Grace

In our ladies Bible Study we are working thru Seeking Him. This book has been an enormous challenge and blessing to our group.

We meet every other Tuesday, so there really is ample time to finish the 6 days of assignment, but being the procrastinator I am, there is usually a small or more often than not, large chunk of the homework I find myself scrambling to do right up to the time I walk out the door on Tuesday evening.

With that said, I did have a most of my study done this past week, but I had left some to go thru Sunday evening, Monday and Tuesday. My plans were derailed by the advent of an EF5 tornado in our area Sunday night, and the resulting clean up and helping out where ever needed. I found myself once again headed out the door Tuesday evening having not completed the study.

Our time was sweet that evening as we discussed grace, and my heart yearned to go back and finish this chapter before moving on to the next.

I've known all along you can't really get the full benefit of this study with out going thru ALL the information, but somehow skipping the tough stuff of Day 5 and the Making It Personal assignment is quite tempting!

Yesterday, I sat down and picked up where I had left off. As I worked thru the verses and answered the questions about grace, God poured out peace and comfort in abundance!

This tornado stuff has been quite draining, and our family didn't even lose anything! There is a large part of me that attempts to lessen the load others are carrying by taking it on myself. The very thought of all our friends and neighbors are dealing with is overwhelming both mentally and emotionally.

But that is where the grace comes in! Grace is God pouring into our lives resources we lack!

Following are various excerpts God used to bring comfort and encouragement to my heart yesterday and today:

God will provide all the grace we

need to face any demand.

..because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in trasgressions - it is by grace you have been saved. In order that.. He might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in His kindness to us.. (Eph 2:4-5 &7 TNIV)

Grace is: God's love flowing freely to the unlovely.

-J.I. Packer

Grace does more than affect our standing with God, Grace affects our experience as well...Grace is a way of life.

-Larry Richards

Grace is not simply leniency when we have sinned. Grace is the enabling gift of God not to sin. Grace is power, not just pardon.

- John Piper

We need His grace to do anything that is pleasing to Him. In fact, there is not one single aspect of the Christian life that we can handle apart from God's grace!

Grace gives us both the desire and power to obey God.

His grace is His supernatural supply for all that we lack.

God's grace is available and sufficient for your need- He will provide a way for you to endure.

And God is able to make ALL grace ABOUND to you, so that having ALL sufficiency in ALL things at ALL times, you may ABOUND in every good work.

(2 Corinthians 9:8 TNIV)

My grace is sufficient for you..

(2 Corinthians 12:9b TNIV)

Pajama Party Part 2

We enjoyed having friends again last night, we just wish it were under better circumstances.
There was a tornado in the area last night and our friends lost thier garage and then had to be evacutated due to an amonia leak in the area.
This time we got the parents too!

Pajama Party!

We had the extremely fun privilege of having "extras" today. I kind of kidnapped them. Their dad was helping Don shingle the roof on our house, and their mom had work to do on their basement. (it flooded recently)

Things were going so well, I offered to keep them overnight and return them to their folks in the morning.


I have found it often works better to have more kids around. They distract my own and keep them from fighting with each other!


Things went SPLENDIDLY all day. We had a great time!


Here is a mug of our 5 plus 3 more boys. Our girls were slightly outnumbered!



P.S.

I made a call to the lady I bought the vase from. She is going to check into getting me one with yellow. I think another Sarah's yellow fetish is wearing off on me!

Am I Being Too Annal?

Okay, quick vocabulary lesson.

Rhetorical question: Things people ask, but don't really want an answer too!
Here's the deal. A friend started a home business. She handed me a thick catalog. I instantly fell in love with THE MOST expensive decorative item. It would perfectly compliment my new kitchen, and the Fiesta Ware I was planning to decorate with. I even had a special shelf under a window by the sink it would be right at home on.

I tried to rationalize the purchase, but even the $20 gift card didn't cut it. But the vase still beckoned me from the now closed catalog.

I told my hubby. (I wanted to bring him in on this so that if the vase did indeed show up at our house, he would know it didn't belong.) He recruited our kids to pitch in and buy it for me for Mothers Day! How perfect!! No guilt, tons of love!

Vase was back ordered. Waiting.... Waiting.... Waiting to order. In stock! SOLD!!

It arrived today and I...... Kind of love it, BUT.... One of the things I liked best about the vase was the slender lines of color all coming together, and the cheery statement of the sunny yellow.

As you can see the vase came sans cheery yellow stripes and with slightly bolder lines. It was then I noted the below statement in the vase description:

As each piece is hand-made, slight differences from pictured item are possible.

So, here's my dilemma, is trying to obtain the cheery yellow worth all the time it will take on the phone to get it?!!

I still like the vase, but I want to have NO regrets on this one!

Chaos!

It's official! I have started packing for our impending move.

Our house was in total chaos from the past couple of weeks. I have been gone more than normal, and my house doesn't clean itself.

I recently saw a sign I wanted to buy. It read, "I cannot save the world and keep a clean house at the same time!" I thought it very applicable to my life.

So, today I was finally home ALL DAY. Some of the mess I needed to tend to was a result of seasonal clothes. Myself and the kids have been diving into the summer clothes to find shorts and things, but I needed to officially go thru them to find out just how prepared they were for summer. Of course getting out summer clothes meant putting away winter clothes, and making piles of the things Jesse and Delphia had grown out of. (yes, I am going to just go by their given names. I can barely keep them straight as is is!)

As I was putting away the winter clothes I thought, "I am not going to need these until after we move. (I hope!) I need to set them aside so they can be moved to the new house as soon as the basement floor is in! I need to create a staging area. I know, I'll move the bunk bed back into the boys room and turn Homer's room into the staging area!"

Thus, what began as cleaning, turned into upheaval, as you can see in the pictures below.
Living Room

Homer's Hole

Boy's Room


Any time I move beds I am in for tons of surprises! Thankfully I found Jesse's belt behind Jon's bed. It is the only one we have that fits him and with his tiny waist he NEEDS it!

Homer's bed is another story entirely! He fritters away more useless garbage than you can imagine! Add to that some use full items I have been looking for, and clothes that needed to be in the laundry..... It was a good thing he was at school!

Now, as bed time nears, I am exhausted, yet happy. I was able to find the floor in Homer's room and started NEATLY stacking things I have packed and ready to go to the new house. I have clean sheets to put on the beds in the boys room, and you can now walk in the hall way and our room. My kitchen is clean(er), but my living room will have to wait. I am going to the park with my kids and a friend tomorrow.

(Yes, I know I have TONS to catch up on as far as this past week is concerned. The graduation, roofing, the kids cross country race at school... I even contemplated blogging about the DELICIOUS pancake with strawberries and whip cream I had for breakfast/lunch! It was too good!)

For now I will leave you with this pic of my two "helpers", Jesse and Delphia. They were in their pajamas all day!

Framing Day ?

Things have been HOPPING around here! Today was the final day for our "hired help". BOY! are we glad we hired them! It goes so much faster when you have 4-5 guys working on it 10 hours a day. Having the proper equipment sure helps too. They ended up bringing in a crane to set the beam over the living room and back porch.

Tomorrow we have some friends helping put the shingles on. The windows are ready and waiting for us to give the go ahead on delivery. I still need to order doors.


Tomorrow we also have an open house to go to for my "Baby Sister". I prayed for years for a sister and finally got one when I was 12. I ended up with a double blessing when I got another sister 5 years later.

Anyway, here is my sister B. Take note of the pink sweatshirt. She NEVER wears pink! I had to photo document! We really couldn't be more different! Her fussing and complaining to mom about my doing her hair, was just a foreshadowing of her disdain for "primping".

B loves to hunt and "field dresses" on her own. (If you don't know, trust me, you don't want to!) I cried all the way thru having to package the deer burger when I was a teen, and I didn't even have to touch it!

B was there when I got engaged, and cried because I was crying. She came out to Michigan after I was married and stayed for weeks at a time. She has always been too good to me! She even cleans my refrigerator!

B will spend her summer working as a cook at camp, then the plan is off to Bible College for a year and a half. She plans to get a Missionary/ Nursing degree. She has already taken quite a few classes at the local community college and has her CNA.

B graduating convinces me even more "time flies". I noticed the other day our youngest is tall enough to spit in the sink. It really hit me! I cried.

I am sure I will cry tomorrow, or at least Sunday during graduation. I can't believe how amazing my sister is! I am so proud of her!
(In my defense, I did potty train her, teach her to read, and spent countless hours fussing over her, so I have the right to sound like a mom!)

Framing Day 9

Just a quick update on the house. They were able to get all of the trusses up and even started some of the sheeting. The living room is going to be vaulted. They haven't done any of the beams for the part to cover the living room.



Also, tonight the Dike New Hartford 3rd and 4th graders had their spring concert. They sang a few songs together, and split by grade for a few more. The kids did a great job and it was well directed. The picture isn't very clear, but the flash did ZERO in that lighting and at that distance!

Homer is on the left end of the front row. He was doing the "Hobo Dance".

Our first tour

Yesterday afternoon we had our first walk thru of the main level of the house. It was fun. I looked forward to it very much! We also enjoyed our first kiss in the upstairs. I don't think the ones in the hole with basement walls count. Of course the roof is not on the house yet, so we have that first to look forward to. Then there is always the windows, doors,drywall, carpet cupboards, toilets, bathtubs.....



This is the view into the living room from the front entry way.



Here I am looking into the dining room/ kitchen from beside the stairs in the entryway.

Blessings

Here is our gang. They will from now on out be refered to as Bones, Beany, Joe,Phebe, and J Dog.

Framing Days 6, 7, & 8

Wednesday I didn't post pictures because they would have looked like the ones I posted Tuesday.

That is not to say there wasn't progress. The framers were able to get all the interior walls on the main level up that day. I just didn't want to bother them, and there isn't really an easy way for me to get into the house right now.

Thursday they planned to start setting the trusses. However, due to a break down of the truck delivering the trusses, they had to call it a day on our project at 11AM.

Hopefully today they will be able to deliver the trusses. I won't be driving by today because I am filling in providing day care for a friend.

Tonight I am going to a Mother Daughter Banquet with my mom, grandma and sisters. I understand ,my mom-in-law and 2 sisters-in-law will also be attending one 500 miles away tonight. I am sorry I can't get to both!

I have some training for the Weekend to Remember Conference tomorrow morning.

Don and I are looking forward to walking thru the house for the first time together tomorrow afternoon!! I am sooooo excited!

These Little Piggies

I was trying to come up with a cute poem of this blog, but I don't have the time or the energy it would take me to be THAT witty!

The facts are these....Jesse, our youngest, who is 4, was running thru the living room barefoot Tuesday afternoon and tripped over my "boot". (the boot is the air cast I have for MY broken metatarsal)

Jesse hit the floor screaming, crying and holding his left foot. I could tell by the intensity and duration of the cry this was no stubbed toe.

Long story short, Jesse has 1 maybe 2 hairline cracks in for sure 1 maybe 2 of the metatarsals on his left foot!

(Do you have any idea how bad a mom feels when she was directly involved in things like this?!!!! Don't get me wrong, I didn't trip him! I was just stetting on the couch visiting with a friend, and he was coming to show me something)

I called the Dr right away, but he said to come in in the morning. Jesse had cried himself to sleep on my lap.

The funny thing is, the break isn't very bad, and both myself and the doctor were concerned if we casted Jesse it would actually cause him to be unsteady and possibly be more harm than good. We are just to keep his foot as flat as possible, and we will check back next week to make sure the break isn't getting any worse.

Jesse hasn't been in pain much since the first night, but he is quickly becoming a little tyrant! I love him to death, and I feel badly for him, but I'm not into the "How high" response when he says "JUMP!"

Just a note before I post this: My mom just called and ask if it would be helpful for her to keep Jesse until I am over there tomorrow night for the mother/ daughter banquet. My response- TREMENDOUSLY!!

Framing Day 5

The North, West and South sides of the house have the sheeting up and the Tyvek. The East side walk out is framed!

Framing Day 4

THIS is what I have been waiting for!!! You can now see our house from the road! Yeah!!!

Also, the boys found "swords" and "guns". It made their day!!!
( I really need to blog about my kids sometime!)

Framing Day 3

Day three was Friday. The framers were able to get all the sheeting down on the floor trusses before it started raining.

Help Me!

Dear friends,

Please keep Don and I in your prayers. God has been teaching us ALOT about loving others, and He is giving us loads of opportunity to practice!

This past week we have had 2 aquaintances attempt suicide. One is a teen, one is in her 40s. Both desperately need hope.

Thankfully the teen is set up with a godly counsellor. I pray we are able to encourage her, but also her mom and sisters.

The other friend is needing rehab and I am busy this morning trying to find options for check in Christian options. (I have a great friend from the West Coast helping on this too. Focus on the Family has been, and will continue to be, very helpful to me and the one needing the counsel)

Framing Day 2

Yesterday they got the exterior walls up on the walk out. Today they put up the load bearing interior basement wall and put all the floor trusses in place.