What is there to be happy with.... A lot of people might be asking that right now with the Economy still stuck in the mud and the Real Estate market doing it's yearly Holiday hide and seek, for all you Real Estate Agents out there. But if you really spend some time thinking about it there are still lots of things that we all should be happy about. Living
here in East Tennessee and getting to watch the mountains all covered with snow... (yes I said snow,,, I know it usually isn't snowing that much here in East Tennessee especially before Christmas but they are covered with snow...) you can't help but catch yourself singing "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" in your best Frank Sinatra imitation. And unless you live in a cave somewhere you can't help but get invited to many Holiday Parties. Ok I know some of you out there don't like snow in any form and hate to go to parties, but even you have to feel the mood of the season when you hear Jingle Bells playing in every store you go into.
A few years ago I was given the opportunity to go to Uganda on a Construction Mission Trip, with Covenant Mercies, to build a water tower to provide water for an orphanage. I thought I was ready for whatever Uganda could throw at me. I mean I had been up in the hills in Appalachia and seen people living in houses that I thought would be condemned in even the worst third world country. Boy was I wrong... What I found in Uganda was people living as they did during the first Christmas, you know the one with the manger and the Shepherds. For most of the people in Uganda they would have to walk up 5 miles, one way, to get water then carry it back to there homes. Oh and there homes were usually made of mud or home made bricks and covered with a thatched roof. They had to find there own food from the pineapples that grew naturally there to some foods that we "westerners" could not eat since they were a natural source of Arsenic. They would then cook the food over an open fire, reusing the water from cooking to clean the dishes and bathe.
Building the tower turned out to be a very difficult project. You see there wasn't any electricity run to the orphanage houses and the generators that were available to rent were finicky at best and no Home Depots were available to go buy what ever we needed. We finally finished the tower and watched as the residents from around the Orphanage came and saw what many of them had never seen, clean clear water running out from a spicket. Something we take for granted here in the USA every day.
I couldn't help but feel blessed when I saw this, not because of what I had back in the US, but rather I learned that day that I have no reason to ever be dissatisfied with what I have. It was a lesson that I still look back on when I am feeling like I am not getting my fair share. These people who had nothing, from a worldly perspective, has shown me it isn't what we have it is what we are inside.
I hope we all remember this as we are sharing the Holiday season with friends and family.
Merry Christmas!!!!!
If you are in the Greater Knoxville area and need assistance with your Real Estate needs please feel free to contact me. I am a Full Time Real Estate agent here in Knoxville and would consider it an honor to help you sell your existing home or find your dream home. Also when contacting me please request your free brochure "8 Things to do to Prepare your House for Sale".
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