Something I can't talk about yet...

Thank you, my dear friends, from east to west coast. I don't know what I would do without you. In this unique role as pastor's wife, there are times that I have to keep quiet. When I'm excited about something, I like to share it. With everyone. When I found out I was pregnant, I told everyone. I couldn't keep it in.

This topic I should be able to talk about with anyone I like soon enough, but for now, I need to keep it to outside church circles. This is exceptionally difficult, because it directly relates to the church and frankly doesn't mean much to any of you who aren't apart of FBC Medfield.

So, again, friends, Thank you for listening.

Here's the deal. Last spring, we formed a committee to explore the dream of selling the currently owned parsonage (where we live right now) and purchasing the piece of property directly adjacent to the church. We are confident that it would be a step back in our personal living space, but, this is not our (Jon and I) house that we're purchasing. The biggest asset that this piece of property offers the church is PARKING! Our church is downtown in a typical small town suburban New England; complete with annoying next door business who is obsessive about "NO CHURCH PARKING". There's a house in the front and a huge parcel of land undeveloped in the back! Ideal for a safe parking lot for our church attenders AND the children and parents who go in and out all day long to the day school in our building.

The Deering property.

The man deemed "in charge" of starting the conversation with the current owner, a Mr. Deering, dropped the ball. There were a couple of "messages" or "conversations". All (or both...I'm pretty sure it was one of each and no more) with no progress made. Nothing happened this fall and this particular church member is now inundated with tax season. I've been telling Jon this for some time now, confident that a different personality contacting Mr. Deering would bear much more fruit. After a conversation with another very spirited and confident attender who said "Let it go. It won't happen for a few years." Jon was overwhelmed with the feeling of "I need to call Mr. Deering." Going with his gut, he did. It was incredible. He had heard a rumor that Mr. Deering was putting on hold after talking with some developers. Jon said "I needed to hear it straight from the horses mouth." Mr. Deering said "People in a small town always think they know what everyone else is doing and thinking, but often it's not true and you need to go straight to the source." WOW! Mr. Deering told Jon where he was at, a little different price, a tad higher, but also shed some light into the house itself, including the fact that there are in deed 2 rental properties as well as the main living quarters, each of which get about $700/mo. (Cheap in NE...we were at the lowest price in government subsidized housing and it was more than that!) Mr. Deering also said "I'll wait until I hear from you before I do anything else." HELLO??? DID YOU READ THAT RIGHT??? YUP..he's waiting on US!!! Jon promptly called a few people on the committee, most of which are in the real estate business. The rough numbers concluded that what we would need extra (after selling the current parsonage) would come down to less than $900/mo. of a mortgage. Given the rentals, we would actually be MAKING money off of this property.

Inhale......exhale......

A year ago there was a time-line of doing this sell/purchase by the start of this summer. On Monday, Jon and I were working outside and talking and Jon said "It looks like we're going to be here for a while." Which is fine, we love the house, and not having to move so quick again would be nice. Two days later, I think we're both mentally packing. There's also another personal thing. We do want to have more children. A compromise of how far apart Jon and I want our children (Jon wants 2 years, I want 4), it equates to us starting that process again in the next year. I don't think anyone that reads this has kids, but let me tell you, moving while pregnant or with an infant is something we have NO interest in. Been there done that don't want to do it again. SO...moving this spring/early summer would be ideal in that way.

Inhale....exhale....

Lots of meetings soon. Updates will be provided....This current house will not be easy for the longstanding church members to let go of. There's a lot of sweat equity here (even though most don't realize that it's time for more) and even those that like this idea are having a hard time letting go. Pray that they will let go and trust.

Thank you again, my dear friends. For being my outlet in an odd world.