Summer Directive
I currently live in a tri-level, brick and vinyl home since 2014. My wife and I fell in love with the property partially due to it being larger than our old house and filling various other needs of ours. When I first got into a relationship and was dating my wife, I owned a 1100 sq ft two bedroom house. She had a 1700 sq ft house that herself and daughter lived in. After the relationship became serious I ended up moving in with her but that created an obstacle of ours to combine all of our stuff into one place. We needed more room and we had a child together later on, so our house needed to grow with our family. Our current house is a 2800 sq ft four bedroom, two bath structure with an attached two car garage. The lower level has a laundry room, a full bathroom, bedroom, and a living room. Until my stepdaughter was old enough and eventually moved out, she bascilally had her own living area in that lower section. My daughter gained a larger bedroom. She has since changed the layout and decorative style multiple times over the years to fit her evolving needs or desires. My wife and I have a nice sized master bedroom which is next to the second bathroom on the upper level. When I had opposite work schedules from my wife, I could simply close the bedroom door and if she had friends over or had the television volume up, I could still make it dark and quiet enough to go to sleep. It has been a great home for us and it was built back in 1965, so it has helped multiple families over the years.
I like that we have a creek that runs through the edge of our half acre property. I appreciate living in a culdesac. There is a single road that leads into the neighborhood and only one to exit. That is a security improvement as is limits interactions from others. It is minutes from the bypass, so even though it is secluded we can get anywhere in the county in a timely manner. I’m only four minutes from my work. I was just over ten minutes from my previous employer. That location has been a comfort and a bonus especially with gas prices seemingly always in a never ended increase.
As far as what I would describe as the largest dislike for the property was actually a good selling point initially. In the winter, the back yard can be used as a very impressive hill to sled down. That also means that in the summer, that same very steep hill needs to be mowed. Once you get partially down the hill, there is an area where even if you put the mower in reverse……it doesn’t matter, you will continue to the bottom of the hill. That has created for a few sketchy passes over the years.
I would say that most stressful part of our house has been from water leaks. We had a dryer vent that would get water into the exhaust piping that was exiting the house above the ground however because the dryer was under ground, it allowed water that was blown into the exhaust piping to then run down into the lower level and into the laundry room. We had one bad storm that literally ruined the flooring on the entire lower level. And I had recently installed new hard wood floating flooring in that lower area. We also had a neighbors’ tree fall on to the roof of our house. The roof was about five years old when that happened, so we replaced it again, however since then we have fought random moving leaks that are coming from that area. As a former roofer, that should be an easy fix to diagnose, however I had tried every option I know of and have even brought out other roofers. I then showed them the silicone and tar that I added to try and block possible trouble spots. Those roofers were left as confused as I have been. So that issue is still bothering me. i will attempt another tube of silicone on the guttering in the near future to see if possibly I get lucky at last.
Outside of our homes, we were also asked to describe our religious or spiritual practice. I am a Christian. I fail to pray every night and do not read my bible daily as well as do not attend church as much as I feel I should. These things can be improved on though and I strive to improve them. I don’t discuss the bible and its teachings daily however I have always had a couple coworkers that GOD has seemed to surround me with that I do reguarly discuss interpretations on scripture and other biblical teachings. So that helps to make me feel as though I am still mentally engaging and focusing on those important principles of life. I also try to listen to biblical interpretations and sermons while at work as we always should try to sharpen our sword and improve our armor on a constant basis.
I believe in the white throne judgement. One where we will all be judged on how we lived our lives and how we represented the faith. that ideology has kept me from straying too far into bad decisions in life. I try to control my temper and reactions. I am trying to be an amazing example for my daughter on what a man is. What a husband is in the way I treat her mother. In what a father is in how I treat her. And in what attributes she should look for in friends.
I am completely happy in my decision to be a follower of the teaching of Jesus Christ through the lessons in the Holy Bible. Every great society appears to have moral and legal statues based on those exact same principles.
I was asked to provide a complaint about my religion. I would say my only complaints would be the same statements that others have shared. Why does GOD allow THIS or THAT to happen? I know that free will does cover most questions. If there were immediate punishments for our bad choices, then we would act better, however some would only out of fear and GOD wants you to CHOOSE to follow him and LOVE him through our free will choices. The only other frustration I have is that I wish the teachings would have used less parables and had more direct statements. Society has had numerous arguments and even wars over interpretations of the WORD OF GOD. Some things needed to be hidden at the time, so that the message could go to the followers but it is still frustrating that there is still confusion on some of the principles thousands of years later.