Welcome to our New Home!!

I want to say this is our new home, but legally we won't own it officially until our closing on September 29 (Lord-willing if everything goes through). It's twice the square footage of our current house but I'm a little nervous about how quickly it will begin to look cluttered once that moving day comes. The secret I've found through this process of selling our first house is something we've all heard, "A place for everything and everything in its place." That's what I hope to accomplish in the first few months of living in the spaces you see below. Again, thank you Jesus!! (Click on pictures to see larger.)


Here's the driveway, front walk and house!


This should be a great play area for two little bodies.


And here are two lookout posts for the same little bodies.


Dining roon is inside the front door to your right.


Nice breakfast area.


Yeah, the counters are NOT white!!


The barstools will be fun to have. Oh no, something else for Braewyn to hurt herself on!


I can't wait to use the fireplace once it gets cool this fall.


We've already had to discipline the kids about not throwing things down the stairs so I hope I won't have to repeat myself too much. All bedrooms are upstairs and laundry room too.


This room makes me so excited. A huge playroom and great school room if we continue to homeschool past this year.


And here's the backyard Matthew was praying for. Our lot is 0.8 acre so lots of room to run, have a garden and a dog!

A Review of "The Ministry of Motherhood"

I actually finished reading the book about a month ago but with everything going on, I've put off writing the review. Thank you Brooke for staying after me. I hope it is beneficial for others too.

This book really is wonderful in helping any mom who is seeking to live according to God's will for her life to realize how she can help her children live more fully for God. The author Sally Clarkson set the book up in five parts with each beginning with the letters of the word "GIFTS". "We used the word GIFTS as an acronym to help us remember the spiritual priorities in our children's training" (pg. 14).

GRACE... of time together, of encouraging words, of forgiveness in action

"Words matter! They have the power mysteriously to enter our hearts and minds and lift us beyond the present moment into the presence of God Himself. How important it is, then, that we mothers, shepherds of our children's lives and hearts, choose our words to them carefully. We must deliberately aim our words at their hearts in such a way as to give our children hope, faith, strength, and also to point them toward the redeeming love of Christ" (pg. 44).

INSPIRATION... a sense of purpose, a sense of God's powerful presence, a new kind of love

"Giving our children the gift of inspiration -- helping them understand their spiritual purpose, which is to glorify God and to make Him known -- is one of the most crucial tasks of Christian parenting" (pg. 66).
"Bus as we all grew together, I came to understand the importance of pointing out to them the abundant evidence of God's power and glory and presence that surrounds us. This act of directing their eyes and ears beyond the mundane to the wonders of God's work is one of the most important ways I can give my children the gift of inspiration" (pg. 81-82).
"Walking with God without the moment-by-moment awareness of our companionship with a divine being becomes just a hard, taxing obligation. A child who does not have the opportunity to marvel at the bigness of God, the wonders of His creation, and the reality of His supernatural work will tend to measure the questions about "who God is" according to his or her finite, limited perspective" (pg. 85).

FAITH... in a living God, in God's Living Word, in the Spirit's power

"The best way we can give the critical gift of faith to our children, in other words, is to exercise faith in our own lives -- to accept the difficulties of life and choose to trust God in the midst of them. This means we will choose to be thankful, choose to be joyful, choose to be mature and strong, and try to be an example for our children. It also means we will talk to our children about why we're choosing to respond in this way and share with them what God's Word says about faith" (pg. 113).
"Trusting Him will become a natural, first response of children if they are raised from earliest childhood to pray to God and to walk with Him each day of their lives" (pg. 115).
"And then, as I looked back over the past two weeks ... I found myself pondering how important the Bible had been to getting through each moment. It had taken me through the times of challenge, stress, illness, work, and grief. It had guided my thoughts and words and equipped me for the tasks I was facing. Through His Word, God had given me all I needed to live productively through the challenging circumstances He brought my way. He will do that for my children, too, which is why the Bible must be at the center of all we do as parents. One of the central ways we give our children the gift of faith is to base everything we do on the Word of God" (pg. 124-125).
"I must do what I can to stay connected to Jesus at all costs. Only when He lives through me will I have the patience, love, faith, strength, perspective, and understand I need to raise godly, faithful children. Spiritual fruit in the lives of our children even depends--up to a point--on my staying connected to the Lord" (pg. 131).
"If I trust God to care for me, I must trust Him to do the same for my children" as in when they are growing up and not physically near us (pg. 132).

TRAINING... children to think, children to pray effectively, children for tribulation

"To me, it's a comforting reminder that any kind of training takes time, patience, and endurance. If Jesus Himself had trouble getting through to His disciples--even with miracles!--we human parents shouldn't be surprised when the process of training our children hits some difficulties" (pg. 145).
In response to talking with her young daughter about having bad dreams, Clarkson writes, "By helping her develop a habit of thinking biblically about her own little-girl fears, I could reduce her stress in the present. In the process, I could also prepare her to think clearly and wisely as an adult, when she would encounter much more daunting challenges" (pg. 152).
"Jesus spent most of His time as recorded in the Gospels teaching His disciples how to think. As we give our children the gift of a trained mind, we give them the ability to resist temptation when we are not with them, to overcome fear when Satan whispers lies in their minds, to rely on the Holy Spirit when they need wisdom. The mind is a muscle that must be exercised and correctly trained, but a well-trained mind makes it so much easier for the heart to follow Christ in faith. When it comes to protecting and preparing our children for all that will happen in their lives, the gift of a disciplined mind is one that truly keeps on giving" (pg. 154).

SERVICE... with a willing heart, with hardworking hands, in God's strength

"Giving our children the gift of service is not really a matter of teaching them what to do. It's more a matter of helping them look at other people through Jesus' eyes and respond as He did. It really is that simple--though it's often not easy" (pg. 181).
"Training our children to put their energies and talents to work in the area of ministry is so important. We must not just tell our children that people should share their faith and then do nothing; we must show them a life in which we are sharing our own faith" (pg. 190).
"I don't have any desire to make my children feel guilty for what they are naturally--sinful and immature. But I do want to lead them away from their natural sinful tendencies, to show then how to use self-control and discipline their character, how to walk with God and let Him develop in them a heart of compassion" (pg. 190-191).
"In the end, the measure of my success as a mother will not be how well I have taught my kids or cared for them but whether I have been faithful in helping them respond to God's call on their lives. Seeing my children develop a heart for God's service and begin to find their own place of ministry in the world is a reachable goal for me as a mother, because God designed me to fulfill this purpose. This is the true ministry of motherhood--to usher my children into the living presence of God, to nurture in them a heart for Jesus and the Great Commission He has called each of us to fulfill" (pg. 208-209).

These were just some of the passages which stuck out to me. This is a well-written book. Clarkson also includes many stories of conversations she's had with her children about how she helped them think through their decisions and situations they have encountered. With my kids only 4 and 2 years old, I found this book invaluable as I ponder how I'll handle things as they grow older and enter the elementary and teenage years.

Busy, Busy

The grass is always greener is something I'm relating to rather well these days. All my griping about keeping the house tidy during the months when we aniticipated showings is looking rather appealing. Well, not the griping but the absolute tidyness of the place. With the contract came a feeling of relaxation about the housework. I am still much more on top of things than I was before we listed the house and actually I could get it "virtual tour" ready in probably three hours or less. There's just a lot floating around in my head making me feel crazy with our home schooling starting next week, MOPS and BSF starting the following week, the desire to deep-clean the house in the next three weeks (I was brought up with the mindset of leaving a place better than you found it and since we bought this house brand new I at least want to make it as clean as I can), and the underlying excitement / nervous energy surrounding making an offer on a new house, waiting to see if it is accepted, having a home inspection done, and going to closing praying that everything will fall into place.

All that said, we're going for a second look tonight at our two favorite houses. Matthew and I are in agreement leaning toward one of the two houses, but I look forward to hearing what Rappy and my Dad have to say about the two properties. I'm looking forward to posting photos of the one we choose! Today at lunch Matthew said, "One month and four days until we move!" Yipee! That will be the true countdown if our closing does occur on September 28.

Booboo Braewyn

Our precious girl has had a week. On Tuesday, we visited the first house of our house hunting adventure (a full blog post coming tomorrow, but in short, we've visited 11 houses and are deciding between two we really like!). We were approaching the front door and poor Braewyn begins running down the drive and toward the front door. Mind you, there is a brick front step in front of the door. She trips and falls on her arms and hands about a foot out from that brick step. My heart lept but was so thankful when I realized her face had not hit the ground!!

Next incident was sorrowfully self-induced. On Wednesday we babysat a little friend from church. Braewyn, Philip and Laney were sitting happily on the couch watching Veggie Tales, and also happily sharing a bowl of popcorn. A few minutes later as I'm in the kitchen, Braewyn and Laney walk into the kitchen and Braewyn says, "Mommy, popcorn, nose." She's pointing to her nose. I notice an unpopped popcorn kernel in one nostril of Braewyn and Laney each. My heart started racing. What to do!! I ran to the bathroom for the tweezers, laid Braewyn across my knees and tried to withdraw the kernel. I couldn't get a grip on it. I ran to the kitchen with the girls following me.

I took out some toothpicks and turned to approach the girls. Braewyn suddenly has her finger in her nose trying to get the kernel but instead pushing it further in her nose. I turn to Laney who thankfully has not touched her nose. I am easily able to flick the kernel from her nostril and breathe a sigh of relief. But my poor Braewyn!! I tilted up her nose and could see the shiny edge of the kernel high in her nasal passage!! Call the pediatrician.

I took her in after lunch (yes, Braewyn ate lunch with popcorn still in her nose) as that was their first available appointment. I'm trying to remain calm so she wouldn't get scared, but I was really nervous as to what procedure would be used to remove an object from my daughter's nose. Praise God because it went so well. Braewyn willingly told Dr. Shelley, "Popcorn nose" and then laid pretty still as Dr. Shelley used a sort of scissors / needle nose plier to remove the kernel. Popcorn free!!

Well, things often come in threes and Braewyn's third "injury" came Thursday evening. Philip was run down from the week and a little cranky. He decided Braewyn needed to have a few of her things. Matthew and I were in the kitchen while the kids were in the living room. I didn't realize anything was happening as there is often squealing in the house. We found out that he threw her baby dolls and stroller at her before hitting her with something which made contact and produced a loud cry. Here she is with her shiner which came from Philip throwing none other than...

a small blue Gideon New Testament at her face!!!


(I'm realizing now the popcorn and bruised face were week before last and the fall at the house was this past Tuesday. It all runs together!)

Our Big Announcement...

It's now official so I can post it here... our house is under contract to be sold. Praise Jesus! Matthew and I met with Rappy today at noon to sign the contract which had already been signed by our soon-to-be buyer. If all goes well, we will close on September 28. At the moment, I feel homeless. We've signed away our house and do not have another yet. Not to worry because Rappy said with our credit level and amount we're putting down on the new house, once we find that said new house the transaction should be completed in 2-3 weeks. That brings us to the exciting part... house hunting. We're looking at one tomorrow at lunch and four on Thursday evening. We have 5 or 6 others that we'll get to next week. How fun!! It's one thing to see the photos on the internet, but entirely different to walk through them and actually see the place for yourself. I CANNOT WAIT.

The path so far has been amazing and I know God will make His plan just as clear when we come to picking a house. I have to give Him all of the credit as I was just not a tidy homemaker before getting our house ready to sell (you remember the photos, right?). Thankfully, He placed in my life my mom who is great at organizing and could really have her own design show on HGTV. Thanks Mom for getting the ball rolling with helping me stash a bunch of stuff that we didn't need sitting around. Next God brought our realtor Rappy who is a wealth of knowledge on selling homes and from whom I developed "The Rappy List" (all items are complete and then some!). Both with Mom's and Rappy's help, the sale of my house was completely still in God's hands and providence. I praise Him for seeing fit to bring us a buyer. His time is perfect!! Why did I ever doubt? Moving at the end of September means I can continue to prepare for our school year over the next two weeks, potty train Braewyn next week (I know she's ready if I would just focus some energy on it; i.e. twice yesterday when I changed her diaper, she asked if she could wear panties!! Let me know what you think. Is is dumb to train her if we're moving in a month?), and get three weeks of school behind us so that we're in a good routine. Yes, we will have to pack all our belongings in the mean time, but there's not that much here due to the overly crowded storage unit (at least that's what I'm telling myself!).

I'm sure the next six weeks will be stressful, but a little added adrenaline is good for the system now and then. I'll keep you posted.

Blog Update

Just thought it was time to update the look of my blog again. This seems to be a nice calming background. The photo at the top is of Philip and Braewyn pretending to be puppy dogs. They were taking naps!! Their creativity makes me laugh almost daily.

Here's a snipit of a conversation I had with Philip yesterday.

Me: How do you know God loves you?

Philip: Because He gives us our daily bread every day when we need it. When you tell me I've had enough non-nutritious snacks like sweet stuff then you tell me I can have my nutritious daily bread like apples. I like apples with peanut butter!!

Praising God No Matter What

Last night we had a showing for our house. Around 1:00pm yesterday, I got the call that a realtor would like to show our house between 7:00 and 8:00pm. Plenty of time to get the place ready albeit also go into obsessive compulsive mode wanting the place to be perfect. Praise be to God, it basically was! I wanted it to look at least as good as it does on the virtual tour so that the family would find it as they were expecting to.

Hopefully we'll hear something today either via the Centralized Showings website where the realtor who showed our house can leave a comment or by our own realtor giving us a call. Of course, I'm trying my best not to run around the house singing, "Let this be the day we get another offer!" Yes, that's what's going on in my head, but there are also other thoughts. My house is pretty much spotless and it's a WONDERFUL feeling. It is encouraging to know that I've come to a point where cleaning my house is something I now desire to do. If we hear today that the family thought our house was nice but not exactly what they were looking for, I'm still blessed by my hard work and WE can enjoy the loveliness of it ourselves. I thank my Lord for creating in me character through this process of hoping and waiting.

We'll see what comes today or in the weeks to come.

Change in Blog Links

Ellen is a friend who I met because our husbands went to high school together. She has decided to change over from having a family blog, "o my gracious!", to one more solely focused on her in-home business of handmade purses and bags. Now you'll see "handmade recess" on my side bar. I look forward to reading her posts about her sweet family and how she strives to serve the Lord. How she gets to making all the handmade items on top of that is inspirational to me!

Did We Miss the Window of Opportunity?

Braewyn was showing a lot of interest in potty-training back in March. We had a little potty set up in their bathroom and she would often run back there and come announce to the family of her accomplishment! Very exciting. Well, I didn't pursue it but just let it be up to her as I was hoping to be moving in the next 6-8 weeks and thought she might relapse anyway. That phase passed and now she is more than content to stay in a dirty diaper until we notice. Occasionally if she wakes from her nap and I see that her diaper is dry, I'll say excitedly, "Let's go peepee on the potty." She'll pull down her pants and then take her diaper off. I give her a little help getting up on the potty (the plastic seat is clipped onto our actual toilet these days) and making sure she is sitting back far enough. Then come the expected words from my sweet, independent, 2-year-old child.

"Out, please. Privacy!" (sounds like "pwivacy" when she says it)

Oh my goodness! How do you potty train someone who "needs" privacy? I have worked with her on this however because it started with just "Out, Mommy!" and a hand pointing toward the door. I told her we weren't going to have that but I would step into the hallway if she were nice about it. And here we are.

Some kids train by 2 years old, some by 3. Braewyn is only just over 2, 27 months actually. We'll see where we stand in another month or two and try again.