So life moves forward

Every day is a new adventure or a series of very boring experiences linked by chains of misery.  Actually my life has some of both, lets face it working 6 days a week for at least 12 hours a day can get to a person after awhile.

Today I inspected 3 properties and Jessy has two of them already written up tonight, what a great helper she is.  The work we do now is much harder than it was a few years ago, the government has intruded and with it comes piles of extra trash they require.  All of the appraisers who can quit have done so and so people like me with no other profession to rely on stick in and try to do their best.

Tonight I'm just very tired, long day, quick meals, a cheese sandwich at Starbucks, a quick bowl of cereal in the morning, a package of crackers and some water here and there, not terribly satisfying to say the least but I'm surviving just fine so far.

So sending my love to all, just praying very hard for a visa that could change my whole life in the next few days.

Thanks for your prayers, God is good and He knows best.

Tim

Really nice worship hour today

This morning I woke early enough to do the 3 miles around the lake, then shower and head to church.  Imagine my surprise and delight to discover that Michael and Beatrice had their new little girl at church today, only born this week that's pretty quick work.

The worship hour was presented by the Tracy SDA school and it was a really great musical.  For one thing the sound was perfect, Bob's mike really helped a lot and the kids were terrific, so cute and they sang so well and performed really great.

Potluck was good and it was so fun to see our dear 90 year old mom get her cake and eat it too.  Sylvia's mom is a great lady and she was in perfect form today, What a great example of high quality womanhood.

So sending love to all this evening.

tim

had a nice phone call with my friend today in Ghana and learned many things about the culture and country, they do not have it easy there, right now the power is off over half the time over parts of Accra and yesterday a high wind blew through and blew down a little tree in the front yard, taking a bit of the shade with it.

At last

I was so thankful to pull into the garage tonight, home safely through another day, another week.  Its a great feeling to know people actually pray that you will have a safe time on the road, that they care about you living a long life, very nice!

Its been a big week and I'm thankful for the work that God has given me, I'm thankful for a place to call my own and family and friends,

I'm glad that Jason graduated and is on his way to a few profession, he has certainly earned it and his family has been there every step of the way.

I've not heard yet if I get the girls or not tomorrow, I'm guessing not.  they have busy lives for just being 12 and 6.  Nikki and Steve give them every opportunity to learn how to do new things, they both swim well, they know tumbling, gynnastics, drama, dance, music and a host of other things too, soccer, baseball, basketball...

I do pray that you have a good weekend and holiday, love the one you are with and do it well, you never know.

Love to all

Tim

Jason's big day

Dear Friends and family,

This morning Jason graduated from Golden Gate Law School with his JD.  He is now a lawyer, to practice he needs to pass the state bar and he is preparing for that now and for the next month.  It was a very proud moment and brought some tears to my eyes, I know his mom would have been so proud of him and his huge accomplishment.  It was a magic day, Jo, Timothy and Mia were there to enjoy the event as well as friends.  Later we all went to lunch at a great place Jason and Jo had found, it was great food and considering we had 12 of us in SF the price was reasonable as well.

So I'm pretty tired tonight, fought traffic for hours and enjoyed talking to my friend on the way home, it helps pass the tedious hours in non moving traffic.

Now to bed, love to all and thank you God for allowing us to have such a son as this, a good guy, a family guy and now a new profession, one that he and his family have sacrificed greatly to achieve.  We all thank God for His wonderful blessings on us.

Love to all

Tim

Long day but safe

For those of you that think having your own business is total bliss, well you might want to think again,  Now I would not change a thing, I love having my own business but when you do it really is a real challenge, to try to keep your clients happy, to try to meet everyone's expectations and to be motivated always to work smartly.

Today was a success day, lots of work completed and shipped out so going to bed tonight I feel good.

Sending love to all,

Tim

Solid Sabbath

My dear family and friends,

Great day, 3 mile walk this morning, worship service with great sermon, good singing, nice seeing friends like George and Sylvia even if in passing.

Spend afternoon with Keanna, had lunch at BJ's in Brentwood, tonight as the sun set I managed to make the edged start and trimmed my poor front yard, many weeds died in the process!

Now to bed,  Love to all, great phone conversations with Ellen today, amazingly the people are so angry at the power outages that are hitting nearly every night or day that they took to the streets today, what was so shocking to me is Ellen's quiet and middle aged mother, owner of a cosmetics shop and solid citizen took to the streets today to protest.  Ellen told me that a textile company just let 1400 people go because of the power outages, her comments were so true, where will these people find money for food, for rent, for survival?  The power outages hurt everyone and move from neighborhood to neighborhood.  At least half of the nights she goes to sleep without power in her home.

please pray for the people of Ghana and the leaders that they get this solved soon.

Love to all

Tim

A big week

Not sure just how many miles traveled this week but am so thankful they were safe miles.  Ellen always prays that I will be safe when I'm driving, I think she feels this way because she does not drive and considers all those miles on the open freeways a risk to my life, she is probably right  and I'm glad for her prayers.

This morning I inspected a little home in Albany, a great lady and very interesting was the owner, a film editor for mostly documentaries she was very interesting to get to know. The surprise was a little inlaw house in the back, now to find other sales of homes in the area with inlaw units, that is the challenge.

Tonight I attended a concert by Keanna and it was so enjoyable, that kid has some real talent and loves to be up front before the lights and an audience.  So great to enjoy and spend time with the family.

This week Jason completed law school!  His mom would have been so very proud you can just know it.

I know I certainly am proud of the hard work the whole family, Jo, the kids and Jason have put into this next step for them.

Sending love to all,

Tim

And the rain did fall

I had just finished telling Ellen in Ghana that it  probably would not rain again until fall, she was mentioning that the skies looked like rain for her as she hurried home after working in her moms cosmetics shop for the day when I looked outside.  I was in Burger King having a vegeburger and salad and discovered that it was pouring outside.  I had already completed the appraisal of a nice little place in Union City and was heading home, Ellen urges me to make sure I have regular meals so I had stopped for a quick intake of food.

Later I told her about the rain and she thought it was very funny, by then the rain had stopped in Ghana but of course she was getting ready to head to bed, she is 7 hours ahead of me here in PST.

I met a very nice sales lady today who handled the purchase of the little home, it sold for over list price of course but there are comps so support, a good thing.  She speaks Mandarin and the people at the house had just arrived from china only 5 days ago so spoke no English at all.  She was a perfect translator and it all went very smoothly.

Coming home in the hard rain was almost impossible, I left at 11 this morning and did not get home until 5 tonight, lots of time spent on just one appraisal, bummer.

Tonight Kallie was in a swim meet here in Discovery Bay so I've been there for much of the evening, she is doing so well with her swimming and loves it and knowing what she is doing, its a big deal, over 100 kids are enrolled in the swimming program here in Discovery Bay and at our local community center pool, very nice, they sold a few hot food items to all of us watching and enjoying our kids and grandkids.

Now I'm home trying once again to catch up with the work load.  Tomorrow night Keanna has a major choir event with the choir she sings with so that will be very nice to enjoy.  What great fun the grandkids are!

Love to all

Tim

Long day

Its 12:47 and I'm just now finished with my work to the point where I can head to bed for a much needed rest.

This has been a day of challenges, some of the affects of the government intruding into our appraisal world came home to me today and its another big learning experience, not fun but can't be avoided at all.

I've been in Mountain House this morning and Bethel Island this evening, two widely different homes but each special in its own way.

Had a great time with Ellen this morning when I finished the appraisal in Mountain House, she had just finished her day running the cosmetics ship for her mom in Accra Ghana and was beat, lots of customers today.  Always great to catch up with her and share moments.  Outcome of this relationship is unknown at this point.  She is working on getting healthy after a bout of Malaria, will get checked out tomorrow by her doctor and then will start working on the visa, getting all the paperwork submitted through the internet,  Then its up to God and the officials to decide.

We would always appreciate your prayers that God's will be done in our lives.

Love to all tonight, morning really.

Tim

Sabbath

Good evening
This has been a good day!  Walked this morning and got the great chance to speak directly to Ellen as she rested after working all day cleaning house and doing the laundry by hand, going to the market for groceries by taxi and preparing meals.  She was tired and our minutes talking were really nice, felt like she was next to me, the sound was so clear, she is very witty, laughs and has a voice with an accent that is like music, I really like her voice but she thinks it is too high and no pleasant, she is wrong. 

Since the girls were busy today I ended up listening to our pastor give a very good mothers day message, he is a good guy and a pleasant speaker as well. Then it was lunch at the Spaghetti factory and an afternoon that ended up with Ellen reaching me by Messenger, its a form of texting back and forth but one can dictate into the phone and the words appear on the screen and then you can send them, we talked about 30 minutes and when she left to go to bed at her midnight, 7 hours ahead of me I was at the door to Amber's hair salon for her to pretend I needed a hair cut, don't really have much hair left now.  I'm working on getting my mustache and beard back again so Amber trimmed it properly and I can follow her trim on a day by day basis to keep it growing in nicely.  Then I had dinner in Brentwood with Nikki and Kallie, great fun and Nikki approved of my beard and mustache and now I'm home.

It feels so strange to go a whole day without doing appraisal work.  For the last few months the pressure to perform is always there and tomorrow is a vital day but I'll walk in the morning putting my fitness first and then cram all day getting work completed and out the door.

I want to just say that I feel God is so good to me personally.

Love to all,

Tim

God is so faithful to us

Ever stop to think about how many times God has blessed your life in special ways, like the car that is changing lanes as you start to move over and then you see the car and avoid a splat on the highway, about a nail in your tire which you discover before it is too late.  My thoughts about God have worked their way through lots of different transitions  as I was young, married, children, Nan's cancer, wrong answer by God to our hearts begging for a cure, coping with loss, again this weekend coping with the ideal mother gone way too early. No mothers day to celebrate for me personally.

Nice surprise today as I was measuring a home in Antioch, phone rang in my ear and it was Ellen from Ghana, had the nicest time talking for a few minutes, a real lift to the day, thankful, hopeful, cheerful and a nice break in a tough work day.  No matter what she never complains, the power goes off nearly every night in her home and is often off for entire days, government mismanagement and the people are growing more and more unhappy over it.  She often takes cold showers because the water is heated by the electricity when it is on but again no complaining.  Recently the PG&E people turned my gas off as they were installing a new gas line to all the homes on our block, they forgot to turn it back on and the next day I had a cold shower, suddenly I could understand what she goes through nearly every day.  But God is good and friendships are very special and precious.

Looks like I do a solo to church in the morning, Kallie wants to spend the day with her dad, Keanna is busy doing something.  Life is good my friends.

Love to all,

Tim

busy

My dear friends and family,

This is probably some of the busiest days of my entire life, so much so that I rarely stop to smell roses anymore or even trim them in my yard.  Up to nearly half as many orders so far this year and all of last year. Ellen just tells me to be grateful and to thank God and she is right, to easy to complain instead of just work smarter.

Life is pretty good, so thankful every day to back into the garage and know that I had another safe day and that I'm healthy and blessed beyond what any one deserves.

So tonight I'm sending love to all and asking if you would remember my friend Darla, a high school friend who is in the battle of her life now with cancer.  Today thoughtful people sent her a desert which she loved, a lot of very thoughtful class mates from Laurelwood Academy.  Great people who know how to love!

Thanks so much

Tim

A great day

Many high points today

Sabbath School with friends as Kallie enjoys great team leaders.

Jason and kiddos join us so they all enjoy  children's church with wonderful friends who lead out.

pastor preaches good sermon

Red Robin for lunch, good food

3 pm Cinderella play in Byron with Keanna a great actress throughout the whole show

Dinner at Subway

Jason and kids head home

Had enjoyable phone calls with Ellen in far off Ghana and she told me to chill with family, to have a great family day, she was so right.

God is so very good to us and family means everything!