25 1/2 Gallons

25 1/2 gallons of paint and primer later and all the painting at the house is finished. Well except a little from the moving in and laying of new carpet. So now I have no excuse to not have all the boxes unpacked. Well except for the fact that I am still parenting a very head strong 3 year old and a clingy 1 year old. I know some of that is their personality, but I also feel some of it is the chaos they have been living in. So the chaos caused by the boxes is hard to put to rest with the children under foot, but if I could get it all done they would most likely be under foot less. It is kind of a vicious cycle. That is what has reminded me lately about all the cycles that make up life. Like I used to tell the first graders I taught cycles are like circles, one event leads to the next. A cycle that is not one I like to concentrate on is the cycle of sin. Usually we make a bad choice which puts us on the cycle and one sin leads to another. Not a fun cycle to be in, and that is exactly what Kyle and I have been trying to get across to Landon. One bad choice often leads to another and eventually we are really far from where we want to be.

At church I was reminded that even though this life has lots of little cycles we find our selves in (the seasons, daily routines, etc) the big picture really isn't a cycle or circle at all. We have a place we are all heading to and we won't have to cycle back through this life. We will all live eternally with God or without. I am glad that once I leave and am in Heaven I don't have to cycle back through and see if I can do it better. Now don't get me wrong sometimes at the end of the day I wish I had a do over, but overall once is enough for me. The scary reality though is that not only will I not have to do this life over, my neighbors, friends, and family that don't know Christ won't get a second chance either. There are no do overs. So I have a renewed desire to pray for and share with those around me that Christ loves them and He is their salvation. So even though heaven is going to be great, I know God has me here for a purpose to bring glory to Him and in doing so bring others to Him. Which for me today is going to start by loving on my children by getting their house in order so it can be their home. Then we will run some errands and who knows how God will have us share His love with those we meet.

The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. Galations 5:6

Now back to the boxes...I promise pictures of the house are coming soon.

Home Sweet Home, or is it?

Well we are finally living in our new house. Notice I said living, not settled. There is definitely a difference. We are glad to be here, and really it already feels like home. That is the funny thing about this house, I could see myself here the very first time I came to look at it. It just felt like home. Even though it needed new carpet, fresh paint, etc. It still felt like home. So I was happy to move my family into our new home this past Thursday, but it has not been an entirely smooth transition. Hubby working an extra night shift, children being extra needy, not sleeping well, unexpected costs...I could go on. So even though we are home, I have been constantly reminded we are not really Home. We won't be home this side of heaven. Jesus is preparing a place for us, and when it is time to move there we don't even have to pack.

In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. John 14:2-3

On Vacation

Ok so I am not really on vacation...and it doesn't really feel like vacation. I keep telling myself and the kids we are on vacation, but I don't think it is working. They are irritable and ready for our routine to be established again and so am I. I am also ready to stop waking up at 2:00 in the morning thinking about wall colors. At the same time I am so excited to start making the new house a home. If you are a little confused right now you might want to check out the posts Roller Coaster and Flexibility. For now I am just letting my huge readership know I may be infrequent with posts while I am "on vacation." Soon I will have pictures of the new house to post, so check back. Until then hope you are enjoying the last days of summer.

Flexibility

So now we have moved most of our posessions out of our current house, in preparation to moving into our new home. Due to Kyle's work schedule, availability of those willing to help us (which we are so grateful for all the help), bank rules, etc. We needed to move out about two weeks before we can move into the new house. So here comes the flexible part...we are living with my mom. Which is really great, it just gets us out of our routine. So I have to say no to all the extra treats here at Grandma's since being here for two weeks is different the a day or two. I have to keep an extra watch on certain areas of the house that aren't exactly kid proof (once again, Mom, we are very sorry about the broken candy jar), and for some reason start at the beginning with potty training (sorry about the wet spot in the living room, Mom). Also sharing a bedroom with our youngest has sorta kept me up at night, as I hear each shift in her bed she makes. Not that I was sleeping all that sound the last month as it was. Even though all this has my head spinning and I am sure my mom's, I am really having fun and feel so blessed. We spend weeks at a time with my husband's family as they live far away, but we rarely spend this much time at my parents' as they live relativly close. It feels good to share the ins and outs of our lives for awhile. I am sure that all parties involved will be glad when things are back to "normal", but I think we will also miss this time too.

Roller Coaster

I have been debating about jumping into the blogging world for quite some time. I have a "site" for family and friends to keep updated on our family, but have felt somewhat pulled to truly blog. I just wasn't sure I had much to say, but today I feel like jumping in so here goes...

The past two weeks have truly been a roller coaster for me. We found out on June 25 we were expecting our third child. We were beyond excited. We had always hoped our kids would be close in age and with about 22 months between our first two and our third coming 22 months after the second how perfect was that? So we spent a week celebrating, only to wind up in the hospital July 4th to learn I was loosing our little one. Talk about devastated. It was a long two days for the miscarriage to be "complete". Whatever that means, because I didn't feel complete I felt very much like something, no someone was now missing from my life. I was confused, extremely sad, and actually felt physically ill.

In the midst of our loss, we learned we had an offer on our house which we had been praying desperately to sell. So our minds were now caught up in coming to an agreement with the prospective buyers, while my body was still recovering. I would cry each morning, spend the day caring for my two beautiful children, loving husband, and all the other details of life, and then fall into bed to cry myself to sleep. Then I woke one morning very peaceful. I was filled with a peace that passes all understanding. I knew I was and so was my family in God's hands. We started the process of gathering paper work, inspections, appraisals, etc. This house buying process has been anything but smooth, but I know there are no surprises to God. The repairs the inspector found at the house we want to buy hadn't been hidden from God, he knew all along.

So this story is no where near over. As I was beautifully reminded by two close friends, I am free to mourn our loss and rejoice God's provision all at the same time. So I begin my journey into blogging...