Wait, Watch, See 2017

Open my eyes, that I may see  glimpses of truth thou hast for me;  place in my hands the wonderful key  that shall unclasp and set me free.  Silently now I wait for thee,  ready, my God, thy will to see.  Open my eyes, illumine me, Spirit divine!  2017 - Watch and see what the Lord will do! Everywhere I turn, God seems to be repeating to "Watch" and "See" what He will do!  I see these words with my spirit and am ignited inside, like the warm hearts of those who walked with Jesus on the Emmaus road.  I'm waiting.  Watching with anticipation and an ever-growing faith in a faithful, loving God, I wait.  He shows me daily another part of His character.  A new piece of Himself is written on my heart and I'm thankful.  I'm honored to be chosen for this walk with Him.  I'm blessed that He even thinks of me, let alone speaks to me. Let me be clear and real.  Adoption is hard.  It's process daily sets you next to a standard that cannot be matched, yet somehow through His divine grace and goodness, He keeps moving us forward in it.  The world's reasons we shouldn't adopt outweigh the Spirit's reasons we should.  There isn't time to blog the daily miracles I've been privileged to see.  (There's that word again.) I'm currently feeling Moses' excitement after he prayed, "Show me Your glory!"  I'm waiting daily for answers to prayers that only He can see in process.  I'm getting to know El Roi, the God who sees, very well as I pray for my daughter across the world.  I know why God says that He "will make all [His] GOODNESS pass before" me in Exodus 33:18; because He is good.  That's WHO (not what) He is and I'm finding that out with each day that I wait on Him, hidden behind the Rock...that shadows a dry, thirsty land... Today, I'm blessed to sit here...in the depths of His love...covered with His hand. Exodus 33:18 Then Moses said, "I pray You, show me Your glory!" 19 And He said, "I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you and will proclaim the name of the LORD before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion."  He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock, That shadows a dry, thirsty land; He hideth my life in the depths of His love, And covers me there with His hand, And covers me there with His hand. Currently waiting for (for what seems like a loooong time): A little care package to arrive. Our Dossier to be sent to China. Grant organizations to provide funds for next steps. The Cowboys to win against the Packers - just checking to see if you're still with me. ;) Praying, waiting, watching...

Sewing and Bacon

Psalm 117 is the shortest of the psalms, with only 2 verses, but what power is packed into them!  

Praising God for His many blessings transforms our hearts from the culture's narrow view of discouraging worldly valleys and sets our eyes on the mountains of goodness God has placed in our lives.  He is faithful.

God has been reminding me to focus on Him, when our nation only seems to distract with dreadful news, fear of the future and lacking leadership.  He is all we need.  

This morning, Moriah proclaimed her praises by counting her blessings.  "My 2 favorite things in this world are sewing and bacon!"  Praise God for the blessings!

Laudate Dominum - Praise God!  Hallelujah!

Ostomy Surgery Day

Grace wrote on her hand last night a verse she wanted to take with her into surgery. "God did not give me a spirit of fear".  Now after the surgery she is demonstrating His power, love and sound mind.  With pain meds, she is coherent and calm.  We are thankful for all of the prayer and love poured out on our family today.

Amazing Grace

While the rest of our country experienced a horrible week of fear and pain and suffering, my Grace had a wonderful week on the other side of all of that. She has been gaining weight and feeling good, eating almost anything she wants and having fun!

Saturday she and I got to attend our church's mother/daughter brunch. After that she went with friends to the mall! Today after church and a cookout, she went with friends to a Rangers game!

I'd say the good days of remission are here. And to think that just a week ago we were in the hospital getting kidney stones removed! Amazing.

Amazing Grace.

Oh Happy Day

First taste of food in 3 weeks!!

Thankful Project - Easter Edition

Easter 2013 was one we will never forget.

D8 Children's Medical Center, Dallas Day 11 of Stay 4 or the 32nd day this year

Sunday morning was quiet. We listened to some worship songs and read our Jesus Calling (Grace reads JC For Kids) devotions, like every morning. Daddy came bringing fancy siblings and Easter baskets. He hid eggs filled with dollars for the girls to find...didn't take long! :) We had fun visits with staff family while Luke napped on the couch.

We met a great kid down the hall that goes to BHS (see post below) and came to hang out with Grace. He brought more balloons and played cards. They talked casually about their daily lives....picc lines vs IVs, blood draws, which nurses are the coolest, etc.

Sometimes God makes us the blessing and other times he send others to bless us.

Thankful for medicine that heals the heart and cheers the soul.

A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. (Proverbs 17:22 NIV)

Thankful Project Day 4

D8 Children's Hospital 3/25/13 (yesterday)
Today is harder to think of things but I'm determined. So this might be a random list....
1. Thankful for sushi. I only need food to sustain me for the moment. At this point eating is not social or out of boredom or tradition, it's purely survival. Sushi is all I need. Carbs in rice, a few veggies: avocado and cucumber, protein in the crab and probably some vitamins in the seaweed. 3 will get me by to the next time I can sneak to the kitchen or to the appropriately named, "nourishment room". Amazing how different life is when your child cannot eat.
2. The cleaning ladies. They come every day and mop our room and clean it. I tell them I appreciate them every day. Everyone needs to be appreciated.
3. This verse spoke to me today: I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them. (Isaiah 42:16 NIV)
He is with us, making the rough places smooth.
4. Daily steps that bring us closer to God. If He poured all His wisdom out to us in one infusion, life would not be nearly as exciting and purposeful. He knows how much we can take each day and I'm grateful for that.
5. Thankful for sweet Moriah who loves to draw pictures and give them as gifts. Generous AND cute!
6. Thankful that although people change, God never does and is never surprised.
7. Thankful today my bible study was about prayer and how the Holy Spirit guides us to draw near to God.
8. Thankful for my loving mother inlaw who will do our laundry, clean, and play with Moriah while I'm gone.
9. Thankful for a husband that loves his kids with all his heart and he has a really big heart.
10. Thankful for a loving sister inlaw that gives generously and loves her family and little brother and would be here in a second if we called.
11. Thankful for doctors who have a good plan for Grace to have another colonoscopy Wednesday and get her on the road to remission.
12. Thankful our nurses Jessica & Sally are so caring and came back a 2nd day!
13. Thankful to meet another mom of our neighbor who goes to our former church in Plano. Pray for her daughter Morgan.
14. Thankful to meet a dad wearing a Hawks shirt who has a son here that's a sophomore kicker on the football team. A possible connection for Luke!
15. Thankful for Tylenol, heat packs and long hot baths.
16. Thankful for a new med we are starting today and the pills are small enough she can take them.
17. Blessed and grateful to have health insurance. So. Blessed.
18. Thankful God works on behalf of His children, providing what we need when we need it.
19. Woke up to a note from a new friend, Luke's school friend's mom, who works here as a night flight nurse and came by to say hi but we were asleep. So sweet.
20. Thankful for Child Life and their role in this hospital. They provide fun and crafts to keep kids' minds busy. Grace may want to do this when she grows up, she says.
21. Thankful for the sleep last night since I fell asleep on this number last night and just realized I never finished this. :)
22. Thankful Grace is strong and brave and prepared for today as we PREP for the colonoscopy tomorrow.
23. Praising Him for His sovereignty and the peace He gives me daily that God is in control and I don't have to be.
24. Praising Him for little distractions like TV, iPads and magazines that keep her mind occupied.
25. This is the day The Lord has made. We will rejoice and be thankful in it.
Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. 1Thess5:16-18

Thankful Project Day 3

1. I finally got a room where the shower works well and Grace had a bath that helped ease pain.
2. I know where everything is! Not sure that's good but I would rather be familiar to anything in life than new.
3. Grace got to have ice today. That brought a smile!
4. Dr. Chan is very sweet. She calls Grace "spunky"! We also like our new resident Dr. Abby. (She looks 16. I feel so old. But she's adorable.)
5. We slept alot more last night than in the past 3 nights!
6. I met a mom today whose son is 14 and just had his 2nd liver transplant. Thankful for quick conversations God provides that remind us we're not alone and gives us others to pray for to once again take our minds off ourselves.
7. Jessica is our nurse today! (She's our favorite!). She told us that since we left the last time, she bought...
8. Jesus Calling and loves it! He speaks so gently and clearly thru His word as translated in this book.
9. When asked what she is most thankful for today, Grace says: Getting to drink the vanilla milk (formula) and eat ice!
10. Hearing daddy say that moriah asked questions about Jesus and heaven and believing in Him!
11. One on one time with my big boy today.
12. Knowing there is an organization looking for a CURE. www.ccfa.org is a great resource. If you would like to donate to our walk to raise funds, donate to TEAM GRACE, Dallas or search for my name. And thanks. Your support blesses our family and everyone suffering from an IBD.
13. Brad's Mom is going to come stay with the other 2 kids this week! We are blessed!
14. Friends coming with movies to look forward to in our day tomorrow! Namely "Les Mis"!!! I may be the only music major left on the planet that has not seen it. Shameful.
15. Thankful that The Bible is on TV and quite well done!
16. Dr. Chan called me on our room phone on her way home from work just to tell me she talked with our main doctor that "follows us" (Dr. Goyal) and that he is pleased with Grace's progress!! Omg. Is that normal? I think not. I'm so impressed with these GI doctors. Amazing. Thank you, God!! So blessed.
17. I had a migraine for most of the day. Usually migraines take me down and I am out, or sick to my stomach. When this one seemed to be getting worse and I couldn't take any more Excedrin migraine for the day, my praying friends at Whataburger texted and I asked for prayer and seriously, it was gone in 30 minutes. Gone! Hallelujah!
18. Greater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world. Thankful for that!
19. Joy comes in the morning. Thankful for His faithfulness.
20. Thankful for our church family that love us and pray for us and "get" us and encourage us. What a gift!
21. Thankful tomorrow is Monday (I know. Weird.) because this place is eerily quiet on the weekends!
22. Thankful for night nurses who sleep all day and come care for the sick at night, while we sleep. They're so quiet it's amazing. What a calling! Tonight our nurse is Sally! I like her already. 7:30pm-7:30am
23. Thankful for the connections God is giving me during this time that I wouldn't have had otherwise. Giving Him all the glory!
24. Most thankful for the sacrifice Jesus made for me. He died so I could live. And live abundantly!!
By His wounds we are healed. Isaiah 53:5

Joy

Finally, REAL FOOD!!!! Joy came in the morning in the form of....PANCAKES! Sweet mapley goodness!

Praising through the Dreaded Prep

It's been a long day. We're tired from preparing for the tests tomorrow and hope to get some sleep but since I just had these same tests last March (preventative) I know it will be a long night.

But....
My dear friend/little adopted sister, Holly called last night. I've never heard her so excited! She had just read my blog. She got a job last month as a PA in the GI dept at Children's! She will actually be with Grace the whole time! Un. Believable. Only our God could place our sweet Holly... who once roomed with Grace for a summer when she was in college and Grace was 1 :) ....in our path
It's been amazing to be able to say to Grace....see how much God loves you and is taking care of you! Of ALL the hospitals in ALL of Texas HE placed Holly there! Wow! She even came by our house tonight to help Grace understand more about what she will do! (This is the child that does NOT appreciate surprises.) We are so grateful God is with us and sent our very own angel to be right with her.

Stay tuned. More praises to come.

SPARK Weekend in Orlando

Orlando Union Rescue Mission ~ Jacksonville women also joined us!

 February 16-20, 2011

 Our theme was SPARKLE & SHINE!  Luke 1:78-79 MSG

This was my 7th trip/8th retreat with SPARK MINISTRY.  When I get back from a trip, and friends ask me how it went, it's always hard to find the right words.  You just can't explain what happened.  God shows up and miracles happen but I just can't do justice to the entire weekend by putting it into words.  So for the first time, I took notes during our last "share time" with the 52 Spark servants who went to minister to the women at the rescue mission and ended up ministered to themselves. (Like me!  On every trip!)  We always have a time to share what God did, comments that were made, praises and moments behind the scenes that reveal how God worked in individual lives....so to answer your question:  How'd it go?  Here are a few of the answers:

• "She said this was the first time she ever felt loved."
• "It's good to know we are all the same, all going through struggles."
• Girls finally opened up.  Walls were broken down.
• "I never got to be a princess when I was a little girl."
• Started the weekend emotionally empty, "now so excited!!!"
• "I've never had this much FUN sober!" (overheard in the bathroom)
• One girl dealing with anger said she felt numb, and couldn't cry.  Then on the last day, she put her hand on her friend during worship and said she "felt her pain" and wept.
• Yolanda led a young girl who realized she didn't know God to a relationship with Christ.
• "I'm so full I don't even think I need my counselor this week!"  Counselors say after a SPARK weekend, healing is accelerated.
• God spoke to one woman:  "You're not by yourself.  I'm there."
• "I discovered peace."
• Testimonies were amazing and transparent.  "We never would have guessed." [...that we have women on the Spark team that God has brought through so much.]
• They want to share their testimonies/stories now.
• Even women on the Spark team shared how they now feel "loved and encouraged".  It's just as much for us as it is for them.
• Mrs. Moody, the director of the OUR mission now retired after 33 years of serving, said "Thank you for blessing the women you see here, but also for generational blessings to come."  Lives have been affected for eternity.

I will try to post some of my notes from our bible study sessions and pictures in the next few days.  Check out www.sparkministry.org for more about the blessing of attending the next SPARK trip to St. Louis in April or Seattle in September.   

Wanted: An Exciting Testimony!

Have you ever wished your testimony were a bit more exciting?  I have.  Sometimes I hear stories of the drastic change when people were saved and all that they went through, and feel almost jealous that I don't have such a great testimony to share.   That's another lie from Satan I've been prone to listen to over the years.  I'm so blessed to have met Jesus at an early age and then, while I walked away in college to live in my own will (sin- and I did go my own way....you wouldn't have liked me.) I knew the Holy Spirit was calling me back, and after a time of surrender when I just couldn't do life without Him any more, I did choose Him and His will and began a gradual growing process that I continue even today.

Today I read a short devotion by Beth Moore that touched on just that...

Few of us have experienced the dramatic conversion Paul went on to describe in Acts 22, but don't think your testimony is meaningless on that basis.  Every conversion cost the same amount of Christ's blood shed on the cross.  Yours is just as meaningful as the most dramatic conversion ever told.  In the parable of the prodigal son, the elder brother felt insulted because the father accepted his brother after a season of wild living.  He didn't understand the biggest difference between the two brothers was that the prodigal son had to live with the personal loss and suffering.  If your conversion was less sensational than others, praise God for less drama!  With it probably came less pain!  You don't have to see a bright light from heaven to have a story to tell others.  The determining factor is not how exciting your conversion was but how excited you are now about your conversion.  As we share testimonies, we can help unbelievers see all that we've gained since Jesus came into our hearts, all the ways our lives have been blessed and enhanced by His presence within us.  We often have no idea how much people are struggling to find reason to live.

I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.  Galatians 2:20

My Week

I've learned over the years that it's in my nature to choose my projects/priorities wisely because when I do something, I'm going to do it at 100%....all the way or not at all.

Even when it comes to getting STREP.

I mean it was ugly.  Increasingly throughout the day last Monday my ear & throat began to hurt....and then hurt badly!  I'll spare you the gory details, but give God the glory by saying remember rack, shack & benny....in the fire?  He was there.  Yep, and he sent an angel several times who remembered what time it was and when I needed to take meds, who took care of my children, the house, took me to the dr. (twice! and btw, the shots hurted.) and let me sleep alone in my big king sized bed.... ok, in this instance I think the germaphobe angel was more afraid to sleep with me than anything, but nevertheless...I was thankful.  I finally awoke from my mucinex/nyquil-induced coma yesterday afternoon.

Coincidence that Brad is teaching right now on the temple of the Holy Spirit...our bodies....keeping them clean and healthy....fasting....eating healthier....hmmm?

Oh yes, and I had just finished reading "Reshaping It All" by Candace Cameron Bure all about cleaning out body, mind and spirit.  Or that I'm speaking in a few weeks on setting Godly goals and making big changes in your life, one little step at a time...while not having 1 iota of the ability, strength, or energy to take even one step.  Coincidence?  I think not.

Spiritual warfare stinks and it hit our house, namely me, BIGtime.  Thankfully, because of the snow, we didn't miss a whole lot because most everything shut down.  I'm even more appreciative and thankful for my husband/angel who worked so hard to keep everything going here, and me alive! :)  We are praising God even in the storms, and please pray that no one else in this family gets this nastiness...so far, so good.  God is so good.

Now, where's my list...and also, where's the Lysol?

SPARK Orlando

On February16-20, I will be serving with approximately 50 other women in Orlando, Florida to be a part of a Women’s Only Mission trip through SPARK MINISTRY.  During the weekend, we will be ministering to the women of the Orlando Union Rescue Mission and the City Rescue Mission of Jacksonville, Florida.  Both missions are faith-based homeless shelters. Our team will provide these women with a weekend retreat of love, encouragement, and God’s truth to refresh and renew their lives.  This trip is a calling from God to go and reach out in the name of Jesus to these women.

I need your support – both in prayer and finances.  I need to raise $ for the cost of this weekend.  (All donations are tax deductible)  But more importantly, I need your prayer support for myself, my family while I'm gone, and for the goals of the trip to be completed as God has called us.   One way you can donate is by ordering a SPARK cookbook!  It has a ton of yummy Texas recipes in it and makes a great gift!

If you would like to support me in any way, please send me an email, leave a comment or just go to www.sparkministry.org and give online to this great weekend God has planned for women.

Thank you for your love and support for my family, this ministry, and me.  I covet your prayers and appreciate your support more that you will ever know.

*BIG Sigh*

Today I'm paying hospital bills for a baby I didn't get to have.

Sometimes life just isn't fair.

But....

I am praising God that I can pay those bills and for answered prayers and for wisdom to do what is best for our family. Thankful for peace that passes understanding and for the promise He gives that I can hang onto....Jeremiah 29:11.

Repeat after me...."hope and a future.....hope and a future....hope and a future....".

So, here's to new plans (that weren't my plans) for a fabulous, fun-filled fall. Who's with me?!

RiverPoint

God has done amazing things in the last 3 years at RiverPoint Church.

My husband BRAD does a much better job of blogging about it and this weekend was worshipful and so Spirit-filled. I am blessed to be married to my pastor, who has a vulnerable and broken spirit with a huge heart that keeps pointing us back to Jesus. He's not perfect but he knows the One who is, and I'm so thankful that I get to watch how God works through him each week. Thanks be to God!

Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. I Corinthians 15:57-58

Blessings from Haiti

We got an amazing blessing today! A family at RiverPoint had adopted their son, Luke,(age 6) out of an orphanage in Haiti last year and were in process of trying to get his sister, Miralda (age 4). After the earthquake, officials expedited the process. They'd heard Luke talk about his best friend, Pedro (age 7) ever since he could speak English. Now Luke's best friend is also his brother! They arrived today from FL on a chartered plane which was donated by a friend of theirs. God has worked out all of the details and it's amazing that we could get to be a part of some of the good God has worked in the catastrophe of Haiti.

The story will be on Wichita's channels 3 & 10 at 5 & more at 6.

Driving in the Air

This is the last of 3 posts. So start below with "Driving".

^{Isaiah 51:3}

The LORD will surely comfort [Sally] Zion
and will look with compassion on all her ruins;
he will make her deserts like Eden,
her wastelands like the garden of the LORD.
Joy and gladness will be found in her,

thanksgiving and the sound of singing.

This past month I've been reading and studying Esther and watching this story unfold without the blatant mention of God but knowing He's working behind the scenes. Then this past week while on the plane rides, I read "Same Kind of Different As Me". I loved it and highly recommend it. It's a true story by 2 men and it's an amazing testimony of God's evidence in life's ups and downs and how He gets the glory no matter the twists and turns, but it's not because He's a God who forces us to be His slave or needs the glory at all. He's a compassionate, gentlemanly God who would never leave us alone but would never force us to come to Him and love Him. Jesus was a gift to ransom me out of the pit I was in. I'm thankful now that God didn't leave me, even when I was ungrateful or forgetting Him along my journey.

I've been on a 40-day personal hike with Jesus. It's day 28 and I'm more in love with Him than ever. In the midst of this time, it seems like He's shown me my story in a rearview mirror. It's like He's reminded me of all that He's done for me and in me, as an encouragement to press on (keep driving) in this great life He's given me and driving with me.

In just the past 2 weeks:

• I accidently drove past my elementary school after attending an opera at my college (where I was kinda bitter that they never did those when I was there....oops, off subject!)
• I've been prompted to pray for the pastor's wife at the church I grew up attending.
• I sang in my college alumni choir with Brad, several college friends and my favorite teacher. (Yep! 1st grade and she's still beautiful!)
• I got to be there to stay with her kids when my sister went to the hospital to have her little girl.
• I got to spend time with my dearest high school friend, Betsy in Oregon.

Oregon looked like another country to me. It was beautiful and natural and peaceful. Betsy fits there perfectly. We had a good time sharing the other half of each of our lives that we'd left 18 years ago. She still finds the most amazing beauty in the simplest things and in the most unexpected places. Spending time with her again was all I wanted for a long time and Brad saw my heart and gave me that gift. I can't tell you how it refreshed me. I don't really know why it meant so much except that when you have loved someone for that long and that deeply and the friendship is still strong after years go by, it's because the bond was in Christ to begin with. It's because HE never leaves you, so time is not a factor because time is not a factor in His eyes. It's like getting a hug from Jesus, because He is the one that kept you together for all of those years. I emailed her today that I'm praying that Jesus would build our mansions next to each other so we can be neighbors in Eternity, and I hoped she was okay with that. :)

On the flight home, which was also a gift by a pilot friend in our church for a very discounted price, the lovely flight attendant came to me and said "Mrs. Martin, 6A is open for you." I really thought I'd have to ask her to repeat that, and if you know me, you know that I do that often. I almost laughed out loud and cried at the same time. I got to fly first class. I have never been so spoiled in all my life. I felt like Julia Roberts at the opera. Do you know what first class gets? Well let me just tell you. First you get these big ol' seats with amazing fold out trays that I didn't even know how to work, so I asked the nice man next to me, interrupting his game of Solitaire on his laptop. Then, we got a "snack"!! A big plate of fruit and hunks of cheese, pretzels, nuts and crackers! Oh my gosh, coach peeps were only getting drinks! I almost felt bad, but then I looked out the window and there were mountains everywhere! With snow! And Oh, it was breathtaking and that's when I cried. I stopped and just cried cuz I knew that God was smiling at me through those clouds, saying....I know. I know you. I know you like nice things. And I'm blessing you for being content, or at least trying. But do you see how thankful you are right now? That's because your heart is right and you've done without and that's when the contentment you've been looking for can flow in. That's what I'm doing in you.

And then...you're not going to believe this and I probably shouldn't even tell you so please don't go to the airport and turn up your nose in envy at the first class flyers just because you read this...but...

*whispering*

they brought me a WARM chocolate chip cookie, and I mean it was not just a little puny Pillsbury one either. It was like huge and heavenly and it melted in my mouth and I didn't even care how many calories it was, I just ate it. And it was so good.

And I just sat in that chair in the sky and thanked God for that big, sweet, chocolatey kiss....content and singing "Give me Jesus" all the way home.

Praises from the Sea of Boxes

So thankful for all that God has done. It's amazing how perfectly He put together pieces of our puzzle as we moved here. Looking back, every step was orchestrated.

• Saw this house on the market way back in March when only the thought of moving was there. Never thought it'd still be on the market in the summer with such a good price and a POOL!
• Sold our house in 3 weeks, shortest time yet for house-selling for us. Most houses in this town are taking months & years.
• Sold our house for the asking price! Wow! Praise God.
• Closing date wouldn't be for 3 months--Sept.15--but this was all in His timing.
• Lenders told us to be aware that not all loans were going through because of so much fraud and foreclosures happening in the economy today. We prayed.
• Great guy in our church, Verne, said we could use a 53' semi tractor trailer to move our stuff! Boxes came from lots of friends that had recently moved & even packing paper from the Lapps! Thank you!!!
• Day before closing/of unloading: Carrie kept my girls! Darlene made yummy homemade cinnamon rolls! My daddy came all the way from Oklahoma, but then left sick. :( (pray for him! --kidney stones!) Few appraisal twists that caused unnecessary worry. We prayed with all of the wonderful RPC friends who helped us move. Hope & Amy mowed our lawn with Gary's mower. New friends, Ronda & Tim brought dinner!
• Day of closing: Amy kept my kids! Gary let us use his truck for all the extras! Lenders (for our buyers) finally got approval and the paperwork went through at 1:55, with a deadline of 2:00pm, if we were all to close that day. Seriously: God is telling us-- His timing is perfect.
• At closing after all was said and done, they paid us $20.87 to move into our house. :)
• We had another great group of RiverPoint friends who helped us move in! They all prayed over our house that it would be a place of peace, ministry and refuge. Alyssa & Britton brought us a pineapple! (the symbol for hospitality)
• The day after moving in: Our neighbors across the street, a retired couple, brought us a box of donuts for breakfast!!!! (OK, that never happens. That was an amazing blessing! I mean, is this Mayberry or what???!!!)
• The kids swam in the cold pool. It was about 75-80 outside at the warmest but they're determined to get some use out of it this year. Then the Hiebert boys came over to check it out for themselves. Then we all broke out into the song from Annie... ♫♫♫ I think I'm gonna like it here!!! :)

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his

is purpose.

Romans 8:28

Stresses & Praises

Little stressed right now on 09-09-09 so if I take some time off from this here blog, here's why:

• Doing 2 HG shows this week and 1 at the end of the month.
• Working to book shows for October and November.
• Making Dr. appointments for the flu shot & 18 month shots.
• Making Dentist appointments for white Martin teeth.
• Homeschooling. (FT job. nuff said.)
• Moving Monday & Tuesday.
• Packing like a maniac. (not at this lazy moment, but when the coffee kicks in--watch out!)
• Sooo looking forward to the end of this craziness... When will that be I wonder?

OK. Attitude Check. This quote is on my desktop right now. There are more wallpapers to choose from here.

The heart that is constantly overflowing with gratitude will be safe from those attacks of resentfulness and gloom that bother so many persons. --A.W. Tozer

So.... Time to count blessings:

• New home: has a smaller mortgage payment, no dungeon basement, is closer to everything and has a pool!
• HG is helping us pay the bills and plan things we haven't been able to in 2+ years.
• Kids are learning, and I'm here to watch, inspire and dream with them.
• Started new Newton co-op and love that my kids are in Choir!
• Each box I pack contains treasures of life: dishes given at our wedding, books that we've read and cherished, photo albums that hold our memories.
• Even if I had none of this stuff, I'd be okay.
• Every good and perfect gift is from above. (Everything else is going to Goodwill!)
• All McDonald's crap toys are in the trash! Yessssss.
• Took a voice lesson yesterday that made me remember that I love to sing.
• I'm still walking/yogging and feeling like I have more energy every day.
• Quick Anchorman Quote: "trying this new fad called uh, jogging. I believe it's jogging or yogging. it might be a soft j. I'm not sure but apparently you just run for an extended period of time. It's supposed to be wild. "
• My good friend Rochelle is having a baby today.
• God answers prayers.
• God is soooo good.
• My husband is HOT.
• I love rain.
• A roast is in the crock pot.
• Everyone is healthy.
• It is well with my soul.