The Wisdom of Depending on God

This was my devotion today from christianwomentoday.com.
Pretty sure it was written just to encourage me today
:-).... but I felt like I needed to post this in case any of you can also relate.
~
Frustration and even anger can play at the edge of our hearts when it seems that
God does not hear us nor rescue us in situations as we think He should.

We begin to pray less. � We find our hearts have quit expecting anything from
God. Trust in His goodness can melt away in the heat of our struggle and God's
silence.

Countless Christians have experienced their prayers erode to a trickle of empty
words of habit or panic button prayers. Some lose faith when life's hard
circumstances make no sense and God fails to intervene as they think He should.
Others simply get too busy to bother. Many experience feeling let down and
disappointed by the church or other Christians and paint God with the same
brush.

It's easy to begin depending on our own best thinking when we lose heart in
expecting God to answer our prayers. Trusting God, when our path in life grows
muddy, is not an easy task. The mud of weariness, busyness and hurt can cause us
to trip and even fall. We wonder how we will ever get up again. Faith can feel
like a thread that threatens to break.

Trusting God with your life, even when it makes no sense to you, is to choose to
grab hold of the pearl of wisdom. As Christian women we know the vital
connection prayer is to our God, yet we can let it slip away from fingers muddy
from falling. We must be deliberate in choosing to cling to it. There is great
wisdom and reward in depending on our God even in the silence.

Maintaining that vital connection to God in prayer is a choice. Step by step,
through the fog on our pathway, we can choose to trust that God has our best
interest at heart and lean on His strength to get us through our day... or ...
we choose to shrug Him off with little expectation and lean wearily on our own
understanding.

When we live our lives with prayer on the fringe we are really telling God that
we don't trust Him. Often with our lips we declare trust but with our lives we
show that we really don't believe He will see us through. Ask yourself the hard
questions...

* Do I really trust God to have my best interest at heart?

* Do I really believe He will strengthen me today to walk where I need to
walk...even in the dark and the silence?

Choose to increase your trust in God and to bring prayer into focus from the
fringe of your life. These steps will help you firmly grasp that treasured
pearl...and you will discover the wisdom of depending on God. Choose to TRUST.

* T - Thanks

Thank God for the things He has done in your past. Go back as far as you need
to.

Begin to chart His track record in your life. Ask Him to remind you of times
past when He was there for you. Then find something in your life today to be
grateful for. Living thankfully is God's will for your life.

"Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ
Jesus"(1 Thessalonians 5:18).

* R - Repent

Say you are sorry to God for intentionally allowing things in your heart and
your life that you know would disappoint Him. Having a rebellious heart toward
God's ways in one area of your life can cause your prayers to hit the ceiling in
other areas. Take an inward look and ask for God's help in changing attitudes,
thoughts, motives and actions that need a correction.

"If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened: but God
has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer" (Psalm 66:18 & 19).



* U - Unify

Unify broken relationships. Whether you have offended someone or have been
offended, God leaves the ball in your park to seek restoration. If restoration
isn't possible give God the broken pieces and ask Him to root resentment out of
your heart. Bringing peace to fractured relationships brings blessing.

"Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God"
(Matthew 5:9).

* S - Share

Share the journey. When times are tough and trust wears thin, find a friend to
pray with you and for you. Tell someone your struggle and ask her to walk with
you awhile on the road of life. Getting help in our weakness leads to healing
and to power in praying.

"Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be
healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective" (James
5:16).

* T - Take time

Take time to spend with God. If your heart is dry set aside some time to listen
to praise music and use the words of the songs as prayers from your heart. Till
up the ground that has become hard from the worries of life. Learn to spend time
in the presence of the Lord and find refreshing beyond what you can imagine.

"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the
Almighty. I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in
whom I trust" (Psalm 91:1 & 2).

Depend on God in new ways today. Trust Him... even in the silence and in the
dark. The wisdom of depending on God will bring results in your life that will
surprise you.

"My God, in whom I trust"... with expectation!

House

Holy Cow! We're getting a house!! It still doesn't feel real, so I feel kind of weird about it. We're still waiting on home inspection and appraisal to be done, so I guess it's not official until papers are signed, but they accepted our offer and we're moving forward. Closing is set for May 25th. I've already been on the phone at least 20 times this morning with house related stuff. Yikes!

I can't tell you how nice it will be to be done with all the waiting and wondering and get moved in!

The house is in the same neighborhood that the boys' school is in. They will be able to walk or ride their bikes to school. And I will only have to walk a few steps down the sidewalk to be able to watch them all the way to the door of the school. That is seriously the best part of the whole deal! And, there is a community playground a few steps from the house that Gracie will surely take advantage of especially while the boys are in school. And the community pool is right next to the park. Hello?! I'm almost jealous of myself!! :-)

It's 2220 sq ft. (almost 1,000 sq ft bigger than our BV house was when we were living in it). Needless to say, we will have room to spread out! The other day when we were looking at it with my dad, we heard Gracie hollering for us and we couldn't find her for a few seconds. I said, "How nice is it that I might be able to lose my own kids in my own house! Hallelujah!"
It is 2 stories. 4 bedrooms and 3 full baths. There's 2 bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs and the rest is downstairs.
We are planning to replace some flooring in the house right away before we move in. Depends on the finances at the time. We also intend to update the kitchen at some point. The kitchen is clean and the appliances work, so it will be fine. We will have to go ahead and buy a new fridge though because there isn't one in the house right now.
Also, the downstairs bedroom has it's own bathroom, but that is also the only downstairs bathroom besides the master. So, we are going to cut a hole in the wall and make a door into that bathroom accessible from the foyer area. That will come a little later probably. So, we'll just have to enter that bathroom thru that bedroom for a while. That downstairs bedroom is going to be my office for now. As the kids get older and the boys need their own rooms, then it will probably be Gracie's bedroom, and we'll let the boys have the whole upstairs.
Also, there is a little built in office off the living room- which is nestled under the staircase. At first I thought it was wacky and I wanted to close it in and use it for storage or something. Then, we decided that it would be a nice area that the kids could have a computer and do their homework and arts and crafts and stuff. THEN, I had the mother of all revelations as I woke up in the middle of the night... It can be mamma's scrapbook nook! HELLO!!!! I've always dreamed of having a place to do my scrapbooking. I love to keep up with them, but I've not picked up a single scrapbook since I was 5 months pregnant with Gracie. It's been over 3 years. So, that is the current plan. I can already picture myself in that room working away my stress all by my lonesome. :-)

Like I've said all along, God is in control of all of this and I belive if it's meant to be, then it will happen. If something were to go wrong with the home inspection or the appraisal or anything else between now and the closing date of May 25th, then it just means it wasn't meant to be. I am praying that it all works out though, because we really like the house. We know that it will be perfect with those few changes made and we feel like for the price, we will have a good investment on our hands after the upgrades are done and the housing market recovers down the road.

We are so excited! We are so blessed! This has been a long year of waiting and finally our prayers are being answered and we are even able to get more house than we had been hoping for. Thank you so much for praying for us and encouraging me to keep my head up through this last year. I would've truly lost my mind if not for those prayers and kind words.
We are also so thankful for the support of our parents through all of this. I don't know that I would've been so supportive if my kids up and moved my grandkids an hour away with no notice! We are thankful that they all love and support us even if it doesn't all make sense -and that they let us make our own decisions- even if we come to regret them later. Because that's how we've learned and grown through the years. I think we're pretty grown up for our age...and we owe it to them.
Thanks to PaPa for coming to check out the house with us this week even though he was busy with work. It would never be something he would want to live in (country boy in the city would never do!), but he was objective and gave us his opinions on everything. We never like to make big decisions like that without his input. So, overall, we got his seal of approval, and here we are!
I will keep you posted. Hope you all have a great rest of the week!

Weekend Update

We had a very fast and very busy weekend, but it was good. Thursday and Friday were some of the busiest office work days I've ever had... I was still trying to finish Thursday's work until Friday evening. I got a call from the school around noon that Braden had forgotten his glasses and wanted me to bring them to school. I did that and got back home and started working again. As soon as I got Gracie down for her nap, the school secretary called again. This time she called to tell me that Braden had a pretty bad fall at school. According to him, he and his buddy were running from the playground to get in line to go back in and Braden tripped and fell and then his buddy tripped over him and fell too. He hit the top of his shoulder on the sidewalk and had gotten all muddy. They gave him some clean clothes and got him all cleaned up and bandaged up and said he was fine and that he was very tough. They just wanted to let me know right away what had happened. Here's a picture of what it looked like last night after he got out of the shower. The scab got softened up in the shower, so it looks even more gross- if that's possible. Friday night, Jason didn't get home from work until almost 10pm. Saturday, the boys had their first official football games. Bammaw came over to help Jason with the boys and Gracie and I went to Holiday Island for my friend Jenny's baby shower. Daddy reported that the boys had lots of fun and played good. Gracie and I had a wonderful time at the shower. I got to see lots of old friends that I don't get to see very often and got to see Jenny's first baby belly. She looks amazing. This is her first baby and she's about 6 ft tall, so she looks like she's got this cute compact little package in there! She has lived in Louisville ever since she graduated from college and she now lives in Phoenix, so who knows when I'll get to see her again. I actually had a little too much fun at the shower, because I only left myself 1 hour to get to church by the time I left. With a biker convention of some sort going on in Eureka and lots of traffic I knew I'd never make it back home to pick up Jas and the boys AND make it to church 20 minutes away... So, I went the back way directly to church and they guys met us there. I skidded into the parking lot about 2 minutes before I was supposed to be in our classroom to teach, so it worked out perfectly! Our friends, The Smith's, came to visit our church and it was nice to be able to worship with people we knew for the first time since we started going to this new and ginormous church. When I picked up Gracie from her class, she was in borrowed clothes-apparently she had a diarreah accident and didn't make it to the potty in time or something. Poor thing. She seemed like she felt fine though. Sunday, we went to BV to have dinner at Bammaw and Grandpa's house and to visit with Uncle Bruce who is visiting from Pennsylvania. It was a beautiful day and we just lounged around on the porch swings all day. Here's how the kids enjoyed the day: I even have a video of their swingin' enjoyment:


And on the way home, Jason and I started singing the "Hallelujah Chorus"- being silly about something I guess- and Gracie started singing it too. Braden got it on video for us. Isn't this precious?!

This morning, Gracie threw up strawberry yogurt flavored pink raisins all over me. She seemed to feel fine afterwards... I pray she's not getting sick again.

Also this morning, we met my dad and our realtor to take a 2nd look at a house we looked at last week. We put an offer on it right before lunch and have already countered the counter-offer, so we'll see what happens. I know I haven't updated what was going on with that situation, but we didn't get the house we put an offer on a couple weeks ago. The seller wouldn't come down off of their price. So, we decided to kind of take a break from it and see what happened and just the next day, our realtor called us about this house. There are a couple changes we'd like to make to the house, so we'll have to see if we can get it for the right price to be able to do the "upgrading" that we want to do. God is in control of all this and it will work out if it's meant to be. I'm getting better at all this waiting, but I'm so not good at it... :-)

Front Yard Baseball

Uncle Jeff came over tonight to visit. The boys were over at a friend's house playing baseball. I went to get them and tell them to come home because Uncle Jeff came to see them and Braden got all excited and said, "Hey guys, let's all go to my house and play baseball with my uncle Jeff. He's awesome! He's a real umpire!" And they all ran to the house as fast as they could. Here's some photos of the front yard fun!!

Rhett wearing Jeff's "umpire helmet" as he calls it.

Braden trying to pitch it "easy"- per my request.

Braden hitting the ball "easy"- again- per my request. Although, Uncle Jeff, being such a great example hit the ball across the road and into the fenced yard of a neighbor we've never even met! And of course, the boys thought that was "wicked cool".

Here's Rhett as the Umpire/Catcher. Gracie assisting and Uncle Jeff getting ready to bat.

Gracie attempted to bat all by herself.

Uncle Jeff helped her get a hit! You can see how "into it" she is!

All About Rhett

This past weekend was all about Rhett. He had his first football scrimmage on Saturday as well as his 6th birthday party!

Here he is before his game.

It rained for 3/4 of the game. The game lasted 1 hour and 45 minutes. I'm praying that all the games of the season won't be that long!

We had his party at Fun City Pizza. He was so excited! I made the cake, but waited until the last minute and didn't start until that morning. Turned out pretty good considering I did it in just a few hours, I guess.


















It was a fun birthday party! We are thankful for the friends and family that came to celebrate with us and for those who sent gifts to Rhettster. He is a very loved little boy!

Silly Girl

These pics were taken by Jason a few night ago. It was right about bedtime and we told Gracie to go take her clothes off and get her jammies on. We know she can't really do it all by herself, but every now and then we like to try. It's fun to see what she does get accomplished before asking for assistance.
This particular night, she got her clothes off and put them back on. Except she put the pants on her head, and the shirt on as a skirt. What fashion sense she has!!!

Say a little prayer...

Warning: This is a fairly long post of my feelings and ramblings. If you don't want to hear what may sound like whining and is certainly very "emotional female" in character, just close it down now and come back for the next post, in which I'll try to be more cheery.

I'm not sure if any of this will even make sense and I don't have time to edit, but just indulge me...here goes.

Ok, here's the deal. There's a family interested in our house. Hallelujah! But, I'm not jumping and shouting songs of joy yet... Obtaining the financing is the hurdle, once again. We have agreed to do a rent to own agreement with them if the financing falls through IF we can go ahead and obtain financing for a house here. We're just playing the waiting game with the bank right now, they've had all of our info since Monday.
Say a little prayer for all of us. We only want what's best. Even if that means this falls through. I'm trusting God. He has brought us to and through SO many other situations in the past 5 years since we've been self-employed and really began the "krazy" part of the journey. I can't even tell you what kinds of kraziness He's brought us through. I've often thought "yes, this one will be the death of me..." but then that situation is somehow resolved and we move on to the next crisis. Seriously, they happen pretty often around here...
So, we've been living every single day in total faith that God would provide for our needs. That we would have wisdom to run our business, despite the fact that we're still just two kids who don't have a clue. We've sure learned MANY lessons the HARD way, but we are getting pretty close to thinking that we've made about all the mistakes that could possibly be made and surely things are going to start looking up for us. We still have faith.
Timing hasn't been on our side in pretty much every situation we've gotten ourselves into. Not by any fault of our own, but it just seems like by the time we jump onto a bandwagon, the flame is going out and we lose our tails.
Regarding the house... a year ago, we thought we'd live in that house at least another 7 years. We spend a large amount of money, out of our pocket, on adding on and remodeling. You all know the story by now-that we up and moved pretty suddenly. We don't regret that decision and still know that for some reason yet to be completely revealed that we did the right thing. Problem is, we all know what has happened to the housing market in the past several months. And dontcha know that the bottom fell out and we all realized just how bad it was about a month after we already moved and had the kids in school. I guess in hindsight, I'm glad. If we'd have known how bad it was, we probably would've been too scared to move and try to sell the house right then and would've stayed when we were supposed to leave.
But, now it's next to impossible to sell a house. If you are fortunate enough to find a serious buyer, they can't get the financing. The rules are tougher than they've ever been and I don't get all those tv commercials that boast in the fact that there is still plenty of money available for home loans.... and that we need to stimulate the economy and keep things going to bring the market back up... Well, some of us are trying, but aren't getting very far so far. And poor suckers like us are stuck with our empty pockets hanging out after socking a ton of money into a house that we're lucky if it's worth what it was 3 years ago BEFORE we put all that money into it... much less getting our money out of it.
We've agreed on a selling price with this interested family and we could make our investment back....if the appraisal is by some miracle good enough...if only it would all work out.
There is only 1 house here that we are interested in buying. Only 1 for sale that is big enough, in our school district and at least close to the right price. We talked to the realtor yesterday and she is encouraging us to try to go ahead and get a contract on it contingent upon the financing. So, we're going to try to meet with her today to try to start the process of making an offer on the house. Who knows if we'll be able to agree on the price. Like I said, it's close to the right price...if not, the whole deal's off anyway.
I'm just sitting here wondering when it's going to be our chance to have a little bit of the "good luck". I believe that it's all still worth it if we continue to get more of the "bad luck" our way. For some reason, it's all what is supposed to happen and I will find a way to be ok with it.
I still totally believe God can do a miracle and work this all out and get us out of this (what feels like a) pit.
Thanks for letting me vent today. It's been a while since I've been so "transparent" and I just needed it today. I feel better already!Just say a little prayer for us today.

Easter 2009

Happy Easter! We celebrate that our Lord has RISEN! He is ALIVE! I am so thankful for that and that I have a relationship with Him. Oh my, where would I be without Him today... Do not even want to think about that! I am a different person because of Him. I pray that you will have that relationship with him too!

We have had a whole bunch of fun stuff going on this Easter weekend to celebrate and have family time.

Saturday, we dyed eggs.




Then, Daddy went outside and hid 67 eggs for the kids! We added some plastic ones filled with coins and some with candy for fun.




After we found all the eggs, we all sat in the grass for a while and enjoyed the BEAUTIFUL day! The kids went through their eggs and we got their piggy banks out so they could put in all their new coins.




After church, we came home and made Resurrection Cookies. I have never heard of this before last week, so I was so excited to do this!
I've put the recipe at the end of the post.
Here's the kids in front of the oven after we taped it shut before heading to bed.

The last thing before bed, was the ceremonial hanging of Rhett's letter to the Easter bunny... This makes the 3rd year that we've done this. The idea of the Easter bunny just freaks him out. So, he asks if he can hang a letter on the front door and ask him to just leave the baskets in the garage and NOT come in the house... of course, we obliged once again!


Here they are this morning- after we broke most of them open to check them out.

Here's a close up of one that had a good hollow spot in it. Very cool!

And after we finished the Resurrection story and tried out our little "tombs", the kids got to see their Easter Bunny baskets.

All Braden really wanted was a BIG chocolate bunny. He was not disappointed!!


Here's Gracie in her new bunny jewelry and pony tail holder. She kept saying, "Look what I got!"

Resurrection Cookie Recipe

Easter Story Cookies

You need:
1 cup whole pecans Ziploc bag
1 tsp. vinegar Wooden spoon
3 egg whites Tape
Pinch of salt Bible
1 cup of sugar 1 ½ tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. (This is a necessary first step for the recipe to work.)

Place pecans in Ziploc bag and let children break them into pieces with a wooden spoon.
Read John 19:1-3 and explain to them that Jesus was beaten by the Roman soldiers.

Let each child smell the vinegar, before you put 1 tsp. of it into mixing bowl.
Read John 19:28-30 and explain that when Jesus was thirsty He was given vinegar to drink.

Add egg whites.
Read John 10:10-11 and explain how eggs represent life, and Jesus came to give us life.

Sprinkle a little salt into each child’s hand. Let them taste it and then brush the rest into the bowl.
Read Luke 23:26-27 and explain how tears are salty, and Jesus’ followers cried. Also how
we might cry over our own sin.

Tell them that so far, the ingredients are not going to taste very good. Add one cup sugar and 1 ½ tsp. vanilla.
Read John 3:16 and explain that the “sweet” part of the story is that the reason Jesus died was
because he loves us so much.

Beat with mixer on high for 12-15 minutes until stiff peaks are formed.
Read Isaiah 1:18 and tell them the color white is like snow, pure and holy. Explain to them that
even though we have sinned, God sees us like we’re white as snow.

Fold in broken nuts. Drop by teaspoons onto waxed paper covered cookie sheet.
Read 27:57-60 and explain that each mound is like the rocky tomb where Jesus body was laid.

Put the cookies in the oven, close the door and turn the oven OFF.
Read Matthew 27:65-66 and explain that Jesus’ tomb was sealed. Give each child a piece of tape
so they can seal the oven shut.

Go to bed.
Read John 16:20 and 22 and tell them they may be sad to leave the cookies in the oven
over night, but Jesus’ followers were in despair when the tomb was sealed.

Open the oven and hand out the cookies.
Read Matthew 28:1-9 and let them break open or bite into the cookies. Show them how the
cookies are hollow and empty on the inside, just like Jesus’ tomb.

Update

Man, is time flying. Seriously, I can't believe it's been so many days since I've updated the blog. It seems like I just blinked!

Friday- The boys were both invited to a sleepover at a friend's house in our neighborhood. They were so excited! And we were too because we would be down to 1 child on the night of our little 13 year dating anniversary that I wrote about. Woo Hoo! We dropped off the boys and headed to Jose's for some yummy Mexican food. (May I just interject here just how stinkin' cheap it is to eat out when you just have 1 child. Oh my... I had totally forgotten that it was possible to go out to eat with your family without dropping an entire $50 bill!) It was super duper yummy. I ate way less than usual since I'm back on my diet. I still left full and happy. We rented a Redbox movie and took it home to watch it. Gracie didn't get a nap that day because we were at school for Braden's student of the week presentation during nap time. So, she was asleep by the time we got home. We watched Marley and Me. Was that not a great movie?! We loved it. And we both cried. Do not ever tell Jason I just wrote that on here-- He will kill me! (Whatever! Honey, I know you'll read this, but I just couldn't resist... I'm proud of my manly man who is still in touch with his sensitive side!) Just as the movie was over and we were getting ready to go to bed at 11pm, there was a knock at the door. It was their friend's dad bringing them home. Rhett had already fallen asleep, but Braden all of a sudden got scared and wanted to come home and they figured if Rhett woke up in the middle of the night and Braden was gone that he might be scared, so he scooped him up in his sleeping bag and drove him home too.

Here's Braden at his Student of the Week presentation. This was a substitute teacher he had this day, showing one of his pictures that he brought.

Saturday, it was our off week from teaching at church, so we went to the 5:00 service and then came straight home to meet our wonderful babysitter who sat with the kids until 12:30am when we rolled in from our date. We ate at PF Changs. It was Jason's first time to eat there and he ordered the Hot Fish. It will now be what I order every time. It was SO good!!! Then we went to see Duplicity at the theater. It was a cute movie. Pretty long, though. I think it was right at 2 hrs long.

Sunday, we got up and headed to BV to show the house. Jason had a little work he wanted to do around there and it was FREEZING that day, so me, Rhett and Gracie headed to Nanny and Poppy's house so we could get in a good visit with them. It was nice to see them and to get to spend some time with my niece and nephew. It's crazy that they are growing as fast as my kids are! :-)

Monday, Got on the scales and I lost 1 lb! Not much, but it's a start. Probably was due to the Jose's, PF Changs and movie theater popcorn I had over the weekend... But even if I lost only 1 lb a week for the next 10 wks before our trip, that's still 10 lbs! And then I'd be even closer to my goal, so I wouldn't complain.

Tuesday, Got up super early and made pancakes for breakfast for the boys. They are taking standardized tests this week. Made enough pancakes to put in the fridge and reheat later so I didn't have to get up quite so early today. I'm just not good with mornings... Football practice from 6-7:30 for both boys made for a later bedtime than the kids needed. And again, what's up with the crazy weather, because me and Gracie almost froze to death at practice!!

Here's Gracie and Rhett hangin' out on one of the tacking dummies Jason bought for the team. This was before practice and before Gracie and I realized that the arctic wind that was blowing would chill us to the bone after an hour and 1/2...
And a picture of Braden before practice. He's Bad to the Bone!


Now it's Wednesday and Praise Jesus, my Mamma is coming to see me today! I get so lonely sometimes and I so look forward to her visit days. Today we are going to "Me-Mart" what Gracie calls Wal-Mart to buy her a Barbie. MeMe promised her that when she was going to the potty good she would buy her a new Barbie. She has been doing incredibly well with the potty thing- has been 3 days since she's had an accident!! I'm SO proud of her! And SO glad that I will soon exit the twilight zone of changing diapers, which I've been swirling around in for the past almost 9 years.

A Sight for Sore Eyes!

I'll leave you with this great shot of Rhett at his first football practice which was last week. The boy is all about it. Braden is also doing well and loving it, but I didn't get any pics of him b/c he practices in a different part of the park and his daddy is helping to coach his team, so I have to stay with Rhett at his practices...



Oh, and I must say, as I was doing this post, I was having this:

I will also be getting 500 more containers of this at "Me-Mart" today. Best yogurt I've ever had!