this point in my pregnancy.

1) Weight gain? My goal to stay under a gain of 25 pounds is pretty much shot.  I weighed in at a gain of 24 yesterday.  My midwife told me to cut out more bread products.  That’s going to be hard.  Most of what sounds good right now is carbs.  :(

2) Cravings or aversions? Not so much.  I do have to watch my protein intake, though.  I get really light headed if I don’t get enough.

3)  Boy or Girl?  Name? We had another sonogram on May 28th, and actually got to see the proof that this child is most definitely a boy!  We have decided on the spelling of “Grayson.”

4) Is he kicking? YES!  Often. For awhile he was content to jam his head up under my right rib.  He was actually in a breech position at the sonogram, but was head down at my appointment today.  As I write this, he must be flexing his back muscles.

5) Belly button? It’s pretty much gone.  There’s still a small indention that I would call an “innie.”

7) How am I feeling? I’m very tired and finding it more and more difficult to do physical activity.  Since we bought the house, I really want to be out in the yard clearing up the weeds, but I just can’t bend over to do the work.  It’s too uncomfortable.

8 ) What are you doing with the baby’s room? Now that we own the house, we will be doing something with the second bedroom that includes a place for baby.  We are still working on a plan.  Grayson will sleep in our room for a few months, but we are getting a crib and some storage furniture for baby stuff to go in the second room.  However, Grayson will still have to share with Daddy’s office space.   There is plenty of room in there for both of them.  We’ve registered for some nice long baby gates to divide the room.  We’ve even discussed painting a shade of blue.

9) How are you sleeping? I sleep good while I sleep, but I’m waking up a LOT to go to the bathroom.  I also wake up several times and have to turn over because my legs ache.  I had a good system with my pillows up until last night when I had to add another one.

The front of out first place!

It’s official!  As of noon on Friday June 4th, 2010, we are HOMEOWNERS!!!  We were hoping to be official a week earlier, but getting documents from a seller all the way in Hawaii caused us to push closing a week.  No big deal, though.  It just means our first payment won’t be due for another month!

Home ownership is pretty cool.  We’ve already been living in the house since September, since we started out as renters, but now we can really start making this place our home.  It’s got a few quirks, but we’ve also found some cool surprises.  The furnace is about 50 years old, all three bathrooms will need updating, the apartment needs foundation work, none of the electrical is grounded, and the yard is a MESS, but we discovered that the front yard has a fully functional sprinkler system!

We’ve also discovered that my husband is pretty handy.  The hall sink hasn’t worked properly since we moved in.  There was a plumber out right after we moved in back in September who managed to get the leak to stop, but we’ve been living without any hot water since that time.  The seller paid for us to have the valve replaced, but the faucet knob was so stripped that you still couldn’t turn the water on, so we weren’t much better off.  Ryan decided that this was going to be his first big home improvement project.  We went to Lowe’s, bought a new faucet and some tools, and two days later, our sink is fully functional!!!

The original faucet.

Ryan begins to take out the old faucet by removing the drain pipe.

Notice there is no water spilling out. He's doing great!

No more knobs! The faucet itself was a bit of an issue to get off. Ryan ended up sawing off the drain mechanism in order to get the final parts out. I guess it was too old and rusty to get out any other way. Good thing we planned to trash it from the beginning!

The naked sink.

Shiny new faucet that runs both hot and cold water! Complete with a working drain. All we had before was a hole! It's been almost a full day since it went in, and no problems to report. Way to go Ryan!

So one project down of many more to come.  We’re going to hire someone to paint the outside of the house once we get our tax credit, but we plan to tackle many of the other projects on our own or with help from friends.  On our “To Do” list:  landscaping, interior painting and drywall repairs, new tile floors in both bathrooms, new counter in the master bath, new grout and caulk for the tubs in the master bath and the apartment bath, moving two interior door ways to create a true galley style kitchen with more counter space, a new roof, new locks on all the doors, … there’s more, but I can’t think of it all right now.

We are really excited to own this house and are grateful for God’s provision in being able to do so.  We never would have found this place without Taylor and Allison who clued us in last spring that it was coming open to rent.  We’re thankful to Charlie, our landlord, for letting us know he was going to sell it instead of just putting it on the market.  We’re grateful to Ryan’s dad for helping with the downpayment.  And were grateful to our incoming renters.  God used each of these pieces to provide, and now our baby will be born into a house!!

This will likely be my last visit with my favorite stylist at Salon La Page until after the little one make his grand arrival.  So, when she suggested highlights, I decided it was now or never!  The belly is 3 days shy of 31 weeks!

Yes, we DO still have a wreath hanging in June.  I’m not taking it down until I have something else to hang there.  That space looks horrible if it’s left blank.

The highlights are subtle; just enough to look like I've been out in the sun. Good thing, too, because I do NOT want to be out in the sun this summer!

The last few weeks have seen lots of milestones in the pregnancy.

On May 11th, Ryan and I started out birthing classes through the Inanna Birth Center.  We meet once a week for 6 weeks.  So far we have covered various pain coping techniques as well as the different stages of labor.  Tomorrow is movie night.  Oh, yeah…you know what I’m talking about!!!  Overall, this has been a great experience.  It’s taught by the midwives from the birthing center, so it’s been a great chance to get to know them better before our big day.

On May 14th, while I was at my reunion, my dear college friends threw me a little shower for Grayson.  This was his first shower so far.   We met at a restaurant near campus for a casual celebration.  Thanks so much to all my college girls for your time and thoughtful gifts!

So cute! I can't wait to see Grayson in this! Thanks Susan and Erin~

These will be fun in the tub when Grayson gets a little older.

This week we were able to have a sonogram to see how the baby is growing.  He’s much bigger than the 16 week shots, weighing in at over 3 pounds!  Our little guy is a wiggle worm, and he’s changing position on a regular basis.  When the sonogram first started, there was some concern about the baby being breech.  However, he rotated to being completely transverse within a matter of minutes, so he’s still got plenty of room and time to get into the right position!

I count 5 toes!!! His foot is up right by his head!

Such cute little feet!

Glad to see that he's using his time wisely!

I think that I am falling in love.

And if all goes well, our Roly Poly bundle will come home to a house all his very own.  We are set to close on our house this Friday, provided all falls into place.  We think we’ve overcome all the obstacles at this point, but the deal is not done until all the papers are signed.

Recently I was able to go back to North Carolina for my 10 year College Reunion.  I can’t believe it’s been 10 years since I graduated from Meredith!  The weekend was very much a trip back into times long forgotten.  Looking at my girlfriends from 10 years ago, it was easy to think that no time had passed.  We drifted into easy conversation just like old times.  It was only the content that disclosed the fact that we are all years older.  Most of us married, years into careers or even career changes, many with children, some of us with kids on the way.  At the end, we decided that we are too old for the dorm beds and we’ll plan to stay in a hotel at the next reunion!

The girls from my Senior Suite back in 2000.

The girls from my Senior Year Suite now . No change, right?

Me and Meredith. We were room mates Sophomore and Junior years.

Leigh Anna and are are Preggo Twins. We got pregnant about the same time. She's having a girl, and I'm having a boy. Here we are both about 28 weeks.

Well, back in January, while we were hanging out with our neighbors from the adjoining apartment, stuck inside due to a giant snow storm, the landlord called.  Much to our surprise, he announced that he wanted to sell the house.

Seems great, huh?  But we felt we were in NO position to buy.  Since Ryan was laid off back in June and I quit my job, we’d only just gotten back to the point where our savings was building up instead of depleting.  Where would we get a down payment from?  Not to mention, how could we afford such a place?

After going around and around with a new series of “what ifs”, Ryan started to do some research.  We contacted a mortgage broker just to see if we could even qualify for a loan.  Turned out that, due to amazing credit, we did qualify for enough to buy a house.  We decided to pursue the possibility.  It turns out that our next door neighbors are realtors.  We hooked up with them and went looking to see what else was on the market in our price range.

After looking at houses all weekend, it became more and more clear that the rental house would be a great deal.  It costs a bit more than we’re comfortable paying on our own, but we’d ben getting the rent from the apartment, which makes it more affordable on a monthly basis than a lot of cheaper houses.  In fact, since nearly half the mortgage would be paid by the rental unit, we would save nearly $100 a month compared to what we are renting for!  Not to mention the location is great.  We are close to the university, which means any improvements we make will only add to the value over time.

So, the decision was made, we just had to figure out what we were going to do about a down payment.  Sometimes all you have to do is ask, and Ryan’s Dad came through for us.  He has provided the entire down payment.  Praise God!

At present, we are under contract for the house, just in time to qualify for the $8000 tax credit.  Inspection happened over the weekend, and we’re in the process of final negotiations.  We’re hoping to see several professionals in the next day or so to assess some of the problems found on the inspection.  There wasn’t anything unusual, but we do want to make sure we can come up with the time and the resources to make some needed repairs.

Hopefully, if all goes well, we will be home owners by the end of the month.  And we don’t even have to move!!!