With Forgiveness Comes Peace

Wowza, I didn't realize till just now that I write novels for posts. Also, I appologize for my incorrect grammar and sentence structure from my last post. I'm usually pretty anal about proper English, but I think I was just upset.

So, a short update on that situation. After I wrote that post, I decided something. The money that they owe us, which is rightfully ours, is just not worth the drama. I mean think about it. Money doesn't go to heaven with you. It just buys stuff and disappears again. I have faith that our hard work and the hand of God will help provide us the money that we need to move in to our new house. So, why let these dishonest people keep us from being happy? I felt instant peace and FREEDOM once I realized this. But, it's easier said than done because I still lost a lot of sleep last night thinking about how these people have done us wrong over and over again. I just keep telling myself, I can't change them in to being honest people, I can only change myself in to be a forgiving person. Still, so much easier said than done! But I just try and remember that peace that I felt. So I emailed the new landlord about the situation with the fridge. He said to stop dealing with them, it's his house and now he is in charge of it. If they want their fridge, they have to contact him to get it. I also informed her that in the lease the fridge is documented as her property. This frees us of paying for it, and also frees us of the responsibility of it once the house is in the new owners hands. She responded with a little bit of , "I'm tired of dealing with you", and "if you keep pushing the issue, I won't give you the deposit". Bingo! Theres my cue.

"Look lady, we paid that money, its our money that you promised we would have. If you are going to put stipulations on it and go back on your word, then I would just rather cut ties and go our own way. The stress and anger that you have brought in to our household is not worth the money you owe us. You have been dishonest, and unforgiving and I'm through because I don't associate myself with people like that. So go ahead and keep the money so we can go on living our lives in peace. I'll transfer the water in to our nameand pay the last months bill directly to the company. And you know how to get your fridge. Please do not contact me again and as through the peace that God offers for forgiving those who have wronged us, my family and I forgive you".

Done. Now I have the freedom to start focusing on the new and blessed opportunities we have ahead of us and I have the closure that I personally needed. Nothing more to be angry about because now I am not at the mercy of a person who is dishonest in their dealings. WHEEEW!

Ok, so another biggie...

Brooklyn had an appointment just over two weeks ago. She was super low on the weight chart, so low that she was below even the 0th percentile. She was getting over an ear infection so he suggested we reweigh her in two weeks. We went on Monday, and she only has gained an ounce. Since Sunday she has been super lathargic, not eating or drinking much at all but no fever. I'm praying its a growth spurt and its just temporary. Our appointment is today at 3:20 if I can find us a ride (Curtis had to get off yesterday to pay a ticket so he can't leave work early again today). I'll keep you posted :)

Adios Amigos! I promise the blogs will get more positive in the near future! WE ARE MOVING and its a marvelous house!

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned!

First off, let me say something. I NEED YOUR ADVICE! I have major issues going on and I'm just at a loss! Hopefully my friends in blog world can offer me a little peace or advice or just make me feel better about my situation! I always wanted a positive blog, but sometimes life isn't so positive... and that sometimes is now.

The reason I changed my blog domain name was to keep my privacy from my previous land lord, and of course to vent to you all. If you read  my first blog, your ahead of the game. If you read both of them... you're just awesome and thank you for reading! But, the first blog is what is causing so much havoc in our lives.

Our landlord read it, and is now saying that I was slandering their name and "playing the victim" when I knew what was going on all along and that I lied. Who got that from that email? Maybe I need to read it again, but I'm pretty sure it didn't mention much more than the fact they didn't pay their mortgage. Hmm. So anyways, they have been ignoring our phone calls and text messages since Friday. Curtis came up with the idea that maybe they really were just so mad because they lost their house. Very possible. So we decide to show up on Saturday with symapthy card in hand. No answer. So we leave the card in the door. Simple. Up until this point, we were still believing that they had zero prior notice of the actual date the house would sell in auction and that they were in foreclosure AFTER we signed our lease (all of which aren't true). So, we had sympathy towards them. We gave them the benefit of the doubt. After phone calls still not being returned, I called the husband on Monday afternoon (he didn't know my phone number, so I wasn't shocked when he answered). I said ya know I've been trying to get a hold of your wife with no luck. Do you know whats going on? He said, yes, why would she call you back? First of all, you left us a sympathy card? What the crap is that? And I read your twitter thing or whatever and you were so rude to her! She needs to work out stuff, but she will call you when she is ready. You'll get your money (your deposit) when she feels like dealing with you. Don't call us anymore. Click.

Um... ok. Keep calm Whit, anger will get you nowhere. I come to the conclusion, we will do our thing, if they decide to give us the money, great, if not, they aren't important enough to be in our lives.

Then I get a message from her DAUGHTERs facebook email. Lol. She says that she is holding our deposit until a few things happen. First of all, according to her lawyer she doesn't owe us our deposit or our last months rent. Also, the refrigerator (that we told her we DID NOT want) is being deducted from our deposit. She isn't paying us the remainder of June back, even though she promised she would. Also, our water bill that is under their name will be deducted from the deposit as well. So pretty much there is no deposit coming our way and what ever we do get will go to our new address.UGH! WE HAVE 4 KIDS LADY! AND WE DIDNT KNOW THAT WE WERE GOING TO BE GOING THROUGH THIS!!!

When we moved in, they were trying to sell the house. We were very ok with that. We told them to just let us know what they wanted us to do and we could clean if anyone wants to come look at it.Then we get the foreclosure notice in the mail. She didn't ONCE contact me regarding any correspondence during this whole thing, I always contacted her. She said they were trying to remod their loan and they hadn't heard anything. Then we find out its going to auction back in May. Nothing happened on the auction date. Then all of a sudden, when Curtis is outside fixing the yard, we find out that the house is up for auction the next day. Then we find out that it sells the same day, which means there is no time like in a normal sell. It's there and then. We never thought it would come to this and I have GOT to believe that she knew something was going on. She changed her mail from coming here to their house they live in less than a month before it sold. And I'm pretty familiar with debt collectors, they hound you. And that's for small stuff! So I bet with a house they were getting hounded.

My heart hurts that there are people in the world that are not doing their business honestly. Mostly, these people own their own Christian Ministry. What a disgrace. We paid our rent, we were honest with them from day one. If we thought this situation was going to happen we would have thought twice about it because we have a family to protect and provide for. Its a sad world.

You guys, I'm just torn. I can't keep being angry at them, but its so hard to even just clean my house without being reminded. I have been praying for a soft heart and to let this slide, and actually typing about it is helping. I just want to break the chains. I didn't do anything wrong, and Curtis and I have both been honest from the beginning. So why do I feel the weight of the hurt. I gotta let go, I gotta forgive. (Enter words of encouragement here, haha).

On a lighter note:

Holy macaroni you would all die laughing watching me try and write this blog. I'm squeezing in 3-4 words inbetween  mopping, bathing kids, feedings, diaper changing and losing my mind lol. I love this crazy life I have though and at the end of the day I'm so grateful that I got blessed with my two beautiful step daughters and my two babies of my own flesh and blood. Oh, and of course I'm super grateful of my hubby :). He's been my rock through this whole thing, especially when I was ready to throw blows, he calmed me down.

Last but not least... Anyone watch the Bachelorette last night? It's my addiction. At least she wisened up, and I think she would be stupid to let J.P. go. He's hot ;)!

Thank you all in advance for any comments or advice. I need to lean on good influences, and I believe I have the best of friends (even if we're just facebook or blog friends) to lean on!

See ya on the flip side!

It's a wonderful day in the neighborhood!

Great news! We found a house, from a really cool family! We looked last week after our horrible news day (the one I mentioned in my previous blog) , and I was just so skeptical of possibly being in the same situation we found ourselves recently, that I had to do a little research. I emailed the new owner of our house, he's a swell man, and he looked to see if the house was in foreclosure. NOPE! Thank God for helping us in this time of need :-)! Curtis and I were discussing the house (prior to the clearing of foreclosure), and I wasn't too sure, but he was positive about it. In our discussion, for some reason I blurted out, "lets go see it again... I want to see it again". NEVER a suggestion of mine. And that, my friends, turned out to be the key that we needed to feel 100% at ease with our decision. We got there and this time, met the whole family. The last time we looked, it was just the husband, and his two daughters. The husband, the wife, the two daughters and also her brother who is handicap was there. They help take care of his three kids (saints? I think so)! We got there, looked around and I just could SEE us living in this home. We get down stairs, and I just gotta tell ya, this lady was AWESOME! They have only been married for a year, but dated for a while. They are Christians (He used to be Catholic, as well as her). They were like so similar to us! He loved dogs (had 3 pitbulls), she accepted them when she accepted him (sounds familiar). She was so friendly and so nice! She even cooked for us, and MAN it was good! She is from El Salvador and a Pittsburg fan (BOO!) and he's a Cowboy fan (Double BOO!). We ended up spending 3 hours there yesterday! We move in at the end of July, so we would love any help we can get! I'm so excited to move, and so relieved about our situation.

Oh! and it's 5 bedrooms, 3 bath and has a community pool, dog park, basketball court, and soccer fields. The neighbors all sound really cool too!

I was reading Psalms last night because I couldn't sleep due to some anger I was having towards all of the people who have taken advantage of us, done us wrong, or owe us money....(and it's a long list - family, employers, and friends). It's funny that I came to this book in the bible because I thought Psalms was all love stories and harmony and feel good. Man, was I mistaken. It was about Davids pleas to God about bringing justice to the people who wronged him and who were no longer faithful. This verse in particular struck me because it's how I'm starting to feel,

"Help, Lord, for no one is faithful anymore; those who are loyal have vanished from the human race. Everyone lies to their neighbor; they flatter with their lips but harbor deception in their hearts." Psalm 12:1-2

K maybe not that strong because I do have some pretty honest and loyal people in my life, but it seems as if the world is starting to look more like the scripture than it should.

I kept reading because I was having this inner battle going on. Did you know that David pleaded and pleaded for the Lord to deliver justice for 17 chapters? And not once did he take it in to his own hands? But in the end, God made him more powerful than he imagined, and he received what he deserved for so long.

 I wanted so desperately to be able to forgive the people who have done us wrong, and to forget above all. But as I read David's word, I was so shocked to hear that he was wishing that the Lord would rebuke the people who had wronged him, and would defend him because he was right... and he KNEW he was right! And it was OKAY that he knew he was right! I feel so guilty about situations when I know, and more importantly God knows, that my heart was right and I was honest in my dealings from start to finish.That I, or in our most recent situations, WE were honest and loyal and for some reasons, we were the ones who ended up with the short end of the stick. So I guess what I'm trying to say, is this lifted my spirit and lifted a lot of guilt off of me. I don't know why I was feeling guilty when I didn't do anything wrong? Why am I second guessing our decisions, when we did everything in our power to make sure we were honest and loyal? Maybe I feel guilt for being hurt, and not easy to forgive, with a feeling of resentment and wanting to "get even"? But, I know I'm right, I just have to trust that God knows where my heart lies and has my back. So I changed my prayer, and my thought process for the better. Even though those situations still make me angry, maybe if I'm like David, and I pray to God for justice since he is the only true Judge, that maybe through him and his power, truth will prevail!

So, sorry to get all scripture, but... WHO'S HELPING US MOVE!?!?! lol.

Have a great day, and HUG someone today!!!!

The Crazy House Hunt Begins!

Yay! I made it back to Blog Land! I'm really looking forward to making new friends and getting in touch with everyone in blog land! It seems like such a happy place :)!

Ok, so two days ago we found out the home that we have been renting was selling in forclosure auction the next day (yesterday). So if any of you have been in this situation, you know how crazy it can get. We had 4 people come to look at the house on Wednesday night, when we found out it was going up for sale. Then yesterday,  THE MASSES HIT! It was CHAOS! I probably had 50 people show up in 3 hours, walk up to my door and read the sign that I posted regarding how much rent we were paying and that we hoped to stay. Some knocked, and others were rude by looking over my fence. At one point, Peyton and I were upstairs looking out the window at all these people and their cars, and one lady parked in my driveway! I was LIVID! So we yelled at her, she heard us, jumped in her car and took off! That'll teach her! I finally posted a sign to NOT look over the fence and respect our house. I caught two gentleman peeking over our fence and I walked out and said, "can you PLEASE not look over our fence?". He replied, "Well if we are going to spend a couple hundred grand on something, we want to see what it looks like." HA! I quickly replied, "well I JUST found out yesterday that we were losing our house, so ya think I care!?". I was SO irritated with the nerve of this guy. So after the masses commenced, obviously when the auction started, I tried laying down to collect myself from the distraction of the day and the feeling of my home being violated when I heard another knock. DUN DUN DUN! Open the door...."Hello, I'm the new owner!". OOOOhhhhh jeeeezzzzz. Ok, tell me you have good news. He was actually a relatively nice, younger dude with a lot of grace in his demeanor. He works for a company which buys houses, fixes them up, and flips them a week later. A house sells better vacant in this situation. He told us that we don't have to pay rent in July, but they are hoping we can be out by August. This seems a little sketchy, but by law, he didn't have to give us any notice whatsoever because our landlord was in forclosure prior to us signing our lease. So all the laws we thought protected us didnt. But that's ok, because it's life, and maybe it was the Lord saying, you CAN find a new home, and your time here at this house is over. Luckily for me, I believe everything happens for a reason...

So we looked at a house last night. I'm still trying to see how I feel about it, but Curtis came up with some good points. It's a little more expensive than what we were hoping, and further from both of our jobs, but there is NO pet deposit (they have 3... yes we're not the only ones, 3 pitbulls that are the size of a small horse) and the renters are the homeowners, so there's no leasing agent or stupid added fees. They are looking to relocate closer to their jobs and rent a house, and just get this mortgage paid. There were scriptures all over the wall and an open bible as a decoration in the house. Not that that means anything, but, hopefully, they are blessed with the knowledge of Christ and they are honest in their dealings. So, we are praying about it, but we would be able to move in August 1st.

So God has worked in mysterious ways again, and I'm actually at peace with this whole situation. I pray that fewer people in the rentals around the world have to deal with the trauma this auction sale situation causes, and I feel their pain and pray that it works out as great as it has for us! "And I'm extremely grateful for the gentleman who broke the news to us. He is just doing his job, but he seems dilligent in offering what will work for us :).

To finish off, I HAVE GOT to show off some of our new family pics! It's the first time we ever got them and its soooo super exciting!!!

These are courtesy of my Dear friend Ryan Vaughn at Jubilantimages.com!