Lots of Thoughts

I have been in a contemplative mood the past couple of days--really thinking about everything that has transpired, developed and the ways in which the Lord has blessed us. It gets very overwhelming to think about it all, but since I'm a ponderer I'm pondering! :)

After the excitement of Sunday calmed down a bit in the evening I started to notice that I was panicking. What in the world? Why would I be doing that--I knew immediately. I truly believe it was a release of emotion that had been pent up for almost 3 years (because really, the year before we left Bankers things were rough). My mind started reeling thinking about all the bad things we had been through: car accidents, a rough pregnancy, being a working mom, not having much money, not having any idea when David would get a job/where it would be/would we go to another dysfunctional church? So many things. My mind was racing and as it raced I started to panic. It was as though I finally let myself think about it all. I finally let myself dwell, a little bit, on all that had gone wrong. You see, during those 3 years I felt I had to just keep going. My husband didn't have a job, he was severely depressed, and well, we felt very alone. I have written many blogs about all of this so I won't go into more detail about it. I will say this, I felt I couldn't take the time to really see what our situation was about because if I did I'd probably just crawl into a hole. I just kept going.

Sunday night I was plagued with one panic attack after another. As soon as one would go away another would start. I was terrified. Of what? I think I was terrified of all that had happened and maybe on some level terrified it will happen again. I had David sit with me and when I still felt panicked I asked my parents to come sit with us (we were at their house). Dad prayed for me after we talked a lot. I finally was able to fall asleep singing "I cast all my cares upon You..." over and over in my head.

The truth is, folks, that God has blessed us RICHLY!!!!!!!! I am so overwhelmed by all that He has done for us. Through everything that did go wrong, could've gone worse, God was right there. He was THERE. He never left. Even when I felt the loneliest, He was there. And He still is. He continues to bless us RICHLY. From David getting this job to every detail of our house-hunting/buying and now moving this weekend. Everything we've done to this point with the church, they have been so loving and kind. It's been a welcome relief and a HUGE thirst-quencher. Remember my post about walking in the desert? Well, we're out of the desert and we're in the land God has promised. I feels good; it feels refreshing.

God is good. And I have been through the fire, and I have lived to tell about His goodness. May I never forget the lessons he taught during this time in the desert. May I take those lessons to make my time in the promised land even better.

Warnings from a Mom

Ok, so Sunday David preached at OUR new church (we all know how that ended!!!!). I was standing talking to our friends who had come up from Columbus to give moral support when David came out of the bathroom. He said that my mom had asked him, before we left the house, if he had remembered his sermon? Yes. Did you remember your Bible? Yes. Did you remember your underwear? Seriously, yes. BIG eye roll! Well, he says, guess what I forgot? I looked at him in amazement as I had no idea. And then it dawned on me--"YOU FORGOT YOUR UNDERWEAR?????" I blurt out right there before church. Yep! Indeed he had! :) He was in the bathroom and realized he had put his suit pants on over his pajama pants and NOT his underwear. Lesson of this story? Next time your mother (or mother-in-law in this case) asks you if you've forgotten your underwear, please double check. You just never know...

A BIG Sigh of Relief

SIGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Did you hear a big sigh of relief yesterday around noon? Well, if you did, it was David and I letting out a HUGE sigh of relief! Why might you ask? Well, DAVID GOT THE JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After preaching we took ourselves out of the church and waited with some friends (who had come from Columbus to be with us) in the youth room while the members voted. We were then proudly and excitedly ushered back into the church and David was presented as the pastor of the church! He was handed the keys and there was a huge round of applause. Might I say, I was nearly in tears as the last 2 years and all that had happened and all that had gone wrong, and right, came to a head to this big, huge finish. Wow. It's over, folks!!!!!!!!!!!! It's all over!!!!!!!!!!!!! No more wondering, no more nail-biting, no more questioning, no more waiting. It's OVER!

Join with me in singing:
"Praise GOD from Whom all blessings flow!
Praise HIM all creatures here below!
Praise HIM above the heavenly hosts!
Praise FATHER, SON and HOLY GHOST!
AMEN!"
___________________________________________________

Secondly, Cora is 18 months old today! How does this keep happening--her getting older? I don't have any stats on her as far as weight/height/etc as we have not taken her to the pediatrician for her 18 month check up (we'll have to wait until we get moved to Bedford!). But, I can tell you this: she is growing like a weed, picking up new words every single day and is so much fun! I love her to pieces and just love to watch her grow!

THE Day

Today is the day. The day that David will preach at First Baptist Church of Bedford. After the service the church will vote and we'll know shortly after if they voted yes or no. Today is the day. Please pray if you think about it!!!

Big Day Ahead

Today David will be spending the day with the church in Bedford. This morning/afternoon will be spent meeting with the different board members. At 4 Cora and I will be join David as then the church members are invited to come for a meet and greet time, followed by a potluck dinner and more mingling. We're SO excited for this opportunity to meet with the people at Bedford, finally. Prayers would be appreciated as David meets with everyone and Cora and I too. Pray for strength and a good time! Tomorrow David will be preaching to the congregation and the vote will happen after the service! It's getting so close!!!!!

More Photos

Roses from Pa-pa's garden

Morning sun in the mountains

Birdhouse built by Pappaw

Train tracks that've carried coal for decades

The moon coming out in the mountains

Parenting

I'm a parent. Some days I'm good parent, some days I'm a bad parent, some days I'm a mediocre parent. But, being a parent has helped me have some understanding of the frustration God must feel towards me all the time. How many times during the day do I have to tell Cora "no?" How many times do I have to guide her into a different direction? How many times do I have to pick her up and wipe her tears? How many times have I been so proud of her for accomplishing something, learning something new or simply obeying? She's only 17 months old and yet the answer to all of these questions is "countless."

I have been thinking a lot about all of this and how it coincides with God's parenting me. How many times have God had to tell me no and I throw fits and stomp my feet and ball my eyes out and yet he still says no? Sometimes I know later why he said no but often I don't. I probably wouldn't understand his reasons anyway. How many times has his hand guided me towards safety when I was bent on going my own direction? How often has he picked me up and wiped my tears away when I was hurt? Countless times.

The question I am somewhat plagued with is, how often has God been proud of me for simply obeying? I sure hope the answer is "countless" but sometimes I'm not so sure. I hope I have done "countless" things for the Lord to be proud of and I hope that I'm learning the hard lessons as well as the easy ones. One day I'll know.

As I have had to discipline my daughter more and more lately (what with the "terrible twos" upon us) I have been thinking a lot about the discipline the Lord has had to give me. When she won't listen or asks over and over and over for something I say no to, I find myself putting myself into Cora's shoes as I ask God for the same thing over and over. I'm so glad God is more patient then me. I'm glad he's ALWAYS a good parent, a fair parent, a loving parent. I'm glad he's NEVER a bad or mediocre parent.

I sure have a long way to go in regards to parenting and being parented. You?

Pictures, as Promised

Cora met her great-great Aunt Arlene!

Cora was NOT a fan of the riding lawn mower.

OW

OK, so I kept seeing my step MIL write on Facebook that she was going OW. Or, back OW tonight, or other such things. I finally had to ask David what in the world did that mean? It means "Out Wayne" as in Wayne, WV. That's where David's dad and step mom live. So, from M-Th of last week we were OW! :) There, see? I sound like a local now! :) We had a great time with them, chasing Cora around, visiting David's step grandmother, visiting his grandparents and aunt--even his great-aunt was there--mowing grass, playing games in the yard and just visiting. We wanted to go down to WV before we left to go further north as once we move life will be nuts for quite some time. In any case, here are some photos from our time OW and with the rest of the family not OW! :)

Ok, so apparently there will be no photos right now. For some reason iPhoto is not communicating to blogger and I'm not seeing my photos to upload...I hope to have them up later...grrr...

A Whole Lotta This-n-That

There has been so much going on and I have been lax in my blogging due to it! I figured I better get some words to the screen and catch you up! :)

Last weekend we signed all the loan papers for our house (WOW! That still sounds funny saying "our house!"). Talk about signing your life away! Papers upon papers upon papers and we're still not done! Apparently, when it's closing day we'll have just as many, if not more, to sign! Which brings me to this: our hopeful closing date is Oct 1!!!! We say "hopeful" because the loan agency doesn't know it'll get done that fast. However, I've worked in plenty of offices (even on that was a mortgage company) and you can always get things done. :) However, we're keeping in mind that it might not happen on Oct 1. Assuming all things go the way we hope and pray they will, we'll sign the papers on Oct 1 and move to our new home on Oct 2!!!!!!!!!! Folks, that's 2 WEEKS from now! PRAISE THE LORD, is all I have to say.

David will be preaching at the church this coming Sunday, Sept 26. You know how you wish/dream/pray/hope so long for something and then when it finally comes it's almost unbelievable? Well, that's how we're feeling these days. Very thankful, feeling very blessed, very excited and very overwhelmed by all the Lord is doing. Anyway! I digress... Saturday, the 25th, David will meet with all of the different board members of the church. Cora and I will then join him later in the afternoon when they do a whole meet-n-greet time with the church as a whole, followed by dinner. The next day (Sun) David will preach (and I'll be sitting in the pew praying!), we'll leave the sanctuary, the congregation will vote (hopefully in favor of David!) and we'll return to the sanctuary for the result! :) If all goes as we pray it does, we'll then call our realtor to let him know our end is a go and to let the seller of our house know. :) A big weekend for sure. Sigh, we are SO EXCITED and can hardly stand it!!!!!!!

Earlier this past week we spent our time in WV visiting David's family. I'll add more about that in a later post.

Welp, such is our life in a nutshell. Seems we're being swept along and just going wherever God sends us! :)

Who Knew?

Who knew Grampy's truck was the BEST TOY EVER?????? Well, apparently it is! :) 

Sigh...

Yesterday I was posted some photos of our new house! I was so excited to get them posted I forgot to write a little about it! :) We saw this house last week on Saturday and new immediately it was the home for us! We had 3 other homes to look at so we did, but the whole time kept comparing them to THIS house--I guess that should've said something, huh? :)  We asked the realtor how we go about placing an offer, so he helped us with that and to make this short, we heard on Tuesday that we got the bid!!!!!!!!! We are SO EXCITED!!!!!!! This is a first for us in our marriage. Up to this point we've only lived in 2 parsonages so we are ecstatic to have our OWN home, where we can do what we want without asking permission!

Our house was built in 1924 and is a craftsman bungalow. The upstairs is one big bedroom (master) with a full bath. The house was sent into foreclosure and purchased by the selling realtor, who flipped the house and sold it to US! :) The flip was done very well and the house is move in  ready. We went over our budget time and again and found that it was actually going to be cheaper to buy a house then rent due to the housing market being what it is right now. We are so excited and feel so blessed by this home. We KNOW without a doubt this house is a gift from the Lord. We know he has enable us to purchase this home and has helped all the details fall into place. We sold our 2nd car and will be able to use that money for the downpayment as well as were able to purchase a much-needed new computer. God has been providing in ways we didn't know were possible. He has allowed us to have a budget that will allow us to pay off our schools faster, have savings and buy a house. It's very overwhelming!!!!! We are so thankful!!!

We go up on Saturday to sign the loan papers and get the house inspected. I'm excited to go see MY house again! :)

At Long Last

Our house! Ain't it purty? :) 

Then and Now

There is so much going on for us right now--good stuff--that it's overwhelming! I have been thinking a lot about where we were 2 years ago at this time and where we are now.

THEN:
We were still at the church in MI, but we saw the handwriting on the wall and in Sept of 2008 we knew things were going south.

NOW: 
We will know in a few weeks 100% that the job in OH is the one for us!!!!! The church will be voting Sept 26 and then we'll know!

THEN:
We made the decision that we would be leaving that church. We had no idea where we would go, how soon David would get a job, where we would live. We had no idea. We just knew God was calling us to go.

NOW:
We have purchased a home!!!!!!!!! We have our own place to call OURS! We know WHERE this home is, we know WHERE the job is and we know GOD brought us to this place!

THEN:
I was pregnant, sicker than a dog, puking my guts up and trying so hard to be a support to my husband.


NOW: 
We have Cora, who is 17 months old! I'm NOT pregnant and I'm loving being a mom! We're learning how to parent a child who has a strong will and is testing boundaries. :) 

THEN:
After a car accident during pregnancy, someone running into our cars while they were parked, David going through horrible pain that let to gall bladder surgery, and a traumatic labor and delivery I developed a sense of fear and uncertainty. I was afraid every time David or Cora were out of my sight, fearing they would never return.

NOW: 
I still struggle, at times, with this fear, but God is really helping me give those fears to him and let go of my husband and child. NOT easy, but thankfully God is patient, loving and kind and is helping me not be afraid. 

I will fill you in more later this week concerning our house and a car we sold and how it's all happening so fast and yet we believe it's totally God's doing!

Words from Another

There are times in our lives when things happen that we just don't understand. We don't know why God allows us to go through things--whether it's the death of a loved one, loss of a job, a child, a home, sudden illness, etc. There are many things that can go wrong in our lives and we often find ourselves asking God, why? When we don't hear a definitive answer, or at least what we want to hear, we get anxious and angry and start to panic and really start to question life. We think that somehow we've done something wrong and if we could only get "it" right and find that "one thing" then life will right itself and we can go about our day. (Side note: I'm not talking about a person who brings trouble on himself. I'm only talking about the normal life trials.) How many times did my husband and I wonder what that "one thing" was that we need to find to make things right. You can drive yourself crazy trying to come up with that kind of stuff. When it all came down to it we knew that we had done nothing wrong, we had been obedient and we had done exactly what the Lord had asked of us. You know the verse that says, "My thoughts are not your thoughts and my ways are not your ways." Well, how true that saying is!!!!!! God allows us to go through things. There are no easy answers, there are no easy answers, it's just the way it is. We live in a sinful and fallen world and because of that bad things happen. Doesn't make it easy but somehow makes a little bit more sense of things to me. 

I wanted to share a song to you that you have probably heard. It's on the Christian radio stations all the time. It's a hymn back in the 1800s and now has had a more contemporary tune put to it. Aaron Shust has made it popular for today. I want to close with the lyrics to this song. It's beautiful and the words are powerful. I feel I can't say it any better so I leave you with these words written almost two centuries ago: 

My Savior My God :

I am not skilled to understand

What God has willed, what God has planned

I only know at His right hand

Stands one who is my Savior 

I take Him at His word and deed

Christ died to save me; this I read

And in my heart I find a need

Of Him to be my savior

That He would leave His place on high

And come for sinful man to die

You count it strange, so once did I

Before I knew my Savior 

Chorus:

My Savior loves, My Savior lives

My Savior's always there for me

My God: He was, my God: He is

My God is always gonna be

Yes, living, dying, let me bring

My strength, my solace from this spring;

That He who lives to be my King

Once died to be my Savior

That He would leave His place on high

And come for sinful man to die

You count it strange, so once did I

Before I knew my Savior

Folks, She's 17 Months!!!!

Not to be outdone by her cousins, Cora also has some news! :) She turned 17 months last week!!! That means, she'll be 1 1/2 at the end of September, which means she's closer to 2 than not. I ask you, where has the time gone? We have made progress with Cora! She LOVES to play outside, in the grass, barefooted!!!!!!! Can you believe it???? I can't! :) She has also decided that the garden hose is way more fun to play in then the pool and she is warming up to the sandbox. The swing is, however, still apparently evil! It seems daily she's saying or attempting to say more and more words. We're working on her at least trying to use words when asking for something rather than just grunting. We're making progress, albeit it seems like slow progress at times! :) She is a sweet, sweet child who is learning to give hugs and is seeing how much fun cuddling is--although, that doesn't happen too much as she is just too busy! :) She is also continuing to learn boundaries and really does not like that! There are days that are very trying, but we know not to give up because it'll just make things worse in the long run! We're excited at the thought that when she turns 18 months we'll be making plans to move north!!!

Cora is always watching what Sophia does. Sophia showed her a new way to carry around a baby doll! :)

"Hmmm... This looks familiar..."

Cora LOVES to read and be read to. We read almost all of her books daily (or so it seems!)

These two will hopefully be good friends the older they get. It continues to amaze us just how much they look alike!

Cora discovered she can look out the window by standing on a stool--her new favorite activity!

Let's Hear it for the Girls!

The end of the month will always be important for us as a family as far as the kids are concerned. Sophia was born on the 25th, Riley the 28th, Cora the 27th and Haddie the 28th (all different months except for Cora and Haddie who are 1 year and 1 day apart!). So, while Riley turned TWO last week, his sisters also had momentous milestones! :)

My niece, Sophia, is now closer to 6 than she is 5. She'll be 6 in Nov and what's so momentous for Soph is that she is starting Kindergarten this year--my sister will be homeschooling her!!! Through different events David was able to get ahold of a real school desk and chair for Sophia. He determined it needed to be customized for her and so, it was painted black and bubblegum pink! :) She, of course, LOVED it!!!! :) I seem to remember her saying in awe and amazement, "It's piiiiiiink!" :) She was very impressed that Uncle David thought to paint it pink! :) I can't believe she's almost 6 and starting Kindergarten. Though I love Riley and Haddie DEARLY, I will also have a special relationship with Sophia. I was able to watch her enter the world and got to be one of the first people to hold her. I have always treasured that moment and love this girl so much! Yes, we argue at times (apparently, we're very much alike :) ), but I love her terribly. Anyway, as I sniff my way through the thought of her starting Kindergarten and being more grown up enjoy these photos of her! :)

I am a mere 27 years old and Sophia is 4 months old here! :)

Here she is loving her pink desk and putting it to use right away!

My other niece, Haddie is a pure gem! This wee one turned 5 months old last week! I have been told by her mommy that she is also cutting her first tooth! :) She is so happy, and seems to really enjoy taking in the chaos of the world around her. Her red, spikey hair gives her so much personality and makes us all remember my grandma who had beautiful, red hair! Haddie seems to ALWAYS have a smile for you and will just grin, coo and giggle at anyone who is around. She is such a cute, little munchkin, and I can't wait to get to know her better and watch her little personality develop. I also can't wait to see what kind of trouble she, Riley and Cora will get into! :)

How could you NOT think she's a cutie?

Haddie is borrowing Cora's jumperoo and got to test it out for the first time on Saturday! She seems to really like it and was so adorable in it! Her cousin and brother had to check it out too! :)

He's TWO!!!

Saturday was my nephew, Riley's, 2nd birthday. Two? Really?? Already???? Seems like he was just born! Seems like he was only 7 months old and was joined by his cousin Cora. Geesh! Life is moving WAY too fast. Anyway, we were not able to be at his actual party (though the Hardin's were represented by Molly and Cora) due to having an appointment we couldn't get out of. David and I were sad to not be there for his party (I hear he had a guitar cake!) but we were glad to spend the morning with him and give him our gifts. He's such a cutie, isn't he? It's nigh impossible to get him to smile let alone look at the camera, but I think I still got some cute ones! :)

This little guy LOVES bulldozers, trucks, etc. We got him 3 different trucks! :)

This is as close as we get to a smile folks! :) (You know how long it took me to get a photo of him LOOKING at the camera?)

We attempted to get a photo of us with all the kids, and well, here's the best one, I guess! :) Isn't it amazing how much Cora and Riley look alike?