Fireweed Reflection

I have not been successful in getting a reflection shot like this until this one! I love how I have focused on such a tiny part of the entire fireweed plant, and the small droplet shows a bit more of the whole plant.

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I promised months ago that I would give a timeline of our house buying experience. This is not it!

As much as I though we were prepared to handle the financial aspect of home ownership (and unexpected surprises that come with it!), I still have been surprised time and again at expenses cropping up. Yet, time and again, we have been taken care of.

The most recent example is property taxes. We received a credit of a few hundred dollars on our down payments to account for the taxes the sellers were responsible for. I was informed of the approximate amount of the taxes we would be responsible for later. I accounted for all of this in our monthly budget and went on my way. However, no one let me know when we would receive notice for the taxes and when they would be due! The bill came at the beginning of July, and I immediately went into a mini panic mode. The taxes are due in either one or two installments, and I planned to do one, which would be due in October. My problem was that I had assumed the taxes would be collected at the end of the calendar year, and never considered the fiscal year. I started to scramble for where I would come up with the remainder of the cash before October.

I was also aware that July was a three paycheck month for C. I just planned to use that cash for house repairs. After receiving the bill, I upped the money saved for taxes, and still pondered it in the back of my mind. Now that we are done with July, I am pleased to announce my budget is back on track for the property taxes to be paid in full in October. I wanted to use that money for something else (house repairs!) but it is so cool how the money is there for another need we had.

I felt the whole house buying process was guided by God. When we actually got into the house, and I got a handle on how much the new utilities would actually cost, I started to panic a little. Were we in over our heads? However, as I stated before, we been fine. Expenses come and go, and God has been providing perfectly. It's an encouragement that we followed God's will in this house, despite my sometime doubts.

What have you been pleasantly surprised in lately? Any cool stories to share?