Lorena and I ran over to Glen Rose, about thirty minutes from our apartment to do the signing. We were surprised that we had to sign so many pages for what is quite a smaller loan than much larger loans we got when we bought our first few homes. It felt good though, so we ran over to the new Baked Restaurant there and agreed it was great. The one in Granbury is still our favorite, but if we are ever over there again at lunch time, we will definitely not hesitate to stop in.
A little later this morning, Lorena and I will head down to the title company to sign the small loan we need to build our new house. We are very excited to get started. A day to celebrate!
I am all set up to do my day job in our apartment now. The new chair Christian bought for me makes it profoundly more comfortable than my office in Virginia. I do not know why I did not pay attention to him earlier. We have good broadband internet, better than StarLink, the coffee pot is only a few steps away and I have a great view of the lake off our apartment balcony. I am sure I can survive a year of this, God willing.
Things are starting to move a little faster now on our house build. All of the build loan paperwork is complete and we are scheduled to close on Friday morning. The permits from the city are on the desk of the last guy who needs to sign. We have been out to the build site with Brad, our designer/builder to answer a few preference questions. We have made a few modifications to the plan (minor) to accommodate future work if we can afford it. We are excited, but actually kind of burnt out from all the moving and paper suffering. I expect the excitement and energy levels to increase some more once some dirt starts to move.
Here is the left side of the house rendering with the correct colors and materials. The AI did not get it exactly right–the door going into the main house behind the screen porch should really be a window and the two first floor windows closest to the front of the house should have transom windows at their tops, but all and all, it gives a pretty good sense of how we hope the house will appear.
I did an AI rendering of the front elevation of the house with Lorena’s proposed colors and materials. We went down to the property with our builder, Brad earlier this afternoon to talk to him about what plants/trees we want to preserve on the property and some placement requirements and ideas about the sidewalk and the approach to the house. We were surprised to see that area where the house will be built is a little bit downhill from the street on both sides and the property has a small downward slope from left to right as you face the house. Actually, because of the setting, we think it will make the house even better.
It is easy to be judgmental about the people Jeremiah was sent to tell that they would be killed and taken into captivity if they did not repent or just go to Babylon, build houses and live their lives for 70 years because God would then bring them back to Jerusalem. I wonder whether the United States and even the whole world is in that same current state. There seems to be an ever decreasing number of people in our society who hold to Biblical truth and morality. The societal mores of my youth we arguably pretty bad, but they are nothing compared to what they are today in terms of the acceptance of what God clearly delineates as evil throughout the Bible. It is not manifested just in things like theft, false gods, and sexual morality. What is most shocking to me is the enforcement of human tradition and non-Biblical authority even in the church. Of course, I bought into a lot of that through most of my life and I am sure my hands are not clean even now. But it is on my radar now and, by the grace of God, I propose to resist it with every fiber of my being. And exhibit charity while I am doing it.
Now that we are installed in our apartment for a year or so, I want to make a good plan for getting some things done. Of course, the top item on the list is to get the house built, but we are starting a huge new development effort at Thrive Bioscience that I will be driving, I want to continue my work on GRIME 3, and work on the Mexico houses continues. We also need to spend some time in Mexico with Lorena’s family–which is a true joy. I think I am going to publish some goal dates here to keep myself accountable after I figure out some realistic timelines.
I have always had really lousy office chairs in my home office. Christian thinks I am nuts to have such bad chairs. He said the same thing about computer keyboards and I went for years without a decent keyboard. He bought me a first rate one as a gift after I started my PhD. I cannot believe I caused myself so much needless pain and anguish over they years using a lousy keyboard.
The same thing just happened with my office chair. I have been using a $90 Amazon Basics chair for about a decade. Christian bought me a used, high-quality chair for $350 that sells new for around $1200. It is a spectacular chair. I cannot believe I have wasted so much time on a bad chair. It is significantly better for my back and posture. Thank you Christian.
Christian flew down to Virginia to help us drive to Texas and get into our apartment. It is a great little apartment with a view of the lake within walking distance of a ton of good restaurants. James, Jan and our builder and his family cooked hamburgers for us the night after we arrived and it just felt like home. We definitely made the right choice in coming here. Christian was really the champion of the whole affair. He drove Lorena and navigated a ton of minutiae. We ate way to much food and sat in the car with no way to get any exercise for way too long. Our health program took a hit, but now we are here.
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