"In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." –John 16:33

Year: 2024

Mad rush to finish

People are finally scheduled to move into the apartment building in San Pedro by the end of the week. Lynn is still fighting through the endless details. A hot water heater install, checking all the plumbing and rechecking the gas connections, finishing trim work, and endless amounts of cleaning. When everyone is moved in, we will make a big push to sell the property so we can start another. The property is already on the market for sell and we have had a good bit of interest, but Lynn feels like we can get a better price if the whole building is rented and producing income. The Tesla factory construction start is happening on schedule, but the build out schedule has slowed due to market conditions. That plant is an easy commute to our building so it has an impact on property prices. We are hopefully viewing the slowdown as a benefit. We are hoping to get this property sold and another one or two purchased before things really heat up. We would be quite happy for another year or two before the whole thing explodes into real estate activity.

Second turkey of the season!

Lorena and I cooked a turkey on New Year’s Day because we had one in the freezer that we bought over a year ago. We were a little worried about how it would turn out, but boy howdy, it turned out great. It was about a 15 pound turkey, smaller by a lot than the one we cooked for Thanksgiving. We are amazed at how much better the smaller turkey cooked. We have been eating on it now for a couple days and we still have not gotten it out of our heads that this might be the best we have ever done. The added benefit is the tryptophan for the excellent post-turkey nap.

A slow start

I had all kinds of big plans for my first day of work after the new year, but got off too a very slow start. I finally just gave up at about 3:00 PM and took a two hour nap. I did get a few things completed at work and, more importantly, after lunch at Panda Express, met with our friend Brad to discuss the addition of a bonus room to our house. He had some amazing ideas and we came away with a plan to get us started. He is going to have his CAD guy draw up the ideas as soon as Lorena can get him the house plans. From there we will make any need adjustments and negotiations and then proceed, step-by-step to do the work. He said we do not need to do it all at once only keeping in mind that certain things need to be fully completed and cannot be stopped in the middle. I think this might work OK. We will see what he comes up with.

Starting the year: 2024

The burros in the image live on the farm road that goes to Granbury from our house in Godley. They are part of a beautiful drive that we take often and for which we are grateful because it has a calming affect on us. We started the year by taking that drive to McDonald’s for an Egg McMuffin meal and to pick up a few things from HEB.

This year feels like an ominous start to what could be very hard times in America and around the world. We just live in very odd (to us) times. It seems epically biblical with war in Israel, extreme narcissism and evil permeating western society, extremism in the form of humanism, false religion everywhere else, persecution of Christians and Jews wherever you look, and good being called evil and evil good at every level of society and culture. I am currently reading through Ezekiel in the Bible having finished Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Lamentations and heading into Daniel next. Those people lived through horrific times that saw no end in their lifetimes. That might be our lot going forward. Or maybe not–only God knows. I just want to learn to live at peace with God in whatever the circumstances and find joy wherever I can. I think that entails clinging to the true and good and being an encouragement and a help to those around me.

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