Heather Crawford

Do you remember that movie "Forrest Gump"? How slow and deliberate Forrest was in everything he did? I had a chance for that this past holiday weekend when my husband and I drove up north to visit his parents.

I'm not good with long drives (this one was 7 hours), so I kept myself busy by surfing the internet, completing some RE stuff, and chatting with a relative for about 2 hours. The next thing I know, I'm there! Then I have to start over again and try and unwind. We were in a small town in California's Gold Rush country, and the sky was this amazing shade of blue. We could actually see stars at night, and the quiet was deafening.

But I was still anxious. My Blackberry didn't get any internet service, as well as my laptop. I had to bug my husband to drive to the only Starbuck's for miles around so I could check my e-mails. I just knew someone was going to e-mail me about wanting me to sell their 5 million dollar estate overlooking Malibu. NOT!

How can we be so used to going 90 miles an hour that when we get a chance to "Gump It" we can't?

Live To Give

I was reading in the newspaper the other day about a couple that lives in a neighboring city who won $233 million in the lottery. First I was jealous of their good fortune, then I started thinking about all the stories about prior winners who later wished they had never won. What's wrong with this picture?

My husband told me a story of a good friend from his high school days who won the lottery. There were 3 sons in the family, and the mom would buy three lotto tickets each week and hand them out. My husband's friend was a winner! The family was happy until the other 2 brothers insisted that the winning brother split up his winnings. He didn't like being forced to do anything, so he refused. It split up the family. The other 2 brothers still don't talk to him. This happened 30 years ago!

Money can buy us many things. It can pay off debt. It can buy a house for a loved one. It can send your parents on their dream vacation. It can buy the time for you to do the things you've always wanted. You can set up a charity and bless others. But it won't buy peace of mind. Only a relationship with our Creator is truly "priceless".

So I will try hard not to be jealous the next time I read about another multi-million lottery winner who picked the right numbers. And thank God He picked me.................

Live To Give

Since my last post when I shared our success at getting a loan modification, some plans have changed. Instead of figuring out where to move when we sold our house, now my husband and I are going to have a foreign exchange student stay in one of the spare bedrooms upstairs. The program is through Whittier College, and since we live about 2 blocks away, the person running the program was very excited to have us on board. So while we are waiting for our first boarder, there are a few things around the house that we decided to do, since we will be here a while longer (the good Lord willing).

One of those was to trim our 75 foot tall, 100 year-old pecan tree in the back yard. It's been needing a good thinning-out for quite a while, so now seemed like the time. My husband hired some guys to do it, and when they arrived I kind of laughed to myself. The "climber", for want of a better word, was about 65 years old, 5'5" tall, and must have weighed 150 soaking wet. He threw his big orange rope up into the branches, clipped a chainsaw to a hook on his belt, and proceeded to shimmy up the tree.

I must admit that I was afraid for him - it's a BIG tree! He wore a safety harness, but as far as I was concerned he was cheating death every step he took. He would stop at a spot, unhook the chainsaw, start it up and proceed to trim away certain branches (I told him to thin the tree, not top it). He did this numerous times, quickly and with much agility. His teenage son was on the ground to fill up the chainsaw when the gas got low, and I asked him if his father had ever fallen. He said no, but his uncle had taken a dive facefirst into some concrete years ago. And another relative had sawn off his pinky just last month.

I prayed that the man would not fall; I prayed that my homeowner's insurance had a high limit; and I prayed that I would have faith like that little man climbing around my tree.

Live To Give

Wow! It really happened! We were approved for our loan modification. After my husband was laid off almost a year ago, we've been trying to stay in our house and work out a lower mortgage payment. It's been a long, tedious, stressful process, but finally VICTORY! Does going through the process make us an expert? I don't know, but if you need any advice, e-mail me.

Our loan rate has been modified to 3.2% for 2 years, then after that it raises up 1 percent for the next two years. After that, we don't care! We are just happy to be one of the few that has made it through the process. It was totally the Lord - we know that. This will give us breathing room until the real estate market straightens out (which we know it will).

We are one step closer in our journey to live on 10% and give away 90%, and we are excited!

Live To Give

Hello Everyone - Long Time/No Post. I can't claim being overwhelming busy, but I can claim being busy with life. It looks like most of the rainstorms here in Southern California are over, and the hillsides are green and the weeds are high. My husband and I are always talking about moving to a less-populated place, somewhere where we can get out of the fast-paced world of what is our life.

We also realized that the main culprit in our dilemma is.................US! We buy into the world around us and let it affect our way of life and well-being. You know what I mean - if we are waiting longer than 1 minute in the drive-thru at the local Burger Queen, we get antsy and upset, and it affects the rest of the day! We've been programmed to think that a 30 minute oil change/lube is awesome. I want them to take their time and do the job right.

I don't watch TV too much anymore. But I will rent a movie and watch it with Scott when we feel like it. I will sit down and read a book when I feel like it. I try and make arrangements with my clients to show property when it's not going to make me rush off and get stressed out driving somewhere without getting a speeding ticket! I'm slowing learning to "be still" and know that God is in control.

Live To Give