Our First Field Trip!

This first week of school was fun yet very trying at times. I've had no formal teaching training and never thought about how hard it might be to instruct someone on how to write. Philip and I made it through three sessions of handwriting lessons (we'll do handwriting on Monday, Wednesday and Friday) and he did get better with each one. All that hard work was rewarded when we headed out Friday morning for our first field: visiting our local non-commercial airport!! We'll be learning the alphabet in correct sequence. Therefore our first week focused on the letter "A" and "A is for Airplane"!

I have lived here in Spartanburg for 9 1/2 years and finally feel blessed to have visited this tiny piece of history. The Spartanburg Downtown Memorial Airport was built in 1927. Charles Lindburgh was at the dedication of the airport just months after completing his famous solo flight from New York to Paris!! Very cool! There are portraits of noteworthy pilots hanging in the main room of the airport. I also enjoyed reading the memorial stones to Philip which circle a flag post in a grass area. All the men memorialized were from Spartanburg; some died while flying in WWII and others died while enjoying their hobby of flying. I never thought we'd study history while on our field trip too!!

When we went inside, I told the man at the "check-in" desk that we had begun homeschooling and were learning about airplanes. I asked if we could watch any that were to take off or land and he said that a small private jet was about to leave!! He said to just stand on the inside of the white wall. What a blessing to arrive just as the jet was leaving. The pilot waved to the kids from his window while checking all the pre-flight stuff! After the jet taxied away, the airport man came outside and invited us to go to the top of the tower. This airport is no longer operated from a controlled tower. I asked him, "So is it basically, fly at your own risk?" and he said, "Pretty much." From the tower, we watched the personal jet take off, a smaller Cessna plane take off, and the local TV station traffic jet land and then take off. What a great time we had!!












Upon getting back in our car, I told Philip, "I'm not that good at teaching yet, and sometimes writing is hard for you, but guess what? We both LOVE field trips!" His face beamed.

Our First Week of School

Last Wednesday, Philip, Braewyn and I began our first year of homeschool. This will be Philip's 4-year-old preschool year with Braewyn just tagging along for the fun. So far, so good. I'm still trying to feel it out. Not try to replicate what I remember public school to be like. Trying to keep it on a play-level, but accomplishing each day's set objectives. I do love the layout of the curriculum I chose, Hands On Homeschooling, because there are four "units" for each day which give us enough to work with (around an hour and a half each day) but not too much to feel overwhelmed. I'm still feeling a little like it's Vacation Bible School as with that I would read the entire week's lesson ahead of time and then each individual day's lesson the night before, making sure I had all of my supplies gathered together. With VBS, you know it's over in a week and so I'm trying to pace myself as this is a year long which I can't think about too much. I know God led me to think about the idea of homeschooling and to teach Philip this year so I just need to focus on the fact that if He called me to do this, He will give me the strength and endurance to carry it through to completion (Phil. 1;6, Eph. 2:10).

Here are a few photo recaps.


We begin each morning with a prayer and then Calendar time (review the day, date, and weather). My good friend Regina put this trifold together for her son last year and graciously passed it on to me. I just added the calendar poster which Philip and Braewyn love adding the numbers to.


Philip has gotten very good at coloring over the last six months. Handwriting however will probably be our biggest challenge this year. Thankfully my friend Carlotta suggested I just let him do lots of letter tracing before we begin to actually write letters. Great idea! I forgot how hard writing is if you're just starting out.


They both enjoyed taping coins to cardboard (insides of cereal boxes) to create money bags. It was the craft which accompanied our first Bible story, Ananias and Sapphira from Acts 5. Wow, what a way to start the year. Philip learned in this passage that the couple lied to God and He stuck them dead.


The curriculum's arithmetic portion starts out way below Philip's current ability level. On Friday we were "learning" about matching patterns. I look forward to November when I'll teach Philip to count to 40 using beans!


Each week there is a "cooking" unit. This first week we focused on the letter "A" and were to make applesauce but my blender is in storage (coming out soon!). I looked ahead in the book and chose to make week three's food, shipshape snacks (we'll learn about sea travel then; this first month in social studies, we're learning about transportation).


Today (it's Labor Day anyway... rest from work, right?) and tomorrow we're having a mini-vacation from school as Philip and Braewyn's cousins Hannah and Madeline are visiting with their mom Aunt Lori and dad Uncle Jonathan. Here are the four cousins in the front yard of our new house. It was great walking them through the house and makes me even MORE excited to move in three weeks!!!!

Team Impact comes home

For those reading who attended the Team Impact event at our church this weekend, here's a few photos of my own little Team Impact members showing their stuff.




Philip obviously didn't miss a thing of the real event as the reenactment was close to it. After "smashing" through the "wood planks", he blew up a "hot water bottle" (i.e. a hair brush which he threw across the room signifying the explosion) and tore apart "phone books" (i.e. slung a stack of story books left and right). I then asked him if he wanted to talk about anything as the men of Team Impact presented the Gospel message at their show. He said, "I work really hard at being strong. And Jesus loves everybody." Good synopsis. Later that afternoon when Matthew asked Philip about playing Team Impact and how he smashed up everything, Philip said, "Well, obviously they didn't really smash because I was using my toys." Quite the factual little guy.

And here's a photo of him with another bit of truth... I think this makes it official!

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.

A Moment to Treasure

This morning I saw Braewyn hit Philip. I asked her why she did that and she tapped her shoulder and said, "Bubba hit me." Well, I didn't see him hit her but I told them to hug each other and say sorry. They hugged and then Philip said the sweetest thing to her.

"We're married now, my love, my wife. And I won't forsake you."

Where do they hear these kind of things? It was precious. Philip is in that stage of wanting to play make believe relationships. Often he and I are boyfriend and girlfriend. Sometimes Braewyn is the mom (designated by Philip), he's the 8-year-old brother (that's big and cool to him) and I'm the younger sister. And occasionally, like today, he and Braewyn are married.

I tell him he really won't marry his sister, but that God will bring just the right girl for him one day.

Now if I can only get Matthew to begin speaking to me as romantically as Philip did to Braewyn!!

Philip's "School Book"

Philip's "School Book" arrived in the mail on Monday. It is actually our "Hands On Homeschooling" 2 inch binder which contains a year-long curriculum for teaching 4-K (preschool for 4-year-olds). I was so excited to take the box from the mailman, but then as I began flipping through it, especially the 17 page Planning and Preparation section, I felt anxiety begin to grow. It was somewhat overwhelming to flip though but what got me was the thought of feeling out of sorts due to many items which would be handy sitting in storage in the storage unit. We've packed that thing tight so if I need to get anything out, it will ALL have to come out. I began to frantically pray, "Please Lord, let someone buy our house so we can be settled in our new home before September when our school year begins." I didn't feel it possible to teach Philip effectively without having everything at my finger tips and sorted out.

Thankfully, I did next pray frantically for God's peace and mercifully, He has given it. Even if we begin school in this house, there was a suggestion to buy a trifold display board (remember science fair projects?) to use for displaying each week's key items (letters, Philip's crafts, etc.) and just change it out each week. Another thing which confused me at first but now has me the most excited are the folder games which we'll do each Wednesday. Basically you take one manila file folder for each week of school and the inside becomes a boardgame or matching game or sorting game. The 26 folder games are explained in detail in that 17 page Planning and Preparation section. They are quick and easy games which I know Philip will really like and most likely can teach Braewyn to play too. It is recommended that you laminate (or cover with clear contact paper) the inside of each folder and all game pieces. I know if I take the time to make them nice they will last for when I'm teaching Braewyn in preschool two years from now. Maybe they'll be used for future children too!

The curriculum is completely broken down into a year overview, month overview and then individual lesson plans for Monday thru Friday. Exactly what I needed having no formal education background. Each day is composed of four "units". Everyday has a reading portion (but more so reading readiness instead of actually learning to read), a Bible portion (somedays we read the week's store with questions, other days we read the story and make a craft relating to it), a math portion which begins with sorting/matching and continues on to learning to count to 100 and write numbers, and then an assortment of other units (physical movement, music, cooking, manners, social studies, dramatic play, etc.).

If I can get myself started on putting the folder games together and gathering pictures for our Alphabet book, the year will not be as intimidating. And then the remembrance of our house being for sale hits me and I get a little uptight again. I could ponder if it would be harder to move before school while I'm trying to get all the prep work done or after we begin school and try to maintain a consistent schedule throughout. I take a breath and realize God's ways are always better than my ways. I'll look back on this time a few years from now and still marvel at how it all fell perfectly into place. I am so excited when I do think about house hunting and how we decorate and set up the new house. These weeks of being on the market have definitely honed my cleaning skills and desire for tidyness. Can't wait to post photos of our new house, but no telling when that will be. Actually need to go mop the bathroom floors now so better bring this post to a close.

So Big, So Fast

Please continue to pray for J.B., Matthew's cousin Mollie's son. He is doing really well as far as gaining weight, and sleeping and eating, but the doctors who have seen him do not know for sure what is wrong. Mollie and Michael are told that his adrenal glands are not functioning normally and this causes problems with maintaining his sodium levels. He is on a daily routine of salt water and steroids which is keeping him normalized. All that being said, J.B. is just a beautiful baby boy who has two loving, adoring parents.


We visited with them a week ago. Philip really loved sitting silently beside me and stroking J.B.'s head. Braewyn was a little rambunctious so we had to watch her as she flipped this way and that on the couch right beside me holding J.B.

Seeing J.B. in person, I could hardly believe my two munchkins had been that size once. I am just in awe of the Lord's ability to grow children from tiny helpless infants to the energy-filled tiny tots I live with today.

Here is Philip during his first week at home.


And here is Braewyn during her first week at home.


And here they are on Matthew's Uncle Dennis' John Deere tractor during our recent visit to Kentucky.

What Imaginations!!

Here's the "conversation" Matthew and I just heard.

Braewyn: Hey, doggie, doggie! (as she tried to "pet" Philip who was crawling beside her)

Philip: Do you mind! I'm a car driving myself!

Matthew: (laughing hysterically!)

Face Painting!

This past Saturday, our neighborhood held an Ice Cream Social to promote community awareness and a chance to get to know each other. It was a lot of fun as there was ice cream to purchase which would help raise funds for a new neighborhood sign, a firetruck for the kids to sit in and spray water for the kids to run through, sidewalk chalk and a woman doing face painting.

Philip was really excited to have a Spiderman web put on his face. I was surprised when Braewyn asked for something too and then sat still as a statue while getting Bob the Tomato from Veggie Tales on her cheek. Philip asked for something else and so picked an 8 ball from her example page. I don't remember ever playing pool with Philip but I guess he just thought it looked cool. Bob the Tomato got a little smeared up into Braewyn's eyebrow before he dried.

What God Taught Me This Week

I've always known that God hears my prayers, but now I know if you pray specifically, He'll answer specifically.

So our house is still for sale. As of this last Saturday, we hadn't had anyone look at it since early June. I had let myself again get to a very frustrated point (as you could probably tell from my last post). Saturday morning I woke up in a bad mood and frankly wanted to stay in that bad mood. Obviously Matthew could tell and suggested we go for a walk over to Milliken where the kids could run free and look for ducks at the pond. We began straightening up the house just in case someone called to see it while we were out.

"I am so sick of cleaning this house for no one to see it!" I said as we headed out.

Matthew kindly said, "Would it be that bad to clean it for us?" There was really no sarcasm behind his statement and it hit my heart in a way that I knew he was right. Keeping up with the housework has never really been on my list of favorite things so the house was usually cluttered and unkept. Somehow hearing Matthew say what he did and spending the next few hours enjoying God's beautiful creation changed my heart and refreshed my spirit.

We came home and after lunch, I swept and mopped all the floors, and cleaned the kitchen. Also that evening I read my Sunday School lesson which I would teach the teenage girls the next morning. God worked on me again as the lesson was titled, "Why Does God Sometimes Say No?" This is in reference to our prayers. The lesson goes on to give three answers: God wants to grow and strengthen you, God will always glorify Himself, and God has a greater purpose. He was clearly getting my attention as this process of selling our house has done all three. Of course I wanted it to sell the first week on the market but if it had I would not have developed the housekeeping habits I now have, I would not be able to rest in His comfort knowing He knows when and who will buy our house, and I am getting more daily excited to see where God is leading us after the house does sell.

That being said, I prayed Saturday night for God to please bring someone to see the house even if they didnt' buy it. We had just gone so long with no activity that I wanted a little confirmation that our house was still in play.

Well, Sunday afternoon found us laying around enjoying God's day and the phone rings at 4:20pm. Someone is looking at our neighbor's house and wanted to come see ours... right then! We scurried around, pulled a sleeping Braewyn from her crib and drove out of our neighborhood. About 45 minutes later (we just drove around, deposited some money at the bank, etc.), the showing agency called to say the agent was done showing our house but that she and the potential buyers LOVED it and were headed to the bank the next morning! We were thrilled! Monday came and then Tuesday and Wednesday. Today I emailed my realtor Rappy to see if he had heard an update and here's what he said, "The buyer does not qualify!" From the level of interest shown, I'm really feeling sad for them because our house just might have been their dream home.

And that brings me back to the beginning. Yes, I prayed for someone to see our house but not buy it and that's exactly what God let happen. I am not mad but just reminded at how sovereign a God He is. I thank Him for this new lesson in growing my faith, but am revising my prayer.

"Lord, please bring the family You have in store to buy our house and in the meantime, please grant me patience." Yes, I know people say don't pay for patience, but I'm at the point of driving myself crazy if I don't.

Lastly, here is the promised batch of before and after pictures to remind myself primarily of how far our house has come and really what a great house we are living in for this season of our lives.

This was usually how you would find my kitchen...

but now most days it is clean when I go to bed.

Our livingroom was cozy but just full of toys...

and now it's just a livingroom instead of a toy room too.

We also went from having a catch-all office / exercise room / playroom and...

an overcrowded bedroom which Philip and Braewyn shared to...

Philip's own big-boy bedroom with a fresh coat of paint and room for toys...

and a sweet baby nursery for Braewyn that is open and spacious.

Our master bedroom was never a peaceful retreat which master bedrooms should be...

but now it is!! Even when one of the children come running through.

We also had the house and driveway pressure-washed. I had NO IDEA how clean a driveway can look after pressure-washing. Wow!

And I also stained the back porch to complete the project. We've had a busy six months, but I believe that all the hard work up front and day-to-day upkeep now, will pay off in God's timing.

Quick Recap

We spent the last week (Thurs., July 2-Wed., July 8) in Kentucky with Matthew's wonderful extended family. They have a pool and so both kids became quite brave little fish. Here's a general rundown of our family.

Matthew is enjoying his job, at least most days I believe, and praying daily for our house to sell.

I'm deliberating about potty-training Braewyn now or after we move. And that brings me to my other issue... daily wondering if our house will ever sell and trying hard (well, not as hard as I should) to keep it from slipping back into the messy state it was in prior to listing it on the market. The place looked amazing all of April and May. Now the yard is getting burned up by the heat, all the marks around the house I erased with the "Magic Eraser" are back, and little piles of clutter are beginning to grow. We should have taken that first low-ball offer, but... God's timing is perfect!!!

Philip is enjoying his summer and fully obsessed with Transformers. He did learn to swim a good bit more from taking swimming lessons again this summer. He tells the most interesting little stories, usually about Transformers, and is looking forward to school this fall. Today I ordered the curriculum we'll use as we homeschool for his K-4 year. I chose Hands On Homeschooling because each month has a key Bible verse, a different Bible story each week which ties into the verse, games with the letters and numbers, manners, physical education, social studies, crafts and even cooking. I hope to get the material in a few weeks giving me August to read through it before beginning at the first of September.

Braewyn is speaking more clearly every day and using longer sentences too. She doesn't seem too interested in potty training so I might wait until August. She has come to love her baby dolls and our out-of-service cell phones. Quite the little girly, girl. I believe she would love to wear a face full of make-up and pierced earrings if we would let her. For now, we're sticking with chapstick.

Please pray for little JB

Matthew's cousin Mollie had her first baby on Wednesday, July 1. He appeared to be a beautiful, healthy baby whom they named JB. However after some blood tests, things appeared to be a little off. JB is still in the hospital and tests are still being run. It appears his adrenal gland might be too large and is causing his levels (i.e. glucose, potassium, sodium) to go incorrectly up and down.

Please pray for Mollie, her husband Michael and new baby JB. You can read more and see photos of this precious little man on their blog, Jackson World, which is listed on my sidebar.