Little Bit o' Life

Speed Bumps...
My off-season has been chugging along with a few+ speed bumps along the way.
I took a couple weeks off after the half ironman because of my deep blister wounds and the inability to wear shoes other than generic brand of crocs.
We closed on our new house on Nov 1st, and then all our stuff came on Nov 3rd. In between those dates, we planned to rip all the carpet up, and move in/live on plywood until we sold our house in Tulsa.
As we all know, Plan A doesn't always pan out as we predict. In our case, Plan A (literally) bit the dust on day #2...and then from that point on, we kept uncovering extreme mold, rotten wood, unusable/unlivable conditions to the point that our handyman fell through the floor under where the shower had rotted out the base floor. Unfortunately, the two professional inspectors that we paid to inspect the house (who are publically known to be ultra picky) completely missed all the major problems in the house and gave us a huge vote of confidence what a great house we were about to buy. (Where's Holmes on Homes when you need him?!) The unexpected guttage of the new house would definitely have been more fun if we didn't have to pay 2 mortgages starting in January!
Our house in Tulsa that we have been trying to sell since last May has given us various problems to deal with, and we've been depending on our neighbors, friends, and realtor to help us survive as we're 13 hours away. It's been an immense challenge in many ways. I think the hardest part is that we sold it to the first couple who looked at it. 3 weeks later, we moved to Knoxville. 2 weeks after we were in Knoxville, our (first) realtor told us the contract fell through because the buyers' financing fell through (unbeknownst to us, their financing was based on them selling their house, which fell through)....and our realtor either kept this from us, or she didn't realize (either way it's bad). Sigh. She had taken our house off the market & put a sold sign in our yard for one month. Double sigh. And then when we fired her after the contract was expired, she lied to us about the contract. Stephen had to take time off work to deal with her, and we finally got free from her because of the contract she signed!
We got a new realtor and have reduced the price almost $20K from our almost-sold contract. We've had lots of showings, but no more offers. Oh, the gift of waiting - things we grow and learn that we would never experienced without the trial. We've had to do some maintenance of the house - and doing maintenance on a house 13 hours away is not the easiest endeavor. We are definitely blessed by the people who've helped us!
A few weeks ago, we bought a range from Best Buy. It was delivered damaged, and the next 10 days, I spent hours on the phone with various people, managers, 2 different stores...finally we returned it and bought the same thing (at a better price, and newer) from Lowe's! Moral of the story: avoid Best Buy!
Aaaaand 2+ weeks ago, I caught the horrid virus head cold-that-never-dies. After about 10 days, I felt better except weak when I started to exercise. Just yesterday was the first day that I felt decent on a run. 
Most of the reason I'm typing this out is to remember how faithful the Lord is when things seem tough, and to get a good laugh out of it later! And maybe it would encourage someone else to persevere :)
These types of trials are never fun! But as John Piper says, "Anything that brings you closer to God is good." Definitely! Seeing these trials as good is not my first thought (sometimes doesn't make the top 10)! But knowing that Jesus is with us every step is the ultimate comfort! ...Especially during this season, when we specifically remember and celebrate that God gave His only Son to me (!!), to substitute His perfect life for my hopelessly lost one.

What is True...(Thanks, Lord!)

• Joy to the World! The Lord is Come!
• Living in the basement is fun & amazing compared to our new house!
• We are so excited to (eventually) move in next door to my parents!
• Knoxvillians are so welcoming in biking groups, UT XC, and UT Masters Swimming!
• Stephen and I have been married 4 years!
• We're excited to sell our house sometime!
• The weather here has been beyond fantastic for December!
• Stephen absolutely loves his new job at UT Med Ctr - what a massive blessing!
• We're loved, warm, healthy & safe!
• We cry, laugh, pray, look & listen for God's voice!
• Stephen is developing into quite the handyman - what a guy!

Here's a pic of our new house, taken on day #36 of owning it....it doesn't look any different (although we've been doing some things that you can't necessarily see) right now and we're on day #45! It gives us legitimate reasons to realize we're not in total control of our lives as we wait & keep on chuggin'.

Cross-training!

Merry Christmas!!
bethany
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. Romans 15:13