The work is coming in.....

Dear Family and Friends,
Just as I'm starting to feel better, to be able to function without constant coughing suddenly someone opened the flood gates and orders are gushing in. Am I thankful? Oh yes but am I overwhelmed? Very much so. Many of the orders are on extremely short turn times. Today was really nice as all 4 paid all or at least part of their appraisal fees at the time of inspection. Boy did it feel good to come home with some checks. Nan used to meet me at the door with her hand playfully extended, give me the money and you can come in! I thought of that today as I headed home.

I started the morning by caring for the girls. These two little tykes are so cute and so much fun. Keanna was a very big helper today and Kallie was beaming until I tried to put her cute little tennis shoes on, that was when she decided to start kicking me with the shoe I already had on. Of course all the time she was kicking she had a grin from ear to ear. Yikes, these two are dangerous.

As soon as I had them delivered to school and sitter then I headed to Oakland and arrived 7 minutes late. I met Charles, a local realtor who was funny, helpful and just a great friend. The buyer was also there and she was a delight. We laughed and enjoyed working the inspection. Then I was on my way to take a phone call from an unhappy client. They were saying that my appraisal was still not there and was 7 days overdue. Funny thing is, I wrote and emailed the appraisal the same day I did the house, over a week ago. It never came back so where did it go? This happens once in a while so I was glad they spoke up. Yet another call was asking for a 7th comparable that never made it to the lenders. I took care of that this evening.

As the morning went forward a phone call came in advising me that I was now to proceed on an extra appraisal I had carried with me in hopes it would come through. She proceeded to give me a Discover Card number as payment, now those are calls I can appreciate. The house was older, beautiful and grand, hardwood floors everyplace, wood sash windows, new roof, big lot, a whole lot of house.

Then the next stop was to see a little house with non English speaking owners who were facing financial hard times. The appraisal was for the lawyer. The house was so cute, the little couple so precious and they showed me family photos and we were able to communicate in spite of the language barriers.

Finally I ended up going to a house that as of this morning I had no order for at all but when I pulled up I remembered seeing the house before. The young mother had lost both mother and father to old age since I was there last so we took some time to talk about adjusting to loss.

By this time I was hungry and ready to head back to Brentwood to pick up Keanna from a Blue Birds meeting and take her to her music class at Willys Bagels. We enjoyed a bit of time together and I bought her a cookie. Then I headed home.

This evening we went to the final of the 6 week series of 40 days of love. Sylvia was our group leader, did a great job and brought me a care package of homemade soup, Thank You Joyce. She also included some cans of scallops, oh how I love them! Thanks Sylvia.

Now I'm heading to bed as 6 comes early and I get to help the girls wake up tomorrow also. I'm very happy to report that I'm feeling better, not well yet but certainly better than the last 10 days.

So I send my love, something that at times I think I sort of understand, I know what love does, it stands by someone you love no matter what happens, I got that part but now without any one to focus my love on directly 24/7 its a bit more challenging to really determine how to love, on the job, with my time, with my home. I really want to be useful to God to care for people but I'm still trying to find a balance in life between work and pleasure, rest and eating, finding the will and time to exercise and face my 100 lb that I don't need. You might say that I'm troubled a great part of the day by my own failures or lack of discipline yet there are moments of job.

As I was driving this morning through the hills surrounding Vasco Road between Byron and Livermore it was a calm and beautiful trip. Low banks of fog hung over the hills, bits of green are trying to find moisture to explode into life, colors were subdued by the early morning light. For a moment life seemed to be beautiful again.

Good night,

Tim