The last time I blogged was six and a half months ago.
2012 was a crazy, busy year for the Dittys.
Honestly, I'm glad it's over, and that we can start fresh in 2013.
The first few months will be extra crazy, now that the Royalettes are getting ready for State and practicing on Saturdays (woohoo!), but in a couple of months it will slow down, and I'm really looking forward to that.
I was having a hard time deciding what to write about. I decided to stick with my original idea, and write whatever I feel like writing about. I want to be able to look back and see what was going on in my life on a random day. So there's no rhyme or reason to my blog; it's just a place for me to get my thoughts down. And hey, if I'm entertaining enough, maybe I'll even become a famous blogger! ;)
Today I want to share a story about grace. My hubby encouraged me to share this story because, well, it's a pretty cool story (I apologize in advance for how long it is. I don't know how to tell a short story...).
Some of you may remember the crazy time we had when we backed out of a property we were trying to buy last January. There was a title issue and there had been a problem with the foreclosure. We waited for the problem to be resolved until May; that's when we found our current home (God really does know what He's doing!). When we backed out of the deal, we asked for the money back that we had spent on an inspection and appraisal since the property should never have been listed for sale. The Seller's agent was very offended that our side accused him of knowing about the title issue and trying to sell it anyway (there was an extreme lack of communication, so we never had details, and we had a lot of seemingly false promises), so he basically wouldn't have any contact with us. It was a VERY frustrating and stressful process.
We ended up filing a small claim in July and filing a grievance with the State for the amount we paid towards the inspection and appraisal, after trying repeatedly to make contact with the Seller's agent directly. Because of the way the process works in our area, we had to go to mediation before we went to court. The first time mediation was scheduled, the Seller's agent didn't even show up. The court ruled in our favor until a few days later when the agent wrote the court and asked for another chance because his calendar didn't save the mediation date correctly. Really? We were LIVID. So mediation was rescheduled for about six weeks later in November.
More stress.
We went to mediation again on November 16th, wondering if he would even show up. He did. We started to sweat a little. He came with a stack of papers that was bigger than ours.
As we began discussing the facts about what happened almost a year before, it became very clear to us that we had really pissed this guy off. I even asked him at one point if he would have paid us our money if we hadn't made him so mad. He said he probably would have. It was actually great to hear his side of the story. We got to hear information that we had REALLY wanted to hear while everything was actually happening. After talking to Matt privately, we decided to drop the charges; we realized that because of certain contracts we had signed, we weren't sure if we could win in court. Even though I wanted that money badly and tend to have a hard time backing down (especially when I feel that I've been wronged), I agreed to give a little bit of grace and just move on.
We walked back into the mediation room and told him that we were dropping the charges and that we were very thankful that he had finally explained his side of the situation. He asked me if I would tell the State that he hadn't done anything illegal (our grievance was being reviewed by the State already). I wasn't sure at first... maybe the State would find something illegal and we could still get our money back! But we agreed that we would tell the State that after hearing his side of the story, we no longer believed that he had done anything illegal.
He looked at me and said seven words that caught me completely off guard:
"Then I will write you a check."
I think I said, "You will?"
What?! Did I just hear that right?
I don't know why, and it's still kind of embarrassing, but I immediately started crying. I just couldn't believe it. People were trying to find me tissues. All of these months of being stressed out and honestly thinking we would never, ever see that money again... I think I was in shock and relieved.
And here we were thinking we had been so gracious to him by dropping the charges and even thanking him for his time.
I asked him if I could give him a hug. He said yes. I think I would have wished I hugged him if I hadn't. The State did not look into the investigation further, and here we are with our money back in our bank account. Pretty amazing.
The mediator didn't even know what to do with our case as far as paperwork goes. He said it's very, very rare to see a complete dismissal in mediation. I'm sure people crying and hugging because they're happy with the outcome doesn't happen very often either.
We definitely learned that we need to get every side of the story before we make any judgement calls. I think he learned that communication is a good thing. Sometimes, even when you think you're the one offering grace, God has a crazy plan that's even cooler than you could ever imagine. And I think He shows us HIS grace; sometimes through the most unlikely of situations and people.
Thankfully, we can now officially move on with a lot of gratitude and a new outlook. I no longer scowl when I see his name on a For Sale sign. I would like to think we could have moved on with the same attitude had we not received our money back. But I'm not going to complain about it! So we end up with a cool story, restored relationships, and a pretty great house!
God is good all the time, and all the time, God is good.
0 comments:
Post a Comment