Chance to win

A great giveaway....I love the awesome colors of the fabrics and designs put together by this amazing company. Go visit their site and comment on the blog: inashoe.com for a chance to win the $50 gift certificate. http://inashoe.com/2010/11/giveaway-1-marie-madeline-50-gift-certificate/

Miscellaneous Musings....time to catch up

I am such a bad blogger of late. I have been quite distracted with much life happenings and I sometimes feel like I don't really have anything worth saying. However, I will try to get myself better disciplined to regular writing so I don't feel so overwhelmed like I need to catch up on so much.

I am thankful the weather is finally cooling off. Emy and I are looking forward to spending more time with our horse Spirit. He is absolutely the sweetest dearest equine friend. He truly renews and refreshes us when we get to spend time with him. I guess I get a horse fix. He is so loving, I think if he had people arms, he'd hug us back. Ok, I'm sounding a little weird, but a true lover of horse flesh would totally get what I mean.



Well, I was a little productive a few weeks ago. Emily and I made almost 40 (39 1/2) jars of pear butter. We get pears from a friend who has hard pears, which aren't really good for eating raw but better canned. So we washed, peeled, sliced and cooked lots and lots of pears and then put them in the blender with a little sugar and cinnamon and now we have a good stock in our pantry. We will likely share a few jars for Christmas as well. My husband decided he likes it on buttered toast.

I also finished my first quilting project. I made a large star wall-hanging to go in my dining room. I was learning from a dear friend from my church how to quilt and this was my "final project" of our lessons. It is machine pieced but hand quilted. I carried it all the way to Indiana and back quilting it whenever I found time. It turned out really pretty and I am now off to making more. I actually took the paint chip card with me to the quilt shops to buy fabric specifically to match my dining room. It was really fun to make and I am going to work on a western quilt next with cowboy boots on it.



I am really trying to be patient about getting pregnant. I get so excited and anxious each month as I notice signs and hope that the Lord will bless us soon. I am trying to not get my hopes up each month but to occupy myself with other tasks and hobbies knowing that if it is the Lord's desire for us to conceive again we will. I often reserve myself to the fact that I certainly don't deserve His grace because of all the selfish decisions I have made in the past. But I also know that grace is grace. Fully undeserved merit and He chooses to give it in many ways. I truly desire to serve Him with my whole body. It is such a deep longing to wonder if you'll ever feel another child moving in your womb or the euphoria from nursing your child. The great wonderful things like a first smile, first step, first words. I know that if I am not blessed with the ability to bear more children that I have been greatly blessed by His hand and will continue to be so as I watch my children grow and learn about life and step into adulthood one day all too soon and anxiously wait to rock grand babies.

Sweet Blessings

Well, if you have followed my blog, you have seen various pictures of my trees. This is the final sweet results of my plum tree. I was able to fill 8 freezer bags full of plum juice which will become plum jelly sometime this fall when it is cooler to stand over a hot stove all day stirring jelly. In addition to the dozens eaten by my children who thought it was so cool to pick our fruit off our own tree and not have to worry about pesticides etc. Fresh from the tree.

Another sweet blessing we shared was a surprise for my hubby on Father's day. We found out we were expecting! God allowed us to conceive a sweet new life. We weren't sure if Wes' surgery had been successful or not since it had been over eight years since his original vasectomy and his reversal was performed in December. Our doctor said we should conceive within 4 months. Well this was the fifth month and we were beginning to get a little discouraged. So God so graciously answered our prayers and created a new life.

However, we sadly only shared this little one for about a week and then it was sent home to heaven. We were so sad to let go so soon, but we trust God knows what is best for us and this little one. We are absolutely praising God for allowing us to know that my husband's body has been restored and we have hope for a new life once again. Our little one will join two other siblings in heaven. We will have a whole family waiting for us in heaven. While my heart aches I know that God is glorified in all things and He is sovereign. I am so grateful to be His child for this would be absolutely too hard to bear without Him.

So as it was stated by Job "the Lord gave and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord." I am trusting in my sovereign God to allow new life in His perfect timing. I am so blessed by a loving church family too. They rejoiced when I rejoiced and they mourned when I mourned. I am overwhelmingly blessed!

Thank you Lord for sweet blessings!

Bearing Fruit

I have questioned for many years how I could know if a person was going to go to heaven when they died. I got a huge variation of answers. I feel like all this time, I was looking for a "professional" to explain it to me and tell me that if a person said the sinner's prayer they were guaranteed a place in heaven. I have been burdened for many years about the salvation of several of my family members and have prayed for them through the years. I have pleaded with several to truly evaluate where they stand with God. As I have begun to search the Scriptures myself, I find that there are many that teach us how to know who belongs to Christ and will be His in Heaven. It was there all the time, I just hadn't looked. Shamefully, many Christians will have this same experience as we are taught to look to those who know more than us, they have all the answers. But we are to be like the Bereans ( Acts 17:11 Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true) and search the Scriptures for ourselves and see what the Lord has taught us. We can know them by their fruit.

John 15:1-17

¹"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ²He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes^{a]" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 0.5em; ">[a]} so that it will be even more fruitful. ³You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. ⁴Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

⁵"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. ⁷If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. ⁸This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

⁹"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. ¹⁰If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. ¹¹I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. ¹²My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ¹³Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴You are my friends if you do what I command. ¹⁵I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. ¹⁷This is my command: Love each other.

I am often perceived as a super religious freak among my family members. I am not offended by that in the least. In fact I am glad to hear that I am not recognizable, that means that I am being sanctified (made to look more like Christ). That is the job of the Holy Spirit to work in us, molding us, breaking us and forming us into the image of Christ. Sometimes the chipping away is painful, sometimes it causes loss, in the end it makes a beautiful work of art as we are fashioned in the likeness of our Creator.

My prayer is that the Lord will draw these to Himself and be glorified in their transformation. I have seen this type of transformation first hand in my own husband, who I believed was a Christian when I married him, but when a huge hardship fell on our family, the Lord really brought him to Himself at that time and I am now married to a new man, a new creation in Christ.

I am burdened for their true salvation. I desire that they can know how amazing it is to walk in fellowship with the Lord and not fear what tomorrow brings because we know the One who is in control of all things! We who are in Christ will be about the business of bearing fruit.

First things first

Well, its time I get back to my blog and update where the Lord is taking us in this journey of ours. My redbud tree is blooming and I love how the branches just point heavenward. This is a great photo for my topic today of First things first. I know many people know the verse Matt. 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. This verse reminds me that I need to focus on things of God and His kingdom before my own selfish wants and desires.

Well, as my husband and I have been praying and seeking the Lord regarding the situation with our desire to move to the country. Some things were revealed to us. We first had a few financial needs that came up and so realizing that for those issues to be handled, we would likely not have enough money to make a down payment on the house we were hoping to buy. We have also not heard back from the investors we contacted about purchasing our house. We also have noticed a big number of homes in our neighborhood listed for sale by banks not realtors, meaning lots of foreclosures. We can't give our house away so we will wait out the rough market. So as we continued praying and discussing it. We realized that we would rather focus on paying off our remaining debts, and stay in our current home a little while longer. As hard as that is for both of us, because we are so drawn to the country, our hearts are drawn to be obedient to Christ first. I have such a peace when I think of the thought of being out of debt. Scripture tells us in Psalms 22:7 The rich rule over the poor, a borrower is servant to the lender. We don't wish to be a servant to ungodly institutions any longer. We feel like if we honor God's Word and pay our debts, then the Lord can bless us down the road with an even better home in the country if that is His will. We trust that He has our best interest at heart. We may not always agree with or understand God's best and will for us, but our job is to simply trust and obey. Like the little Sunday school song says: Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus than to trust and obey. While we could at times possibly force our own wills and desires, we will undoubtedly be unhappy and sense the disappointment of our Heavenly Father, when we act like spoiled children and demand to have our way. We may get it, but we won't feel happy or satisfied. So we are surrendering our heart's desire for a new desire to be obedient to the Lord. It is so much more peaceful and exciting to desire to please God instead of myself. This joy can only come from Him.

(My redbud and peach tree blossoms above)

So I will press on toward the goal set before me and do my best to finish the race.

I am planning to quit my babysitting jobs by the end of the summer so that I may focus on spending more time with my own children. I am homeschooling but there are times when I put things off because I don't have time, when I would really like to dig a little deeper on some topics. I miss the freedom of getting to go where I want when I want because I have been tied down to the house for the past 4 years babysitting. I want to live by my own schedule and be free to do fun field trips and visits that we otherwise aren't able to do. I miss getting to visit my Grandmother regularly. I am looking forward to having time to go and stay with her a few days. This wouldn't be possible if we had a lot of debt. So I have been working to pay off extra debt and I am trying to prepare our budget for the loss of my income by focusing on paying off most of our debts before I quit working. I know that my first priority is to my husband and children so I am excited about having this freedom back and honoring God as I serve my family more diligently.

So like the blossoms on my trees, I am looking forward to new beginnings, new lessons to learn and new freedom from debt and from my selfish desires. That will always be a struggle I am sure as long as I walk this earth, but through Christ and His Word, I can strengthen my weak spiritual muscles as I work in service to my Savior and put First things first.

Patience and Possibilites

Well, as with all things good, patience must develop first. In my photos above you see my youngest son gazing up at a huge trailer laden with hay. That hay took time to grow, cut, harvest and load. It is not an overnight job. In addition, I took pictures of my 4 year old plum tree. I planted it here at my home in the city, knowing that I didn't want to live here long and hoping I could still dig it up and move it to the country with me. It is covered with blooms this year and smells so wonderful and fresh! Spring is my favorite time of the year! I have been anxiously awaiting my fruit trees to bear fruit. This may be their first year, as all will be blooming. The busy bees are doing their work so we'll see. (My friend lovingly stated "I hope you don't get any fruit." I had to think about what she said. At first, I thought, how rude, I have been waiting for fruit how could you say that. Then I realized she has been praying with me about selling our house. So she meant this in hopes that we'll be moving before the fruit comes!) I have had to be patient and baby my trees along and feed and water them diligently. I think that work will pay off. I may not be able to take my trees with me if we get to move, but I know that I can grow new ones as I grew these. God has blessed me with healthy trees and I have been so happy watching them grow and mature. He amazes me at how intricate a world He created for us to enjoy. My children and I were just reading and learning how bees are "programmed" to seek out certain flowers each day so as not to cross pollinate stuff. Isn't that cool. God programmed these tiny creatures so that their nectar gathering would make sure that only certain flowers were sought out each day so that those plants would be pollinated and not mixed up with pollen from other flowers. That is so cool!

Well, I didn't plan to blog just about bees and such. My focus is on the lesson of patience. I feel like I am being grown and stretched in this area. Most people are on a regular basis. However, I trust my Sovereign God that He does it for a purpose and that it will glorify Him in the end. I have a peace as I wait on Him and anxiously and excitedly look forward to what He will do next.

We had listed our current house for sale last year. We had a realtor and had many showings but never any offers. We dreaded the showings as I stated on earlier posts. So this year I felt like we didn't want to go the realtor route if it wasn't necessary. I felt led to seek out investors to offer them to purchase my home at a discount. It would be a discount since we didn't have to pay the realtor fees. So we started gathering some names of people who we or our friends knew were property investors. I started with my neighbor across the street. She is friends with the man who owns her home and lives in California. I asked her if he would be purchasing any more properties here soon. She said she would give him my name and contact info. Well, he responded to me and said that he had two families in California looking to move to Burleson and rent houses here. So he asked for our home information like square footage, number of bedrooms/bathrooms etc. as well as our asking price. We responded with the information requested and stated that we were hoping for a quick sale so that we could purchase another property that we have been interested in for two years. We said we were not expecting to make any profit on our home, we were only wanting to pay off our current loan and cover our closing costs. Well it was almost 6 days later before we heard from him again. He said that he had been working on his taxes and was hoping to use his refund as down payment on purchasing property. He also asked if we were listing with a realtor or not because it would save time and money to just go to the Escrow office and have an attorney do our paperwork. Exactly what I was thinking! That is so cool! So I responded to him and said we were ready and willing to go to the Escrow office and talk with an attorney. He had asked for our address and said he was researching our property and would get back with us. I am now waiting. Waiting for further response. Waiting for taxes to get done. Waiting for a possible offer to purchase our house. Waiting for something that seems so surreal that I can't imagine it really happening. I try not to get excited, after all, it is only a possibility. Nothing has been formally offered or decided. So I must keep my thoughts and emotions in check until something happens. I have hope though. He seems interested in our property. I just pray that the price will generate enough interest. We felt like it was imperative to be upfront and honest with this guy about our situation and I feel like God will honor that. I really don't expect to make a dime off this house, we have very little equity because of the type of loan we purchased it with. So if God is willing to just allow us to get out from under this burden/debt, we will be so grateful and blessed and give Him all the praise and glory.

That is our current test of patience. Waiting on the Lord's will to be revealed to us in this situation. If this man decides he isn't interested in our property, we have one other contact that is an investor. We will make the same offer to him to see if he is interested. If not, then we'll likely list our home FSBO and see if we get any interest. Then if we still are not able to sell our current home, we'll just continue paying off debts and wait on the Lord to show us when and where to sell.

I am so full of hope and dream about the other house daily, nightly, every waking hour. I also try to continually lift it up to the Lord and pray His will be done. He knows mine, my husband's and children's hearts desire is to live in the country. We just have to trust in His timing and His desire for us right now. That may be getting to sell our home and purchase our dream home. It may be selling our house and having to rent because for some reason we can't purchase our dream home. Or that may be just staying where we are and continuing to persevere and know that its for our best and will bring Him the most glory.

I will update when I have more information about this situation. In the meantime, I'll do my best to have patience while I wait for the possibilities.

My heart's desire

My heart's desire. Is often not what it should be. I find myself saying that my heart's desire is to live in the country. I miss the sunsets and birds and quietness of a rural home. I truly enjoy being outside as do my children and husband. Is it wrong then for me to hope for such a thing again? Does God give us desires like a heart for country living? Or is that a selfish one? I am often not sure. I do know that I have a deep longing for fresh country air and space to walk and breathe and room for animals and children to run and play and dig and climb and explore. God created the beautiful world around us and I think its only natural for us to be drawn to the Creator as we observe and enjoy His beautiful creation. I must guard my heart though, I don't wish to worship the creation more than the Creator. I don't wish to make an idol out of my desire to live in the country once again. I just know that my heart is so drawn to it. I know my words may sound conflicting. These are the crazy thoughts going through my head and it helps me to sort it out as I write about it all.

Well we recently got to go see the house we have been wanting to buy for two years. The couple who own it invited us to come and see if its what we want. We were so at peace while we were there, just breathing it all in. The house is a bit smaller than what we currently live in, but it is bigger in the living and kitchen areas for entertaining. We have a hard time fitting many more into our current home, because the dining and living areas are so small. This home has all the things we want. A covered patio, enclosed garage for extra bedroom/play/school area, huge back yard, room for a garden, TREES!!!, a small pond and barns including a chicken coop on one. It is so peaceful and quiet. We would have room for all the critters we want and room for kids and more kids and friends and family. It would be such an incredible blessing should the Lord allow us to buy this property and move there. My husband and I both looked at each other and said, I could spend the rest of my life here, Lord willing. We have lived in 10 different homes (one twice) over the past 20 years of marriage. Needless to say, we are tired of moving and ready to own our forever home. (Lord willing) I am just so afraid to really hope for it, for fear it will dissolve into a vapor. I find myself wanting it so badly that I am afraid it will be all for naught. I must focus on the Lord and take my eyes of worldly treasures and realize that He knows my heart and also knows whats best for me and my family. This does give me peace.

Well, so for now we are on to the not-so-fun part of once again trying to declutter/deep clean my house. Trying to prepare it for showing to potential buyers. That is my first real fear, are there any potential buyers in this market? This is not a good time to be wanting to sell a home. I would be so grateful to just get out from under it, I don't expect to make a dime, just pay off the loan and move on! I have a few contacts who may know some investors. I will try that first, hoping to avoid having to show my house. As I stated on an earlier post, I hate being called with an hour notice, when we live in our house 24/7 with 4 kids and sometimes up to 3 extra on any given day, that is just ludicrous to expect a perfect home for showing with such short notice. UGH! I hate thinking about it again. However, it will be worth it in the end if we can sell and buy our dream home!

I know that even in an economy like this one, that nothing is impossible with God. We had previously sold our 10 year old doublewide on 15 acres in the middle of no-where farming community an hour's drive from any major cities. When the Lord lead us to put it up for sale we had it on the market and it sold in only 2 months time. The buyer paid full asking price and didn't even do an inspection! That was totally a divine intervention! There is no way I could have expected such a quick success so I know it is only the Lord's hand on us. So I am praying for a second dose of God's great Grace! I am worried I sound greedy. I don't mean to say that I expect it, I am just praying and hoping He'll choose to bless us again. Maybe not in the exact same way but I know that if we are able to sell our house in this market that it will be only from the hands of my Heavenly Father!

So if your reading this please lift us up in prayer. Pray for wisdom in all the decisions we must make as well as guidance about the decision to buy(should we sell our home). Thank you.

A Fresh Start

Many people have made poor choices in their lives, as a matter of fact, I am sure that's how most lessons are learned in life. Many are stuck in the mire as a result of their choices and don't know how to get out. I am reminded of Pilgrim's Progress and the Slough of Despond. Many don't get far in life's journey and are detoured by the Slough of Despond in their lives and don't see any escape.

Well recently my husband and I attended a conference that showed us how we might help our brother's and sister's in Christ to exit their Slough of Despond. At the suggestion of our dear Pastor and his wife, we prayed about and felt encouraged to attend this year's NANC conference in Layfayette, Indiana. NANC stands for National Association of Nouthetic Counselors. You can check out more info on their website: www.nanc.org Nouthetic comes from the Greek word nouthesia, which implies scriptural direction. This is biblical counseling using Scripture alone, not man-centered humanistic psychology.

I was raised in public schools to believe that science knew all there was to know about man and what ailed him and what fixed him. However, as I walk my spiritual journey, I realize that who could possibly know man better than the Creator Himself? How can man (the creation) possibly believe that he is greater than his creator? Like the clay saying to the potter "why did you make me?" So shouldn't the Creator of man also know what's best for him in all areas of his life? Well I believe that one of the reasons we are blessed to have the Scriptures is for our guidebook to how to live on this earth. We are so grateful that God cared enough for us to give us His Word so that we would know HIM better as well as what our needs are as fallen sinful man.

So that is a little bit of why we decided to attend this conference. My husband and I are burdened for the hurting and wish to guide them to God's principles outlined for us all in Scripture. The Holy Spirit working in us can help us to heal what we have broken. We aren't totally sure of the entire plan that our Pastor has in mind, but our thoughts are that we will do some Biblical counseling in some way to serve our community and church body. As we serve our community, we will have opportunity to evangelize the lost as well. That is the first item of business if you will. Because without the Holy Spirit in your life, no man can be obedient to Christ and His teachings. We are very excited about this opportunity. We spent a week in snowy Indiana learning many areas of Biblical counseling. We learned so much and it was the best investment we could have ever made. We also came home with a small library as we are both quite the Bibliophiles! (Book Lovers!) So we need to buy some more bookshelves soon.

We are anxious to see how God will use us to further His Kingdom. We are looking forward to helping many get A Fresh Start as they look to Scripture for healing and growth.

A step of Faith

A step of faith entails sometimes venturing forth into unknown territory, sometimes going through times of self-doubt, fear, anxiety along with excitement, joy and anticipation. My husband and I are on a new journey. Many people would think we are out of our minds but I can only say that were it not for the truth we have been shown, we wouldn't be walking this path. Let me clarify and explain. About a year ago we both read and amazing book called Family Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham. We were so powerfully moved by his writing and his open, honest style that brought us both to tears regarding many areas of our lives that we felt we had not been taught the truth. Specifically in regards to what our ideas were about how many children we should have. Well, like most adults in our age group, we had been taught that we should control how many children we have and when we have them. It should be a choice of convenience when the time is right and then when we feel like we have enough, we should do something to prevent any more. So in our ignorance, while pregnant with our fourth child we decided to have my husband get a vasectomy. I was feeling overwhelmed, stressed and absolutely done with child bearing. I didn't see how on earth I could possibly handle any more children in my life. I was looking at the here and now not into the future. I had just had a baby #3 who was 6 months old when I discovered I was expecting again. I was so overwhelmed! To be honest though, I had to laugh so I wouldn't cry. I thought here I go again, scheduling those monthly appointments with my midwife all over again. It had not been fun telling family and friends, "uh, we're expecting again." I was ridiculed at the church we were members of at the time. Comments like "Don't you know what causes that"? Then laughter. I was so tired of that inconsiderate attitude from church members that I was ready to say the next time I was asked that question "Yes, and its a lot of fun!" Maybe if I embarrassed them enough, they'd get a clue. I never voiced it though. I couldn't believe how heartless people are with their opinions of other's reproductive habits/choices. I also had a family member strongly encouraging us to have a vasectomy because we "can't afford anymore children." I was so resentful of this person also intruding into our personal reproductive and financial lives. Society tells us that children are too expensive and there is more stuff in life that we need and we can't have it if our homes are full of children to feed and clothe. Well, regardless, we went through with the procedure and felt like we were doing the right and responsible thing. I remember though in the middle of the surgery, thinking, I don't think we should do this. I wish I had spoken up, but too late, what's done is done. Back to present day, we read Family Driven Faith and realized that children are not a burden but a blessing.

Psalm 127:3 Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him.

Psalm 127:5Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies in the gate.

There are many other scriptures throughout God's Word that describe children as a gift and blessing from God. They are never spoken of as a burden, or something that should be limited for any reason. So through much prayer, seeking Godly counsel and reading trusted resources and most of all the Bible, my husband and I felt like we needed to fix what we broke. Prior to this decision I had spent weeks quietly praying for my husband to make this decision. I know he understood what needed to be done, he was just hesitant to go through the surgery again. I can't blame him. It was so hard to not try to manipulate and get my way, when I wanted it, I just had to be patient and trust God's timing. Well, in the midst of this prayer journey, a new family came to visit our church. I walked up to them to welcome them and asked to hold their baby girl. She was so precious smiling at me and let me hold her. I mentioned that my daughter would want to take her home as she has wanted a sister for many years. I then said, unfortunately we took that decision out of God's hands. The couple spoke right up and shared their testimony with us about how God had done a work on their hearts regarding this same thing. The husband had also had a vasectomy but then later had it reversed. This was their first reversal baby. As I was standing there with tears in my eyes, my husband walked up and I said, can you share this story with him. They did and it was further confirmation that we were headed in the right direction. So a few weeks later, after discussing my husbands fears and reservations he agreed that we needed to make things right in order to be obedient to the Lord in this area of our lives. So I found an amazing Doctor who as a ministry performs reduced cost reversals. We headed 3 hours south a few weeks later and repaired what we broke almost 8 years ago. We are now hoping and praying that God will forgive us for our selfish and faithless choice and restore our bodies and bless us once again with babies. I only have about 5-7 years of reproductivity left, but I know God can do anything. We are so hopeful that we can conceive again, but above all else, desire to bring Him glory and honor and offer our bodies back to Him to do with as he pleases in our greatest act of obedience and take a step of faith.

A beginning

Well, as I sit with a warm cup of coffee and look at a blank slate, I will try to begin a new venture. Blogging is so popular but it is such an amazing way to share your thoughts, lessons learned and adventures with family and friends some known and some I haven't yet met. I will attempt to make it worth your while to take time out of your ever busy schedules to sit and read someone else's life happenings, but no promises. I am just a simple country girl with lots rattling around in this head of mine. I love writing because it helps me to sort out the mess in my head. There, I have a beginning. Kinda dorky I know, like those original sounding papers we had to write in school. "What I did this summer." But I figured if it starts out kinda lame, I can only improve from there right?

Well, I call myself a country girl, but at present I am trapped in the city. We sold our land and home we had on 15 acres about four years ago so we could move closer to our family and church. We tried to buy a house with smaller acreage, but wasted 2 weeks trying to get a price we liked and eventually felt like that wasn't where we were supposed to be, so we ended up desperately seeking something to fit our family into. My husband didn't want to rent so we found a new house that was ready for purchase and we bought it. We weren't crazy about living in town and I was even less crazy about the teeny tiny strip of grass that they called my backyard. I now pay ridiculous taxes for my slice of city living. Well, pizza delivery to my house is not worth the extra hassles I must deal with here. I am trying to be patient and wait on God to show us how long we must stay here or when/if we can move on. We love the location in our hometown and close to our church, but I just need some room to breathe and ability to go outside in my robe without scarring the neighborhood kids. I have had my eye on a house very close to my mom's house. It only has a little over 2 acres but that should be enough for 1 horse and a dozen chickens and a herd of dogs and cats. I need a rabbit too, heard their droppings make great homemade garden fertilizer! Well, anyway, I know the woman who owns this house and she has been trying to sell it for the past two years. Her and her husband divorced and she is ready to get the house sold and move on. I recently got up the nerve to ask her how low she could sell it if we didn't have to pay realtor's fees. Hoping she could lower it to our price range. She seems interested in talking and we are planning to go look at the inside in person in a few weeks. I'll be praying that if the Lord wants us to pursue this home then he'll give us some confirmation and allow us to sell our current home quickly(did I say quickly, sorry in God's good timing). ;) I hate selling a home. You are expected to keep it in museum quality condition. I happen to live in my house 24/7 with my four children and at times, up to 3 additional children that I currently babysit. This is not a practical condition for having a realtor call you with a 1 hour warning that they would like to show your house. My children are troopers though. They are all so anxious to move back to the country that they hop to it and kick into gear with super speedy cleaning detail. Though its hard for me, I want everything to be just right and "child clean" is not quite the same as "Mom clean", you mom's know what I mean. Ironically though, when we sold our home in Ennis, 15 acres and a 10 year old double wide, it was totally a God ordained thing, because the man who bought it saw it when I was gone with two of the older children and it was up to dear hubby to clean with 2 younger children (who were no help at all being toddler/preschool age) before the buyer came to see it. Well..."Husband clean" is in a category all by itself. Needless to say it was divine intervention because the house was the worst condition that it had ever been shown but the guy bought it anyway. He didn't even do an inspection! Well, I know God can move mountains to sell a house and the timing has to be right, so until it happens I will try to be patient and accept His will for us at this time. I can rest in Him, knowing He knows the desire of my heart and ultimately what's best for me. So, I shall see what the future holds. In the meantime, guess I'll start de-cluttering and packing up some of the toys that runneth over into all the places they shouldn't be.