What’s going on with lenders?
For the second time in six months a buyer for our condo with a pre-approval letter for 50k more than our asking price was suddenly denied a mortgage at the last stage. I thought maybe the lender was sketchy in the first denial, but the second is a multi-billion-dollar bank.
Our condo is under rental contract, so there is almost zero financial risk for nearly a year, and it’s prime Evanston real estate. The whole thing stinks of power abuse.
Drafting the family December newsletter today, I wondered how long I’ve been at it. Since May 2021! That’s worth a celebration. Where’s the hot buttered rum…
We did it!
Thanks Jaynne’s help with setup while we were celebrating with Amie’s dad and to the help of Tom and Julie during the event, the largest party we’ve ever hosted was a roaring success!
We started boiling the potatoes just 30 minutes before we were scheduled to eat. Though it ended up taking 45 minutes, that’s not too shabby for a Christmas meal for 20 guests. Amie led everyone through pulling their English Christmas poppers while they waited.
Jaynne brought over a HUGE pot to boil all of this, plus our own pot. It was so full that I had to pull out lemons, corn and water early to make room for the shrimp. My southern ancestors would be proud.
Eating without utensils was a new experience for some, but folks warmed up fast. Some even ate salad and dressing with their hands!
One of our primary goals with this Christmas party was making sure the kids were given special attention. I installed our indoor swing in the basement, and Amie put together Christmas-themed sensory bins. Jaynne created stockings for each of the kids.
After the stockings we opened the White Elephant gifts. Each person was assigned a number, then each picked out a gift or stole a gift from someone else.
I started a fire outside that served as a pit stop on the way to people’s cars. Royal and I played a final game of Monster outside with Maddie and Cora.
Every week I attempt to synthesize my writing. I find the activity enjoyable and sometimes discover new insights in the process. Eventually there’s enough to warrant its own major category, what I call a “garden”.
Here’s some of what I’ve written about trust. Comments, references and quotes welcome.
https://alexbilson.dev/gardens/faith/what-i-have-learned-about-trust/
#7BooksToKnowMe
(Off the cuff. I could keep going all night)
We began to add ornaments to our tree today. The flood of happy memories are definitely the best part of decorating a Christmas tree. I stumbled on last year’s ornament memorial; I wonder what new memories I could add?
I’ve tried three different approaches to fit a board into this doorway, but I can’t lay it at the right angle to slip into the existing flooring. It requires a positive 10° incline to set, but there’s no room under the door jam for that amount of lift. I’ve ruined a couple boards in the attempt.
I’ve landed on a final idea: break off the joint and use wood glue to connect the door jam piece to the existing flooring.
We cut down our Christmas tree last weekend!
There weren’t nearly enough lights in our bin for such a massive tree, so Amie picked up five boxes at discount. But they only had one plug each!
With Jaynne’s help we got the lights on the behemoth. Since we couldn’t string them together without a plug on each end, we went with a vertical alignment.
What does it say about the Christmas season that my favorite song right now is Surface Pressure by Jessica Darrow?
I’ve been waiting all year, and now it’s here! Renée is an exceptional leader, preacher, storyteller and coach, and the cohorts she’s forming have enormous potential for the development and encouragement of female leadership in the global Church.
If you’re a #preacher or #church leader, sign up for a January or April 2023 cohort quickly!
And if you know a female leader in your church, this is the best Christmas gift.
Thanks to Wes and Tom, we’ve laid 2/3 of the engineered hardwood across our master bedroom!
I’ve landed on memorizing the scroll of #Hebrews in 2023. One way I get the words into my heart is to write it out. A written copy also lets me proofread my memory for errors.
You can find the current chunk I’m memorizing at this link on my site.
So thankful for my manager (Mike Hartmann) and the rest of the IT leadership at Performance Trust. A friend of Amie’s mom is a contractor and we learned last-minute that he could come by with his table saw tomorrow afternoon to help me lay flooring in our bedroom.
Needed to take a half-day, approved to take a half-day. 🙏🏻
I’m making good progress defining hikes along the #CentennialTrail for next year. There are perhaps five two-day legs, though I’m not sure about #hiking Bear Butte.
Each leg is in the ~24 mile range. That’s not a rigorous two-day, but some have more elevation changes than others and will be more strenuous.
The next big question is tent accommodations at the mid-way points.
It’ll be fun by myself, but even better if those I’m inviting do a leg with me!
I’d first met Jamie on a #pray4sd call a couple weeks ago. Amie and I had the pleasure of hosting he and his wife Alicia for coffee just now! They’re the first folks I’ve met who are moving towards principles of disciple-making movements (#dmm) with zero formal training. It’s like the Holy Spirit is up to something… 🤔🥰
I’ve missed memorizing larger chunks of the #Bible. Haven’t done any new stories or passages for years. Thinking this will be the year for a new attempt.
The largest segments I’ve memorized are the Sermon on the Mount, Romans 1-8, most of Ephesians, and 31 proverbs. Don’t quiz me though-it’s been many years.
“I’m torn between a section of the #Torah and the scroll of Hebrews. Who wants to join me?
#memorization
This color picker is a work of art. I could use this to let users create their own theme for my website. Heck, I could use it myself to create themes in real-time.
Location: In the car, driving to the library. Royal singing to himself.
Royal: Yes. No? Yes! No… Yes? No!
Alex: Are you Sméagol?
Royal (emphatically): No! I’m Royal!
(a pause)
Royal (in a British accent): Murder!
🤣
The boys have turned a major corner in the last couple weeks. Previously, they would rarely play together without supervision for more than fifteen minutes. Suddenly they’re playing well with one another for hours. Who are these little people?! It’s been a welcome and much-needed reprieve.
Remember this? A Day in the Life - February 2022. I should write another one of these in February 2023…
Enjoyed a conversation with Aaron Myers today. Most of the hour I shared about Amie and my journey with Jesus, but I did get to hear a little about the digital relationships Aaron and team are bridging between Christians and Muslims.
It’s so encouraging to discover others called by Jesus to international work who live in tiny towns of South Dakota.
This week I overworked and under-rested. As a natural result, my weekend has been pessimistic, critical and overly analytical.
I am grateful for the reset that comes from attending a church service. I can remember again that I am in a cosmic story, that the Author is kinder than I am, and that I am not alone.
So let us (again) throw off the weight of foolish shame and run with endurance the race set before us. I give you my weakness, King Jesus, and you carry my burdens. To infinity, and beyond!
I’ve been happily amazed at the science and beauty of the Artemis space expedition and the images from the Webb telescope and meditative about ”what ifs”.
What if humans had not abdicated our role as regents of Yahweh and had, in fact, lived forever? As recipients of the Divine blessing to “be fruitful and multiply,” we would certainly have overfilled the earth within a few centuries. Would we not have become space-travelers by necessity? Might I have awoken to life in another galaxy? Oh the worlds humanity might have explored alongside the Spirit who crafted them!
Perchance a yet future hope?
I’ve begun planning one of my most anticipated activities next year; #hiking the #CentennialTrail. It’s 124 miles from the south to the north of the Black Hills.
At a pace of 12 miles per day, it will take 10 days. Or five weekends.
That’s mileage evenly split, but I’m considering a collection of one, two, and three-day hikes. The trip itself is exciting, but I’m equally excited to invite friends, and some may not want to hike 24 miles…
It’s the time of year for #NewYearResolutions. But let’s be honest.
What needs to change? Everything (sigh).
There are many emotions at the end of the year. Today’s emotions? Shame and self-loathing. Ugh, change is hard.
don’t work please
Made good progress on interesting software problems at work, tore carpet and staples out of our master bedroom, and managed a heating emergency for our Evanston tenants. Feels like it’s been a long week!
What drives us and many of our friends to fill every day in December with activity? Are we anxious to squeeze the last from the year, rushing to complete what we’d hoped to accomplish? Do we feel obligated to spend the remains of the year among people?
I’m exhausted and pessimistic, yet I still sense pressure to invite and visit. More than half the stuff on our calendar I scheduled in the last two weeks.
I wonder what it’s like to spend Advent, I don’t know, waiting quietly?
please, please, pretty please work?