CLOSED!!!!!

Today ended a 6 month process of purchasing a house in Germantown. When moving to Louisville we never expected to be in this position. We assumed we would find an apartment and live there until we left in 5 years. Recently God has showed us that we will most likely be here at least another 5 years and we have been here almost 2 already. So right after Reuben was born we began looking and found a house a street over from Sojourn Midtown. In November we made an offer and it was accepted. Then the process began. Forms, paperwork, signatures, estimates, inspections, etc. It was crazy. We thought many times we were at the end and could close.
And today we did! It is still setting into my mind that we are home owners, but we are. God is gracious and He has walked with us through this whole process. We have learned much about God's timing, God's sovereignty and patience. It has been amazing to see Him working in us and around us as we waited for everything to happen.
We are still in a bit of a waiting process as there are some renovations to be done. The house is over 100 years old and there are some necessary things that need to be done before we move in. We are excited about the renovations and about moving into the house as soon as is possible. There are so many possibilities and we know God has a plan for us in this house. Can't wait to update everyone on how it's going!

Our House!

HE IS RISEN!!!!!

HE IS RISEN INDEED!!!!!

Yes, I realize I am a couple weeks behind. I had intended to write Easter Sunday to break my hiatus, but God had other plans and here I am 2 weeks later writing what I had planned to write then.

It was a much needed break for me as I prayed, evaluated and sought what I need to be doing for the Lord. I am still consistently working to get my priorities in order to have God first, my husband second and my kids third followed by any other ministry and work the Lord would have me do and it is not easy. I have learn a lot about myself in the past couple of months. Most of all I am REALLY lazy and I want to do what I want to do, I believe we call that selfishness. This is me and I HATE it! I hate that my heart so longs to lie on the sofa and watch TV instead of sit at the feet of Jesus. I hate that I want to look at things on the internet that seem so important instead of reading my kids a book. I hate that I want to imagine my perfect house and set up and find all these things to make my house great instead of caring for the home God has given me now. I HATE IT! My priorities are seriously out of whack and I am still wrestling with the Lord to really understand where He wants me to be and what He wants me to do. I am wrestling with Him to put off laziness and selfishness and put on compassion, care, action (God-centered action) and work that comes from a grateful heart. These are things Christ died for and because He is risen they are now locked in the grave! Thank You, Jesus! Thank You for taking my sin and for not leaving me in it, but helping me put it off and put on You! My desire is to be more like Christ. I am learning everyday more of what that looks like and how to trust in the grace of the Lord to save me from myself and put on Christ.

I hope that this Easter did not just slip you by, but that you had an encounter with the True and Living God who saves His people!

Our weekend was incredible. Friday evening we attended Sojourn's Good Friday service where all 4 campuses gathered. It was an amazing time of worship and reflection on what Christ endured for us!
Saturday our family celebrated Passover. It was really neat to reflect on Christ's death and resurrection and the new life we have when we are in Christ from a supper that started many years before Christ came to die but symbolized it. What an amazing feast.
Sunday was a restful and reflective day as we celebrated our Risen Lord at church, rejoiced as one of our Community Group friends was baptized and spent time together as a family. I am so thankful for a weekend to really think and reflect upon our God who is mighty in power and deed, but loves us so deeply He would die for us so we could have a relationship with Him. Who else can say that?

A Month in Skirts

In thinking of things I would like to try, I decided to challenge myself in wearing a skirt out for the whole month of January. Why? Honestly, just to see if I could. And with it being one of the coldest months of the year for us, it is good practice in case I ever live somewhere where I would need to wear skirts and they also have cold winters. It was an interesting challenge for myself. I think the strangest thing for me was that no one noticed. I did not do it to be noticed, but I really only wear skirts to church, so it was funny to me that I was not asked about it. I suppose that is also a good thing as I tend to evaluate the dress of others far too frequently in my mind, and to realize that if people think any thing that they also just keep it to themselves and I would never know.
My strangest incident was being asked at McDonald's one day if I was Mennonite. That I was not expecting, but I found it humorous and thought, "Yeah, I guess I do look kind of like a Mennonite." I have also joked about living with the Amish for 6 months to learn how to do everything from scratch, which added to the humor for me.
Mentally it was good. It made me realize how clothes make you feel. Obviously it does not give the same feelings to everyone, but for me I felt very feminine and "homemakery" (yes I just made up that word) while I wore the skirts. I felt different but in a good way. Because it was a personal challenge I probably over evaluated things while I wore them, but it definitely helped me in knowing I can wear skirts, life can be done in skirts and that they are very feminine. I also discovered if I were to wear skirts continuously I would need to make many of mine ankle length so I do not trip up the stairs. :)
If you are a woman and don't like skirts, challenge yourself and see if it opens up something new for you.

Old Testament

Last semester I took a New Testament/Old Testament Survey class as part of SWI. Unfortunately it is a 6 week class and so we spent only 3 weeks on each part. Might I point out that that is not nearly enough time to cover that much Scripture! But it is what it is. I learned so much in that 6 weeks. I read the whole of the New Testament in about 8 weeks and portions of the Old Testament. This class seriously challenged me in the Old Testament. I have read the entire Bible at some point in my life, but like many Christians just saw the Old Testament as history and not Scripture so much. I believed it was all true but again as history. Dr. Betts pointed out to us that in the New Testament whenever they talked about the Scriptures being good for teaching, rebuking, admonishing, guiding etc, that they were referring to the Old Testament. The New Testament had not been put together! Hello, why had I not realized this before? This has challenged me to go back and read the Old Testament through thoroughly and closely to see what God has to tell us about Himself and about Christ before the New Testament existed. It has been an interesting ride thus far, being challenged and stretched. Learning how the Old and New Testaments work together. I have a lot of questions that I am reading and researching about and discovering more about our "Jewish Roots". I pray for clarity and guidance and that I would live a life pleasing to the Lord. It is a daily battle to know what all that means, but I know it comes back to the greatest commandments, Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.

Biblical Homemaking

I touched a bit on this a couple of posts ago, but a friend challenged people on her blog to summarize their focus for 2012 in a work or two. Biblical Homemaking is now my focus, my theme, or whatever you would like to call it. It is a process. Some days are wonderful. Some days are painful. But ultimately I want to become more like Jesus in my home and keep my home the way that God designed. I hope as I go on this journey I will remember to post what I'm learning that it might help someone else. I know homemaking does not look the same for everyone, but I find it encouraging to hear from others on their journey to discover Biblical Homemaking. So, let the journey begin!

Lesson Learned

November and December ended up a bit crazier than we had anticipated and as a result we ended up with a "7 week vacation". By that I mean that we did not do school or have a schedule of any kind from the week of Thanksgiving until the second week of January. We learned the hard way this is NOT good for kids! We did travel and see family and friends during 2 1/2 of those weeks, and my parents visited one week, but that is only half the time that we took off. What did we do the other 3 1/2 weeks? Honestly, I don't know! I know we dealt with awful behavior, fights, excessive whining, screaming, and that's all I remember. We were all lazy and the kids reacted horribly to it. Let me say here that we have to deal with these things normally, but for some reason they seemed to be 10 times worse during this time. Just 1 week of being in a semi-routine (that is ever being tweaked and changed) has made a huge difference in temperament and feeling in the house. I cannot really give credit to routine (though it would be easy to say that as someone looking from the outside would say that was it), but it is God working in our home, Jesus's blood covering us and the Holy Spirit working in our hearts. We are having family devotionals 5 days a week, God is helping us to teach our kids grace, and our priorities are beginning to line up as they should under God's rule. God is faithful to His people, and I am thankful that He is even when we are unfaithful. I pray that we will continue to grow close to Him and that His ways will become our ways every day.

(It's been a year and a half since we came to Louisville. What a fitting post for today!)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Yes, I do realize it is a couple weeks late, but what can I say, life is busy and sometimes other things just take priority. I do not do New Year's Resolutions because there is nothing magical about January 1st. That being said, I do have goals of things that I want to grow in, get better at, etc. I have seen this on a few blogs and really like the idea of things I want to do, strive for, try, or what have you in the next year. So some things that I have thought about and considered to strive for in 2012:

1. Grow closer to the Lord and learn His Word to the best of my ability to test everything I am learning and trust that His Holy Spirit will guide me to what He desires me to do
2. Making my home a priority
3. Learning more about grace: both the grace given me though Christ and giving grace to those around me
4. To become somewhat comfortable in the kitchen, not a gourmet chef, but just not freak out when I try to make something I have never made before.
5. Be diligent in scheduling. This I am sure will require constant revising, but my goal is to always begin the day with the Lord and allow Him to guide my days so that I may not accomplish everything I want, but I will accomplish what He desires for me to do.
6. Reading more! By this I mean not just a bathroom book but reading at least one book a month on top of my reading for SWI.
7. Write more! This includes journaling, blogging here, blogging for others when needed, working on my fiction works, working on potential non-fiction book(s) and songs/poetry. I really do have a love for writing and I know God wants me to use it for something.
8. Prepare lesson plans 2-3 weeks in advance (or at least think and start prep 2-3 weeks ahead) and be more diligent in preparing things that will challenge the kids and me
9. Exercise Regularly
10. Eat healthier and make better decisions in the food department
11. Begin learning how to garden and hopefully have a small one this year
12. Decrease the amount of TV I watch. With Jim working evenings sometimes I can get sucked in and waste so much time that I could be doing more productive things (see above)
13. Pick a curriculum to increase formality with Jamey for school this coming school year
14. Sew Something!
15. Learn as much as I can

This is not an exhaustive list, but it's a beginning. My ultimate goal is the first and to bring God glory with everything I do to make His name great among the nations. Please feel free to ask how things are going and hold me accountable. The Lord has already done more in me than I could imagine and I know He will continue to draw me to Himself as I seek Him. Here's to 2012 whatever it may bring!