Shattered

May 16, 2020

Shattered

Again. Shattered Again. This is what strikes my heart again. Of course, in the big scheme of things I realize, this is tiny. This isn’t losing a family member or going bankrupt. Logically, my brain tells me that this isn’t really a bad thing and there is likely a reason behind it, but still…

I can’t ignore the emotions that were tearing me apart when Louis said he got the email.

We never, NEVER, would have showed our children the new house (they’ve been calling it that) unless we were told it would happen.

We were told, based on incomes and expenses that it would happen. Our debt-to-income ratio (we know all that, studied before going to attempt for the loan. We had the credit scores above the requirement on the website, we’d done all our own figuring, we make three times what we would need for the maximum monthly payment!) We were told everything was good – we even asked over and over, is this really going to happen?

Well… of course, we lost income, BUT IT IS TEMPORARY!! Gym can open back MONDAY – two days from now! Are they only looking at one of my two incomes? Are they not looking at Louis’ income at all? I’m still working at the office! Louis is still working at uber.

WHERE IN THE EARTH did some loan person decide that she would NEVER once talk to me but CANCEL our documents because “they have zero income” when she didn’t even check? That’s a lie! That’s a stinking, irritating, hurtful, dream-shattering lie! We have lost income over the stupid COVID19 government shutdown garbage, who hasn’t? But to say that is permanent? It’s a bump in the road! A mortgage is 30 years!! Do you expect our income to never change in 30 years??????

We’ve not deferred ANYTHING… we’ve chosen to keep the down payment (yes, in the bank, safe and untouched!) and pay minimums on credit cards that we had to use for groceries, yes. Gym was forced to shutdown temporarily – between Monday and June 1st, I go back to work as soon as they open.

NOTHING has been late; not FPL, not our rent, not our van or car payment (we pay off the giant van payment in 4 months!)

Why is this hurting us? I thought this was responsibility? To keep the down payment, to choose to pay bills on time instead of ask for deferment, to pick up odd jobs to keep our income up while this stupid government decides to ruin our jobs and now – yes, shatter our dreams AGAIN!

Christina and Kimberly lost summer encampment, Christina, Becky, and Kimberly lost Passion Camp (this was the only summer they could all go together), the VBS they were looking forward to is canceled, they miss out on their gymnastics show, the girls are despising this whole zoom meeting garbage where they can’t talk and meet in person…

Becky said, “they can’t take our house, can they?”

It seems, one mortgage person can LIE and say we have no income while NEVER ONCE contacting or trying to contact me, Louis, or either of my bosses regarding our actual status of employment – and yes, deny us our house.

So while I understand that if someone takes the last 4 weeks of my paystubs and averages them over the course of a year, they will think we can’t make our payments; right now we are only missing about $200 a month (with the expected higher mortgage rate and this doesn’t count Louis’ income) – and we loose a $650 a month liability (paid off vehicle) in 4 months (so then just my income alone will cover our bills with more than $400 surplus!).

What really hurts is the LIES. I had to get this information from one lady we called because Louis got an email saying we no longer qualify and so have to pay a cancellation fee… ?????? Why can’t we at least get a courtesy call? No one ever asked? Not even a text. That’s seriously taking social distancing too extreme.

I hate that I took my children to see this place. I hate that I’m so gullible. I hate that I shared my dreams with others and now feel embarrassed that we even tried.

I am determined to at least speak to this person before I agree to pay for a lie.

I pray that God sets this up the way He wants it. I pray my emotions level (which, yes, after writing they always do) so I can speak calmly and rationally. I pray to see the good through this curtain of hurt. I so wanted to have those friends as neighbors, I really wanted to have Treaty Park as my backyard, but whatever; I should have known we will never make it to a real house.

Emotions are sometimes things we hide. I do. I try very hard not to let anyone see anything that isn’t positive. I try to be the mood lifter, not one who complains or cries or feels darkness. But I do. I feel darkness right now – like all my life I’ve dreamed of having a house where I could raise my children and grow trees that would shade my grandchildren – I know, silly. I saw a plan online that almost mirrored the house I’ve been building in my sketchbook all my life and even though we had to give up the place that was my first dream, I thought that if this all went through, it was a second shot at my dream. Next year would be too late: Christina wouldn’t be in that house. This faint hope rose to believe we’d have one season before Christina went to college. A place my teenagers wanted to be in.

These are raw emotions. We all have them. We all scream at the irrationality, lies, deception, cheating, or hurtful things that shove us or our loved ones into positions they don’t want to be in, shatter their dreams, or whatever.

We have to do what works to calm ourselves down and realize that God is in control; yes, even when someones lies and it shatters our dreams, it is just an opportunity for God to show us something better…

Anyway, I write to sort through my emotions; what do you do?

Thank you for reading.

Type at you later,

~Nancy Tart

Reset, Again

Resetting the brain of a PS2 inspires me… really?

November 10, 2018

Reset, Again

In the last blog (Proper Burial) I mentioned that Rebeccah likes to tinker with stuff.  She often fixes electronics when we think they are broken.

She had our playstation 2 unit scattered apart on the table (for the 5th time).  After hours and her final conclusion of “I have no clue what’s wrong with this thing!” she decided it was truly trash.

She always puts the garbage electronics back together like they were supposed to be – search me as to why (maybe because I once told her that sometimes resetting something was all it needed to come back to life) but she claims “a proper burial” for broken electronics is with the item totally back together.

So after Rebeccah put the Playstation 2 console back together for its “proper burial,” it now works.  (It was bought used and had a short since day one, sometimes the CD tray got stuck, and lately it would just choose to die.)  For days, that console has been working great.  She reset it back to “original” after cleaning every part in it and it has new life!

I’ve been considering that for some time.

Sometimes God wants us to close the doors on something old and leave it buried.  Sometimes he wants us to reset it.  Maybe what we’re resetting isn’t so much the item as it is our way of thinking.

The playstation console’s brain just needed all the dust cleaned out, everything disconnected and reconnected, and the source of power reset.  Yes, this was the 5th time!

Maybe we need to allow God to reset the way we think – clean all the garbage out of our brain and connect all the synapses to what we’re supposed to think about (remember, whatever is good, just, lovely, think on these things?) instead of dwelling on misfires like our failures… hmm.

Is that a lot to think about because I saw the inside of a playstation brain cleaned and now it works?  Maybe.  But I like to analyze things… maybe I analyze stuff too much.

I try to allow God to renew my mind daily.  (He says each new day is fresh in Him.)  Thinking about the things I see in life (like a silly piece of electronics) working according to God’s design helps me think that all things obey God.  (I know, silly, but if it helps me be encouraged, maybe it will help someone else!)

Thanks for reading!

Type at you later…

~Nancy Tart

Proper Burial

When you can’t fix it, it needs a “proper burial” – for electronics… but maybe for more than that.

November 8, 2018

Proper Burial

Rebeccah likes to tinker with stuff.  She always has.  Most of the time, she can fix electronics when we think they are broken.

If it is headed for the trash, she always gives it at least one try (and she likes seeing the “guts” of the item too).

Today it was the playstation 2 unit (for the 5th time).  We bought it used in the first place and it had a short from day one.  Rebeccah has fiddled with it four times successfully, but this morning, all of her efforts led to naught.  She had it completely apart.  Every breadboard, wire, connection, screw, etc. was separated in her ordered little piles.  (Conclusion was “I have no clue what’s wrong with this thing!”)

So I’m trying to work on “Fibbing Fishermen” (#5, it will be out soon) in the Devonians series when I hear Kimberly show up:

Kimberly: “Becky, what are you doing?”

Rebeccah: “Putting it back together.”

Kimberly: “I thought it was really garbage this time?”

Rebeccah: “Yes, but when something dies, we should at least bury it in a proper casket.”

Seriously?  For me, this was just apropos timing.  We’ve closed a business, I’ve started a totally unexpected but awesome job, life is shifting into a strange limbo for us right now, and every time we turn around it appears something else is stealing something of value from us.

Bury it.  Wrap it and every part of it back in the casket and hide it from sight.  That so made me laugh.

Perhaps that’s what God wants us to do with these remaining bits of the past; bury them completely.  Hide them away so we are fully open to what God has planned next!

For me, right now, it’s pretty awesome: my job is teaching children (I love this!) and I get to expose each of y’all to something I’ve always wanted to do (gymnastics) as a perk!  Granted, we can’t live on this income alone; but it is something I can do very well.  I’ve felt a peace about our life right now despite the fact that our insurance is due in 8 days and we are $1350 short, I can’t focus on that.  All I can do it do my best and let God take care of the rest.

God will provide a way.

***NOTE*** You know what’s really funny?  After Rebeccah put that Playstation 2 console back together for its “proper burial,” it now works.  No short, no sticking CD tray, no dying.  She and Lucas have been playing football for almost an hour now and no issues.  Even though she couldn’t find the problem, just resetting everything back the way it was supposed to be fixed the problem. (It is almost time to go to work so, I’ll think about that more later!)

Thanks for reading!

Type at you later…

~Nancy Tart

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