The key to happiness

Despite the busy schedule of our trip to Pismo Beach, it gave me some time to reflect. As I was watching my kids enjoying and loving each other, I was overwhelmed with the love of GOD. I felt very blessed. I truly love my chosen career of a full time stay at home mom. I did not realize the importance of my chosen career until now. Being closer to the Lord truly brings happiness. There is no key to happiness. The door is always open.
I also realized the blessings given to me as a wife. My husband is on a business trip to Australia for three weeks. He is constantly trying his best to take care of us. I call him to inform of my desire to purchase property in Pismo Beach. He responds: "I completely trust your judgement". What a blessing! Not too many wives can boast of this.

Trip to SLO and Pismo Beach

We went to San Luis Obispo last Friday, April 21. We left the house around 10am and got to SLO around 1pm. We checked in our hotel, walked to the pier and had lunch. We met with a very nice realtor, Hae-Soo Ferguson, who was recommended to me by our Client Manager at BofA, Inda Lee. Hae-Soo said she was expecting to see an older client and thought that Phil and I could be brother and sister. Now you see why I said she’s a very nice realtor. Kidding aside, she is truly nice. We picked up Phil at Cal Poly and we looked at probably over 20 properties in 2 days. It was a little tiring but definitely exciting. On Friday, there was one condo we all liked but I held off on giving an offer, as I wanted to see more properties in Pismo Beach the next day. On Saturday, we previewed beautiful homes in Pismo Beach with fabulous ocean views. Every time I go to Pismo Beach I feel like moving there. It’s so serene and beautiful. Anyway after a long search we decided the condo in SLO is a great buy. Unfortunately someone made an offer the night before and the seller accepted. We were sad because it was a very nice condo but it’s not meant for us.
Of the 20 properties we viewed, two beautiful homes stood out. One is BIG and exquisite and the other is a very nice single level home.

During the times we were previewing properties, the children were entertaining themselves at the beach. After a late lunch, we went to Costco to purchase essentials for Phil and we headed home around 6pm, as Immanuel was dying to get back to his girlfriend, Krystal (at least he did come with us and tried to be "patient" which is very hard for him). We got home around 9pm and Immanuel wanted to go to Castro Valley for bible study to see Krystal. After a long discussion, he ended up staying. Krystal's mom, Paz, brought Krystal over and we were all appeased.

Right on the money

It feels like I haven’t blogged in ages. Besides the normal hectic life of a full time mommy and part time student, I have been so busy preparing our rental property for sale. It’s finally ready and officially in the market as of April 19. I feel sad because it’s our first house and we have a lot of memories in it. After a long decision making process, weighing the pros and cons, I came to the realization that the memories will be with us whether or not we sell. Besides the wonderful memories, I guess the other big "con" of selling that made it a hard decision to sell is hanging on to a property that has the prospect of increasing in equity. In search for "insight", I came across this book by Suze Orman, The Laws of Money, The Lessons of Life. The 3rd law said: Do what is right for you before you do what is right for your money. It talked about how our money must create peace of mind for us, not extra anxiety. It may be right for our money to keep the property but I know it will not create peace of mind for us.