wait and trust... my thoughts...

"Wait on the Lord;
Be of good courage,
And He will strengthen your heart:
Wait, I say, on the Lord."
~ Psalm 27:14 ~

I have discovered that a lot of life is spent waiting. When you are young you have to wait your turn to jump rope or play a game... As you grow older you have to start waiting for more important things, which also means it gets harder to wait for them. Life seems to go very quickly from waiting your turn to climb on the teeter-totter, to waiting to see who God is going to put on with you, to join you on life's big teeter-totter. And on this see-saw you spend a lot of time waiting. Waiting for a job, a closing on a house, or for a doctors diagnoses. How well do we trust during these times of waiting? I know I flounder... I know I have doubts... I know I have times when I say, " I don't want to wait anymore, somethin's gotta give!" It is at times like this that I read the Psalms and God gives me the above verse to read. How awesome is it that out of all the thousands of verses in the Bible, He leads us to the one that speaks to us at the exact time we needed it. So, to all of you that are in a season for waiting, "...be of good courage, and He will strengthen your heart, wait, I say, Wait on the Lord."
just wait.

Get back up by Tobymac

You turned away when I looked you in the eye,
And hesitated when I asked if you were alright,
Seems like you're fighting for you life,
But why? oh why?
Wide awake in the middle of your nightmare,
You saw it comin' but it hit you outta no where,
And theres always scars
When you fall back far

We lose our way,
We get back up again
It's never too late to get back up again,
One day you will shine again,
You may be knocked down,
But not out forever,
Lose our way,
We get back up again,
So get up, get up,
You gonna shine again,
Never too late to get back up again,
You may be knocked down,
But not out forever
[May be knocked down but not out forever]

You're rolled out at the dawning of the day
Heart racin' as you made you little get away,
It feels like you've been runnin' all your life
But, why? Oh why?

So you've pulled away from the love that wou'd've been there,
You start believin' that your situation's unfair

But there's always scars,
When you fall back far

We lose our way,
We get back up again
Never too late to get back up again,
One day, you gonna shine again,
You may be knocked down but not out forever,
Lose our way, we get back up again,
So get up, get up
You gonna shine again
It's never too late, to get back up again
You may be knocked down, but not out forever,
May be knocked down, but not out forever!

This is love callin', love callin', out to the broken,
This is love callin'.
This is love callin', love callin', out to the broken
This is love callin'.
This is love callin', love callin',
I am so broken
This is love callin' love callin

Lose our way, [way way way ay ay ay]
We get back up, [get back up again]
It's never too late [late late late ate ate ate]
You may be knocked down but not out forever!

Lose our way,
We get back up again,
So get up get up
You gonna shine again
Never too late to get back up again
You may be knocked down,
But not out forever,

This is love [lose our way] callin' love callin' [get back up again]
To the broken
This is love [never too late] callin'
[may be knocked down but not out forever]
This is love [lose our way] callin' love callin' [we get back up again]
To the broken
This is love [never too late] callin'
[may be knocked down but not out forever]

This is love callin' love callin'
Out to the broken,
This is love callin'....

Listen to it on YouTube

Count That Day Lost...

If you sit down at set of sun
And count the acts that you have done,
And, counting, find
One self-denying deed, one word
That eased the heart of him who heard,
One glance most kind
That fell like sunshine where it went --
Then you may count that day well spent.

But if, through all the livelong day,
You've cheered no heart, by yea or nay --
If, through it all
You've nothing done that you can trace
That brought the sunshine to one face--
No act most small
That helped some soul and nothing cost --
Then count that day as worse than lost.

George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)

;)

Goin' Courtin'

Goin' courtin', goin' courtin'
Oh it sets your senses in a whirl.
Goin' courtin', goin' courtin'
Dudin' up to go and see your gal.
Oh, it's fun to hunt and shoot a gun,
Or to catch a rabbit on the run
But you'll find it's twice as sportin' goin' courtin'.
Now there's lots o' things you gotta know
Be sure the parlor light is low
Y' sidle up and squeeze her hand
Let me tell you fella's that is grand.
You hem and haw a little while
She gives you kinda half a smile.
You cuddle up she moves away
Then the strategy comes into play.
Goin' courtin', goin' courtin'
If you find it hard to break the ice
Goin' courtin', goin' courtin'
Here's a little feminine advice.
Roll your eyes and heave a little sigh.
Grunt and groan like you're about to die.
That is what's known as emotin' goin' courtin'!

"Seven Brides for Seven Brothers"

Our Home: My Bedroom

A very big "hello" to all who read this. It seems like ages since I posted last but it really has been less then a month. In that time we have had Christmas, New Year's, and we have moved into our new home! We don't have Internet in the new house yet, so I am sitting over in the old mostly empty house blogging. It is slightly chillier and sad feeling over here in this old house, it almost feels like it was abandoned, with its few furnishings here and there. Anyway, this post is mostly for my Grandma who has been asking for pictures, so without any more ado here is,

My bedroom

(which is pretty much my bed ;)

As I was flipping through a magazine after Prayer and Praise one night, I came across instructions for a built in bed and bookshelf... I showed it to Dad and he said that we already had the wood that we needed to make it... Green light #1 I got permission from Mrs. G--- to steal (or borrow) her magazine... Green light #2. I also had the perfect window in my room to build a bed around as my bedroom used to be a kitchen. Green light #3. Three green lights... I believe that made it a go. I drew up my own version of the original magazine drawing, (which I scanned in below) Dad did a lot of the actual measurements and stuff... I just knew what I wanted it to look like, he did most of the math. ;) I drove a couple of nails into it, but Dad did most of the hard work, thanks Dad.

Before bed...

Viola, After Bed... and thus you have my bedroom and haven.

I hope to do another post on the house soon, but you never know... My next post will probably be about the kitchen. We are still working on the basement level, Mom and I painted the utility room today. So some of the house is still labeled under construction and thus can't have anything blogged about it as of yet.

I am getting very cold sitting here so I think it is time to sign off. There is something very chilling about sitting in a cold empty house, it almost feels colder then the outdoors... almost. Well, goodbye y'all I am off to warm up.

The day my hair turned gray...

Yesterday my hair turned gray,

For a day.

I was over with the boys cleaning the house and the vacuum was not working quite right, so I decided to check and see if the vacuum was full. It was not full, that was not the problem, but the filter looked like it had about 10 lbs. of sheet rock dust ingrained into it. So I promptly took it outside to shake it out. And as everyone knows this little town that we live in is prone to windy days especially in the winter... and yesterday was no exception. The wind was blowing and blowing and blowing, and I even made sure it was blowing away from me. But the next time the boys saw me, they asked what happened, as it looked as if the vacuum had blown up and then sucked everything including me inside it. As I was sitting at the supper table last night, the boys were commenting on how dirty I was, and we were talking about how I had taken the filter out to shake it and that the vacuum was working much better now, and Dad made the comment, "Three accidents happened today on Main St. in O- because of low visibility." For a second I looked at him in shock half believing him, until I remembered what we had been talking about and that the wind had been blowing towards the road, and that there probably were people wondering what in the world the white dusty stuff was pouring out from behind that house.

That was the day my hair turned a whitish sort of gray.

Yesterday was also Dad's birthday, and I would just like to say,

"Happy Birthday Dad! I love you!"

Another Update

Phew! Back to blogging and back to the people who faithfully check it to see if anyone has posted anything "new." As you all probably know we have been keeping extremely busy working on completing the house. We also have had Thanksgiving and a couple of birthdays and now, ready or not...
Christmas is coming!

Nathanael and Claire both celebrated their birthdays in the last couple of months. Nathanael turned 9 and Claire turned one... How time flies!

One of "my projects" in the house was painting a medieval looking shield display on Isaiah and Nathanael's bedroom wall. It turned out pretty good, and it didn't take as long as I thought it was going to. The boys like it anyway, and that is what counts.

And this final picture is the first box that made its way over to the house today, it even managed to get unpacked onto the bookshelf it is sitting on. Exciting! This bookshelf is actually the foot board on my bed, and hopefully I will soon be able to post and show you the whole bed.

I have been taking pictures for the whole house project, and I really want to do some "before and after" posts on different rooms, it will just be a matter of when I will have the time to do it. But for now this post will have to do.

Why are we surpised???

Are you ever surprised when God answers your prayers? Has it ever taken you two days to realize that two days ago is when He answered a certain prayer? I don't know about you but I do it quite often. Now sometimes I think it is because the answers to our prayers aren't always that obvious, they don't always come all wrapped up with ribbons and bows with a flashing card that sings, "An answer for you, from God." Usually the answers are more subtle, but sometimes I wonder why I am surprised when God answers my prayers... Did I not think He would or could do it?

~~~

Anyway, all of that to say, God has been teaching me a couple of things, the first one being: He has the ability to do anything, and yet even in this position of power, cares enough about us to answer our prayers, even when our prayers are over little vain things. He has made it very evident that He is the God that still answers prayers. When you call out for help He will send someone, or several "someones" to help and encourage you. I would like to thank the several "someones," who have been councilors and encourager's to me in the past several weeks. God sent you to help me... and I just want to say thanks.

The second thing God has been teaching me is to just trust Him. Trust, trust, trust... I have heard or seen that word many times in the last week and finally I realized, "God must be trying to tell me something."

Proverbs 3:5-6 is a passage of scripture that most of us are very familiar with, most of us had it memorized by the time we were five. It was so much easier trusting God when I was five. Do you need to go back to a five year olds mentality of just trusting? I know that I do. I need to have the trust of a five year old. As a grown up, it is way to easy to just grab the reins and take control away from God. If we could just trust him and willingly give Him the reins to our lives, I believe He would drive us to places that are beyond our comprehension, better then we ever could have imagined...

Sometimes we just have to give up the reins and trust Him.

~ Proverbs 3:5-6 ~

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not on thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths."

A Belated Birthday Song...

A very Happy Birthday to you Mr. Guthrie! I hope you enjoy it too Jake!

( I am posting the lyrics below for your convenience.)

We Saw the Lights

• We wandered so aimless down Guthrie Lane,
• We couldn't see through all of the rain.
• Then we were blinded by something so bright,
• Praise the Lord! We saw the birthday lights!

We saw the lights! We saw the lights!
No more darkness the cakes much to bright
Now were so happy we celebrate tonight
Praise the Lord! We saw the birthday lights!

• We saw the porches, your sons, they did make
• 54 candles on top of your cake.
• You won't need your flashlight to illuminate the night
• Praise the Lord! We saw the birthday lights!

We saw the lights! We saw the lights!
No more darkness the cakes much to bright
Now were so happy we celebrate tonight
Praise the Lord! We saw the birthday lights!

• We hope you've enjoyed this version of the song,
• And tell your 9 children they must sing along.
• So Happy, Happy Birthday, and enjoy your cake!
• Thank your newest son-in-law, This ones from Jake!

We saw the lights! We saw the lights!
No more darkness the cakes much to bright
Now were so happy we celebrate tonight
Praise the Lord! We saw the birthday lights!

"Hanging by a Thread..."

As I was waking up to one of my favorite Cd's this morning, this song really stuck out... It kind of describes the way I feel sometimes.

• Hanging by a Thread
• Wayne Kirkpatrick and Gordon Kennedy

There's a kind of emptiness that can fill you.

There's a kind of hunger that can eat you up.

There's a cold and darker side of the moonlight.

An' there's a lonely side of love.

• With you here, Jesus, I am strong; no sign of weakness.
• With you gone, Jesus, I am hanging by a thread.

There's a certain kind of pain that can numb you.

There's a type of freedom that can tie you down.

Sometimes the unexplained can define you,

And sometimes silence is the only sound.

• With you here, Jesus, I am strong; outside of weakness.
• With you gone I am hanging by a thread.

A Progression...

Our house project started over a year ago, and at that time we didn't know that it was going to be "our" house project. At that time we were planning on using it as a guest house for friends and family. So with that plan in mind we started by putting new shingles on the roof. It was a fun job, Joanna, Anja, Olivia and I did a lot of the work with the guys helping out when they could.

Several months went by and the plan was changed, my family would be the ones moving next door. So with that change of plans came another change of plans, instead of just patching and painting up the walls and fixing the floors we were going to gut the whole place. We will be forever grateful that we picked the gutting instead of the patching route, as we found major problems with the structural soundness of the house.

(a picture of our soon to be kitchen)

After putting in beams and supports to insure that the house would not collapse on top of us, we were finally ready to start studding in new walls. Next came electric, plumbing, inspections, insulation, and dry wall.

Our 2" tongue and groove flooring was now ready to be put in, which involved measuring, marking, sawing, nailing, sanding, and three coats of the same stuff that they use on gym floors. The floor turned out beautifully!

We are finally to the finishing stages such as painting, putting the kitchen in, and putting trim boards up. We still have quite a bit of work to do, but we are finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We are trying not to put a time on when we will be able to move in, but hopefully I will soon be able to post that we are moved in, and give you some before and after pictures. But until then I will try to keep you updated. ;)

(the beginnings of our kitchen.)

The Sky is Falling...

Have you ever heard the story of Chicken Little, Henny Penny and all the others? Well, if you have then I am sure that you know when something drops from the sky it is no light matter. Well, I have my own "Chicken Little" story.

Once upon a time, (a time not much different then our own.) Little Girl waking up from a long nights rest, was rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, when suddenly she saw something on her floor that made her gasp.

"What is that?" cried Little Girl.

You see Little Girl wore glasses and therefore without them on she could not see very well. Now Little Girls glasses were not anywhere nearby so she squinted her eyes to see if she could see what was on her floor.

"It looks like I must have broken something last night!" said Little Girl to herself. "I wonder what it could have been? It looks like it was something glass, I don't think I have anything that big in my room... Maybe I was sleep walking and broke one of my lamps." All these thoughts went through Little Girls head. But none of them made any sense...just as she was getting a bit puzzled over what was on her floor she looked up at her ceiling. " Ah-HA, that is what is all over my floor, it is my ceiling!" she said relieved that it wasn't something else.

After climbing out of bed she went running through the house telling everyone that her sky was falling. She told Mother Brother, and Brother Other. Mother Brother went and told Daddy Paddy and they all went to inspect the hole in the ceiling. "The sky really is falling today." said Little Girl and that was all she said. Chicken may have been wrong when she said those famous words, but I think Little Girl was right, don't you?

An Update

Yes, I know it has been a long time since I posted anything. Apart from being quite busy over the last few weeks I really haven't been in the blogging mood so even if I did have time I usually didn't even think about it :) In the last couple of weeks since getting back to the states we have:
1) Moved all of our things into storage until we can move them into the apartment that we are renting
2) Moved Daniel, Whitney and Nate up here for the summer
3) Bought a truck (yeah I know I should've posted about it and put up pictures)
4) Gone to the H- family reunion
5) visited with my family (and got to celebrate Elise's 19'th birthday with her!!!)
6) Gotten cell phones (I have my very own!! Exciting I know:)
7) Curtiss has started working on some remodeling jobs (and will be looking for a more long term job)
8) Got a dog (who will live here in Steamburg after we move down the road) her name is "Momo"
9) and last but now least found a place to rent that should be available for us to move into on August 1'st.

There if that hasn't gotten you tired it sure has me. Like I said we have been busy with getting everything settled and it isn't slowing down any let me tell you.
Tomorrow we are celebrating Nate's first birthday (his birthday is actually on Wednesday but we are having the party tomorrow) so that will be fun.
I think that just about catching you up on what our last 3 weeks have been like, I think that the next couple will be a little bit slower (until moving time) but you never know :-)

Operation Dance Recital

Helping someone else get ready for a dance recital is so much easier then getting yourself ready. That is why it was very enjoyable to be able to help my nieces Havalah and Esther get ready for theirs. I didn't have to worry about forgetting my costumes or not being able to put my hair in a bun, it was lovely. And it was a whole lot of fun to boot!

Havalah having her hair blow dried as the clock ticks down to when we had to leave.

After getting Esther's eye makeup all done we sent her out to the living room to see what she would look like on stage and the result was, " She looks like a CAT!" So, after calming down her makeup to look good on stage but not cat like we were all set. Except for waiting for her toe nail polish to dry which is what she is doing in this picture.

I think that Esther looks like a frog in this picture, she is so adorable!

She danced to the song, "Singin' in the Rain" She did a really good job, she was the only one following her dance instructor.

Havalah had two dances one was her ballet which was called, "Egyptian Princess" Here she is in her costume, she did an awesome job.

Her tap dance was called "Freeze Frame" and here she is posing for me. Her dancing gets better and better each year, I can't wait to see both of them again next year!

Life...

I was trying to figure out what to call this post and the most fitting seems to be this one word... life. I have been checking the blog over the past few weeks and find myself saying, " I really should blog." but I find that there really isn't a whole lot to blog about even though life is happening. There is one thing that I am sure most of you would enjoy seeing and hearing about though: our dance recital. It seems really weird that just last year Joanna was dancing with us, as I said though life happens and when it does, it seems to happen fast! ;) I am having trouble getting the dance video's to load, the one that did load is my Irish dance so I hope you enjoy (I am in the third in from the right.) I don't think I will take the time to load all of the videos, as there are two videos of our tap dance, so if you would like to see them you will just have to visit us. ;)

I have a slight problem...

It is booksale time again... and with it comes the hastle of trying to fit all the new books in with all the old books, and sometimes it can be quite the task. As you can see in the picture above that the end of my bed is already quite full, and now I have a whole new stack of books to try and fit in. Maybe I should start stacking them three books high, or maybe I should just go and buy myself a bookshelf.

(Joanna the rest of these pictures I posted mostly for you, I knew you would enjoy seeing what I got.)

The best "catches" of the day.

Three books by one of my favorite authors.

These three I call my "just because books." I bought them "just because" they looked interesting.

The oldest book I bought, Printed in 1851 with a inscription on one of the front pages dated 1856. I wonder who Mary Davis was???

Here are all my Treasures. Beautiful aren't they???

Be Funky

What can I say this is one of my newest favorite things to do. It is so easy and it is cool to see some of the effects that you can do, and the best news is that is doesn't cost a thing. Sarah introduced me to the website and I am forever hooked. It is www.befunky.com

I thought it would be a fun way to share some pictures with Joanna while she is on the other side of the world.

This one of Curtiss and Joanna is one of my favorites

I wish I could paint like this

It is also a cool way to save fuzzy pictures, this picture was quite fuzzy and now it looks pretty good.

It is also a fun way to show my patriotic side.

Even Dad and Mom can get Funky. ;)

Blessed Be Your Name

Last night at Prayer and Praise I wasn't feeling much like blessing the name of the Lord, in fact I just wanted to go to bed. After saying our goodbyes to Joanna and Curtiss earlier that day, I was just feeling down. And as I was sitting in the G---'s home I wasn't really thinking much about anything. But after having someone toss me a penny and whisper, " A penny for your thoughts." I started to half heartily think about what is was I was feeling, I was feeling sorry for myself. Well I was sitting there twirling the penny in between my fingers we started to sing, "Blessed Be Your Name" and as the room began to fill with the sound of music, I realized that blessing God's name is a choice, in the good and the bad times we have to make that choice. And as we sang, "You give and you take away, You give and you take away, my heart will choose to say Lord, Blessed be your name." I was able to make that choice of blessing God even when I didn't feel like it.

So to that someone who tossed the penny, "Thanks for tossing it."

Blessed Be Your Name

By Matt Redman

Blessed Be Your Name

In the land that is plentiful

Where Your streams of abundance flow

Blessed be Your name

Blessed Be Your name

When I'm found in the desert place

Though I walk through the wilderness

Blessed Be Your name

Every blessing You pour out

I'll turn back to praise

When the darkness closes in, Lord

Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your name

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be Your name

When the sun's shining down on me

When the world's 'all as it should be'

Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name

On the road marked with suffering

Though there's pain in the offering

Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out

I'll turn back to praise

When the darkness closes in, Lord

Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your name

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your glorious name

You give and take away

You give and take away

My heart will choose to say

Lord, blessed be Your name

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

Blogging Hibernation

:: big yawn ::

I feel as if I have just crawled out of a big cave and am now trying to wake up from blogging hibernation. Winter is a time for hibernation for certain creatures, and I suppose I have followed them into a cave. Now that it is so warm out I can't use winter hibernation as an excuse, so I suppose I will just have to find something to blog about.

Enter 2009

2009 entered just like every other year, the clock ticked down to the countdown, and everyone all cheered as we heard twelve strokes. It is now time to remember to write your checks '09 instead of '08 which is always new and weird.

Winter 2009-

Fresh new snow is falling and makes everything look pure and white. Sheets of ice and blankets of snow make beautiful beds for ground and trees alike. Everything looks so clean and new.

Spring 2009

A time for new things to burst through there covering of winter, to make there appearance, to pop there heads up and say hello to sunshine and to blue skies. And of course we can't forget about the lovely brown, smooth, Mud!

Spring somehow always make you want to brighten up your home too. It is a time when you see rugs hanging outside to get rid of the winter dust. New curtains are being made to be hung in the windows. In helping my sister Bethany make new curtains, I realized that just by hanging material on you windows you can give a room a whole new look and feel. When you walk into a room with nice new curtains you can feel at home, warm, and peaceful.

Spring is also a time when you make an appointment with your hairdresser so that she can tame your winter coat. I don't know about you but I was very ready to get my hair cut after long winter months of frizzy uncontrollable hair.

I think that in reading this you will know that I have had a bad case of spring fever. Now don't get me wrong I love winter and all of it's coldness and snowiness. But after months of cold and harsh weather, I was more then ready to feel the soft touch of the suns rays, and to feel a gentle warm breeze. I do believe that when God made the seasons he was giving us a picture of seasons in our lives. Sometimes the winds are going to blow and the cold is going to chill you to the bone. Sometimes life will just seem downright harsh and mean. But then God will give us a season of rest when we can feel the soft sun caress our cheek and we can feel the breeze slowly warm us up. Now that is not to say that there isn't any mud during this time, but God can help us dig through the mud to reveal all the "new" beautiful flowers that are coming in the next season of life.

INTRODUCING!

My Stylish Brother-in-law...

Joanna and Curtiss came to visit the other day, and with them they brought my coat which had been accidentally left in the honeymoon vehicle. Curtiss, after disappearing for a little while came in wearing my coat. After I had captured a few pictures, he kindly returned it saying, "It probably looks better on you anyway."

I still can't believe that he even got it on. It is only a girls size 10/12!

He was kind enough to give me a couple different poses.

Thanks for being a good sport Curtiss! Although, when I took these pictures you probably didn't really think about the blog! ;)