The Journey Towards Home - From Mess Maker to Home Maker
2007-Apr-6
THIS PAGE HAS MOVED
This page has moved (for various reasons, nothing against homestead blogger).
If you would like ot know the new site, please email me.
paula aatt paurian doott com
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2006-Dec-21
Using the Fruit of the Spirit to get out of debt
Posted in FinancesThis is just a small excerpt from a letter I got from Cat (Making It Home Magazine). If you do not belong to her yahoo group, I HIGHLY suggest you join!!
-=-=-
What are the fruits of the Spirit?
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and
self-control.
Love what you have already. If you do this you will not require more or
want more.
Joy in that you have so many blessings in your life that you can share it
with others. Don't take the joy out of your life because you are a slave to
your credit card.
Peace of mind when going to the mailbox not worrying about opening up a
credit card bill.
Patience in waiting to get what you want but only when you have the cash to
purchase that item. Patience in knowing that maybe by the time you do have
the cash to buy...you many not really want it.
Kindness to be able to share and bless others with your time...not your
money!
Goodness in being "able" to help and provide for the needs of others.
Faithfulness - are you being faithful in what God has given you? Are you
tithing? No? Why? Because you can't even meet your own bills and if you were
to tithe well...that would really put you out. What does God say about
tithing? What does God say about His being faithful to you when you do what He
has asked of you? Do you not have enough faith in Him to know that He will
see you through? Faithfulness in paying what you owe to others and seeing to
it that you pay them in a timely and God honoring manner.
Gentleness in how you spend your money.
Self-control is not just buying what you see but waiting. Self-control is
thinking purchases through before just allowing the impulse to take over. We
can see what little self-control we have when we open up our checkbooks or
when we look over our credit card statements.
-=-=-
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2006-Dec-20
Homemade Christmas Gift
Homemade Christmas Gift
Idea Exchange
What a great idea! GiBee over at _Kisses of Sunshine _
(http://www.kissesofsunshine.blogspot.com/) is hosting what promises to be the idea event of the season.
Check in over at her place for inspiriation a-plenty. Below are
directions for just one of many homemade gift.
One-of-a-Kind Note Pads
Made with Love
http://kissesofsunshine.blogspot.com/2006/10/homemade-gift-idea-exchange_02.html
I have to say, these awesome little notpades were popular with everyone who
received them. (I originally got the idea from Family Fun magazine about 5
years ago.) The best part is, they use your kid's original art work, and,
BONUS... they are NOT difficult to make. And can you say useful and practical? Oh,
yes they are!
1. Have your children draw something specific, or use some of their ‘works
of art’ that you already have. We decided to go for a simple border across the
top of the page. The picture above is a sample of the one that my daughter
designed. After choosing a scripture verse together, she wrote it and then
came up with a little flower design. She was about 6 years old when these were
done (about 5 years ago!).
Our son went for a more patriotic theme (not pictured ~ sorry, we ran out!)
He wrote “One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for
all.” Then he decorated it with American flags and little fireworks which he
drew.
2. Next we took the finished artwork over to Kinko’s, which copied it so
that there were 4 images on an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper. These were then
copied, cut, and turned into 50-sheet note pads. The cost varies, but I think we
paid under $20 for 8 pads. We chose the 4x6 size, but there are other sizes
available.
3. We then decided to place a self-sticking magnetic strip across the back
of one-half of the note pads. This way, the recipients could stick some up on
the fridge and just keep others by the phone.
This gift was so well-loved that we actually had relatives phoning to ask
for more! They’re truly one-of-a-kind gifts and hold great sentimental value
for grandparents and other relatives. Just plan to make extra ~ you’ll be glad
you did!
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2006-Oct-28
Don't make a mistake!
Ok, so this might be a bit long as I am playing catch-up.
So we sold our home, and are not going to get our homestead. We will however be staying right here in our city.
I must admit that I am actually sad that we will not be getting our homestead. I was so certain. But it looks like God has other plans for us for now. But thankfully, we will be able to have a big garden, so not all is lost.
I want to share with you ladies who are not married or who will soon be married or those who are newly married, so that should YOU want a homestead you will be able to get one if it is what God wants for you.
The main reason we cannot get our homestead is a lack of funds. My husband is paid well enough that I am able to stay home and not have to work. But we made several mistakes.
One of the best pieces of advice I was given when I first got married was to take all of my income and put it directly into savings (I know now that we should have been putting it into a ROTH - both husband ABD wife can have a ROTH if the husband is working!!!!). But that way, you get used to living on one income so when I stop working to be home with the children, we aren't missing out on any income we had been accustomed to having and living on. So we had a fairly large nest egg when we were first married.
HOWEVER - and here are where the mistakes start - one year after we were married, we fell for the "get rich quick" scheme. Bought some land in hopes to make some money (wasn't everyone making money in land at that time??). The first mistake was went went to a real estate firm who sent us a mailer saying they would give us a free gift if we come in and talk with them. They were scammers and we were scammed.
We should have done several things different.
First, NEVER goto a real estste office who sends you a gift for coming in just to talk. IT is most always a scam. We learned that out when we went to sell the land because we wanted our money back. Since we had the money, we paid for the land outright rather than taking a loan. We wanted our money back and TRIED to contact the office we bought it from and they were no longer around.
We found a reliable realtor who unfortunately was not able to help us and referred us to another reliable realtor who deals with land in the area we bought our land. She told us that we were ripped off and basically stuck with that land. Not only that, but the "realtors" who sold us that land are no longer realtors (prolly retired on all the profits they made). She asked if it was a family investment as several other owners in the area had the same last name (it was a mass mailing). She said several scammers do that. Set up office, send out mailers, sell off land, and then move on out. She also said that the land we bought happenes to be one of the most undesireable types of land as there is no public access to it (meaning a road cannot be built to it). We were told by the scam realtors that no public access meant a road had not yet been built to it. So now we are stuck paying taxes on land we can never get rid of.
We learned that we should ALWAYS say NO and pray and sleep on it. If God really wants us to have something, it will be the same price tomorrow as it was today and it will still be available at that time. Sellers want to make a sell!! We should have left and prayed on it and we would not have bought the land.
Secondly, we spent money on the little things. We goto Goodwill a lot to buy our clothes (and other necessities). What happens is we have a need (one of the children need new clothes) and go into Goodwill. We see several other WANTS and because they are such a good deal, we buy them. SO then we have a house full of clutter and only continue to collect more and more wants leaving less money for needs.
We should have created a budget of all the necessary things, then budgeted in savings and ROTH and tithe. After that, budget in amounts to spend on necessities: groceries, gas, clothing, etc. What we have done now is to give eachother an allowance each month. It is small, but enough to take the family out to dinner, buy a newly released DVD, etc. So that way we have a "fun" fund and can save up for the more expensive wants, and still build our retirement fund.
Don't think you are ever too young to think about or plan for retirement. Just think about it. If you start now, before you are even married. Then you won't have to wait until hubby is 65 and in a miserable job before he retires. He can retire at 40 and enjoy raising the kids WITH you (instead of always having to work or be thinking about work).
When we calculated the money we could have had by now, we would have not only been able to pay CASH for our homestead (which we wouldn't have done, it sometimes is more beneficial to take a loan out so you can keep growing your money - for example, if your ROTH is getting you 9% interest, and the loan is only costing you 5%, then you are making more money than the loan is costing you by keeping your money in your ROTH!), but it would have been enough that hubby could retire in 5 years instead of 32.
Imagine that!!! He will have to "waste" almost 30 extra years working that he COULD have been enjoying with family NOT working. He could have had the freedom to start up the company he wanted to start up but never had the time (because he is working a job to pay for our house and food and other needs and wants) or money.
We are SO THANKFUL that God has blessed us DESPITE our lack of good stewardship with His gifts. We are not in debt (but we are living paycheck to paycheck). We own our car. And with the sell of our home, we are going to make the profit we wanted to in order to be able to get a bigger home with bigger land (although still not the homestead we both really wanted).
So anyways, I hope that this helps some of you . And thankfully we are finding out NOW about how to do things instead of later when hubby is laid off because he finally reached that age where his company feels they can get cheaper labor from a college grad, despite all of hubby's knowledge, his knowledge is now too expensive for the company to keep him.
I also want to give one last word of encouragement - be accountable to each other on how you spend money. It is so easy to think that you don't need to discuss the dress you want to buy or the groceries you want to buy (after all, I am the woman and know what our family needs and am making all the meals), but I encourage you even in those areas to talk with your husband about it. Maybe he will suggest something that can save you an extra $30 a month. That may seem small now, but in one year, you will have saved an extra $360 plus interest (and if you were able to put that into either of your ROTHS or your husbands 401K that adds up FAST!! :D).
Try to max out BOTH of your ROTH's every year as well as your husband's 401K (your company should have a matching point - max to the matching point). That will help you build up that retirement fund fast.
And if you havea little extra at the end of the year, put it into a high yeild CD. I am hoping in 15 years to have enough money for the entire family (including any other children the Lord may give us) to goto Hawaii for our 25 wedding anniversary. :D
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2006-Oct-3
A GREAT idea, and update
First, my great idea. Then for those of you who care, you can read onto my update.
I was reading an article in AEW written by Nancy (from Above Rubies). She said that her family had a family journal. It sat on the table and anyone in the family could write in it when they wanted to. They wrote about what was happening in their lives, special memories, etc. Whenever they had company over, instead of asking them to sign a guestbook, they asked them to write in the journal.
I have young children. The younger 3 are too small to write, but I can always write down cute things they do or say, and can also have them color a page every now and then. My oldest (6yr) is learning to write. She spells love “lov” and time “toym.” I think it would be wonderful to have her write in the journal.
I thought that this was a great idea and wanted to share it with you.
Now onto the update. Well, we found the PERFECT house on one acre. Of course, we were really wanting more. And since our house is not selling, we might keep looking and try to find something with more land. While looking for houses, our son (3 months at the time) developed a fever of 105.6F and it wasn't coming down. He had had a fever of 103+ for almost a week. Because we were staying with family, we were able to rush him to the hospital (something we do only as a last resort - we try to treat at home first if possible).
Anyways, all this to say that we realized that while we do want a homestead with plenty of land, we also want to be close enough to civilazation in case something bad happens. This house is PERFECT! You feel like you are out in the country (the neighbors even have 6 goats!), but you are only 20 minutes from the children's hosital and 5 minutes from a drug stroe (should you need to get meds).
We are still waiting on the Lord about our house. Does He want us to move right now and into that house, or would he rather us wait and keep looking? It is so hard to hear from God sometimes.
But while we are still here, we are taking full advantage of everything. Spending more and more time with friends (Brenda, we NEED to get together!), doing more and more things outdoors (this is a VERY outdoorsy type city).
Thanks to all of you have have prayed or are praying (or will pray after reading this). ANd thanks for continuing to read this far.
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2006-Sep-12
Being Quiet
I was driving home from yet another doctor appointment and the radio was of course on. I started thinking about how back in the 1800's, when you traveled from place to place not only did you not have the "convience" of a car, but there was a lot of SILENCE. Now we have so much noise to fill the silence. Almost as if there was something wrong with too much quiet.
Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE to hear my children. I love to hear them laugh and talk as they color. I love to hear them get excited and share their newest bug finding (see my homeschooling blog if you can help me find out what kind of bug they found). But there is something to be said about silence and learning to enjoy it. Not always having to talk, or have the TV or radio on to fill the silence.
Just some thoughts.
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2006-Sep-3
update and prayer request
Still waiting on God about the house and where to move. Our house did NOT sell like we thought it would (lesson learned to put house on the market BEFORE school starts and in plenty of time for new owners to move in BEFORE school starts).
Anyways, so we are waiting and waiting and waiting on the Lord (obviously lesson has NOT been learned yet, otherwise our house would sell). :)
Also, baby JJ has been getting high fevers. Please pray for him. They diagnosed him with a urinary tract infection, and said believe his kidneys are causing the infections. He has an ultrasound tomorrow so prayers are appreciated. Thanks.
Also, I just have to brag on my man here. This is a post from last year on a different blog, but he is ALWAYS doing this, so I felt it was appropriate to share again.
I just gotta take some time to brag on my man here.
Yesterday evening, I just DID NOT want to cook. I know, it is wrong and selfish. So I asked my husband if he would not mind figuring out something for dinner. He said sure.
Now ladies, if you EVER have tons of stuff in your fridge that is about to go bad and don't know what to do with it, ask your husband to make dinner. LOL! He used everything that was about to go bad and made THE BEST dinner I have had.
He was so adorable! I caught him using the professional chef's trick of wiping the plate to clean it up and make it look pretty. THEN, he took some cheese and sour cream and made this very elegant shape. The presentation was WONDERFUL, and the taste was EXCELLENT!
I need to think of some wonderful way to thank him for such a wonderful dinner and presentation and for NOT MAKING ME COOK! LOL!!
Just some encouragement to brag on YOUR man today!
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2006-Aug-3
has it really been ten years? time flies when you are in love!
I can hadrly believe that my husband and I have been married ten WONDERFUL years today! They have been the bext 3 years of my life! But seriously, all joking aside, I do wish that it wasn't just the past three years that have been working on being a submissive wife. I know that our marriage (while still wonderful, always with room to grow) would have been much happier (as they have been the past few years) if I had learned what the BIBLE had to say about submission instead of just going off what other women in the church said it was.
If you had asked my husband 3 years ago if I was submissive, he would have said YES without any doubts. But once I learned what the BIBLE said about submission (and even moreso once I learned that being a helpmeet was a whole lot more than JUST submission), if you were to ask my husband now if I was submissive, he would prolly reply: Not during the first few years of our marriage, but she is working on it now."
Yep, WORKING ON IT. I still haven't got it down. There are still days when I forgot to honor my husband.
I am reading a WONDERFUL book by Nancy Leigh DeMoss (oh she is WONDERFUL!) called Biblical Womanhood.
We know we should always be asking ourselves in EVERYTHING we do "Does this glorify God? Is this what God would have me do?"
As wives, this book reminds us to ask ourselves in everything "Does this help my husband?" OH THAT HURTS!
I would so much rather be playing on the computer, scrapbooking while the kids are napping than packing the house or mowing the lawn. BUT, does that help my husband? Right now, the answer is no. We are preparing to move and trying to get thouse hosue ready. Playing on the computer does not help him when I could be packing instead. (Thankfully I am able to enter this while I am nursing the baby
)So just a reminder to ask yourself in everything:
DOES THIS HELP MY HUSBAND?
If the answer is no, you would be blessed to skip it and move onto something else. :)
And a nursing baby needs LOTS of nursing so I also had a little bit of time to do this:
Click on it to see the layout I made for my husband for our ten wonderful years of love. Those love ntes are ACTUAL notes I have written to him (or VERY similar).
One more layout for my man:
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2006-Aug-1
How To Make Soap
Posted in TOD-KAHI am sure ALL of you are as big of fans of Crystal's as I am, but if not, first, check out her site.
THEN check out
HOW TO MAKE SOAP
Still waiting for answers on my question below about milk goats. Thanks for any help on that.
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2006-Aug-1
RAISING GOATS - NEED HELP PLEASE
So hubby and I are excited about having a few goats on our new homestead, and am doing a little bit of research about raising goats. We have a few questions and REALLY need some help figuring some stuff out.
It is TERRIBLY important to my husband that we are able to take one or two family vacations a year. This would mean leaving the goats for 10 days at a time. But from everything we are reading, they need to be milked twice a day as well as constantly watched over. IS that true? If you raise goats how do YOU do family vacations? What about family emergencies (like your mother is ill and you want to go be with her or your children are terriblly ill and need to be hospitalized)??
I hav eheard that they have worms and need medication daily?
Are there any MUST HAVE books, web sites, etc??
Is there anything that we should know?
What advice would you give someone who is about to embark on the whole raising goats issue?
I should mention that we are not wanting to raise meat goats but MILK goats.
THANKS SO MUCH!!!
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2006-Jul-27
Chrocheted Crochet Needle Case
Posted in CrochetFor MorningSunshine:
Is THIS the case you were talking about?'
I am just learning to crochet so I never thought about making one this one (wanted to make one that you sew). But thought I would post the pattern in case you (or anyone else) wanted it. It does look very cute!
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2006-Jul-22
Can Someone Help Me ...
Posted in CrochetI do not know how to crochet, by my sister's mother-in-law (who is WAY COOL!) is teaching me to crochet. So as a thank you, I wanted to make her a carrying case for her needles. She uses both aluminum and steel. I can sew and have LOTS of fabric (I am an avid collector - what home keeper can resist the urge to collect fabric?!?!) and would LOVE to make an all fabric (I don't want to use plastic as I don't know how to sew very well and sewing that vynil scares me - so much I can't even spell the word correctly LOL!).
Are there any free patterns out there? IF not, do you know of one I can look for to buy (or that might be in a book at the library)?
ALSO, I am hoping to incoroparte the pattern into something where I can allow her to put her books in it (well, not BOOKS per se, more like leaflets). Any patterns for a leaflete holder out there?
Thanks for ANY help. I am a pretty novice sewer, so if you can explain things in baby terms to me, that would be great. Thanks again!!
BTW - I know how to slip stitch, chain stian, yarn over, single stitch and half-double crochet!! Right now I am using those two (SC and HDC) to make a scarf for my youngest. I will have to take and scan in pictures when I get a chance. Might now be for a while though. I only get to work on it in the car while hubby is driving (as all other time is spent PACKING).
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2006-Jul-19
FINALLY GETTING OUR HOMESTEAD!!!
After praying and praying and PRAYING, we are led to move to Texas. A bit scary (and not really a place we want to go - but sometimes God stretches us the most in places He wants us that we don't want to be). We will be closer to family, which is a good thing.
PLEASE be in prayer for us as we look as sort through houses. We are looking at getting something with land for us to be able to farm and raise goats and chickens. I have two weeks (well, less than that now) to pack and have the house ready by Aug 1! YIKES!! Thankfully I don't have to have the WHOLE house packed, just about 80% of it (all non-essentials). We have just WAY too much STUFF in our house to put it on the market. Need to get a lot of it out so our house looks nice enough to get the money we want.
I found a most VALUABLE RESOURCE when it comes to moving:
http://www.movingscam.com
ANYONE planning a move (in state our out of state) should DEFINATELY check out this site.
So I won't be able to be on here very much. Please pray that my husband is guided as to what house is for us. That God will guide our realtor to find houses that would match our wants and needs. That God will remove this anxiety about getting the house packed in time! YIKES!! Thanks for your prayers.
Here is a GREAT link from a WONDERFUL resource (Revive Our Hearts):
There's Life Outside The Box
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2006-Jul-14
Some really FUN and NEAT stuff!
I have ALWAYS loved Rebecca's site, but now that she is posting up crafts - OH MY will I ever get off her site and pack?!?!
Check out the following:
From DRAB to FAB - I NEVER thought of changing a shirt like this into a girls dress! TOO CUTE! For more shirt changing ideas, see the previous post below! THANK YOU REBECCA for inspiring this idea!
Check out this flower drying rack! TOO CUTE!!
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2006-Jul-13
Cute Ideas for Old Shirts
Posted in SewingWhile I would not personally wear some of this stuff because it is too short, it is PERFECT for LITTLE GIRLS!!
Check out ways to reuse old shirts:
T-shirts
Button-up Shirts
HAVE FUN!! This is from one of my favorite sites that has really great ideas! Anyone else have any great ideas like these?
Coming soon - some more great links from a friend of mine (WOWIE) as well as pictures of my first crochet! I can chain, single, slip and half-double stitch!! WOOHOO!!
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2006-Jul-10
From Chaos to Calm in 15 weeks
Posted in Home ManagementBeing gone last week, I missed out on sharing this little gem with you. But as they are only on week two (and we can just double up sometimes can't we?) I wanted to share this link with you:
From Chaos to Calm: 15 weeks to a Happy Home
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2006-Jun-23
Little Homemakers
Oh, sometimes I forget how exciting it is to pick weeds and deocrate the table with them. Or to take Momma's favorite sheet and decorate the table.
My girls have a homemaking spirit inside them and I don't want to quench it. It is so easy (now that I am a grown-up) to see weeds instead of beautiful yellow flowers and to see stains on my sheets instead of a beautifully decorated table.
I need to make some cheap-o table clothes for the girls to decorate the table with. And I need to plant some REAL flowers and teach them how to grow and pick and arrange flowers.
Right now, A (6yr) has pulled some flowers off the bushes (pink ones off one bush and yellow ones off another bush, at least they do complement each other) and put them in one of her plastic drinking cups for our company (the painter has come to give us an estimate on painting the basement). It amazes me how (now that I am a grown up and all), I see the painter as a worker instead of as company. I always offer workers drinks, but never have I decorated with flowers for them.
Oh, I pray that I will see the world through my children's eyes. To see weeds as flowers, sheets as beautiful tablecloths and workers as guests worthy of flowers.
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2006-Jun-22
Will I Ever Have the Time??
SO many cute crafts and so little time!!
How To Die Wool Blankets
Quick Quilt - for those who want a quilt but have no idea how to (or an easy way to quilt for children). Why didn't I think of this?!?!
Fabric Bracelet - this is a GREAT and easy idea for kids to make (for themselves, for gifts and to sell)
Quick and Easy Purse - can you see the theme I have going here? Los of easy stuff that kids can do. Not just because I have kids, but because I am a kid at heart (and that is how I best learn - as a child).
Sunbonnet Sue Free Projects - too cute and fun!!! and a few free sunbonnet sue patterns too (from the main page).
And keep an eye out for this promising page with cute free sewing patterns!
Headbands - oh I am SO into headbands right now. I really like the look of this one!
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2006-Jun-19
Little Helpers
I am so thankful that I had girls first. They are all such little helpers with the new baby.
I think the next thing I am going to train my oldest (6yr) to do it to put away groceries. ESPECIALLY the cold and frozen items. She is so great when we are in the grocery store. She will remind the cashier to pack all the cold and frozen items in seperate bags and together. It makes it so much easier when time is short (like the baby is screaming and you need to tend to them) so you can just put THOSE bags away and not worry about a frozen item being in with the cereal and you forgot it and now it is bad. You know what I mean.
She knows where most everything goes anyway. So it shouldn't be too terribly hard. And I know that everytime she gets a new responsibilty (I think I like calling them that instead of chores), she feels more and more like a good wife and mother. She knows that she is practicing. I have explained to her that Momma never really learned to be a good keeper at home. The Bible tells us that as women, we are to be keepers at home. Momma is learning to obey God's word and instructing her (and her sisters) to obey God's word. We are learning and "practicing" together, and it is WONDERFUL!
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2006-Jun-19
Combining children's art work with quilting
So, I don't know WHY I did not think about this. Use the Emrboidery or Fabric Crayon creations and create a QUILT!
What a perfect gift for grandparents (not to mention wonderful ways to capture memories for Momma who thinks her little ones are growing up way too fast).
For the full article that goes with the picture above, click here.
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