A divine appointment

Last night I decided to walk down to the beach after taking a ridiculously long soak in the bath. Scott never likes me to wander off alone so he recruited Jack to go with me.

Jack hollers back to me “you’re walking slow tonight mom!”

We arrive at the beach and look for the sandcastle we’d built yesterday to no avail. I see a woman come out and sit on the bulkhead. I take this picture.

Jack says the bugs are eating him up and he’s heading back home. I walk behind him slowly, the woman says hello to me. I feel the Holy Spirit moving me in her direction. I ask her how she’s doing tonight. Her wobbly smile betrays the truth and she starts to cry. “It’s a nice place to come for a cry.” I say, she chortles softly. “Tell a stranger your troubles” I say as I sit down next to her. She talks and I listen. A little while goes by and Sam arrives to fetch me after hearing Jack’s report to Scott that “mom is talking to a stranger”. He sits quietly as we continue talking. I end by placing my hand on her shoulder and praying for her. God wants her to know, and He wants YOU to know, you are not alone. He sees you, He knows your pain and He is loving you right through it all. You are one in a billion, and He loves you. You may have no one to talk to but He is listening. After ALL is said and done, after this life is done, HE IS THERE. Put one foot in front of the other and do the next thing. God is still on the throne. And remember, NONE OF THIS TOOK GOD BY SURPRISE.

Thank you God for this divine appointment. You are always working around me, I just had to show up, listen up and speak up. All glory and honor and praise are YOURS.

Things aren’t always as they appear

My camera was refusing to let the light in, but I love how these turned out.

Scott and the boys watching as the crazy sun goes down.

This is the last one I took before my camera finally started responding to my bossy commands.

 

These pictures are a prime example of why shooting in manual can be challenging, and they’re also a prime example of how things aren’t always as they appear. It was NOT a dark day, and these pictures really should have been MUCH brighter, yet here they are, coming off my sd card and into your eyeballs just like that.

Visuals can be deceiving. That lady with the tattoos is really- really nice, and the teen girl with the purple mohawk has a toddler that she takes for a walk around the neighborhood every single night right out of pure love. That really  smelly and tired looking man just pulled a LONG shift at the local poultry place, so he could take care of his “five head o’ young’un” including one that’s heading off to college in the fall.  Everyone has a story, but can you hear it? Everyone, EVERYONE needs your grace, your compassion and your mercy.

Something I’ve been praying and singing a lot lately, “Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy on me” and I change it up “Lord have mercy on her, and him, and them.” Lord have mercy.

When you don’t know how to pray, you can always pray for mercy.

Are you proud to be an American?

There was a time when I sang that song real loud “Cause I’m proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m free.” and I meant it, I felt free and I felt proud.

It’s not that I’m not proud, but I think an overwhelming sense of shame has crept in. It just seems things aren’t going the way I thought they would, people don’t honor God, they hate Him. People don’t value free speech, they tell others to shut up. People don’t have pride in their work as much, and so many more have plain given up hope. I think it’s a lot to talk about, and a lot to think about, and I just don’t want to get into it here.  But I do want to share what WE do about it.

*don’t tell others what to do, but share what you do*

We teach the kids about freedom, and how it was fought for over many many years. We teach them about hard work, and about how the founders of this country had to work to get things going. We teach them pride in who they are, and in what they believe. We teach them courage in their faith, and to not be ashamed of who they are, no matter the hate that comes their way.

We teach them respect for the American flag, and that includes some practical things, like don’t let it touch the ground, and how to fold it.

I love this little capture of our life. We take the flag down at the end of each of Scott’s evening shifts.

Waving in the wind.

 

Max reaches up to catch it as it comes down.

 

Getting it down and off it’s rope.

 

Jack helps smooth it flat as they start to fold it.

 

Scott shows Max how to fold it “Like a paper football”.

 

Almost done.

 

Scott carries it into his office to put away until the next day.

 

It’s just a relic, a thing, a sheet of fabric, but I want to boys to understand what it means to us as Americans. And I pray that one day, if the Lord tarries, that they too can sing “And I won’t forget the men who died, who gave that right to me.”

 

Praying for Joy, Peace and Thankfulness

These three things, Joy, Peace and Thankfulness have been on the top of my prayers lately. I am desperate to be thankful in all things. I find myself so anxious when things don’t happen quickly, and that leads me to pray for peace. I find myself a little grumpy at this interim, and that leads me to pray for Joy. I have this desire to call all my friends and ask them to pray for me, but then I remember, I can pray!   So I do. I pray Lord, give me peace in YOUR timing, give me joy in THIS moment, and show me how to be thankful for what You are doing and are going to do. 

I get antsy, and then the phone rings. The gal on the line says she ran into someone she grew up with and he’s moving out of his house. She says he’s interested in renting it out. She meets me and shows me the house, and I fall in love (as much love as you can for wood and stone and glass). 

our new home, from the front

our new home, from the back. 

 

This is a great GREAT place. I prayed for something that wasn’t too big or too small. It looks a LOT bigger than it is. I prayed for a place with hard wood/tile/NON carpet floors (because of the boys allergies, and easier to keep clean). This place has NO CARPET. I prayed for a place close to Scott’s work, and close to town. This is both of those. It is such a clear answer to prayer, and we are so happy and thankful for this gift God has so richly given us. I am blown away, and kind of in shock at the abundant blessing. 

We are aiming to move in June 1, so only three more weeks of hotel life! We are kind of getting the hang of it, but I know the dogs are bored to tears not being able to get about and sniff everything.  I’ll post more pictures of the home here as soon as we are inside. It’s really neat! 

The ball started rolling

Let me back up just a bit. My dad found out he was sick with cancer in March 2011 and immediately we started praying that God would help us get out of this house and closer to our parents.(right now we are 3.5 drive away) Both our parents are in Virginia, about 15 minutes drive from each other. It has always been our mindset that we should care for our folks in their old age, and dad’s diagnosis was just the thing to get the prayer going with real regularity. I want to tell you about “the phone call” but that involves more than myself, and after writing up a draft I’ve decided to just tell you MY side of things. This involves skipping a bit for the “public” but I have documented it all in my personal journal and can tell you, God was in it all. To sum up that call, I learned that I would have to wait a bit longer than I had expected, to give in my notice. I wasn’t upset and had a lot of peace about it actually. I turned forty April 6 and I had it in my heart and spirit that I WOULD be back home with the boys by my birthday. 

As it turned out, because of a great job opportunity for hubby, we are moving to Virginia at the end of next week. Once I knew we would be moving I gave in my two weeks notice. The end of that two weeks was three days after I was to turn forty. However in the middle of that two weeks one of our sons was hospitalized, and because I wasn’t sure when I could come back to work, my work took me off the schedule for the remainder of that period. Hence, not only was I home FOR my birthday, I was home almost a full week before it. God is in this.  And you saw that the job is IN Virginia? Virginia is a big state, we will be only 1.5 hours from either of our parents. God is in this. 

So, I would love for you all to do something for me. I would love you to join me in thanks to God for this move, for my coming home to the boys, for this great new job for my hubby and for the new proximity to our folks. God has answered so much and more. I would also love for you to join me in petitioning God for 1)the quick sale of the house; we don’t want to make one cent, we just want to pay off what we owe. God is big enough! 2) for us to find a house to rent with a fence, and in a good neighborhood. Fences aren’t something the folks where we’re moving to do much, so it’s becoming an obstacle, but God is in this and I KNOW he has a house that is JUST what we need. So far He has done “exceedingly more than we could ask or think” and I am so thankful and excited to see what He has for us next! Lastly, as I’m left behind with the boys, cleaning and painting and getting things ready for the move in 7 days, please praise God for the peace that He has so generously given me so far. I haven’t freaked out once! Yes I’m overwhelmed and Yes I’ve got to have a notebook with me at all times to write down things to do and people to call and emails to write, but I haven’t freaked out. I prayed in the beginning for peace, and God has so graciously given this to me. Thank you Father God! 

Also, I really see a future for my boys in painting! They’ve each contributed in some way to the taping, rolling, trimming and painting of three different rooms so far (two in the last three days!)