Simply Norma – Page 137

Hannah

Her name was Hannah and she was married to Elkanah.

Hannah was not able to conceive children so Elkanah, although being a Godly man, took on another wife to perpetuate his name as so many did back in those days of old.

This caused jealousy between the two women — one who could bear children and one couldn’t. And the second wife would taunt Hannah. Human nature can sometimes be cruel.

The cruelness did not prevent Hannah from going to church and petitioning God for a miracle in giving her a baby.

When I re-read the story, found in 1 Samuel 1, I pondered my prayer and church life.

Unlike Hannah, sometimes I allow people to get in the way of my going to church for God’s blessings. And I further exacerbate the problem when I do go by holding up a higher standard for “church” people only to be disappointed. Then I have to fight against the tendency to judge people. Because, although it may be how they are, we just don’t know how they got there.

Inside us all, I believe, is God’s goodness just ready to burst out. If we could look at people the way God looks at them — with the potential to be good in spite of the bad that reveals itself on the outside –how different we would treat each other in life.

God answered Hannah’s prayer. And this time it was a loud resounding YES! Her baby boy, called Samuel, served many years in God’s sanctuary.

But whether God’s answer was yes or no, I believe Hannah would have continued her close communion with God trusting that He knew what was best for her.

A great example for me to emulate.

For a more detailed account of this story, click here.

PATRIARCHS AND PROPHETS

House Hunting

Blah! Why can’t house hunting be easy?

If my husband didn’t work, we could house hunt all day and still have a life. Since he works (not that I’m complaining about that), we have evenings and Sundays to house hunt. Not much time to view too many homes.

It’s not that we’re picky. All we want is an updated house on a treed lot. Not an updated house with no trees. Not a treed lot with a fixer upper.

Bleah!

Kudos to our realtor, Bridget Crepeau from Edina Realty, for having the patience of Job in continuing to help us find the right home.

Hudson, Wisconsin

This home is located in Hudson, Wisconsin just a few minutes from I94 and is a short sale (the price of the home is worth less than the mortgage that is owed).

Hudson, Wisconsin Home

Only the front of the home is brick — the rest has siding. The backyard is large and further back are tennis courts and a public playground. There is also a golf course.

We peeked through the front door and the dining room is on the right, the living room on the left and the stairs to the second floor are offset to the left.

Unfortunately, the back is not very treed so it’s not very private. It’s not a home that we wish to view but we found it interesting.

Prayer

“Let every breath be a prayer.” My Life Today, pg 17, by Ellen White

So many times I hear people say “Oh, God” or “oh my God.” Is it an acknowledgement of God or just a phrase that’s been coined?

The saying “there is no atheist in foxholes” rings true to me. I believe at the core of every person’s being there is a belief in God. The world somehow smudges that belief and we have, well, what we have today.

How does one define morality in the world of no God? Does it mean we have no rules to live by? If we do have rules, whose rules do we choose? The government’s? Or perhaps we should go by majority rule. Or I have even heard that we should just be allowed to do whatever we want to do.

Until that is, other people’s actions affect us, or someone we love dearly, directly or indirectly.

Let’s take Jared Loughner, the accused Tucson gunman. Which moral standard should he have abided by? Which one should we hold him to? I believe States have laws against killing other people. But then, so does the Bible — “thou shalt not kill.”

Perhaps we should put it to a vote as to whether that law is good or bad. Uh, perhaps not. If the majority were to vote that killing is ok, that an eye for an eye is the right code to live by — well, we could have a revolution on our hands.

No. I continue to believe that inherently we really all believe and when push comes to shove, every breath is a prayer to the Creator God. Whether we want it to be or not.

Cottage Grove, Mn

Woodbury, Minnesota, where we live, has streets that are mainly clear even though we have had snow almost every day this month.

Not so in some of the smaller towns like Cottage Grove, Minnesota. Driving through this street felt quite bumpy and icy. And we’re expecting more snow tonight.

Cottage Grove, Minnesota

Rhetoric

Rhetoric. One of the definitions, found at dictionary.com, is “the undue use of exaggeration or display.”

This morning, I was listening to a radio station and they have a “rhetoric meter.” Whenever the dj says something “inappropriate,” the rhetoric meter comes on and gives the level of rhetoric measured from 1 to 10 with 10 being the most rhetoric.

I found it rather comical as the meter would interrupt the dj to give him his rhetoric level over and over again. Then I wondered how different we might all be if we had internal rhetoric meters.

One for gossiping, one for judgment, one for jokes, one for flattery, etc.

The internal meter could give us an electrical jolt — the more rhetoric, the more of a jolt one would get.

Yes, I know. Someone has to evaluate what is considered rhetoric and the different levels.

Perhaps it would take a lot of the “fluff” in our talk away and make us more real. Or perhaps we just need to listen to the Holy Spirit when He speaks to our heart.

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” Ephesians 4:29

Tasty Bite

Sometimes, I get a little lazy and I don’t want to cook.

For occasions like this, I usually get something that’s boxed and quick to make. I had tried Tasty Bites before and they were not too bad. I decided to try a new one called Kashmir Spinach.

Tasty Bite Kashmir Spinach

I was disappointed. The envelope enclosed is put in boiling water for a few minutes, then opened and served. The picture makes it look like you get a lot of paneer cheese. If the cheese was there, it had mostly disintegrated. There was a lot of soupy like spinach.

Lucky for them my family was really hungry and we had rice to pour it on.

I don’t think we’ll be buying it again. At least, not this particular one.

Cottage Grove, Mn

While driving around in Cottage Grove, Minnesota, we came across a house we thought might be a possibility for us to view for a possible purchase.

Cottage Grove, Minnesota

The house sits up on a hill on 70th St. S. It looks pretty and next to it, on the right, is its detached garage.

Unfortunately, I think this house was a “hold-out.” By this, I mean that the owners probably received an offer to buy their house and land so that a large development could build on it. Instead, they said no and the picture below shows what the property around it looks like.

Cottage Grove, Minnesota

Cookie cutter houses — built by a large developer — surround the house on both sides.

This reminds me of a house in Seattle where the owner, an elderly woman, refused to sell her house to condo developers. Click here to read that story.

This might be a nice house but unfortunately, we don’t want to live in a house surrounded by a large development.

House hunting in Wisconsin and Minnesota

Our second offer on a house has been denied. Again, they counter-offered but only $5K less and we are thousands of dollars apart.

The sellers can’t accept anything lower than what they priced the house for and the comparable sold homes in the area do not substantiate their price. That’s strike two for sellers.

The house that’s on a treed property with a master bedroom and guest bedroom on the main floor continues to elude us.

We continue to look, but we may have to wait until spring for more homes to come on the market or we’ll have to try to get a home that is already in short sale status or bank owned status.

Life has not been easy as this is getting a bit wearisome. No reason for a buyer in this market to settle though.

Minnesota & Wisconsin House Hunting

This evening we made our second offer on a house.

We are finding a lot of homes that our overpriced. This causes some alarm because we can’t make a full price (or anywhere near full price) offer on a house as the sellers can’t take anything less than full price or they will sell their house as a short sale, i.e. the house will sell for less than what they owe on their mortgage. Nor do we want to overpay for a house in a depressed neighborhood.

Hearing news of many foreclosures coming down the road, this article says some people should consider buying a foreclosed home in 2011.

For now, we will wait to see if our offer is accepted. If not, we will continue looking for a house that is in a neighborhood where the values have not gone down so much. That’s getting a little hard to find.