Hoo-boy!
How can I even start to explain what has happened in the last few weeks? How about some bullets?
- The house is under contract. The folks moving in are a blended family. They're a couple with 6 kids! - Yeah 6! A couple of weeks ago they came in to lay claim on space and it looked like a hybrid of the Von Trapps and a row of ducklings filing in. They seemed to be well-behaved and rather cute. The well-behaved part might have something to do with the fact that "Dad" is a K-9 officer with the Martinez, CA PD. Even the law-enforcing beast will live here.
- Joel McMinn from Northgate purchased a storage facility in Newton, NC (just minutes from Hickory). This was in the developing stages WELL before we informed folks of our pin-pointed focus on that part of the US. He and his wife Pat have met with us and are extremely supportive of what we envision. He wants us to manage it part-time and will let us use space rent-free until we can get settled in the area. This is a HUGE God-thing! He even spent a few weeks out there and had a very enjoyable connection with our main support folks (Dennis & Jeannie Cheuvront).
- Shawn West. What can we say? He has been a main staple for us on this end. He has run 2 coffee shops (before the Starbucks blitz) and now roasts coffee. He is our current supplier. We are purchasing a fully automatic espresso machine from him that retails at over $10k. His price is $5.5k (hardly used) with a full year guarantee. We will take it with us and make it our "seed" to plant. He also has coffee shop equipment and furniture stored that we may be able to buy for far less than starting from dead-scratch. I think we are leaning heavily toward getting it. His counsel was for us to find a space first and then determine our need. THAT is integrity!
Those are the highlights for now. Needless, to say, we are getting very excited about this adventure and the discoveries ahead.
Shalom,
Jeff
