babies in blue on Easter morning

Happy Easter!  Will update with egg hunting pics if I get a chance this afternoon.  Right now we're off to a church breakfast and then to worship our Risen Lord.

MOB challenge GIVEAWAY!

I just KEEP hearing about this little book and the ladies who have read it and taken the challenge.  So when an opportunity came up tonight for me to receive a copy for myself and a copy for another mom just in time for a new challenge, I jumped right in.  If you saw my facebook post last night, maybe you also have a copy?  If not and you want one, leave a comment and I'll have one of my warriors pick from a hat :)  The challenge starts May 1, and if you don't win and didn't see the offer in time but still want a copy, relax, it's only $3.  If I'd known that I would have been "in" a long time ago, lol.

home!

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing this letter in addition to the offer submitted to purchase your property located at 410 Court Street in Little Valley. I thought it might aid your decision to let you know why we are looking at this particular house and what we intend to do with it.

My husband and I are high-school sweethearts. We were engaged while I was in college, right after my husband joined the Navy. During our tours here and overseas we agreed that a life in the military was not conducive to the type of family life that we were hoping for, and so when his enlistment was over we moved back from Italy with 2 children and a very small house fund. We have been in the states for about a year and a half now, living out of that fund while Daniel finishes his Associates in Criminal Justice in preparation for the Sheriff’s Academy next year.. His ultimate goal is to work for the Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s Department, hopefully out of Little Valley. With 2 little boys running around, a newborn 3^rd boy, two cats and a dog, we were very excited to look at this house. After our initial tour, we decided it would be worth every bit of labor and cost involved to invest in this old house to make it into a home for our family.

H will be sworn into the Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s Department this spring, and we must be living within the County limit before that (we are currently in Allegany County). If you accept our offer for this house, it is our intent to put a lot of sweat equity into restoring the flooring, woodwork, windows, and walls of the downstairs portion of the house during the summer. We will tackle the upstairs, insulation, and put a new roof on as soon as H is done with school and the Academy and working full-time again. We are excited about the potential that a double lot brings for a sandbox, garden, and plenty of grass for the kids and dog, and the fact that the county seat, local elementary school, and library are all just down the road is an extra bonus. When the upstairs is complete, it will boast a larger bathroom, sewing room, and playroom/schoolroom in addition to bedrooms.

Purchasing our first home is something that we have been praying about for years now, and we are excited that we might be only days away from making that dream a reality! Thank you for considering our offer.

Sincerely,

ps: we got it!

home?

still praying about it (a LOT). join me, won't you?

more pics

up to lately

(pics that didn't make it onto the blog yet) If you ask nicely, I might consider more words about particular pics.

1. DSC_0059, 2. puzza with yaeger, 3. duck eggs, 4. monkey's dedication, 5. vroom, 6. comparing gashes, 7. CA great grandparents, 8. NY great grandma, 9. schoolwork, 10. mowing, 11. balance bike, 12. fireman, 13. book reading, 14. superhero, 15. denise and erin's socks '09, 16. striped tank (+baby belly)

ps on the striped cami: I made it! tutorial here (part 1) and here (part 2).

can I get an amen?

my God is so BIG,
so STRONG,
and so MIGHTY,
there's NOTHING my God cannot do!

Haven't had your devos this morning? That's ok, I've got ya covered.
Do you all know that my eyesight is terrible? That I rely on contacts and wear them too many hours in the day? I bought 2 pair of glasses in the states right before we moved here, but they are both broken in the same place and are not quite the right prescription anymore, so I never wear them. I have just been lamenting the fact that I miss the availability of glasses in the morning and at night, and apparently God got tired of listening to me complain.

After I got dressed this morning, I decided to put away some of the laundry folded and stacked nicely piled precariously on top of my dresser before putting my itchy contacts in and going downstairs. I got near the bottom of the pile and discovered a box of precious memorabilia miscellaneous junk. Near the bottom of that was a pair of glasses I've had since high school. I keep meaning to give them to my doctor cousin who goes on missions trips to places where glasses are harder to come by, but have never gotten around to it. For some reason (thanks God) I decided to try them on. Wouldn't you know, but they are the right prescription and I can now see! For all the years of not-so-careful storage, they are in perfect shape and the only scratch is the one I put there within weeks of purchasing the specs in the first place. Exactly the motivation I needed to finish folding and putting away my clothes and move on with my day.

I am so blessed. Now I just need to learn to pray for things as I think of them instead of complain; I bet my prayers would have been answered a whole lot quicker!!

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
His mercies never come to an end.
They are new every morning,
new every morning,
Great is thy faithfulness, Oh God...
Great is thy faithfulness.
~song I learned as a kid, taken from Lam. 3:23

Obedience

A neighbor and I have been talking lately about our 2/3 year old sons and their varying levels of obedience. It drives us crazy that our boys seem to turn a deaf ear, stall, complain, get distracted, or otherwise manage to be disobedient after we have given them the simplest of jobs (requests, commands...). We would like them to obey us, in the words of a fellow blogger, "right away, all the way, and in a joyful way," because we understand that obedience is one of the cornerstones of christian discipline.

It is clear to both of us how to proceed in this training up (at least in theory); it is just a matter of practicing these methods every single day in every single situation. As Christians, my neighbor and I are also holding each other accountable in our relationships as daughters of God in regard to this practice of prompt, complete, joyful obedience.

Yet again I am receiving lessons on faith from my not-quite-3 year old. Talk about humbling!

Reading the Fleece

Ever read the story of Gideon? Go on, I'll wait. It's short (unless you want the introduction and conclusion, in which case you'll have to read a couple chapters. worth it.).

Yeah. That's me with this whole "going home for a visit" thing. I've been trying--first passively and then actively--since Thanksgiving. Each time a new date/plane/cheap cabbie gracious relative came up, I would get my hopes up and pray, "Oh God, this would be a great time for me to go home. Thank you for working out the details." And then the details would get all messed up, and I would find myself on the couch, leaking disappointed and frustrated tears into my knitting/hot chocolate/sleeping child's hair. Right before Christmas, I started to get it. I even told my dr. cuz that "I'm finally learning that God will probably let me do what I want if I force the issue...It'll just be an uphill struggle with many setbacks and detours and headaches until I finally realize that I'm going the wrong way and stop and ask for directions. Maybe one day I'll ask and then wait for an answer before I set off..."
After hitting "send" on that email and copying the words into my journal, I ruminated on them for a few days until slowly my prayers turned to "Ok, God, here's all the possible routes; I've marked them clearly on this paper for you, along with the pros and cons of each. Any directions you'd like to highlight?" And then I packed my bags again and waited. Nothing. Just more "no exit" signs that I chose to read as "detour" or "decreased speed ahead" for weeks.
This weekend was my last attempt(s). The suitcases are still in the car, but even before I made the last call to the terminal to check availability of seats I knew I was not going anywhere. God wants me here right now. I don't know why he doesn't want my family to see the youngest outlaw and reacquaint themselves with his older brother, but I DO know that I am ok with taking a backseat and enjoying the view. I am not putting out any more fleeces, and I am not forcing the issue. Bring on the chocolate and the knitting (no tears this time).

ps: Here we are, together for the long haul. pic not exactly related to post, but whatever.

(almost) WW: good start

book: Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World by Joanna Weaver.
coffee: flavored with pralines and cream creamer
boys: plotting conversing on the floor
spirit: refreshed