How to choose a house

We've been looking at house for a few months now (okay really two years, but we've been looking a lot in the last few months). I am sure that we were driving our realtor crazy.

"We'd like a house that we will both love and work for us for the rest of our lives"

Ok, let me think...

"Also we like older homes that are unique, but not too unique. And it has to have a great yard, we love our yard. Oh yeah and a good neighborhood, not too much traffic or noise."

Sure, gotcha.

Turns out that we would make the decision purely on our gut instinct, which is just the way God made me. I can rarely put into words how I know which way I am to go, but when I am sure I am sure, my gut (the spirit leading) leads me. I had never heard of the neighborhood where "our" new house is located, but when I walked in it was like meeting Kyle for the first time, my heart was beating very fast, I was in love.

Kyle and I are blessed that when it comes to homes we never disagree, he felt the same way. So in the midst of laundry, packing for a cruise, cleaning, and appointments we made an offer on a house.

Our offer is contingent on selling our house, don't want to run the risk of owning two houses at once. So far it has been good and crazy. Who knew how many people would want to see our house, I thought we might have missed the selling window..we've had 2 to 3 visits per day. Let's just say I it is not easy on a 3 year old and a 1 year old to be expected to keep the house clean and not be able to be home playing most of the day. But the good news is, we had an offer made after only 24 hours. We still need to sign the papers and I know that there are a number of things that could go wrong, but if we continue down this path, we will have sold our first home and found our next one.

It has been a whirlwind, and we have from time to time looked at each other and said, is this the right decision? And we both feel at peace that this decision has been prayed over from the very beginning, always praying that God would open the correct doors, and close the wrong ones. So even though there may be a more "perfect" house out there, we will continue to walk through the doors that God opens and see what He has for us.

Sail away with me

I've been away on a cruise with my sisters, it was wonderful. Coming home was a little overwhelming, there's a lot going on, including put our house up for sale.

I will blog soon with pictures from the cruise and details of this new home adventure we're on, but I just wanted to let y'all know I'm still here! :)

A heavy load

I used to read about God's people in the Bible, the Jewish people, and think what is wrong with those people, how can they be so disobedient, how can they have such little faith, they forget so quickly.

Now, I read it and it brings me comfort, because so often I have become exactly like the Jewish people in the Bible, doubting God just days after he performed a miracle in my life, or deciding I can really get through my days without Him because after all I'm busy and I'm pretty good at controlling my life.

If I was to walk you through our adoption story (most of which you can read throughout this blog) any fool would tell you God's hand was upon this journey. Every single thing we prayed for God took care of. It was as if He said, "Look, ALL I want from you is to obey Me, I will take care of EVERYTHING else." And He did.

So how is it that, every time the next thing comes up in this journey I can forget all I've learned and decide to take it upon myself to handle this problem.

Jack is doing great, he is healthy and thriving, he is walking, talking, and happy as can be. The only problem in his health now is his size, he is 15 months old now and according to the growth chart is the size of an average 7 month old. This is not entirely unexpected, after all he did have a cleft palate for the first 13 months of his life, has had his world turned upside down in the last six months, and was little when he was born. But being a mom, I find myself obsessing over this so-called problem (although the doctor does not even call it that), I take it upon my shoulders to fix it. I am constantly thinking about how much (or little as the case may be) food he's eaten, comparing him to every child his age we meet, and wondering if there is something I should be doing differently.

The other night I had worried myself into exhaustion as I lay in bed trying to sleep I felt like there was an elephant on my chest. I finally remembered who could actually take care of this situation and began to pray. The Lord spoke to me in a story to help me to see the situation more clearly, this is what He showed me.

I was walking in some kind of airport, carrying just enough baggage that I was able to do it, but was bent over under the weight, walking at a snail's pace. My heavenly father walked up to me and said, "May I please carry that baggage for you".

I responded without thinking, the way I've been trained to reply, "No, I can do it". "My dear daughter," he responded, "it would make Me glad if you would allow me to carry your baggage." "No" I said, "Look around us, there are people everywhere with way more baggage than me, go help those people, they really need You."

He smiled at me a loving smile without condemnation and said, "I am strong enough to carry all of my children's baggage, it is no trouble for Me." I ignored Him and kept walking, until something on the ground that I didn't see tripped me up. I fell to the ground, and once there was no longer able to get up. All the baggage was weighing me down and it was impossible to stand up with them draped all over my shoulders and back.

He walked over to me, picked up all my baggage one by one, then bent down and picked me up too. As we set off, I felt firmly grounded for the first time in weeks. The elephant was off my chest and peace filled me. I finally realized that indeed I could not do it all by myself and fell asleep safely in my Father's arms.

.

Unfortunately, I will again go and take that baggage back from the Lord, sure that I indeed need to be in control, but I remember that dream He gave me and I hand them back over and know that all I have to do is obey, He will take care of everything else.

Please pray for me that I do not allow Jack's height/weight to become my latest worry and also for Jack to eat well and grow to a healthy height and weight.

Congratulations on three years

Dear Kylynn's Mommy,

We want to congratulate you on your three years of service in this position. Although your performance reviews have not all been positive, we are happy to report that we are overall pleased with your accomplishments in this position.

This position has not been easy, so you should feel proud of yourself for having survived three full years. We would like to encourage you that although there are over fifteen years of this position remaining, they will fly by as quickly as the first three. We hope that you now realize you are fully capable of successfully filling this position. Please remember you survived twenty seven hours of labor, nineteen months of nursing, countless hours of lost sleep, tears and frustration aplenty both on your and Kylynn's part. You should be proud of yourself that you succeeded in surviving these hard times and be encouraged in the future when more come your way.

Never forget that this position, though it can bring heartache, is perhaps the most greatly rewarded position available. The hugs, kisses, "I love yous", and giggles should be referenced when having a particularly difficult day. The rewards will change in the remaining years and sometimes may have seemed to disappear completely, but never forget the ultimate reward in your future: grandchildren.

Your role if done correctly will glorify the King and can draw others to Christ. Never forget who it is that you're working for and know that you can always call on Him, no matter what resource it is you are lacking at the moment. Raising children who love the Lord is the greatest accomplishment you will ever have and we continue to hope this for you and your family.

Sincerely,
The moms who have gone before you

My colorful family

I guess I've forgotten to remember that there is anything unusual about my family, in fact the other day I was looking in the rear view mirror thinking about the similarities and differences in the way my kids look for a few minutes before it dawned on me that they do not share the same genes! :)

So it was in that same mindset that I had a good laugh the other day. I was standing in the baby section in Walmart looking over some jammas, and having a hard time finding what I was looking for. I noticed that there was a lady less than ten feet from us open jaw staring (I kid you not). So I thought to myself, wow I must be doing such a great job parenting these fussy toddlers, she's amazed at my paitence with my children, I swear that wishful thought really went through my head :). But then she continued to stare and I started to think for sure I had some huge bugger or something else hideous on my face, I proceeded to wipe all over my face trying to feel what it could be that was causing such attention. It wasn't until the staring went past a full minute or two that it dawned on me that she's staring at the different colors God has used to make our family. I started laughing out loud right there in Walmart, I should have known that my parenting would never make anyone's jaw drop! :)

Summertime*

*I must admit that as I type that word, I immediately begin singing the song, "Summertime", by Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff, just in case you too wanted to get in the mood.*


It's officially here, Summer. That time of year when you pick up your kiddos and smell that wonderful sunblock smell. If they made a kid's sunblock perfume, I would buy and wear it all summer long. We've already had our first sunburns, me, Kyle, and I'm embarrased to say Kylynn, although hers was very mild. We've been to the pool twice and were pleasantly surprised to see that this is going to be the year of the pool. Both times, both kids loved! it. Kylynn has previously found the pool too boring and simple for her ever moving self, so this was a very pleasant surprise.

I busted out my calendar today and saw that low and behold our summer is already almost completely filled up, so much so that I think I might long for a lazy summer day (I know I'll soon eat my words). We've got some vacations, some weekend trips, and I have my (rescheduled) cruise to look forward to.

We lived outside this past month, but I know that soon that will be over as the true heat will find us and make outdoors sadly unbearable. It was fun while it lasted. When living outside one, eats outside. The other night we had ribs and asparagus on the grill, Kylynn loved the ribs, ate them better than I do, and Jack loved the asparagus (ok, so he didn't eat any but he had fun playing with it).



So now as always at the beginning of summer I'm looking forward to all it will hold, come July I'll be longing for Christmas and come Christmas I'll be longing for summer! :)

I'm back

Not sure exactly what happened last week, I have no real excuse, I just didn't turn on my computer. But I'm back now and will be sure to keep the blogging more regular.


While not having the computer on, I pretended I was crafty and we made pine cone bird feeders.