Thursday, November 22, 2007

Doritos & Pink Eye

As Thanksgiving Day approached this year, we were all looking forward to a day of rest, relaxation, family, & FOOD! We couldn't wait to share the excitement of the sale of our house with our family members who have been storming the gates of Heaven on our behalf. We were ready to CELEBRATE!

And then morning came . . . I awakened to the wail of my 3-year-old.

"Mommy!! I can't open my eye!!"

Caleigh's eye was pasted shut. Two phonecalls later ~ one to our insurance's 24-hour nurse hotline & one to the doctor's office ~ my worst fears were confirmed. Pink eye (highly contagious) had invaded our house. It wasn't long before her nose was running & she was collapsed in a heap on the couch moaning about her aching ear :(

So here we were, quarantined at home, with nothing for Thanksgiving dinner except the Apple Pecan cheesecake that I was supposed to take to my sister-in-law's house.

We had to giggle as we sat down to eat our grilled cheese & Doritos (around the same time all our family members were feasting on mouth-watering turkey). Not quite the Thanksgiving feast that we had planned.

But we made the best of the day . . . together. We spent our time decorating the house for Christmas, watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, playing Sesame Street dominos, & putting slips of paper with 5 things that we were each thankful for into our "Thankful Bundt Pan" (it was the best I could come up with on short notice).

Before you feel too sorry for us, Nana did come through for us in the feast department. She & Mimi gathered together all sorts of containers filled with luscious goodies & delivered it to us just before dinner this evening. We ate by candlelight & reminisced about all the things God has done for our family in the past year.

All in all, a perfect day.

Monday, November 19, 2007

SOLD!!!!

Yes, you read the title correctly . . . it says, "SOLD!!!!" Our house, that is.

Here's the funny/Divine details . . .

Way back in the summertime, a house a few blocks away from ours went up for sale. Through strange circumstances, it came to our attention that these people used to own our house back in the day. After meeting them at a neighborhood yard sale, we were informed that they would love to buy our house back, but they needed to sell their house first. And we all know what the housing market has been like lately ~ we were not holding our breath.

For those of you who attend our church, you know that we are in the midst of a Capital Campaign & that the date of the "First Fruits" offering was November 18th. So we made that our new deadline. Just a few weeks ago, we began praying earnestly that God would sell our home before the First Fruits offering.

Sunday morning came & went . . . no sale. On Sunday afternoon, we stopped to gas up the van at Sheetz & noticed that that same house had a "SOLD" sign on it. The questions started to fly ~ "I wonder when it sold?" "I wonder if they're still interested in our house?" "Maybe they've changed their minds & want something different?" We had not heard a word of interest, so we assumed the worst. Oh ye of little faith.

Tonight at dinner, we got the official phonecall. Those same people put in a bid on our house on Friday, but through miscommunications in the office, we were just hearing about it tonight. We fax the papers tomorrow. Our house is SOLD!!!!!

With God all things are possible!!!!

Friday, November 16, 2007

Say "Cheese"

I am thoroughly amazed that I did not wake up this morning in the Looney Bin, sporting a straight jacket!!

And this is why . . .

It's been a stressful week. I'll spare you the details & fast-forward to last night. Nana had graciously offered to have the girls' pictures professionally taken & we were all excited about last night's photo session . . . until it actually came time to get the girls ready to go. It was a battle just to get Caleigh in the van. She was inconsolable because Peyton was wearing a "princess" dress & she looked like a boy in her cute little pants & turtleneck. Once we navigated our way through that drama, we then drove the 45 minutes to the studio. Much to my surprise, the girls did great!! They followed the photographer's instructions perfectly & were really hamming it up!! Great smiles, great poses, great pictures. An outfit change and an hour later, we asked the photographer what we had for pictures so far, since the girls were starting to wear down. Now, get ready, because here it comes . . . the flash had not gone off for a single picture!!! Every picture was black!!!

Needless to say, we will be receiving a $130+ photo package for free, but that also means that we will have to go through Picture Night again in a week and a half.

Calgon, take me away!!!

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Deperate Seminary Housewife

It's Sunday night & I'm looking on as my wonderful husband & sweet little girl build a princess castle out of blocks. They are storing up special moments that will hopefully get each of them through the week.

Jason has another major paper due on Thursday, so this is how our week will go (if all goes as planned ~ ha ha):

Monday ~ Jason leaves for work early in the morning & then goes straight from work to the library until 10 pm.

Tuesday ~ Jason leaves for work early, comes home at 12:30 for lunch & then heads off to class until 9:30 pm.

Wednesday ~ Jason leaves for work early. Before he gets home, the girls & I will have already left for dinner at church, nursery, & Cubbies. We'll get back home around 9:30 pm.

Thursday ~ Jason will be in class from 8:15 am to 3 pm. The girls & I will be leaving right after dinner to have some pictures taken (thanks to Nana).

Friday ~ Jason will be working half a day. As soon as he gets home, I'll leave for work.

So we Dickinson girls will be on our own this week. We live for the weekends, the time when we truly do store up special moments with Jason that will last us until we get time with him again the next weekend. It's an adjustment. We're used to having him around & accessible A LOT! But we're learning to treasure every moment that we do have together.

We have had some great examples of the goodness of God this weekend. As many of you know, the oil heater at the house we're selling was leaking water. There were many possibilities of what it could have been ~ ranging from $10 to $3000! We were envisioning the worst! A friend from church (who is very knowledgeable in this area) met Jason at the house on Saturday to help him tackle the project. And much to our amazement, it was just a $10 gasket!!! The part has been replaced & everything is working great!! God is good!

As if that weren't enough to praise Him about, through the generosity of a fellow brother & sister in Christ, our mortgage for November has been paid!! And we all breathe a collective sigh of relief. *sigh* But it gets better . . .

Family members have graciously provided the money to buy the oil that we need for the house so we can keep the pipes from freezing!!

"So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' {Or 'How shall we heat our house or pay our mortgage?'} For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well {along with multiplied diapers, free babysitters, and Christmas presents you forgot you bought last year}. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow {or next month or next semester}, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

There is no human reason why we should still be surviving. We've been here at the seminary for almost 5 months with an unsold house. The numbers never add up ~ the money going out is always greater then the money coming in. But God's ways aren't man's ways. Thank goodness!!

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Epiphany & Multiplied Diapers

It was the best of weekends. It was the worst of weekends.

The space this blog affords would not lend space enough to even be able to begin to explain the depth of emotion & spiritual stretching we received this weekend. Suffice it to say, Satan has been working overtime on our family. The spark that ignited the wildfire started on Saturday afternoon. Shortly after finishing up a depressing round of bill-paying (or non-paying, as is often the case), a friend called to let us know that he discovered a leak at our house {you know, the house that we no longer live in, but still own & are still paying expenses for . . . yeah, that's the house}.

After being at the house, not being able to fix the leak, & discovering another leak, we staggered into church on Sunday morning feeling spiritually battered & bruised. In the privacy of our own home, we had thrown around words like "abandoned" & "quit." There was nothing left to do, nothing left to say, nothing left to give. We were wounded soldiers.

Sunday's sermon was on cross-bearing.

"Some of you have heavy crosses to bear. You're feeling ABANDONED and you're being asked to TRUST."

Afterwards, we took communion. Now, I don't know what your personal, typical pre-communion moments are like, but mine are usually a good deal of confession, followed by an even greater deal of thanksgiving. But as I stood there, only one thing kept playing in my mind. It was a song that we have been practicing for worship team, called "You Are God Alone." The song talks about how God is God & He doesn't rely on humans for anything & doesn't need anything we can give Him. There is a line from that song that struck a cord with me & I have often thought about & was the only thing I could say to Him.

"You are God. That's just the way it is."

It was my prayer of acceptance. I may not always like it & it doesn't always feel good, but that's just the way it is.

It took about two days to process all our thoughts, feelings, & advice of friends & loved-ones. Finally, over lunch on Tuesday, our epiphany came to light.

Do we belong here at seminary? YES!! Are we exactly where the Lord wants us? YES!! So what's going on? Is this a test from God? A refining process? Or is this the work of Satan? The devil just digging in his fangs? It's both. Satan wants us to fail. The last thing he needs is an on-fire, fully-devoted couple going about doing the Lord's work. Perhaps that's why the house hasn't sold yet. It would be so incredibly easy for us to turn tail & run. After all, we already own a home. Jason's bosses left a wide open invitation to return to work at any time. We could go right back to life as usual & forget this whole ministry thing. But what Satan just can't seem to understand (and you'd think he would get it after thousands of years) is that if he keeps pushing, & pushing, & pushing & we don't fail, then we come out stronger on the other side & God has two more powerful warriors than He had before.

What Satan meant for evil, God meant for good.


So there's the epiphany. Now here's a cool story:

Yesterday we were running low on diapers. And I mean, really low! I mentioned something about it to Jason & that I was planning on heading to Walmart after dinner (if Peyton could last that long). A few minutes later, Jason came down the stairs with a full box of White Cloud size 4 diapers!! Now, those of you who know me, know that I am an organizational freak! All extra diapers are kept in the linen closet, third shelf from the bottom. He found these diapers under the bed!!! Sometimes He multiplies money in your pockets, sometimes He multiplies diapers under the bed!! :)

Friday, November 02, 2007

New Pics

Praise the Lord!!! It's Friday!! The weekend is in sight!!

Here are some recent pics of our family. Would post more, but my munchkins are starting to stir.