Mama's Boy

There is nothing wrong with being a mama's boy. Seriously, not one thing. The last few days have been really hard for me to blog because of the great tragedy happening within the USMC family. You see, when one of us hurts, all of us hurt. The Marine Corps is the smallest of the Armed services, but they are our front line of defense. These men and women are trained to kill a man with their bare hands. Not a lovely thought about your baby.

I make it no secret that I am the proud MoM to one who serves our country. With this territory comes many, many hours of prayer, trusting the Lord, trusting my Marine and long days of silence. There are secret  missions and times when we just can't talk. This is okay because it's what he signed up for. As a family, we were drafted into service. We skype on holidays, ship care packages, were red on Fridays and fly our flags proudly.

This became a part of our make-up, it's who we are. As a support family we lean on each other in good times and in bad. You might have heard of the catastrophic blow to our Corps family this week. Two helicopters carrying 12 of our finest Marines crashed into each other on a training mission, off the shores of Hawaii. They have not been found, have not been recovered. Their families are waiting for a word. They are hoping, praying and lighting a candle in the hopes that they will "Find their way home". The names were released yesterday. None of them are people we know. But we all are in the same support groups, we read their posts, we continue lifting them up in prayer. We in essence hold our breath as we wait for more news. When one hurts, we all hurt.

My heart cries with each MoM (Mom of a Marine), dad, sister, brother, wife, child... Their fear is real. It's something that all of us hold as a possibility in the back of our heads, hoping and praying that we will not be the unlucky family that gets a knock on the door with uniformed Marines and Chaplains sent to help us through dark days. My heart hurts when I think about all those moments each family will miss with the one who sacrificed it all for the sake of freedom. I stand with these families as we wait and watch. I will not give up hope in these dark days. I want them to know that they are in our constant thoughts and prayers.

 

Soon, the one who serves his country will be home on leave. My world literally stops and I do nothing but just soak him in. Things have changed these days and there is another bright beautiful smile that he looks forward to seeing. She is a beautiful one. She makes him happy. She gives him a reason to keep his head down and his feet fast. So now we both stop our worlds and soak him in. We both know this could be the last time to see his face, hug his neck, look into those smiling eyes... We give thanks each time we able to do so.

Dear USMC family, we stand by your side. We are deeply hurting for you and your Marine. We love you and we are sorry that you are going through so much pain right now.

Blessed are the Peacemakers: For they shall be called the children of God.

Underwriting conditions...

It's pretty typical to have some bumps in the road when dealing with financing a loan. Today I feel like I hit potholes. Since the majority of the loan progression has happened over the Christmas and New Years Holiday, we haven't had much communication with underwriting. We have been through the loan underwriting from company number one, now it's time to go to USDA underwriting for Rural loans.

Silly me thought this was going to be a walk in the park. Even more so since I have filled out all kinds of information and given every document just short of a blood sample.

I was emailed a list of 10 more hoops to jump through. Some are pretty in depth and some should be relatively simple. All of it takes time. I was given one big curve ball I didn't expect. Hopefully, I don't have to write about it in the future. I should know by the end of next week. Just another difficulty owning a business causes.

The process of buying and selling a house is really stressful. Even though our current mortgage is virtually paid off, it doesn't matter. We are just another consumer on paper. Good news though! I am not just somebody. I am the daughter of a God who loves and cares for me. HE really is compassionate about the desires of my heart. He will help if only I will cast my cares on Him. Sometimes that isn't as easy as one might think. The doorbell rings, the dog barks, the baby wakes, chaos ensues and somehow you just never get back to that point you were at a few moments before. Pouring your heart out and listening in the quiet for His voice takes time. I need peace that passes all understanding.

They really should make this process easier for people who have excellent credit, never miss payments and have proven themselves over the years to be trustworthy.

Just like in spring, when the city crews get out the big equipment and work diligently to fill in the holes created by weather, I too will get to work on these bumps so things might progress smoothly.
Until tomorrow I will be packing, taping, labeling and praying.

22 more days till close!