See? I told you the school room looked better!

I have a table in the middle of the room now, but no photo of it, yet. :)

More moving photos

So now that I've got the dining room table moved in, and it's crowded by the enormous freezer :-P, I'm thinking it's time for a new table. My grandmother has given me her beautiful old table and chairs, but I've been afraid to get it in my home and discover we might not take very good care of it.
But maybe it's time.

I made these little memo boards myself, so just had to show them. I'd seen someone make them in no time at all on H&G channel a long, long time ago. When I discovered these boards in my mom's garage this week, I just couldn't resist. I am excited to have them hanging in my kitchen now. :-)


And here's what the school room looked like as we all began dumping our loads of books on moving day. Oh, my! You'll notice that the one set of shelves that's even remotely close to organized, is my FIAR shelving unit. LOL!


I'm happy to report that it looks much better now...but those photos will have to wait. :o)



And this is the very small living room. Not a problem, since we really don't do much living in there anyway. It's a cozy TV room more than anything else. ;)

Photo's of our new apartment!

Here's the awesome kitchen. Two double sinks (can ya tell it used to function as a fellowship hall for a church? and the counter opens into the formal dining room, ala the "garage door." ;)





This is the east side of the master bedroom. There's another closet just like this one on the west side. Dh is thrilled to know he'll have his very own closet to clutter any way he chooses. LOL


And three of the five bedrooms have these built in study nooks and double folding door closets. I can't tell you what a relief it will be to have ALL their garments hung in the closet. Yes!!

Wondering how Job did it!

A couple of weeks ago, the pastor preached a great sermon on why God allows bad things to happen. And man! I was so pumped when I left the church. I mean, it was just so comforting and made so much sense.

Now, I find myself in a "losing it all" situation (or it feels like that to me), and I can't imagine how Job survived it. What must his faith truly have been like? And why would he even want a relationship with God after having everything stripped away from him?

Am I the only one looking up and saying, "What?! Weren't things bad eNOUGH?! And wasn't I trying alREADY to make things better? To do something RIGHT?! THIS? THIS is Your idea of the LOVING thing?!?"

And I'm ashamed to admit that my walk with God looks more like a swagger...or a stumble...sometimes, than a walk. But here I am...swaying to and fro again. *weep* And in the midst of it, I sense the soft strands of a rope anchored around my waist, and I'm being gently pulled forward, as I stagger down the current path, desperate to avoid land mines and potholes...thoughts and feelings of desertion and fear...shame and guilt...doubt and anger.

Then Job replied to the Lord: "I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted. You asked, 'Who is this that obscures my cousel without knowledge?' Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.

"You said, 'Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.' My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dus and ashes." Job 42:1-6

Amazing, Amazing Sermon Sunday

I can't tell you how many Sunday mornings I just don't have the "umph" to go "do" church. I'm embarrassed to admit it, but b/c we are so limited on time, I feel very detached from the people we worship with some Sundays. It's really, a terrific place to worship...Mennonite Brethren with two services each Sun. morning, both with about 250 or so people...and we've had lots of dealings with them via the ministry, and they're great people who love the Lord. We were just so close to our former church family (of 17 years, if I recall) so it's difficult to start over...so we just haven't tried very hard. :(

But this morning, the Spirit was moving all over the place. First, pastor read the passage from Job, where Job finds out that his family, livelihood, everything is gone. And he confesses that he came naked, and naked he'll return. So I knew the pastor was headed down a familiar "When-bad-things-happen" path. Then, the college kids who led our worship were just terrific, and I just felt the Lord wash all over me as I sang (quite hoarsely ) Amazing Love, You Never Let Go, etc.

The pastor started a four part series about answering hard questions, and the first question was "Why does God let bad things happen?"

I can't tell you how many times we get that question in our ministry, as I'm sure lots of you do, too. But the points he made were just so good. And, at one point he mentioned that sometimes we need the bad things to happen so we can be disciplined. Most of us don't like this point. :P But, he pointed out some scriptures to support this, and then said something about how, as children, we don't always like it but we need to be corrected. I whispered in dh's ear, "Don't you dare look over at insert-16yos-name-here." To which we both just laughed. A second or so passed, and 16yos leaned over to his dad and said, "Not one word from either of you." To which we all started giggling almost out of control. LOL

Anyway, the other points the pastor made were good, too. He talked about how the human race had really chosen for Him to be separate from our affairs (ala, Adam & Eve), that God is able to use horrible circumstances and even when we think things are out of control, God is really in control. These are all points I've heard (and made) before. And as much as I was gleaning from the service today, I really felt like this sermon was for someone else, too.

The rest is not for public view. :o)

I Just Don't Think It's Possible to Really Take a Day OFF!

The ministry is a busy, BUSY place. I mean, think about it for a minute: the director, one board member and I (all with families of our own to care for) live with and mentor eight women (some with children), and they each have significant problems; spiritual, emotional, physical, mental...

This means that my door is revolving. Someone is knocking all the time and in some sort of need. One thing I notice from time to time is that they believe their needs supersede anyone else's needs...so they really "need" me to drop whatever I'm doing and help them.

So the director and I came up with a plan of sorts. Each week we each take a "day off." It sounded like a great idea! Just post a note on the door to your apartment saying that you aren't available for the day, right? And on that day, purpose to take some time for yourself; read, relax, go for a walk with your kids, sleep in, turn off your phone (yeah, right!), and just sorta disengage for the day.

Impossible!

It just doesn't happen.

For one, my kids are still wanting to play with their friends in the complex, so they're all in and out of my apartment constantly.

Two, a note on the door saying I'm "unavailable" seems not to be a deterrent for most of these gals. In their mind, I'm here for them, so I should set aside "my day" to help them in their "emergency," which tends not to be much of an emergency to me, but I understand why it can seem like it is to them.

And three, I feel terribly guilty for laying around reading, sleeping in, or whatever. I can't seem to make myself stay away. I suppose (and I hate how pious this sounds, but...) I just feel like the Lord intends for me to give myself to others, and because of that, I wonder if I really NEED a day off. Is it possible that it's just some sort of worldly mandate I feel like I must follow? I dunno. :o/

In any event, I'm resting now, catching up on my blog (as well as some others') and I have two meetings scheduled today to meet with sojourners. I guess I'm not REALLY off today, after all. ;o)

How do I love thee? Let me count the DAYS!

I remember when my kids were very, very young, thinking to myself, "If only they could live with me forever...if only they'd need me and I could hold and nurture them each and every day for the rest of our lives." See, I was quite saddened back then at the idea of them never needing me again. After all, we waited and waited for the Lord to answer our prayers and bring us these wonderful blessings to adopt...

You can imagine my shock...my utter amazement, when I realized I was looking at the calendar and actually counting the days until the kids start leaving the nest. *GASP*

Okay...let's see here...the 16yo will probably not go to college, just because he doesn't love learning the way I had hoped, so he'll probably join the service and attend trade school...hmmmm...at least two more years with him. And my 13yodd,...she's destined to stay with us til she's married, I'm certain...so,...Wow!...at least another five years with her. Now, what about the baby...?...Oh, my...just eight or so years to go until college for him...

Now, it's not exactly what you might think. I'm not really in a big hurry to rush them all out the door...or at least not because I'm sick of them or tired of parenting them. That's not it at all!

I think I'm just realizing that those "empty nest days" are something to look forward to, not something to dread. My children are becoming adults, slowly but surely (sometimes too surely, and for my 16yos, way too slowly *lol* ) and I'm beginning to see that...Hey! that's what I've been parenting them for...to become God-fearing adults, capable of making decisions, investments, and even their own mistakes.

And besides,...dh and I could really use a honeymoon. ;o)