it's official . . .

IT'S OFFICIAL . . . We're moving to the country south of Defiance!

I got word today that Fannie Mae officially accepted our offer and we are moving forward to the purchase of our farm. Whew! It's been a long time coming.

Today I drove up to the realtor's office and signed the purchase agreement and wrote him a check for a HUGE amount as a deposit. I am going to be getting a loan, so we are not paying cash for it yet. In a few years, I plan to sell the house we own in CA and then pay off the loan amount here. Hopefully my scheme will work out. :) Here are some photos of the home front.

what we've been looking for . . .

Lady is the newest addition to our family of animals. We got her today, after I came home from looking at the house/farm I am going to put an offer on at 5:00 pm today. What a day of excitement!

Earlier this week Ildi found a house on the market that I later called on. We went to visit it, and both Ildi and I felt like it the house that we have been looking for. The children all said they really liked it as well. It is on a busier road than what we want, but has all the other things we have been looking for in a homestead. 31 acres, fenced pasture, open pasture, large barns, 5 bedrooms, and three bathrooms. Hopefully this one will be the one that we actually purchase, move into, and settle our lives into an area of this world. And hopefully for a LONG while!

As well, I told the children if they cleaned out the barn here at the farm, I would buy them a horse. Well, they worked hard cleaning out all the junk, shoveling out the dirt/glass/and trash, and so I made good on my word and picked her up today. Today we rode her a bit and all were excited to take turns riding her around the place.

hole in my pants . . .

The same morning that the chicken incident happened, I also had a little accident at school. In the process of cleaning up the storage area of the art room, I was taking a poster filing cabinet off the table to store it in a different place. (I needed the counter space and the cabinet looked a little shabby as well) As I was pulling it off the counter, I realized that it was a "little" heavier than what I expected, so I used my knee to hold it up and lower it slowly . . . stopping it from crashing on the floor and putting a hole through it! The last few seconds of the descend it ripped a hole in my pants at the knee, and finally dropped to the floor. "Whew . . . that is over" I thought to myself as I wiped the sweat from my forehead. A minute later my knee area started filling up with blood. I sat down on a small stool, raised my pant leg and noticed that I had torn the skin on my knee all the way to the cartilage! About an inch long altogether. Blood was soaked into my pants at the knee, and was now running down my leg. It's a good thing I did not panic, because right then, my third grade came into the class for art.

Long story short . . . even though I was advised by the school nurse to go the emergency room where I should have gotten 5 to 10 stitches to close the wound, being the MacGyver kind of guy that I am, I just used some bandages and some tape for a make-shift butterfly to close the wound and to keep my knee from bending. And one week later . . . God has brought about a complete healing! Don't hate me Mrs. Thompson.

ordered steps . . .

Spring is here, and it could not have come SOONER! Wow, our first winter in Ohio was atrocious! I am glad now that it is over. (even though we WILL have a few more cold days before it's over)

Even though spring is here, the thoughts of planting, getting chickens and a cow are in our minds, we are struggling a little with the vision/mission/direction of our family. For a couple years now we have been working toward buying a farm and planting ourselves into a community. That time is now, but there are a couple of components that are up in the air. First, we have not been able to find a farm in the area that suites us. We have looked and looked, and it seems each place we visit we still have the resounding "not this one". We are getting a little worn down having our hope deferred each time we visit a place and it is not the place we can call home. Secondly, I have decided that I will not be returning to the school I am working at this year. Long story short, I am getting off at the next port and will be getting on a different ship in the fall. That decision affects the possibility of moving out of this area. We have decided that we are going to stay in Ohio though. That's comforting to know. No more moves across the nation. :)

As always, we are trusting that God has our plans in His hands, and we are open to His leading us and planting us where He wants us. Navigating around work and property, I am sure that we will look back and see that He has ordered are steps. Proverbs 16:9
In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps. Thank you all for your continued support through friendship and prayer. One day, and hopefully soon, you will be able to come and stay "on the farm" and will reap the benefits of His blessings on us.

on a sad note . . .

Death is inevitable. And it is always untimely. Not by God's planning, but in our understanding. A week ago Thursday morning, my brother showed up a my school to visit. I had a strange feeling that something was not right but dismissed it as I finished up the last few minutes of my sixth grade class. When the students left my room, I had a 1/2 free to visit, and to find out what warranted his coming to school. As I had anticipated, he told me that my father had died a few minutes earlier that morning. :(

He had been having a few minor problems with health over the last few years, and just a month or so ago went in to get checked. The doctors found a cancer spot in his bowels and decided they would operate to remove it. Long story short, they removed his bladder, the external sack gave him problems, and two weeks after surgery he was unable to hang on. It was sudden, and quite unexpected.

Not being close to my father leaves me with mixed emotions about his death. It also brings me closer to those that I love. I am grateful that I was able to visit with him more this last year than I have in twenty years, that I was able to be with my family during this time, and that my children were able to meet some of the extended family members they have never seen before. Death sure does remind me that we are only visitors of this world, and that our true eternal home is with Christ in heaven.

fixing things . . .

The other day Nolan was closing one of the windows I had open on the laptop to pull an image to the front. When I closed a couple of the programs, the computer froze. "No big deal" I thought, in that I have shut the computer down on many occasions using the ctrl/alt/delete trick. This time, the computer went into the DOS mode and gave me some options. Of course I chose the easiest, fastest option. That was the F1 key. The computer flashed a couple of times then gave me a rectangular blue field asking for a password. "WHAT" went on I my head as well as a few "not so nice words". I tried several different passwords that I thought might work, but in the back of my mind, knew that I was not going to get anywhere with my futile attempts.

I called Toshiba help center and Mujibar answered. That's not his real name. :) He mentioned that my warranty was expired and there would be a $35. fee for helping me with the issue. He stressed that if he walked me through the whole process that he would charge me. So after a few minutes, noting that if he did not go through the whole process with me and actually fix it that I would not pay him, I agreed to the help and the fee. By question number two, he referred me to the nearest Toshiba Service Center. 1 1/2 HOURS AWAY!

I called and left a message and I got no response, So this morning, I called and talked with James, the service technician. Helpful young man . . . the kind of people I like to work with. I told him the situation and he said that it was an easy fix and would only take 15 minutes. Knowing that I did not want to drive for 3 hours to have something fixed that would only take minutes, I asked him to walk me through the process on the phone, and that I would pay him for his time and expertise. Long story shorter, he emailed me the directions, I tried it a couple of times, and it didn't work. I called him back and he said he would walk me through it over the phone. I got my Mcguiver equipment (foil and a paper clip) and jump started the Bios avoiding the password issue. I love times like this. I love asking people to help me and having them just help. I love not having to do the traditional 'bring it in' things. I love getting things fixed and it not costing me anything but time. I asked for his full name and the store address because I am sending him a Starbucks gift card!

giving thanks . . .

Having grown up in a small city just thirty miles from where I am living now, and then moving to Los Angeles and living most of my life, I never believed that I would end up back in Ohio, better yet on a farm. It is funny how God brings things full circle in our lives.

We sat tonight developing a friendship with some folks who live in the area. They run around with the same circle of friends that we know. I guess the main connection between them (us) all is good food. We all have various views on the church, baptism, . . . and yet the common threads center around family life, having children, and eating food that is closely related to it's natural state.

In talking this evening, we reminisced about our past, finding out more about each other, and continually were brought back to the reassuring fact that God has had His hand on us all our lives, and even when we didn't acknowledge Him, He knew our ways. It is funny to think that no matter where we go . . . He is there. No matter where we hide . . . He is there. There is no escaping the the magnificent sovereignty of God.

There are so many things that I am thankful for now. We are living within our means, we are establishing friendships, I have a great work situation, and we have even gotten kittens for the children to start our "life" with animals. (these three kittens are the first animals we have gotten as a family) But, there is nothing I am more thankful for than for God's grace as He has reconciled me to Himself through the sacrifice of His Son. The pain of death became a passageway for my life. And I am thankful that the plan for my life included my relationship with Him.

there is no " I " in TEAM . . .

This statement has always made me laugh when I have said it to others, or heard it myself. I must keep it in mind right now because we are experiencing a little bit of a stressful time, and it is easy to just think that you can do things easier if you just did them alone. As I remember the statement, I always say it to myself with a twinge of sarcasm. :)

From moving so many times, we have become proficient at the moving process. Locating places, starting and stopping services, updating addresses, loans, packing, hauling, acclimating, is all part of the process. I would write down a list of all things we must do in the next month but I don't want it to sound like we are burdened in any way. Not only is it not a burden, but actually, I find it pleasurable to have LOTS on my list and challenged to get through it all as smoothly and thoroughly as possible. Naturally I am a list maker and I have been for years. Even though I have a PDA, I still use pen and paper. As an artist I still enjoy the visual aspect of the list.

As a family we will travel to Ohio this next week to look for the farm. We are a little rushed for time in that I need to begin work on the 20th of August. Within the week, if I don't find the homestead that screams THE FOUTS NEED TO LIVE HERE! I will probably end up renting a place for a few months just to get out of NC and up to OH for work. I don't think eight hours commute each way is a wise decision.

bikes and deals . . .

For awhile now I have been keeping my eye out for a good bike bargain. Macy, Asher, and Maine have been growing, and their one speed bikes have become hindering when we take our long bike treks. Recently, we have been riding around Salem Lake and even though the loop is 7 miles around, we are all able to do it fairly easily. Including Maine, the 7 year old! There are some other paths off the main artery but we haven't attempted them yet.

Since they had bikes, I couldn't justify buying new ones at the "super" stores even though they are relatively inexpensive. I struggle between the "keeping up with the Jones' " mentality like everyone else, and I wanted to have bikes that fit them, looked good, and that were in good condition. The ones they have have been given to us, and I am thankful for them, but I was in need (or want) of a couple newer ones. In Los Angles, we put many miles on them, but they are older now and the children have outgrown them. As I mentioned, it was hard for me just to go buy new bikes. Not because I couldn't afford bikes, or that the children didn't need them, it was more evaluative and trying to live frugally. Ildi and I have been living this way for a long time. We wait on things. Ildi does more waiting than me I must add. And, God usually surprises us with the things that we want for fractions of the cost. The same thing happened today.

I looked around Craigs list for a few days seeing if I could find a couple of bikes for $5 - $10. Didn't see any for a few days. Today I got on and noticed two bikes being sold from the same person. On closer look, they looked like REALLY nice bikes. I called and left a message, and later in the day the guy selling them (Malcom Wright look alike; except with a southern accent) called me back. I went over to his house telling myself that if they weren't in great condition, that I wasn't going to buy them. Anyway, not only were they in great condition, they were extremely GREAT bikes. The red one is a Roadmaster, a $70 bike, but the guy had hand-grip shifters put on for his son. The green one is a Trek 820 $350. Mountain Hardtail bike that has breakaway wheels, hand-grip shifters, and Shimano parts. All in all, when I saw them, I thought even if they aren't in good condition, those bikes are the good deal I was looking for. And, the price of $50.00 for both made it one of those situations where you say "thank you God" for always looking out for our interests.

father's day reflections...

Here's another video that Nolan has made. It is a dedication to me and a gift he made for Father's Day. Got to love it when your children make gifts that cost them nothing but time, and they learn a skill along the way. Sounds like a book in the making. And, giving credit where credit is due, he used a song from the westcoastrevival CD. Westcoastrevival is a group of young talented musicians that are part of Sovereign Grace Church in Pasadena, CA that we attended before our move here.



I think it is the second of many videos/movies to come; he has shown GREAT interest in learning more about video and video production. Hopefully this intrigue will serve him well in the future. For those who are interested, I made him a proposal of a small business venture yesterday morning. It seems that I am always sparking him to think about business ventures. He has had some small business experience of making white boards for classrooms, where he once outfitted an entire junior high school population of around 400 students with white boards. This next proposal includes video production. Here's the idea...

You send photos, digital images, text you want written, and music choice, and he makes a small movie production. No idea what to write or music to choose? No problem. Just send the photos and be surprised at what you get! All of this for a donation for his time. As well... you are supporting the Arts.

Now to the real information that I wanted to post today. I am reading Gene Logsdon's The Contrary Farmer. With some time on my hands now, I am using it wisely by reading some work that I have wanted to read, and some work that will help me in my new venture of cottage farming. I have so many things to say concerning how this book has already changed my thoughts concerning moving to a more agrarian lifestyle. Mostly it has caught me right before my apparent "success" from the world's standpoint. (I just corrected the misspelled word standpoint...I spelled it satanpoint...scary huh?)

I just reached the point in my life where I could have all the things that others would consider evidence of success. Cars, houses, and a large family. And all paid for as well. Everything that I thought was worth working for I have now decided that I don't want. Or better yet, God does not want for me. I still think that those things sway my thinking. I love beautiful homes, suburban communities, cultural activities, city life in a sense. But I feel that God has intercepted my own desires and has graciously nudged me ever so slightly to this way of thinking that will so shortly be a reality. As a spooked horse reacts to an aggressive master, He knew that it would take time and circumstances to convince me of something that eventually I am going to love. I am amazed at the way God stewards time, resources, people, and circumstances to change our ideas about what is important.

it pays to Discover...

Years ago, we cut up all of our credit cards when we joined Consumer Credit Counseling Service to become debt free. I won't go into the details about it here, but on this post, praise to God, I want to talk about the benefit of credit card use.

Last month I drove up to Ohio for a job fair. I made mention in an earlier post about it, and that I had a road issue with the rental car. I ran over a piece of rubber in West Virgina right before the second toll booth, near Beckley, WV. I was fine, but the radiator was damaged, leaking all the coolant, resulting in the car overheating and possibly blowing the engine. All I know is that I was traded out a car and only lost three hours of traveling time. When I returned after my trip, I found out that they were going to junk the car, and the charge to me was going to be $3395.16 for all the damage. Quite an expensive trip to Ohio. Since I only had liability insurance on my vehicle, and I refused the extra insurance they offered at Enterprise Rental, I would have to be responsible for the whole amount.

The young man I talked with at Enterprise claims gave me a tip about calling to see if my credit card would help me with the bill. Before this past year, Ildi and I had made the decision not to use credit cards because they had gotten me into trouble before, but when we moved across the nation I got one "just in case" and I used it to charge the move. Since then, it just sat idle in my wallet until I rented this car.

After photocopying paperwork, filling in and sending in information, I had not thought too much about it until I got home from school today. In the mail was a letter from an insurance group that works with Discover card. They referenced the claim, and mentioned that the letter they were sending was in reference to Collision Damage Waiver coverage. The next paragraph read

"Payment in the amount of $3395.16 has been issued to the Enterprise Rent A Car. A copy is enclosed for your records."

What a surprise! Discover COVERED my damage to the rental car. It really does pay to Discover.

Now, we really do know that it is God's hand moving on our behalf, so thanks goes to Discover Card Services, credit and praise goes to God.

Another one of the emails that I am forwarding.

Please read before viewing picture - it's worth it!

A picture began circulating in November. It should be 'The Picture of the Year,' or perhaps, 'Picture of the Decade.' It won't be. In fact, unless you obtained a copy of the US paper which published it, you probably would never have seen it.

The picture is that of a 21-week-old unborn baby named Samuel Alexander Armas, who is being operated on by surgeon named Joseph Bruner.

The baby was diagnosed with spina bifida and would not survive if removed from his mother's womb. Little Samuel's mother, Julie Armas, is an obstetrics nurse in Atlanta. She knew of Dr Bruner's remarkable surgical procedure. Practicing at Vanderbilt University Med Ctr in Nashville, he performs these special operations while the baby is still in the womb.

During the procedure, the doctor removes the uterus via C-section and makes a small incision to operate on the baby. As Dr Bruner completed the surgery on Samuel, the little guy reached his tiny, but fully developed hand through the incision and firmly grasped the surgeon's finger. Dr Bruner was reported as saying that when his finger was grasped, it was the most emotional moment of his life, and that for an instant during the procedure he was just frozen, totally immobile.


The photograph captures this amazing event with perfect clarity The
editors titled the picture, 'Hand of Hope.' The text explaining the picture
begins, 'The tiny hand of 21-week-old fetus Samuel Alexander Armas emerges
from the mother's uterus to grasp the finger of Dr Joseph Bruner as if thanking the doctor for the gift of life.'

Little Samuel's mother said they 'wept for days' when they saw the picture. She said, 'The photo reminds us pregnancy isn't about disability or an illness, it's about a little person.' Samuel was born in perfect health, the operation 100 percent successful.

Now see the actual picture, and it is awesome....incredible....and hey, pass it on. The world needs to see this one!

Don't tell me our God isn't an awesome God!!!!!

continued...

So we came down here and did the whole "find a house thing" and got settled a bit. After a few months Ildi and I (mostly Ildi) were talking about moving up to Ohio. I didn't mind after I had made the move here, after all, once you move across the country it's easy to move eight hours away.

While here, I emailed my old art teacher from junior high. I had visited him several years ago when we went to Ohio and since I (again Ildi) was thinking of maybe moving there I let him know I was possibly going to move back in the area and wanted to know how he was doing. (Really I wanted to know if he was nearing retirement time...crazy me!)

Meanwhile, back at the rental,the new friends we made in Ohio emailed and called me to let us know that there was a farm that was only seven miles from them that was going on auction the 23th of October. Low and behold, we decided to to go to the auction and make it a visit at the same time. We were set to leave early Saturday morning the 20th to Ohio. On Friday night after schol, I came home and checked my email as usual. My previous art teacher had emailed and mentioned that he was RETIRING! I about flipped! So, our trip up there was filled with hope.

Long story short, we didn't end up buying the auction house, but it will come up on the HUD market in a few months. We did peruse several other homes/farms and now have over eight under our belt. We a few more looks away from finding the place.

There were some other crazy/exciting details I left out so as to not get too detailed with this post. Maybe I will weave them in on some other ones.

interesting experiences

To begin with, last Tuesday we arrived back home after a weekend visit to Northwestern Ohio. In all, we were there for four days. I first need to tell you what spurred the visit in the first place and also some interesting experiences we have had prior to, and after our trip there.

Last summer, on our trip across the nation, we stopped in to visit some friends and family in Northwest Ohio; the place I spent the first 18 years of my life. We had decided to vist since it was only an eight hour drive south to get to our new city here in NC. While there, we stayed with friends that we have known for a few years and they introduced us to a family who are living a sustainable life. Meaning they make a living off of farming and eat from the garden. The family is a "plain" family and we ended up having dinner with them on a Sunday afternoon. Our families really had a lot in common so we felt comfortable sharing our family vision and direction and received and gave a whole bunch of encouragement. I think for two reasons. They are already living the way we want to start living, and they had some people (us), visit them and validate what they were doing. It was a reall good connecting time...

a time of reflection

On the way to worship, (our new term for church) Ildi and I were having a converstion AGAIN! :) about where we wanted to live. NC, TN, OH,... We were reminded that God had given us a plenty choices in our lives so far, and it seems this question of where to buy a farm is another one of those "choice" factors. It has been a huge responsibility to decide where to live and to narrow potential living situations. We are not taking this decision lightly.
For so many years in our early married life we lived circumstantially. Living paycheck to paycheck and not faced with the questions we are faced with now. Our choices back then, in comparison, seem quite easy to the ones we a working through now. For those of you who know us and have heard us harp on the strings of family mission, vision, and direction, we have been going back over those same things on a regular basis. It seemed like it was going to be clear once we got here, and our decision to buy a farm was already decided before we left California. However, it has opened our minds and hearts up to more questions about where we are going and what we want to spend out lives doing.
In our reflection we were reminded that we bought our first house in 2000. In September. It was today that we realized that we got into house debt seven years ago and that now (seven years later) we are at the point were we are a few days, or months, away from buying a piece of land with a house, COMPLETELY debt free. That means, no loan, no mortgage, no payments. What a testimony to God and an example of His goodness in our lives. What a way for Him to bring Glory to Himself. It is truly by His grace that we have arrived at this point in our lives.

DMV cont'

to have a chance to smog it before I left. She again barked what seemed like another order to me about having started registration here that I needed to finish it here. That other states did not receive and register cars that were "fleeing" from other states. All of this made complete sense to me and I knew that I would have gotten that type of response. However, I stood there looking dumbfounded by her response as if I did not expect it. She again reminded me that I needed to "finish up" business here before moving on.

As I stood there, I was not necessarily thinking that she was going to change her mind, nor did I want her too. I was just standing there thinking "wow, not what I wanted to do." Then God stepped into the situation. I told her that the whole problem was not even an emission issue but rather a sensor issue that was going to cost me several of my precious green dollars. She exclaimed, "A thousand dollars! That's crazy" . . . to which I agreed. I told her I was trying to sell the car and wasn't able to sell it before I moved and that I would need to take it with me. Then the funniest thing happened. She said, " Wait a minute, hold on, there is something else you can do." I about flipped! She then started informing me that if I filled out a certain form once I got to NC, and sent it back to CA that they would EXEMPT me from smogging the car just this once. Just this once! Since when did the DMV EVER exempt anyone from smogging their car! I thought that the odds of this happening were as good as me winning the lottery in Los Vegas. (and I don't even gamble :)

Making a long story shorter, she gave me more paper to carry to my seat so I could wait for my letter and number combination to be called to be EXEMPTED from getting my car smogged this year! What a move of God on someone's heart.

The only sad situation was that on the way home, prior to giving God ALL the credit for the earlier DMV OFFICIAL PARDON, I thought that the way I stated my situation, you know all humble and innocent, was what converted her mind. Within seconds, thankfully, I came to my senses and realized my selfishness.

in the midst of moving....God moves

What a crazy time to be sitting and typing. Almost 3:00 am and today was a successful day moving some BOXES! Had some friends stop by and give some help, and along with the dedicated work of my wife and children, we got almost half of the truck packed BEFORE the big move day. I am still wondering what I am going to leave behind because I know that the whole house is not going to fit.

In making this move, one of the biggest challenges has been the sale of my car. Through several circumstances, it has drained time and money from me with no hope of letting up. However, in the midst of such a troublesome situation, God has again showed his mercy and grace on me. The story goes like this: I was at the DMV, well let me start before that. I needed to get my car smogged before I left California. In order to get a certificate I was going to be required to fix a whole bunch of things on the car that did not necessarily need to be done yet. About a thousand dollars worth of work. So, I am driving to the DMV and I ask God to be gracious to me and get me through the smogging situation by giving me an extension on it. When I got there, I waited in the usual line and when it finally was my turn, I approached the window.

Barking, the DMV Nazi asked me how she could help me. I told her that I was not sure. I then told her my situation about moving out of state and that I was not going...I'll finish it tomorrow :)