Okay, I think most of you know the story, but for those who don't, bear with me...

So, about 2 years a single mom called our church looking for help. Since she lived in Brainerd, Dad got the responsibility of helping her. We made her a Thanksgiving meal, and then, in December, bought school uniforms for her kids for Christmas. We did various other things, but this is the abbreviated version. :) Come January her landlord, who was actually some sort of con artist, was being foreclosed on...ergo she would be homeless. Great. So, on a cold January morning, Mom and Dad show up on the steps of the Hamilton County Courthouse and buy the house. Whoa. We were now...LANDLORDS. Deep breath. So, things kind of went downhill from there. Turns out, the single mom was utterly unable to keep a job, and we eventually felt that we were not helping her by giving her a house, a car (we bought one for her), and money for gas. So, we evicted her. Now, 18 months later, we still have a money pit (a.k.a. the house). We couldn't get it insured until we put a new roof on, and there were various other issues that we had to fix. This last week we have spent 24 + hours cleaning and furnishing it so that we can have pictures/videos taken and the realtor is listing it today! YAY! We're hoping to have it gone by the end of October. Hoping. Maybe I can find before and after pictures of the house. It looks great! By the way, other setbacks have been people breaking windows and stealing azalea bushes, plus unwelcome black widow spiders. It's been an adventure, all right.