FEBRUARY 16, 2006; DETAILS OF THE BUYING OF THE HOUSE THAT WAS TO BECOME HAWK'S NEW HOME

These are the details of the buying of Hawk's New Home as told by Pa. Barbara probably has some different comments but since I'm writing, the right of authorship will be claimed. We wanted to share the miracle of buying this house.

Barbara and I had been interested in buying a house for Lindy in Wilson County to get her back closer to us. She had a nice place in Hartsville but it was a 30 mile drive for us to them and even a farther drive for her from her home, to the Learning Center to drop the kids off for pre-school, and then the drive to Watertown Elem. School. We started to look for a place in the 4th quarter of 2005. We contacted Helen McPeak; a relative, close friend and an agent with Crye-Leike Realtors in Lebanon. Lindy had not fully warmed up to the task of buying a house, selling her house in Hartsville, and moving. We would look at a place or two and then not look for several weeks. We did not see any property that we were truly interesting in buying, a true blessing.

Then Hawk was diagnosed with the cancer on Wednesday, 12/14/05. All hunting for a new house stopped.

Then, Barbara happened to be looking in the paper for houses for sale. There was an article in the Lebanon Democrat on December 23, 3005 in the classified section of the paper giving Public Notice of a house to be sold at the Front Door of the Courthouse, Lebanon on January 10, 2006 at 3 PM. Barbara mentioned the house to me but being the typical husband, I did not listen closely. She handed me the paper. I looked at it and laid it aside. A couple of days later, she mentioned it again and asked if I had looked at the house. I had not. A few days passed and she asked again and give me a copy of the notice again. Finally on Sunday, 1/8/06, I went to look at the house. The owners had moved out and the house was vacant. There was no realtors' lock box. Looking in the windows showed a house in a total mess.

On Monday, 1/9/06, I called the attorney that was given as the Substitute Trustee asking to be able to see the house and for the minimum price, just to see if it was out of our price range. He explained that he could not grant access to the house and the minimum price would not be developed till latter. I called Helen and asked for her help which she graciously gave. We looked at the house, developed an estimate to refurbish, and an estimate of what the house would be worth when redone. Enough praise and thanks can not be given to Helen. Without her guidance, we probably would not have gone to the auction. There truly are angels on earth to help us with our walk.

Barbara and I developed a maximum price we would give for the house and went to the courthouse about 2:30 PM on 1/10/06. As we walked up the steps to the courthouse, I discussed how we should not show our hand in the bidding, like in poker - holding our hand close to our chest. Barbara suggested I inform the other bidders of our purpose in buying the house. I explained how this was business and emotions would not be involved. After a little more discussion, I explained that I could not align with her suggestion. We walked on into the courthouse.

There were 3 pews on different walls around the lobby of the courthouse. We set down on one of the pews. We were soon joined by three other parties taking up positions around the area. It soon became obvious that we were outsiders. Everyone else knew each other, joking and exchanges stories.

About 2:55 PM, Barbara surprised me as she stood up and explained to the group that we were going to try and buy the house for our daughter, whose son had an inoperable brain cancer. No one said a word, only looking at their papers or their shoes. I thought "way to go, that accomplished a lot." And of course I thought, "I told you so".

The lawyer arrived at 3 PM. He came in and said a few official sounding lines and asked all interested parties in the sell of the two properties to step forward. Barbara jumped up so fast I thought she was going to run into him. No one else moved, so much for being cool.

They sold the other house first. The billing started at $101,000. The bidding increased by $50, 100, or 200, until the property sold for over $118,000. I had been able to get Barbara to set back down half through the bidding.

We had not discussed how we were going to handle the bidding. I had gone through the thought process while the house was being sold, that the weaker my poker hand, the stronger I would come out on the open bet (this was from my younger years). I thought that we were definitely in the weakest position. The lawyer identified the opening price. Following my poker instincts, I increased the opening minumim by $1,500 and offered the opening bid. Then, there was a long silence. The lawyer waited and then finally said "Going once, going twice, and finally sold." After Barbara and I finally breathed again, she leaned over to me and said "You give to much". A man can never win.

The Lord's hand was truly, fully involved in buying Hawk's New Home. Praise the Lord for all the Blessings He has given us!!!!