Gluten Free Recipes for Easter
4 weeks ago
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
The Birth of the AquinoClan
OK, I'm feeling more balanced now. The pressure of getting the house on the market by next month is off, no, not for any particular reason, other than what I said before. I am working on doing what I can, leaving the rest to God, and there is a lot of 'the rest' let me tell you!
I just learned from my Realtor, that only 18% of short sales end in escrow. This means the rest end in foreclosure. If we don't get this house this round, we can try again if/when it goes into foreclosure. Apparently the banks get a tax write off for their losses with a foreclosure, not so much with a short sale. If any of you are really into write offs as I am, you can see how these lenders would choose the higher write off, not necessarily the highest moral integrity, considering these same lenders contributed to the problem we see here in the Bay Area.
Many people were approved with 'creative' negative amortization loans that borrowers couldn't possibly pay when the initial low payment terms ended, 3/5/7 years usually. Over the last years here, before the bubble burst, you could just refinance, the equity was growing so fast it easily accommodated this 'creative' financing. I think it had been going on for years, just the people at the tail end of the curve took the hit.
So Lawrence and I have sent a letter of invite to Lawrence's mom, Cecilia. The prayer is that God do what is the best, so if having Lawrence's mom living with us is too hard on family life, that she not come. The letter outlined basic boundaries and norms. We even included a list of American values to help a foreigner understand Americans better. My aunt and uncle sent Lawrence and I a copy over 15 years ago (I know, can you believe it's been that long?!). It took us about 7 years to come up with a workable culture of our own, and the Aquino Clan is born:). If Cecilia can make it through the paper, she will have a better understanding of the things we do. A very interesting paper. http://www.cmc.edu/math/alee/extra/American_values.html Re-reading this paper, I laughed, and found it funny. So much truth. Perspective, with 15 years of seeing the truth play out. Asian and western values are so different. Without Christ, we wouldn't have had a foundation for unity.
I just learned from my Realtor, that only 18% of short sales end in escrow. This means the rest end in foreclosure. If we don't get this house this round, we can try again if/when it goes into foreclosure. Apparently the banks get a tax write off for their losses with a foreclosure, not so much with a short sale. If any of you are really into write offs as I am, you can see how these lenders would choose the higher write off, not necessarily the highest moral integrity, considering these same lenders contributed to the problem we see here in the Bay Area.
Many people were approved with 'creative' negative amortization loans that borrowers couldn't possibly pay when the initial low payment terms ended, 3/5/7 years usually. Over the last years here, before the bubble burst, you could just refinance, the equity was growing so fast it easily accommodated this 'creative' financing. I think it had been going on for years, just the people at the tail end of the curve took the hit.
So Lawrence and I have sent a letter of invite to Lawrence's mom, Cecilia. The prayer is that God do what is the best, so if having Lawrence's mom living with us is too hard on family life, that she not come. The letter outlined basic boundaries and norms. We even included a list of American values to help a foreigner understand Americans better. My aunt and uncle sent Lawrence and I a copy over 15 years ago (I know, can you believe it's been that long?!). It took us about 7 years to come up with a workable culture of our own, and the Aquino Clan is born:). If Cecilia can make it through the paper, she will have a better understanding of the things we do. A very interesting paper. http://www.cmc.edu/math/alee/extra/American_values.html Re-reading this paper, I laughed, and found it funny. So much truth. Perspective, with 15 years of seeing the truth play out. Asian and western values are so different. Without Christ, we wouldn't have had a foundation for unity.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
A Caulking Story
I have been working my self into total exhaustion and have become completely overwhelmed . As I shared this with my sister, she reminded me that if God is going to give me the next house, it would not be based on my exhausting myself, but God doesn't need me to work miracles. Imagine that! Don't misunderstand, I believe in doing my part to be available...but giving from what I don't have..... always relearning and applying these lessons. I am so relieved, I spent today doing nothing! At the end of the day, I was able to finish caulking the shower.
After "un-caulking" the shower several days ago, and not having access to the shower all this time, I am so tiredly excited to have this project completed! Not so simple as I had hoped.
We are still waiting on the house I mentioned earlier, Dennis Ct. While it seems so perfect, we don't have our ducks in a row to get it if they offered it to us at this point. The Realtor said the lenders were planning on making a decision this upcoming week. So, we continue to prepare the house for sale, and need to sell before we can purchase. God can do anything, so we wait and live while the future unfolds.
After "un-caulking" the shower several days ago, and not having access to the shower all this time, I am so tiredly excited to have this project completed! Not so simple as I had hoped.
We are still waiting on the house I mentioned earlier, Dennis Ct. While it seems so perfect, we don't have our ducks in a row to get it if they offered it to us at this point. The Realtor said the lenders were planning on making a decision this upcoming week. So, we continue to prepare the house for sale, and need to sell before we can purchase. God can do anything, so we wait and live while the future unfolds.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Wontok Children
I recently realized I haven't shared much about Wontok Children, the non-profit I am working on starting. If anyone has started a 501(c)(3) and wants to help get the bylaws and paperwork set up, let me know:)
Some great service opportunities if you want to join in this project. We need many things for the backpack project. You can buy backpacks, or any of the supplies. In August, there are so many sales! Backpacks are on sale in September. I bought them for only $5 at Walgreens and Longs last year. We also need donations for shipping costs, and then a fun day of packing the backpacks. Bring your kids and get them involved blessing other children! We have so much here, our struggles financially are a far cry from the true poverty of this province. What an amazing opportunity to help others. To touch those starving children in Africa, if you don't know what I'm talking about......... You know when you had to clean your plate as a kid because you had food, albeit gross, and the kids in Africa are starving, how did this help them exactly?
Some great service opportunities if you want to join in this project. We need many things for the backpack project. You can buy backpacks, or any of the supplies. In August, there are so many sales! Backpacks are on sale in September. I bought them for only $5 at Walgreens and Longs last year. We also need donations for shipping costs, and then a fun day of packing the backpacks. Bring your kids and get them involved blessing other children! We have so much here, our struggles financially are a far cry from the true poverty of this province. What an amazing opportunity to help others. To touch those starving children in Africa, if you don't know what I'm talking about......... You know when you had to clean your plate as a kid because you had food, albeit gross, and the kids in Africa are starving, how did this help them exactly?
Below is a rough idea of what WONTOK CHILDREN is, and where I see it going.
Do you believe in co-incidences? I don't. Many things come together at just the right time, providence, God's sovereignty? I think so.
WONKTOK CHILDREN
· Share Christ’s love
· Discipleship
· Empowerment through education, reading
· Teach living intentionally
Vision:
Broaden minds of children through education, literature, teach basic life skills, parenting, vocational training, entrepreneurial development, provide job opportunities. Help impoverished girls to see hope in their future, not end up using their bodies for survival.
Project List:
1. Lending Library at local Mapandan School- donated children’s books
2. School Supplies – providing teachers with supplies
3. Backpack Project- each child gets a backpack at the school
4. Building Library on commercial land in Mapandan
a. Pay back taxes on land, get title (Lawrence's family owns a small property there)
b. Building structure
c. Librarian – story hours, filing books, managing library
d. Shelving
e. Computers with internet service ??
f. Music listening area ??
a. To build a community, boarding school style to house, feed, and educate orphans and local children. Parental involvement will be required for children with parents. Co-op style.
b. Where Christ is taught as truth, with biblical values.
c. Charlotte Mason style education. Math, reading, phonics, writing taught up to lunchtime with well supervised time to explore the world with magnifying glasses, bug nets etc… after lunch.
d. Strong work ethic will be learned. Everyone will have a job.
Our goal is to give each child a backpack, one entire classroom at a time(43-45 students per class). Each backpack includes:
Optional items(find sponsors)
Toothbrush (instructions for use)
Hand sanitizer
toothpaste
Spiral Notebook
Crayons
1 book
1 biblically accurate story book or Child’s Story Bible by Catherine Voss or Egermeier’s Bible Story Book
Pens
Pencils
Pencil sharpener
Small toy or stuffed animal
Library
Opening minds through reading is the best gift to assist impoverished people out of poverty. The world is at your fingertips if you can read. Readers are leaders.
School Supplies
Our goal is to provide "Mapandan Elementary" with the teaching supplies the teachers need to properly teach.
· Chalk
· Classroom pencil sharpener
· Age appropriate writing paper
· Teacher planner
· Large hand sanitizer dispenser
Shipping Costs
We are prayerfully considering using a shipping container and sending books , backpacks and any other supplies all at once. We are accepting donations to cover shipping costs. The shipping container is from port to port, Oakland to Manila. Vans, and or trucks will need to be rented from Manila to Mapandan, as well as drivers.
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