Droopy, Slobbery, Floppy and Stubby

Two days ago I anxiously found my way to A Place Called Simplicity. I love the Memorial Box Mondays. In the midst of life, it is a refreshing way to read about God's faithfulness in the lives of others. It also makes you think about the stories in your own life.
Well, this past Monday I logged on and saw that it was a "rerun". I am a lover of rerun shows, especially if its a good one. I saw the title, "Ezra" and I almost, almost skipped it. I had read it a few times before and knew all about that cool rooster. But I love Linny and I think she's fabulous! So read it again. And I am so glad I did. Little did I know how I would need this story this week.

We are scheduled to move into a rental July 1st. Somehow there has been confusion about the pet situation. We have a small dog who is no trouble at all, but as it turns out, the owner wants no pets. Let's not forget that the people living there right now have a poodle. UhhhhHH!
My husband told me about this last night and I was not happy. Now, after being apart for many months I have learned to let things go. I know it was not his fault and I was proud of myself for holding my tongue. Worst case scenario, my dog will go live with my inlaws. That is, if they agree. For a year. Best case, she will have to live in the detached garage for a year. Now, I love my dog. She is a Shih-Tzu and not the kind of dog who wants to live alone in a garage. My heart is broken. But as I was talking to my husband on the phone last night I remembered Ezra. Immediately I calmed down and knew right then that the Lord was speaking to me. He cares for Maggie just like I do. He will take care of her.
I also saw this teaching moment for my girl. I asked her to pray with me that God will care for Maggie. I want her to know how God will provide for us.
And I trust that no matter what the outcome, I chose to trust Him.

Okay, well today I've had more fears. I do not want my dog living with my inlaws and I do not want her all alone in a garage. I was near tears today while we were playing at a park. We were packing up to leave and my mom told me to look and see what was coming. I turned my head not knowing what I was looking for. Then I see them. A pair of Basset Hounds. Two beautiful basset hounds. Droopy eyes and floppy ears. I was so excited I could have jumped all around.

You see, I want a basset hound. In the worst way. I am in love with basset hounds. I want a male and I want him as droopy as possible. One day I am hoping that my husband will surprise me with one. I am obsessed with them. The funny thing is I have never seen one up close. I fell in love with them only through pictures online. Not until I came to Tennessee did I actually see one for myself. I was on my mom's back porch back in April when I spotted this beauty named Biscuit next door. I have never been over there to pet her and have only watched her from a distance. So, to see these two up close today and get to pet them and get slobbered all over, I knew it was God. Some may argue that it was a coincidence. My God knows my fascination with these dogs. And the fact that my heart was broken over my dog, I knew He was all over this "coincidence".

And while this is not a Memorial Box Monday post, I still want to remember God's faithfulness on this journey. And it came in the form of droopy eyes, floppy ears and short stubby legs. Maybe one day I will own one and will always remember how much God cares for even the smallest worries in our heart.

*UPDATE*
I just wanted to say that the landlord is going to allow us to keep Maggie in the house for a refundable deposit. Praise God.
Now if I can just pry the deposit from my husband's balled up fists, we will be all set.

Memorial Box Monday

I love Mondays! I love to thinking about God's Faithfulness and I love to read about it too. Please visit A Place Called Simplicity for more stories of God's goodness.

Today's story is just another chapter in this great adventure. It is short, but powerful.

We have a house that we have been trying to sell since April. It is a mobile home and it sits on borrowed property. We have lowered the price and lowered the price. Lots of inquiry, but no bites. It is almost as if the Lord was saying,"wait on Me."

Of course we still listed it, because, duh, we are trying to sell it.

Once upon a time I felt the need to give it away. Yes, I said give it away. Give away an asset that would secure our future. Give away a profit that would ensure the funds to finish our house. I know how outrageous that sounds. I was scared of the idea, but excited at the same time. But, I'm the woman and I don't get the last say so. And that is well and perfect for me. I talked with a super cool chick about my grand idea and she prayed over me. Then I talked to my husband. Hahahahaha! Picture me laughing right now. It didn't go well. While my husband is a true follower of Christ, he declares he is not without his senses. He totally opposes the idea and I stand firm, but step aside. He is my husband and the Lord has put authority in him.

Let me back up a minute and tell you that I wanted to give it to a missions pastor and his family to live in. They are incredibly in love with Jesus and were very much without a home.

I wanted to just give it to them in the name of Jesus Christ and allow God to bless that in whatever way He wanted.

But it wasn't to be. So we have been trying and trying to sell it.

On one of the "on" weekends we get visits from my husband we were worshiping in church together one Sunday. This particular Sunday the church was taking a final offering to retire their mortgage early. It had been a huge campaign to pay off a huge debt that only a huge God would pull off. The pastor called for everyone to make a sacrificial offering. We took it to heart and placed a check in the offering plate. I was very excited because before the service I asked my husband if we would and he said yes. He threw out a number that matched the number in my own mind. I was initially shocked because I thought my number would be too high for him. God had spoke to both of us. Love it!

Three days later we get an email stating that someone from our Florida church wanted to buy our mobile home and give it to the church under the condition that this missions pastor could live in it for 2 years. Even as I type this, it astounds me. I had told a total of 3 people of my wanting to give our home away. One person thought my idea was crazy, one person lives across the country and one person was my best friend who doesn't talk about our conversations with others. Only God could orchestrate that plan. He knew in my heart that I wanted our home for this particular family. And He made it happen.

Now, my heart turns in 2 directions here. I am so excited that our home will sell and we will get the cash we need to proceed and hopefully finish building. But I am a little sad that someone will get this blessing. Yes, we are getting the blessing of income. I know this. But I wanted the blessing of sacrifice. I wanted to give it away so the Lord could stretch our faith. But He still works. He heard my heart. I feel like there are 2 blessings in this story. And I want to remember that check we put in the offering plate and how the Lord saw it and blessed us with the sale of our home. And I want to put a picture of our home in my (non-existent) memorial box to remind myself and my family that the Lord gives back to those who give away.

But I also want to remember that the Lord answered my prayers for this family to get my home. And to me, that is the biggest blessing of all!

Lyrics

It's time for healing time to move on
It's time to fix what's been broken too long
Time to make right what has been wrong
It's time to find my way to where I belong
There's a wave that's crashing over me
And all I can do is surrender

(Chorus)
Whatever You're doing inside of me
It feels like chaos but somehow there's peace
It's hard to surrender to what I can't see
but I'm giving in to something Heavenly

Time for a milestone
Time to begin again
Reevaluate who I really am
Am I doing everything to follow Your will
Or just climbing aimlessly over these hills
So show me what it is You want from me
I give everything I surrender...
To...

(Chorus)

Time to face up
Clean this old house
Find More lyrics at www.sweetslyrics.com
Time to breathe in and let everything out
That I've wanted to say for so many years
Time to release all my held back tears

Whatever You're doing inside of me
It feels like chaos but I believe
You're up to something bigger than me
Larger than life something Heavenly

Whatever You're doing inside of me
It feels like chaos but now I can see
This is something bigger than me
Larger than life something Heavenly
Something Heavenly

It's time to face up
Clean this old house
Time to breathe in and let everything out

Santus Real "Whatever Your Doing"

A Good Fit

I've been thirty years old for about 16 days now. I slid into my thirtieth birthday quietly. It was like slipping my foot into a fine leather shoe. It went in smooth and comfortably. Ahhhhhh.

I've worn it around town, through the country and I have to say in some rough parts of the city. And you know what? I like it.

Yes, after only 16 days I have put many many miles on "30" and it has worn nicely. No real blisters yet.

In 16 short days I have thrown caution to the wind. Wear that new shirt that makes me look pregnant? Heck yeah. I'm thirty so who cares if people think I'm pregnant when I'm not.
Buy those cute wedges even though I really wanted a closed toe? Yes, please. I'm thirty and I should really stop obsessing about how ugly my feet are. If somebody doesn't like my long skinny toes, who cares! I'm thirty!

We went to a picnic with some of my step-dad's friends. I happen to think they are quite snooty so I spent the evening sitting outside the circle catching up with my husband. And did they think I was snooty? I'm sure. But I'm thirty years old now and if I want to act like a snob I'm going to and not care what they think about me.

I've also looked deep inside myself. I need to figure out why I am who I am. Why I do things I do and think things I think. I need to know who I am. Not who I am in other people's eyes. Who I am. Period.

Not fun people. While I have enjoyed the freedom that has come being thirty, it has kicked my butt. I'm asking questions that I have been scared to ask. I'm coming to realizations that are devastating to me.

On top of this soul searching, I am missing my husband, very over-tired and pre-premenstrual. Not a good combo.

I could really use some prayers for wisdom. Thank you.

Updated: I just realized that I intended for this post to be happy and upbeat. I wanted to let you know how much I am enjoying this new chapter of my life. But somehow it ended up making me feel hurt and lost. I am growing and it hurts. I hope you saw my heart in this post.

Memorial Box Monday

Today is Monday and I havn't done a MBM post in a while. I havnt done much of any posting in awhile. Forgive me for this being quick, but I just wanted to share it.
Last week was particularly frustrating for many reasons. I won't go into them because I have already gotten into them at one time or another on here.

As I was laying in bed waiting to fall asleep I felt the Lord tell me to fast tomorrow. Now, I'm new to this whole fasting thing. The most I've ever fasted was one meal. I was very afraid. I asked the Lord if I could fast until 5pm. It would have ended up about 23 hours of not eating. This includes sleep time which kinda doesn't count. But 2 meals is a big deal for me.

I prayed the next morning instead of enjoying my daily cup of coffee. Oh my word.

About 10am my husband texts me and says he is in a meeting with his boss over something that was found on his background check. He's been an employee almost 2 months mind you. And they are just now finding something from over 20 years ago. Immediately I knew why the Lord had me fast that day.

I prayed all day for this situation and for all the other things that we need answers to.

The Lord worked everything out for our good. The boss lady was very familiar with wayward young Marines and was willing to overlook this incident. My husband still has a job, Praise the Lord.

How cool is God that He would put this woman in our path? That she would understand that young Marines get into a lot of trouble? That she would be so willing to overlook this and let him keep his job? (This company has very very specific regulations for their employees.)

I was so thankful that the Lord's favor was over my husband.

I am going to put a small Marine Corps emblem in my Memorial Box. When I get one!

Do you have anything to put in your Memorial Box?

I know this post is full of grammatical and possibly spelling errors. Forgive me?

For more fabulous stories visit A Place Called Simplicity.

This is the way

"Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, This is the way, walk in it."
Isaiah 30:21

I had this posted in our house in Florida. We desperately wanted to be in God's will and to hear His voice. We didn't want it, if God wasn't in it. We both truly thought a move to Virginia was the thing to do. We prayed about it, and felt a peace that we should pursue jobs up there. After 2 months my husband got a job offer. We were so excited and felt like the Lord provided.



Fast forward a few months and we are starting to second guess. Don't you hate that? I do. A lot. We keep trying to run things through our head. We want to justify all the things that are going wrong. But the whole time we have only wanted what the Lord would have for us. We just got to a point where we needed to make a decision since we didn't believe one was just going to fall from the sky. Actually we thought it did in the form of a job offer.



But folks, things are just going all wrong. We really thought things would work out perfect. I hate when our expectations are so high. But really, shouldn't they be? But husband's job is NOT what he thought it was going to be. He's not making enough money for us to live off of and that is a problem. Our living situation that we were trying to work out with this gentleman has not worked out. We have no place to move to and no money to live on when we got there. Our mobile home is not selling so we can't really move forward on building our house either. We are stuck and, literally, only God can help us. We can't help ourselves. It is a scary place to be. But I wonder if this is exactly where God wants us.



Remember in another post I mentioned how in the past I have opened up my Bible to a random scripture and God spoke to me loud and clear? While I don't believe this happens every time and I believe that we need more than just random openings, it is still scripture. Tonight I got off the phone with my husband and felt totally hopeless. His down moods don't help, I'm sure. I immediately went to my secret place (Matthew 6) and just poured out my heart to the Lord. I got up and opened my Bible and turned right to Ps. 37:7-"Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him." How much clearer can it get? Be still. Let the worry go. Let the Lord work.

I'm sorry if these posts are so random. Your getting things as they happen. Live. It's like we are the knitting needles (ha!)and we are only going stitch by stitch. But eventually all these stitches will make something.





We love the movie Facing the Giants. One of the themes repeated throughout the movie is praising God no matter what. And so I am going to praise God right now, even when I don't feel like it.

Praise God for my husband who works crappy jobs even when he doesn't want to because he knows the importance of providing for his family.

Praise God for my daughter who is the bestest daughter in the whole wide world.

Praise God for friends who have been with me through it all, even when they shouldn't have been.

Praise God for my parents who graciously opened their beautiful home to me and my daughter.

Praise God that my parents have such a heart for the orphan (even if they don't know the mighty importance of that) that they open their home to as many foster children as their house can hold.

Praise God that we can do fun things even when we don't have the funds.

Praise God that my mom is generous enough to drive through Sonic whenever I want and buy me as many diet coke with vanilla Route 44's as I can drink (or my bladder will hold.) And that she will buy me a Bump-it knowing that I will wear it 2 times and let it fall to the bottom of my hair accessories basket never to see the light of day again.

And I Praise God for you. I know you pray for me and you have no idea who I am or what my name is. I am so thankful for every one of you who read even one sentence of my blog. I pray for you too.
Once again I just ask if you would lift up my family to find a place to live together. And that my husband would have the Lord's favor at his job. And will you ask at least one of your friends to pray for me too? I believe in prayer and petition.
Thank you and God bless you.

My life: Then and Now

I'm flirting dangerously close to 30 these days. Have I mentioned this? I think it is throwing me off. And it is making me think and analyze. And I'm starting to like figure things out. Whoa. Is this normal?? I'm sitting here with cute pigtails in my hair and Life is a Highway stuck in my head. Yes, the Rascal Flats version. Its fabulous.

I just painted my nails on my bedroom floor. I've longed to do black but my mother won't let me. Thats ok, neither will my husband. I will submit to my authority. So I found this funky shade of metallic silver that has a funky shine to it. It will do. My mind started playing tricks on me though. It was like I was thrown back into the 90's.

15 years ago I would have been sitting on the floor painting my nails and flipping through a 17 magazine. Remember the Taylor sisters who were on more than one cover?
Tonight I was flipping through my Bible.

15 years ago I would have just gotten off the (corded) phone with my best friend and we would have talked about every kind of drama we were enduring in our teenage lives. I just got of the (cell) phone with my husband where the stress level was high and I can't fix it.

15 years ago I would have had homework and school books laying all over my floor. Tonight I have bills. Oh yeah, lets not forget the knitting needles and (black)yarn.

15 years ago I would have been stressing in the mirror because my hair was impossible. I would fret over the state of my uncool hair many many many a night. Tonight I wonder where we will live next month.

Things that would have littered my floor in 1995:
Magazines, hair products, clothes that were way dorky, my backpack, pages ripped out of surfer magazines, cassette tapes, other uncool stuff.

Things that litter my floor in 2010:
A towel with my hair in it from when I used my new thinning shears last night, a box of tissues, nail polish remover, did I mention the knitting needles?, barbies, kid size 11 shoes, hair products, a wet (pink) wet towel.

How did I live without these things in 1995:

My V.S. padded bras. And I'm a much less insecure person these days because of them.

My cell phone. I can say that I was a teenager who lived without a cell phone. Or texting. Just call me mamaw.

Leather handbags. Am I considered cool now?

My laptop. I am blogging. I'm pretty sure the internet wasn't even a twinkle in Al Gore's eye back in the mid nineties. I'm just kidding. I really don't know when he invented the internet.

My croc flipflops. I know, I know, these aren't cool.

The 5 year old amazing little girl asleep 3 feet away. I'm pretty sure that my 15 year old self greatly appreciated that I waited on having babies. But honestly, I can't even imagine my life without that little stink head.

Even though 30 is starting to fahreek me out, I'm loving every minute of it.