background

Friday, June 17, 2011

cherish each moment.

Waking up to find the boys have made their own breakfast of strawberries and string cheese.

Noah looking at me with a smile and saying, "I can't believe we're having another baby!"

Spending the day in our backyard with a beautiful friend and her two boys.

Holding my two year old while he falls asleep in my arms.

Watching Miss Lillyann Grace move and kick.

Each time I breath, Noah thinks his baby sister, Lilly, is moving.

The way he looks at me like I'm the only one in the world while taking my hand in his.  {I melt}

Quiet time with my God, His word, and my fav cup of coffee, courtesy of my Keurig {from the one mentioned above}.  And during these moments I find the strength and peace I need to keep moving forward, following His will {even thought it can be painful}.

My neighbor brought over 4 packs of diapers, baby lotion, baby soap, and one of the cutest newborn outfits I've ever seen!  I will certainly miss her, her thoughtfulness, and kind words.

Quiet nights sitting outside watching all 3 of my boys catch lightning bugs.

The feeling of accomplishment when I see the beautiful flowers growing in the flower beds.

Finding out our second offer on our house was accepted.  Since before we were married, Alan and I talked about owning our own home.  I cannot believe we are headed in that direction and will be able to bring our baby girl home to a house we own.

Building relationships with the most unlikely people.  I'm talking about the people who vowed from the moment they met you that they would not like you or give you the time of day yet they become some of the most fun people you have ever been around!!  I will sure miss late night movies and snow cones. (:

Peace that comes from God's creations.  I love being outside!

Watching someone grow into who God is creating them to be.  As a youth pastor's wife I had a front-row seat to this.  I will miss being apart of their lives on a frequent basis.  They have taught me more than they will ever know and I love each one of them greatly!

My two boys sharing a blanket, laying on the floor, while watching a movie.  So sweet!

Random hugs, kisses, and I love yous from my four year old.  He has the most tender heart!

Just a few thoughts/things I want to be sure to remember even when life is hectic and crazy.  Stopping to dwell on the blessings in life is so uplifting.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

philippians 4:6-8.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Philippians 4:6-8 

Such powerful words.  These are probably my favorite verses in the Bible.  I memorized this back in 2nd grade for school and they have brought me such comfort throughout my life.

These last few weeks, I have needed to remind myself daily to relax, calm my anxiety, and pray.  We have a lot of changes coming our way!  The short of it is this: moving to Fulton, MO and buying a house.  But with that comes: saying good-bye to people we dearly love in the KC area {one of my best friends JUST moved back to KC from Texas}, leaving teens who we care about with our whole hearts, moving out of a house I have become quite fond of and am obsessed with the backyard {really, it's amazing}, making the biggest purchase of our lives!, preparing for our 3rd child {a girl!!!}, changing doctors again, Alan changing jobs, packing, then storing our stuff, then moving and unpacking.  I think that is it...?  SEE!  This is what goes through my mind and then my anxiety starts to build but the the Holy Spirit reminds me of these verses.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in EVERY situation, pray and petition God and He alone will send peace that is beyond what I can even begin to understand.  That stuff is not worth focusing on.  Think about things that are true, right, pure, praiseworthy!

Oddly enough I feel that peace right now.  Isn't God so good!? 

So, you may be wondering why all this.  Why are we moving?  When we accepted the call into youth ministry at Southwood, Alan had a steady schedule at a full-time job which allowed him to be home by 4:30pm every day, only working 4 days a week, and rarely a Saturday.  That allowed for ample family time as well as time to invest in others, i.e. teens.  Since last March, his j.o.b. has required more and more of him causing enough stress completely on it's own, but then you add ministry and schooling on top of that and you have one very over-worked man before even adding family to the mix.  Alan and I both saw that the demands outside our home were becoming too much.  We both began to pray and petition God for direction.  Something had to change but we were not exactly sure what or how.  Alan applied for other j.o.b.s that would come with a more constant schedule and still allow him to be in 'paid' ministry, no such luck.  Okay, more prayer.  We explored other options and received a closed door, followed by a closed door, followed by a close door...you get the picture.  Then the thought came to moving back to the town we both grew up in and where all of our family lives.  We knew that we needed time to restore our relationship and build our family back up and in Fulton we will have support from both families and of course, babysitting!  Plus, Fulton is a much smaller, slower paced town.  So we continued to pray and we looked at our options there... 

And out of no where, bam, an easy transfer to the office supply store which Alan currently works for was available in a near by city.  He knows the manager and she practically begged him to come.  She was also able to guarantee him a set schedule!  And this store would be much slower paced than his current one.  Alright, but what about pay?  Columbia obviously has a different pay scale than the store in Overland Park.  And once again, he received more than enough to cover our monthly expenses.  So, okay, now what about some where to live?  We knew we would have family kind enough to allow us to stay some where for a short amount of time, but that was not a permanent option for us.  A week and a half ago, we took a trip to Fulton expecting to look into renting something only to find that what we would need for our growing family would be way out of what our budget could afford.  Sad.  What about buying?  We looked into it knowing the max amount we could pay for a mortgage payment and that amount gave us just enough house to be more than comfortable.  Alright, this is looking good.  Spoke to a realtor who was able to show us house after house all weekend on such short notice and we found the one!!  I still get overwhelmed at how perfect it is for us at this time in our lives.  God had us in mind.  Well, we are new to the whole buying a house thing so we had both of our Dads {who both have a construction background and built both houses the currently live in} look at it and it passed their inspections.  Made a low offer which was countered by a much higher one, and then made our second offer expecting to have to go up more in order for the seller to accept.  To our complete shock, our realtor called us on Saturday and told us the seller accepted!!!  Our realtor said she about fell out of her chair when she got the news.  She thought the list price was more than a fair purchase price for this house compared to similar ones sold in the last year.  God is SO good!!  Tomorrow is the inspection and if all goes well with that and the appraisal we close on July 13th.

During the time when we were contemplating moving to Fulton, I kept asking God, 'If this is not your will for us, please, close doors.  We want to follow your will!'  But time and time again, the doors kept opening and we kept moving through them.  I have no doubt that we are going where God is taking us and although it is so very hard at time, I know the reward is great.  God has a plan and I am willing to follow!

I selfishly ask that if our family comes to mind that you would lift us up in prayer during all this change.  We want His will to be done!

Thursday, June 9, 2011

what was i thinking?

This post will not be very long because I have so much to do before tomorrow.  Alan and I have talked about having a garage sale for a while and finally decided this weekend would work out great.  I have been sorting through our stuff for weeks now but I would take my time and was not motivated to get much done.  I am great at procrastinating and leave most of the work for the last few days.  {not a good idea!}  Combine that with a 4 year old, 2 year old, and pregnancy, it makes for a challenging time.  And on top of all that, I am beginning to feel pains in my hips and back just like I did when pregnant with Taylor.  Ugh!  Please excuse my constant complaining!  Sometimes it helps to be able to put into words the frustration I am feeling. (:

I just need to remember that it is not the end of the world if I don't accomplish everything I intended to for the sale.  *Sigh*  And it will be worth it in the end.  My house already looks less clustered with a lot of items out of it.  Maybe next time I will remember not to wait till the day before to do the bulk of the work?  I hope so!!