Remember. Take 2.

Last week I needed to come up a list of all the addresses that we've lived at for the past 7 years for some paperwork for the hospital for Glenn. I discovered that over the last 7 years our mail has gone to 11 addresses (one of which we've slept at a couple of times but never actually lived at). If I had filled out this paperwork last month it would have been 12. Abigail, our baby, is 7 years old. All 6 of us have been there for all 12 of those address changes. A complicating factor in the paperwork process was that we were homeless for 2.5 months at the beginning of medical school and 3.5 months at the end. I just decided to put down the address that our mail went to for those time periods because it is most likely for a background check so that is where the government assumed we lived. I don't think we have even gotten a parking or speeding ticket over the last 7 years so I doubt his background check will turn up anything.

After doing my research to come up with our old address list (and saving it to google drive for next time) I came across this post that I had written a couple days after a FMF on Remember back at the end of March (hence the title). It is a trip down memory lane of places we've lived. I have several posts in my drafts list that I've written or started over the last several months of transition that I'll be posting here over the next month or so, Lord willing. Here is the first:

Now that we know what city we are going to be living in for the next 3-4 years the next hurdle that we need to overcome is housing. We've been living out of our van sleeping in the homes of friends, relatives, and occassionally people who are practically strangers to us for the last almost 10 weeks. Oh, we also slept for almost 4 weeks on a docked ship in the middle of those 10 weeks and for this past week we've been sleeping in an old schoolhouse that's been renovated to be a nice vacation rental (if you're looking for a nice vacation spot near the Adirondacks check it out!!). It's been an adventure and we've been able to help people at several of our stops but I'm growing weary.

As we've been weighing the rent vs buy question and scouring the internet for homes it has made me think back and thank God for our previous homes.

Our first home was a two bedroom apartment that was part of a 4 apartment house that we rented from TTU for only $150 a month. I think it was originally supposed to be more than that but that is how our lease came to us. It was ridiculous how cheap it was but it was God's provision because that was about what we could afford at the time with both of us still being full time students and newly married. Young and foolish, yes, but God took care of us.

A year later we moved from our first apartment to our first little two bedroom house. We wanted to move to a nicer neighborhood since we were new parents of little Caleb. Our rent doubled at that point but God continued to provide since we were making a bit more more money with both of us working at least part time.

Late the next spring we were thinking about moving again just south of the border into Georgia because Glenn was looking at going to the Medical College of Georgia and to go there at the time you needed to be a GA resident. God had other plans though and, after mom's heart attacks and subsequent problems, we went up to New York to be there to help out. It was decided we should move up there so Glenn drove down and, with the help of our Sunday School class, packed up our little house in a day and moved our stuff up. We stored our stuff and moved in with my dad for a while to help him out. (I'm wondering if this was technically the first time we were homeless).

We lived with my dad until about Christmas when we moved into a 3 bedroom apartment that we rented from my grandparents. While there we continued to help my dad and visit my mom. Glenn had various jobs including substitute teaching, working as a tech at a hospital and working in a factory making portable bandsawmills. We welcomed Hannah home in that place.

After mom passed away we decided that we needed to get Glenn back in school so he could finish his education. Through a series of events it was decided that we were going to go to Houghton. It was only about 2 hours from Waterloo and we made several drives down there to try to find a place to live. We finally found the apartment over the mini-mart in mid-July and made the move in early August.

In late November I was getting a bit nervous looking at our bank account and wondering how we were going to be able to pay rent on our apartment for the rest of the school year with the whole no jobs available in the area thing I mentioned on Friday. A few days later I was approached by a friend of my parents who lived in town. He asked me if we would be willing to house sit for them for the spring semester. They always spent the winters down south and had often had people house sit for them. They told us that we could stay in their home and they would just have us pay half of the utilities (since they would have had to keep the heat and freezer running even if they weren't there and would have to pay at least that much anyway they reasoned). We saw it as a gift from God so we said "yes, thank you!" and put most of our stuff in a storage unit and moved into their home before leaving to go to Georgia to visit Glenn's sister for Christmas. That beautiful home was the place we welcomed Lydia home to.

The thing with house sitting for a semester for snow birds is that semesters end and snow birds come north for the summer. I really can't remember exactly what we did after we moved out during finals week. I'm with Dory... "I'm a little vague in the details." Hmm. Anyway, that summer we lived various places... between dad's house, our friend's one bedroom apartment, our Burb, our tents in various locations while Glenn worked for STEP. They fought over who actually claimed us in our Christmas letter that year. I was really grateful to move into a 4 bedroom house that we rented from some missionaries for the next 23 months. Abigail joined us there.

After Glenn's job for the year was done and he didn't get into medical school the first time we found out that my grandparents had tenants move out on them in the middle of the night. We decided that we should move to Waterloo and rent from them again while we tried to decide what to do. Glenn substitute taught and retook his MCATs while I homeschooled Caleb and worked a day a week as a secretary. After a few months we moved across the parking lot to a cheaper, smaller apartment also owned by my grandparents.

Glenn was able to get a job working at a hospital in Rochester the next year and we spent a bit of time and many a day driving around looking at apartments there. God provided us with an apartment less than a block from the hospital at a decent price and we moved in with a 11 month lease assuming that we'd be starting medical school at the end of the next summer. It was a great apartment and we loved living so close to Highland Park.

Well, it turns out that Glenn was put on two different wait lists but didn't get a seat in a medical school class that year. Since we hadn't signed a new lease our landlord rented our apartment to others and we were not sure what we were doing since we assumed we were starting medical school. A gracious couple from our small group invited us to stay in their home for a couple of months while we tried to figure out our next steps and they spent a good bit of that time on a mission trip.

While looking for a place in Rochester again we really wanted to live near the park again and God provided us a little house (2 bedrooms, about 600sq feet) with Highland Park as our back yard. We lived there when we got the news that Glenn was accepted to medical school and found out that we got to move to Syracuse.

Craigslist and Orange Housing were both helpful in finding a place to live in Syracuse and, since Glenn was taking summer anatomy, we decided to sublet for the summer instead of get a year's lease to try to figure out where in Syracuse we wanted to spend our 4 years there. Our 3 bedroom apartment sublet (with two porches) was great and we loved the neighborhood but before the end of our time in that apartment we found out that we were approved to buy a house. Thus started our painful house hunting/ adventures in homelessness 2009 version. God provided a place for us to sleep every night but it was tiring and stressful moving around, living out of our van and constantly looking at houses, putting in offers, and having things fall through all while Glenn was starting medical school.

That's where I stopped in March, so I'll finish our walk down memory lane now.

Graciously in October, after 2.5 months of being homeless, we were able to move into a 3br 2bath flat just a block from the place we had sublet. We moved our stuff out of the attic of the house we had sublet (where the landlord had graciously let us store our possessions for free) and into the apartment that wasn't really ready for a family to move into yet (There was a sink, toilet and bathtub in the living/ dining area and piles of saw dust and debries everywhere because of a problem that had happened in one of the bathrooms and the reconstruction that needed to be done. Within a week or two it was cleaned up and there was a complete, working bathroom for us.) We thoroughly enjoyed living there. We think that our landlord saw that and decided that, since it was such a great place for a family, he wanted to move back in and told us on Easter that he was going to fix it up and move in himself.

That was, again, not part of our plan but God was gracious and quickly provided another 3br apartment just a few blocks away for us to live in for our last 22 months in Syracuse. After that Glenn started his RMED track in Lowville, about 2 hours from Syracuse. The hospital graciously found and provided a 3br apartment for our 10 months there. We had no idea what it was going to be like, having not seen it before moving all of our belongings there, but it worked out great and we are so thankful for our time there.

Well his rural rotation ended in January, as did our lease, as did most of his medical school requirements. We weren't going to find out where we were moving to until mid-March at the Match so we put our stuff in storage once again and set out for our mystery months adventures, living out of our van visiting programs, friends and family and volunteering a bit along the way.

After finding out we were moving to Fort Worth for residency we did some searching online for housing then packed all of our stuff up in an ABF UPack trailer and headed south so we could see places in person. We arrived in the DFW area in early April and started looking for a place to live while friends in Dallas graciously let us take over 2 of the bedrooms in their home for a while. Our belongings were put into another storage unit down here while we looked for a place to live. We finally found a place (some more details on that process available here) and are now living at address #11 in the past 7 years, address #20 in the past almost 14 years of marriage.

As I was writing I noticed I wrote the word "gracious" a lot. Grace. Getting what we don't deserve. We have moved a lot. It hasn't always been our choice but God has abundantly provided in places to live, in food to eat, in friends to share life with, in churches to serve in and to challenge us to grow and so much more. We don't deserve any of it but I can honestly say God has been faithful and so generous.

One day this past week in my GMG Anything study I read Acts 4:32-27. That passage talks about how in the early days of the church no one really considered anything that they owned as theirs but as belonging to the whole of the body of Christ. If there was a need the followers of Christ would do what they needed to do to meet that need. Reading it made me think of how many times over the past 14 years we have been the recipients of that grace. I'm so humbled to think of the number of people who have opened their homes to us and who have shared with us what they had just like the church did in Acts. It is humbling to be on the receiving end of that grace. I have learned a lot about hospitality and giving by being on the receiving end of it. I look forward to being able to be on the giving end of it more in the days, months and years to come.

At the end of this time of remembering I just want to stop and say thanks to God for how He has always taken care of us. I also want to say thank you to countless dear friends who have been His hands and feet and have offered us beds and couches and places on their floors and at their tables over the years for anything from a night to over a month. How grateful we are for each and every one of you and the example of generosity you have been to us. We are so grateful!

Our Homeless Time is Coming to an End, Lord Willing

Yesterday we faxed our personal info for background checks to a man who owns a house in Fort Worth that we saw a "For Rent" sign in front of when we were driving through a neighborhood looking at a couple of houses to rent or buy. A couple of hours later we got a call from him telling us that people say nice things about us. We had called him to inquire about the house on the Saturday before last after the marriage conference because it's very close to the church the conference was at and we had driven past it again. He gave me the run down: 2500 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, new gas stove, wood flooring, new carpet, no central a/c or heat. Our connection was bad so I had a hard time hearing all he had to say. I asked him how much he was asking for it. He asked, "How many people would be living there?" I told him my husband, myself and our 4 kids. He told me $1200. I told him, "Thank you very much. I'll talk to my husband." and hung up. $1200 was way more than we were hoping to spend on housing. I put the place out of my mind as we continued to look for places online and we spent a morning seeing houses with a realtor. Some of them had more promise than others. A lot of them needed a lot of work.

Wednesday afternoon after spending the morning looking at houses he called us again and this time Glenn talked to him. He sounded interested in us. Why? I don't know. He asked Glenn what we were looking at paying a month and said that what he really wanted was someone that was going to pay rent on the first of the month and take care of the house. We are those kind of people. He said that he wanted us to see it and that he could possibly go down on the rent.

I could go on and on about the agony of the last 2 weeks as we have prayed and cried and discussed our options. Looking for a house when you are homeless is kind of like shopping when you're hungry. You're tempted to just throw anything in the cart and run home so you can eat and it takes conscious effort to make rational, responsible, healthy choices that are right for your family.
- Rent or buy?
- Which house should we buy?
- How much money will we have to put into the house and what will we do with it at the end of residency if we do buy?
- Is it worth it to buy after all the closing costs at both ends?
- Which place should we rent?
- Are we being bad stewards of the money God has entrusted to us if we buy this place or rent that place?
- Should we move to this place that has opportunities to live among refugees but is pretty scary or that place that is safer and closer to the hospital?
- Will people come to our house if we live in that part of town or that far away?
- Will Glenn be able to handle that long of a commute on those crazy interstates after his long shifts?
- What purpose has God brought us to Fort Worth for?
These and so many other discussions filled our waking hours as we sought the Lord and wanted to make a decision that would please Him.

We decided, because time is of the essence and because of all of the unknowns that come with home ownership, to look into some rentals. We checked out 3 places on Saturday and another one on Sunday. One was too far away, two were too yucky and scary and weird. We liked the looks of the one close to the marriage conference church. On talking with the landlord we worked out a plan to pay $1000 a month for the first 2 years. It is unheard of for a home of that size to rent for that little and after lots more praying, weighing of options, and discussions and visiting the church for services on Sunday we've decided to rent it.

It's really been a struggle to buy or not to buy, especially after staying in this beautiful home owned by our friends who bought it, not looking nearly this beautiful, at the beginning of his residency. We had originally planned on buying (like we planned on buying in medical school but many of you remember how that went down back when we were homeless at the beginning of med school) for reasons like: it'd be our own place, we could do with it and with the lawn what we wanted, we would be able to stay there throughout residency without someone else telling us we have to move, Glenn could do wood working and other tinkering in our hypothetical garage, etc.

Why I'm glad we're renting:
- We don't have to worry about fixing the roof or the bathroom or upgrading the flooring or the bathroom or the kitchen. It isn't ours.
- We don't have to sell it at the end of residency, just give a move out date.
- If the area or the house truly doesn't work out (we truly hope that it does but... if not...) we can move.
- The idea of living there beyond our 4 years of residency is not even something I'd consider at this point... I'll only be too glad to write that last rent check and move on to the next place God has for us. If we bought a house I might be more tempted to stay and it might be harder to answer God's call.
- If we have extra money we won't have to struggle with should we throw it at our student loans that are at 6.8% or do something to fix the house or put more towards the principle of our mortgage so we'll have more equity when we sell. We can start to pay down our loans earlier.

Why I'm glad we're renting this house:
- It's less than 2 miles, 5 minutes, from the hospital.
- 4 bedrooms means we have a place to do school or to host friends or prospective residents or incoming residents looking for a place to live or any other people who might need a place to stay to bless people as we've been blessed so much over the years.
- more than one toilet will be such a wonderful thing with 6 people!
- there's washer and dryer hook ups so I can use my washer.
- It's walking distance to a church, a park that has a playground and mile markers imprinted in it's sidewalks, and a just opened this past weekend grocery store (I got so spoiled walking to Tops in Lowville for groceries. This was on my "dream but probably won't get it" list, knowing that we wanted to live in the city and that grocery store are usually in the suburbs but God gave it to me. If you haven't noticed, I think He likes to bless me. We went to it's grand opening event on Saturday and got some free samples and Abigail won a free cake on a cake walk.)
- There's a covered patio area out back that we can enjoy.
- I feel safe in the neighborhood (whether I should feel safe there or not is yet to be seen)
- There's enough space inside and parking outside for us to have people over and to host a medical missions fellowship that we feel God calling us to start in Fort Worth.
- there's a just opened in the past month free/ low cost clinic started by a church just down the street that Glenn may get to volunteer at.
- no central air in Texas means we get to prepare physically for possible life in hot places overseas where A/C isn't an option (Don't worry people who may come and visit us... We're planning on buying a couple of window units so you don't have to be so uncomfortable when you're here.)

What it all comes down to is it's God's house and we're grateful for the opportunity to use it for a season and we long to use it for Him!

We have decided to move in May 1 so we can get our stuff moved in and maybe be a bit settled in the first few days of May before we drive back to NY for graduation and then to WY for family reunion stuff since we won't be back to Fort Worth until June 5, about a week before orientation starts. I didn't like the idea of paying rent for almost a month of being gone but we decided it would make life easier. After making that decision we found out Glenn's getting paid something for orientation (we didn't think he was and it turns out it's enough to cover that month of rent after tithing) so, once again, God provided.

We are so grateful for all the people who have loved and supported us, prayed for us, given us places to sleep, fed us, etc during these crazy mystery months. I can say with full assurance - God has been faithful. Praise His name.

So, Lord willing, today we are signing a lease on a house that we get to move into next week. Yay.

Five Minute Friday: Opportunity

Yay! Gypsy Mama's Five Minute Friday prompts are back! I've missed them! Today's FMF word is:

 

Opportunity

 

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"We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations." - Chuck Swindoll

 

I love this quote. Some may see them as an impossible situation but the next 3-6 months are going to be a great opportunity for our family. They're going to be an adventure. I am not exactly sure what they are going to look like. I'm not exactly sure where we're going to be sleeping for many of those nights BUT we have a great opportunity to be used of God and be open to His leading to answer His call to do what He wants us to do.

Since there is no specific location that we need to be at and we'll only have about a weeks' worth of stuff with us in our van we have an opportunity to more easily answer God's call. I think of Abraham. Life must have been so much simpler back then. God asked him to go and he was able to pack up and go. It doesn't sound like it took him weeks or months to pack like it always does us.

I guess I need less stuff. I think of that book I read about the Muellers. It took them less than an hour to pack their possessions. It takes me longer than that to pack for a weekend! How much more free I would be if I had that little stuff. Free to answer God's call where I am without the distractions and added responsibilities of owning too much stuff even when I am not in the process of moving.

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My Very Favorite and Very Least Favorite Part of Moving so Often

We move. Often. I have been thinking today about my very favorite and very least favorite part of moving so often. It turns out it is the same thing: PEOPLE!

There so many fabulous, inspiring, life-changing people that we have met in the many places that we have lived. These people have taught me so much and have blessed me far beyond what I could ever deserve in my relationships with them. I could go on forever about people I never would have met if I had we not moved. My life is forever changed as a result of people I have met and relationships I have formed in the short time I have lived various places. For that reason I am glad for all the places that we have lived and all the people that I have met in them. Meeting new people and forming relationships with them is something I love about moving.

On the flip side, though, my very least favorite part of moving so often is people. When you move often you have to say "good bye." Often. I am not a very good long distance friend. I'll pray for you, try to follow you on facebook, and may occasionally shoot you an email or even more rarely (just saying - it probably won't happen) give you a phone call or come and visit. I hate saying good bye. I hate that there are so many people I wish were still in my daily, weekly, or even monthly life that aren't. I have come to accept that this is just a part of my life.

Since moving to Lowville we have been full disclosure. In your first conversation with us you will find out that we are only going to be here until the end of January. You will then ask where we are going after that and you will get an answer that people who have known us longer have come to expect, "We don't exactly know but God does." We have some ideas of what we may be doing in February to June of next year but we really don't know for sure.

Being honest about how long we'll be here helps to give people an out, a reason not to become friends with us. We also desperately want friends though so we may, selfishly, become friends with you even if you don't like the idea that becoming friends with us means saying good bye soon. I hope that you don't regret the time you have spent with us, no matter how long or short that time is. I have learned that relationships, no matter how long they last, are worth it.

Thank you for being my friend.

Five Minute Friday: Together

It's Friday again. The word for this week is:

Together…

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  One thing that I am so thankful for through all of our moves is that when I move I bring my 5 favorite people with me. In these 18 addresses that we've had over the last almost 13 years we've always been together. Our moves are not as difficult as they could be because we move together. I don't have to show up in a new town by myself.  I'm so grateful that, so far, it has always been the 6 of us and God. (Of course the first few moves there were less than 6 of us.)

We've had some difficult times this week. Friendships never look the same where ever you move. There have been tears and heartache. It's hard to watch my kids suffer. I am so thankful that we bring friends where ever we move. Life is so much better when lived... together.


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 Want to write for 5 minutes too? Here's the prompt for this week:
"Around here we write for five minutes flat on Fridays.
We write because we love words and the relief it is to just write them without worrying if they’re just right or not. So we take five minutes on Friday and write like we used to run when we were kids.
On Fridays we write with gusto, unselfconscious and flat out.

1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. Please visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments.
OK, are you ready? Give me your best five minutes on: Together"

The kids' Five Minute Fridays

What's your definition of home?

Everytime we move I wonder when where I'm living is going to feel like I'm home. It always takes a different amount of time and it is always a different trigger that says, "I'm home."

This afternoon there was a knock on our door. Two girls from down the street were there (one of whom helped haul our boxes in that first day). They wondered if our kids could use someone to play with. They played outside for a while and met some kids from a couple doors down then came in and had nerf gun wars all over the house. Dinner time came and they went home but were invited to come for our walk with us after dinner.

After dinner we walked over to pick them (and their brother and other sister) up and, after chatting for a while with their parents, we took them with us on our walk. I don't think that they realized that we were going to walk all the way around our block, not theirs. They were astounded that we were going to walk all the way up the hill to WalMart. "Cars have a hard time making it up that hill." (The should see the hill on Westmoreland that we used to walk.) I, for some reason, hadn't ever really realized that it was a hill there because every time I've walked around the block we've gone the other way and I never realized that we were going downhill. Anyway, we did walk all the way around the block and had a good time with them. After the walk they came over to our house and watched Monsters vs Aliens with us.

It was fun and kind of felt like home to have extra kids in our house today. I don't know that Lowville completely feels like home yet but it is fun to get to know new people and I'm thankful that my kids are making friends.

Move Day Update

I have often been exhausted and embarrassed on move days in the past  but this time I was extremely humbled and grateful as well.

On Friday night we got a call from one of our new friends from church, Devon, asking what time we were picking up the truck because he wanted to help Glenn get it. That was a huge blessing and surprise, especially when he found out that we were going to be picking it up at 7am!

Well, at 7am our door bell rang and Glenn and Devon went to get our 26' Uhaul. The kids and I started hauling the locker bins outside while they were gone. Devon (with his magic moving bag), his wife Kate (armed with donuts, bagels & OJ), and his friend Dan (who we'd never met but was a huge help!) were early help. Karl (a friend of Glenn's from Christian Medical Fellowship) and Nick (our small group leader) both were there early and helped load the heavy stuff. As the morning wore on others came by to help including our neighbor from Roosevelt Brad and his kids, Dawn (a friend from small group who did lots of cleaning and making sure rooms were empty) and her son, Emily (a homeschooling friend who hauled a lot of stuff out to the truck and brought donuts & an orchid for us) and her kids. Even the extra kids (including a neighbor girl who came over to play one last time) were a help hauling for part of the day.

It was a long day and as the day went on I noticed a few areas (like our closet!) that hadn't been packed so I spent most of my time inside getting things finished packing (the REALLY yucky stage) while Glenn and a bunch of wonderful people packed the truck. Many hands make light(er) work and I am so grateful for the many hands that God provided!

Nick and Dawn stayed to the end and were a huge blessing. We finally called the landlord at 2:30 to let him know that we were done and to inform him of a couple of things and we were on the road (with the guys in the uhaul and the girls in the van) headed north by a little before 3.

We arrived here in Lowville a little before 5 and found out that the keys were not waiting for us at the hospital (not sure what happened there!) but, thankfully, the neighbor had a key so we were able to go in and check out our new place and look around (figure out who was going to sleep in which bedroom, etc since we'd only ever seen google drive-by pictures of the duplex before). I had an opportunity to be humbled once again as I stepped out the back door and there stood Richard (a sweet, amazingly strong 82 year old man - if I live to be 82 I want to do it as well as he has!!) who looked at me and said, "Well, I guess I'm the first one here." I wasn't sure what he was talking about but I introduced myself and within minutes Anthony (the pastor of the local Baptist church), and two of his daughters were here to help unload along with Dan (one of the doctors that Glenn will be working with). Anthony apologized that there weren't more people to help but many people from their "Baptist Moving Crew" were gone because of spring break. A few minutes later John & Michele (friends of ours from Tennessee Temple who are currently living near Watertown) & their kids came to help unload as well. Lots of stuff went into the basement and then lots of stuff went inside. It was wonderful to have so much help unloading! Being a part of the bucket brigade getting stuff into our new home was fun. I've honestly never seen a bucket brigade work so well! Everything was unloaded sometime before 8 and we headed off to return the truck. (Side note: the main reason we picked Uhaul was bc they had a drop off spot in Lowville, unfortunately, since that location was not open on Sundays, we had to take it all the way to Watertown to return it). John & Michele & crew came with us so we could grab a bite to eat afterwards. After trying, unsuccessfully, to find the Uhaul place for quite a while due to wrong directions we called uhaul and found out there was another drop off place just a stone's throw from the WalMart parking lot we stopped at - PTL. We dropped it off and hit Taco Bell where 12 starving bodies ate at WAY too late at night. (side note: while we were there, besides the many soldiers that were there another family with younger kids came in and Michele and I both thought "What on earth are you doing feeding your children at Taco Bell at this ungodly hour!" LOL) We finally made it home and collapsed on our mattresses at close to 11.

We had 25 people help us on move day ages 2-82, several of whom had never even met us before. It took about 10 hours total of hauling stuff out and hauling stuff in. It's the first time in a long time that we've actually completed a move in one day and I couldn't imagine how sore I would be today or how long it would have taken without all that help. I'm embarrassed to ask for, or even need, help but I am SO GRATEFUL for all the help we got!

Thank You Lord for providing many hands and feet to help us on Saturday! Please bless those people and heal their bodies, help us to remember what You've taught us through them and give us opportunities to be Your hands and feet in the future.


NOTE: I will be adding pictures to this when we get internet at home, I'm posting this at the library :)

Things to do when you're supposed to be packing

This morning while I was making breakfast I decided to make up a list of things I've used to procrastinate packing. Here are 10 of them, in no particular order.

1. Cook everything in your freezer.
As a general rule we treat meat as a condiment around here (something we've always done but I've recently found a phrase for how we eat from Family Feasts for $75 a Week that I checked out from the library). Towards the end of the time we live in a place the percentage of meat in a meal goes up extensively. We often call it living like kings. One thing I've done the last couple of days is cook up all the food in the freezer so I could pack my pots and pans. I think that this is the best I've ever done at emptying the freezer before a move!
2. Find a good series and read every book from it that your library
system has.
This is something that I normally do and I thought I might this time too as the newest book from a series I had been reading arrived at our library. The book just didn't grip me though so I didn't end up reading it. I have been scanning 168 Hours and Pretty Neat. I won't be able to finish either of them but I've gotten some good ideas.
3. Go on outings with fellow homeschoolers
Over the last few weeks we've gone to the zoo, the Ithaca Sciencenter, Highland Forest, Chuck E Cheese, Ryder Park, Freedom Train at the Landmark Theater. I actually turned down an offer to go to the Rochester Museum and Science Center yesterday because I didn't think it would be the best use of my time with all the packing I still needed to do.
4. Play games on your computer or handheld device.
Draw Something has been the game of choice for most family members this time. It is super fun. I've also played too much Gemz.
5. Take a nap.
Some nasty sinus something has attacked me this week and all I want to do is sleep. Thankfully I'm feeling better today.
6. Sit on the porch and sort through magazines.
I'm glad that the weather has gotten worse this week because it was SO HARD to stay inside and pack last week. I did get through my magazines, cut out a few things that I want to try, and recycled the rest.
7. Eat
For some reason when we're moving my family still expects to eat regular meals and preparing regular meals takes time! When we're moving I usually leave whatever random food that I want to get rid of on the table for the roaming hungry people. Moving makes me want to eat so I bought extra pretzels and baby carrots because they are easy and semi-healthy.
8. Blog
Glenn laughs because, not so much this time but, my blogs often are more frequent in coming when I am supposed to be packing.
9. Play outside with the kids
Again, that weather last week was wonderful and horrible at the same time.
10. Do school
Last week I was trying to do school with the kids and pack and I really didn't do either well. I was reminded of that verse in James about a double minded man being unstable in all he does. This week I decided that we'd take the week off. An extra week into June isn't going to kill us.

In other news, today I found out that we are living on the right hand side of the duplex (yay! we don't have to knock on both doors and wonder which one is ours!) and internet won't be hooked up until 4/10. I guess that will give me lots of time to unpack without the distraction of the world wide web ;)

Caleb's bedroom has been over-run with bikes!

Moving Progress

We're making progress in this move thing but all of us agreed tonight after supper we are SO glad that we are not moving tomorrow!!

We did make a lot of progress today. Several things left our house including:
1. our van - it had to go for an inspection and we found out that it needed bushings (I think, I had thought it was tie rod but that is just what usually needs replaced) so Glenn came home with a loaner car for us to use today. So thankful that there's money in the bank to pay for the repairs and that we'll get our van back tomorrow!
2. Two Bikes! So far for this week we are negative 5 bikes! 3 were sold on craigslist, 1 was given away and 1 was scrapped. It still looks like we have a bike problem BUT... not quite as bad as it did AND there are 6 of us :)
3. Two desks. We had these great desks that probably came out of a dorm that had book shelves built into the sides. We bought three of them thinking that they would be cute for the girls in their someday Madeline style room. We decided that we don't really do school that way and keeping/ moving desks for a room that may never happen might not be the best thing and, also, more often than not, desks just equal flat surfaces to cover with clutter and we decided that if they'd sell on craigslist we would not keep them. Two women have come to look at them over the past week but weren't interested but a lady came over today and bought them from us - yay!
4. 4 bags of library books. Yes, we are often over our 50 book limit at the library but I smile nicely at them and they just keep scanning. If I let each of my kids get library cards our limit would have been 250... that is way too much. 62 really doesn't sound that bad compared to 250! Anyway, Glenn decided we needed to return them so we could figure out what books we needed to  look for to make sure none of them got packed. We did find out that a library DVD was still in our DVD player that was packed with pieces and cords in various boxes somewhere in the pile. My hero Glenn found all the necessary pieces to get the DVD out so we can take it back tomorrow. It turns out we still have 8 things checked out... not too bad AND the TinTin DVD was there on hold waiting for us (We love Petit!!!!!) so we can watch it tomorrow.
5. 4 bags of stuff to salvation Army. More stuff, out the door, clothes and toys we don't need anymore :)

We got a few more boxes from a friend yesterday and I think that they should do it. Tomorrow I am going to do some cooking so we have food to eat for the rest of the week then I'm packing up my kitchen so we can clean and be done. SO glad we aren't moving tomorrow so I can actually get some sleep tonight.

Be praying for Glenn. He has a lot of studying to do before his test on Friday and this packing mess is stressful and distracting!

Thanks God for stuff sold on craigslist and other stuff out the door. Thank You that progress is being made and that we still have a couple days here to get everything done!

crazy box pile as it stands at the moment - so thankful that there is no longer 2 desks on the desk all the way to the left!

I need to step out of denial

I laughed earlier today when I thought, "I need to step out of denial" partly because it sounds like "I need to step out of da Nile." We just moved from Africa to Asia over the weekend in school (our "in-flight movie" was The Gods Must Be Crazy). The Nile is in Africa, not Asia so.... I really shouldn't be anywhere near the Nile. (Well, we are starting in the Middle East so that is pretty close to the Nile as far as Asia goes).

Anyway.... I am talking about denial, NOT da Nile. I think that I am in denial over the fact that I am moving in a little over a month. I really should be used to moving after doing it 16 times in the last 12 1/2 years but I'm not.

Today I made a "reality chain" to help me see how much longer I have here. There are only 38 links in it! Yikes! I must get packing, chucking, donating, selling! I made an agreement with myself as I made the chain that I would spend at least a pomodoro every day before I take the link for the day off. I have found pomodoros very helpful in getting those things done that really need to get done.

What do you find helpful in getting things done? What motivates you? Are you in denial about anything? Is there anything you really need to get done? Set a timer for 25 minutes and just do it.

We aren't going to be homeless this time.... Lord willing

We got news yesterday that the hospital is going to sign a lease for us on a 3 bedroom duplex in Lowville for 4/1/12-1/31/13 for us. Yay! The duplex is in town so it's close to the hospital and lots of things should be walking distance for the homeschooling family at home. It also has a front and back yard. I'm grateful. Most likely I won't have any idea what it looks like, at least the inside, until we pull up with our truck (which will be a new experience for us) but I'm so glad that housing is no longer up in the air. Address number 17 has been located :)

Thank you God for always taking care of us and thank You for the hospital taking care of our housing for those 10 months! You are so good!!

Now.... I need to start selling stuff on craigslist, throwing stuff out, giving stuff away and packing!

Thanks to all of you who have been praying with us about our housing!

Five Minute Friday (belated once again): Real

I'm late for Five Minute Friday again but here is my post. Here are the rules if you want to join me:
1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. Please visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them.
OK, are you ready? Give me your best five minutes on:

REAL


START

I've been convicted this past week with something. What is a real friend? Do I have any real friends? Am I a real friend?

I've been confronted with this because (in)courage is having a conference this spring. Not a big somewhere in the US conference where you get together with people from all over the US but (in)RL. In Real Life. It's great to have friends all over the country (and all over the world) and I do. But it is vitally important, as a woman, to have friends in real life.

I have lots of facebook friends. Many of them have been real friends in real life in the past and when I spend time with them (like I got to spend some time with one of them last Saturday and another one today) they are real friends BUT.... they live far away. They can not be a part of my actual life.

I move often. Making friends does not happen overnight. I have a hard time wanting to make friends because I know that I will not be a part of their lives for long because it is inevitable that in a few months or years I will be leaving. I will not be a forever part of their actual life so why try?

STOP

This is an ugly work in progress but my timer is done and I don't have answers for this...

We're Moving Out. To where? I'm not exactly sure

AHHH! I just wrote a letter to our landlord giving notice that we will be moving out at the end of March but, at this point, we don't have a place to move to in Lowville. This is not the first time that we have done this but it is still kind of nerve wracking. I am so thankful that God knows where we are going to live and that He has it under control. I can trust Him. He has never left us without a place to sleep and I don't know that He is going to start now. I am so thankful for all of the times that He has provided places for us to sleep over the years (and for our landlords and for all the wonderful people that let us crash at their places when we were homeless) so I can look back and have confidence in Him that He is going to do it again - Lord willing without the homeless part!

"Will you go out without knowing?"

Today we sorted through books and games in preparation for moving. We got rid of some of them, probably not enough. We've packed 9 book boxes so far. (I'm sure I said "I love Baxter boxes." at least once.)

As we were sorting through books I came across My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers. I am always challenged by that little book. At some point in the past I had put a squiggly circle around the date January 2nd. It is titled "Will you go out without knowing?" I read it to our family this afternoon. The scripture reference was Heb. 11:8 "He went out, not knowing where he was going." (That reference always makes me think of our Sunday School to the Extreme which Caleb remembers only too well...)

Anyway, I think that this devotional is the story of our lives. Here is what it says:

"Have you ever “gone out” in this way? If so, there is no logical answer possible when anyone asks you what you are doing. One of the most difficult questions to answer in Christian work is, “What do you expect to do?”You don’t know what you are going to do. The only thing you know is that God knows what He is doing. Continually examine your attitude toward God to see if you are willing to “go out” in every area of your life, trusting in God entirely. It is this attitude that keeps you in constant wonder, because you don’t know what God is going to do next. Each morning as you wake, there is a new opportunity to “go out,” building your confidence in God. “. . . do not worry about your life . . . nor about the body . . .” (Luke 12:22). In other words, don’t worry about the things that concerned you before you did “go out.”

"Have you been asking God what He is going to do? He will never tell you. God does not tell you what He is going to do— He reveals to you who He is. Do you believe in a miracle-working God, and will you “go out” in complete surrender to Him until you are not surprised one iota by anything He does?

"Believe God is always the God you know Him to be when you are nearest to Him. Then think how unnecessary and disrespectful worry is! Let the attitude of your life be a continual willingness to “go out” in dependence upon God, and your life will have a sacred and inexpressible charm about it that is very satisfying to Jesus. You must learn to “go out” through your convictions, creeds, or experiences until you come to the point in your faith where there is nothing between yourself and God."

I love the "constant wonder" in our lives. I don't worry (nearly as much now) when challenges come up because I know that I can trust God entirely. He has shown us who He is and that He is trustworthy. I don't know that we've ever completely "gone out" like Abraham did but I know that God is faithful and will take care of us no matter what.

Thanks God for the reminder of how trustworthy You are and that I don't need to know what the next step is, I just need to know and follow You.

The song going through my head is being sung by Bob Weston who used to come and share about his ministry at Seneca Community Church when I was growing up (see if you can hear his Jamaican accent in this song):
     If you know the Lord is helpin' you, what you gotta worry about?
     If you know the Lord is helpin' you, why don't you scream and shout?
   Ohhh, Glory, hallelujah, praise His name, Ev'ry day He's just the same
    If you know the Lord is helpin' you, what you gotta worry about?
    Me no worry, me no fret, 'cause Jesus never fail me yet.
    Me no worry, me no fret, 'cause Jesus never fail me yet.
    Ohhh, if  you know the Lord is helpin' you, what you gotta worry about?
     If you know the Lord is helpin' you, why don't you scream and shout?
   Ohhh, Glory, hallelujah, praise His name, Ev'ry day He's just the same
    If you know the Lord is helpin' you, what you gotta worry about?
That man sang the most amazing version of "His Eye is on the Sparrow" I've ever heard:
    I sing because I'm happy
    I sing because I'm free
   For His eye is on the sparrow
   And I know He watches me.

How Long Would it Take to Pack Your Belongings?

Moving is never far from my consciousness because we have done it so often and especially now since we are moving again (Lord willing, to Lowville, NY where there is a husband wife family doctor team that Glenn will be working with and where the hospital has- praise the Lord!!- agreed to cover housing and the scholarship!!) at the end of March.

Today at lunch I was reading to the kids from George Muller: The Guardian of Bristol's Orphans (I would highly recommend this series of biographies. We would like to buy the whole set one day.) and we were reading about how George and Mary Müller moved from Teignmouth to Bristol. They decided they were moving and George started visiting everyone in the congregation the next day.  I was struck by the next two sentences: "Two days and many tears later, George Müller had told everyone at Ebenezer Chapel that he was moving to Bristol. It took less than an hour to pack their few belongings, and with sad hearts, on May 25, 1832, the Müllers boarded a stagecoach for Bristol." (emphasis mine)

LESS THAN AN HOUR???? My first thought was, "Oh my. I have too much stuff!" Part of the reason that we are staying home for Christmas this year is that we are moving at the end of March and we need to start packing because this is the most time off that we have before our move and we are all so busy while school is in session and I really don't want to give up school time to pack and have to do school farther into the summer.

Picture from when we packed up to move to this apartment from the previous apartment we lived in in Syracuse. It is encouraging to note we no longer some of the stuff in this picture but we have collected more in the almost 19 months we've lived here.

I think that instead of packing I am going to be spending a lot of time purging over break. That is not easy for a horder like me but having less stuff will free me up to be able to move when God asks me to move, like the Müllers did, and not be overwhelmed by all this stuff when I am living anywhere. My friend Liz moved across the country this fall with her husband and 4 kids in just her 12 passenger van and a pull behind uhaul trailer. She is an inspiration to me. We usually use one of those moving vans and stuff our van full and then have to go back to where we used to live to fill our van one more time. I don't want to do have to go back for more this time which means we need to make some decisions. While making dinner tonight I was listening to the Simple Mom podcast and she had some good ideas and was talking with the author of this article "When Less Really Is More" which inspired me. I really want to do this with my family over the next two weeks so that, though it will definitely take more than an hour to pack up in March, it won't, Lord willing, take as long because we don't have as much stuff.

So... how about you? How long would it take YOU to pack up your belongings?

Moving Out and Moving into #16

The last few weeks have been consumed with moving. I quit school with a kids a couple of weeks before I was planning to because I was not doing a good job homeschooling them or packing. I knew that the packing had to happen and that we could start school early in the fall and do some stuff over the summer and several of our subjects were already done so I don't feel bad about it. I knew that we were planning on taking the whole month of June off because it is Glenn's break so we didn't quit too much before I was planning to.

It seemed to me that packing goes better every time that we move and this time was no exception. I am learning some tricks to make it easier for myself. Not easy mind you but easier. For a while when I first found out that we had to move because of our landlord planning to move in I had a goal of 5 boxes a day. That was manageable until I was done packing books. They are the easy part but we do have a lot of them! After that I struggled because I didn't know what we were and were not going to need in the last 2 weeks we were in our last apartment.

One nice thing about this move was that, though it cost us a half month's rent, we had a 2 ½ week window to move in. That makes it so much less stressful that trying to move everything out and in in one day. Glenn and Phil, one of his classmates, did most of the heavy lifting on two consecutive Fridays as study breaks. That was a HUGE blessing to me (and to our marriage – we often get mad at each other when we move heavy stuff together.)

As we were packing and cleaning the last couple of weeks we have had lots of visitors from the kids on our block. We are sad to be leaving our old street because we have left 6 sad kids that were frequent visitors to our home behind. We are planning on being intentional in keeping in touch with the kids and families on our old street because we know that God put them in our lives for a reason and being only 5 blocks away it won't be easy but if we plan in that direction we will be able to continue to have a relationship with them.

We spent our first night at our new place on Friday (after a fun visit from Russ, Camy & Malachi) but went back to our old place for a couple of hours on Saturday and Sunday to finish packing the last of the “yucky stage” and clean up. It looks a lot nicer than when we moved in (with the toilet and sink in the dining room, about an inch of sawdust and construction materials all over the place). On Monday we stopped back to grab our bags to take to Salvation Army and turn our keys over to our landlord.

Our new living room is still a hallway of boxes but more unpacking is getting done every day. It has been fun to finally use our lockers that we picked up off craigslist to help us get organized. A tour of our new apartment will be posted when we get unpacked (which we are hoping to have mostly done before we go to PA next weekend – we'll see on that one.)

Packing Nostalgia

Packing often makes me nostalgic. So far I have packed 20 boxes. All of them have been books. Not all of our books are packed yet. Books are one of our biggest weaknesses. I love books. We (obviously) have a lot of them.

I am not exactly sure how many boxes we have. When I empty them I keep them in stacks of like boxes (BOOKS, KIT, BATH, MISC, etc) and shrink wrap them in stacks of 10 with plastic wrap. I still have a few more boxes that say “BOOKS” on them. I have smiled at many of my boxes as I have filled them because of the little words written in pen or pencil. I often make notes of important things that I may look for in the process of unpacking or our stuff being in storage. Some of my boxes that say “out at the end at 1090,” “out at the end at Meadowbrook,” “out at B&K's.” I smiled as I thought of our time at those places. I always wonder what we were thinking at the boxes that are numbered “Book Box 1,” “Book Box 2,” etc. I think that it must have been on our move from Houghton that we tried to be organized enough to write on 3x5 cards what was in each book box. It may have been helpful because we didn't really unpack many of our books when we lived in Waterloo but I am not sure.

Well, 20 boxes down, many more to go. I am so glad we bought a commercial packing tape dispenser several moves ago and that we had dad save his Baxter boxes when he was on dialysis.

Two Horse Stories

I want to share two stories. The first is from a book that I have been reading lately. You may recognize the people in the second one.

First, “Let me tell you an old Portuguese story.

“There was an old man who lived in a tiny village. Although poor, he was envied by all for the beautiful white horse he owned. Even the king coveted his treasure. People offered fabulous prices for the steed, but the old man always refused. 'This horse is not a horse to me,' he would tell them. 'It is a person. How could you sell a person? He is a friend, not a possession. How could you sell a friend?' The man was poor and the temptation was great, but he never sold the horse.

“One morning the horse was missing from the stable. All the village came to see the old man. 'You old fool,' the scoffed. 'We old you that someone would steal your horse. You are so poor, how could you ever hope to protect such a valuable animal? It would have been better to have sold him. You could have gotten whatever price you wanted. Now the horse is gone, and you've been cursed with misfortune.'

“The old man responded, 'Don't speak too quickly. Say only that the horse is not in the stable. That is all we know, the rest is judgement. How can you know if I've been cursed or not? How can you judge?'

“The people contested, 'Don't make us out to be fools! We may not be philosophers, but great philosophy is not needed to know what's happened here. The fact that your horse is gone is a curse.'

“The old man spoke again, “All I know is that the stable is empty and the horse is gone. The rest I don't know. Whether it be a curse or a blessing, I can't say. All we can see is a fragment. Who can say what will come next?'

“The people of the village laughed. They ahd always thought the man to be a fool; if he wasn't, he would have sold the horse and lived off the money. Instead, he was a poor woodcutter, living hand to mouth in the misery of poverty. Now he had proven that he was, indeed, a fool.

“After fifteen days, the horse returned. He hadn't been stolen, he had run away into the forest. Not only had he returned, he had brought a dozen wild horses with him. Once again the village people gathered around the woodcutter and spoke, 'Old man, you were right and we were wrong. What we thought was a curse was a blessing. Please forgive us.'

“The man responded, 'Again, you go too far. Say only that the horse is back. State only that a dozen horses with him, but don't judge. How do you know if this is a blessing or not? You see only a fragment. Unless you know the whole story, how can you judge? If you read only one page, how can you judge the whole the whole book? All you have is a fragment! Don't say that this is a blessing. No one knows. I am content with what I know. I am not perturbed by what I don't know.'

“'Maybe the old man is right,' they said. But down deep they believed he was wrong. They knew it was a blessing. Twelve wild horses had returned with one horse. With a little bit of work, the animals could be broken and trained and sold for much money.

“The old man has a son, an only son. The young man began to break the wild horses. After a few days, he fell from one of the horses and broke both legs. Once again the villagers gathered around the old man and cast their judgements.

“'You were right,' they said. 'The dozen horses were not a blessing. They were a curse. Your only son has broken both his legs, and now in your old age you have no one to help you. Now you are poorer than ever.'

“The old man spoke again, 'Don't go so far in your judgements. Say only that my son broke his legs. Who knows if it is a blessing or a curse? No one knows. We only have a fragment of the whole.'

“A few weeks later the country engaged in war against a neighboring country. All the young men of the village were required to join the army. Only the son of the old man was excluded because he was injured. The enemy was strong and the people feared they were never see their sons again. Once again, they gathered around the old man, crying and screaming because their sons had been taken. 'You were right, old man,' they wept. 'God knows you were right. This proves it. Your son's accident was a blessing. His legs may be broken, but at least he is with you. Our sons are gone forever.'

“The old man spoke again, 'Why do you always draw conclusions? No one is wise enough to know if it is a blessing or a curse. Only God knows.'

“The old woodcutter was content with what he knew and not disturbed by what he couldn't understand.”

And now for my other story...

There once was a boy and a girl who met at a Christian college in Tennessee. They were young but they decided to get married that summer. Neither of them were finished with their education. Was it a blessing or a curse? We know only a fragment.

Just a few short months after they were married they discovered that they were expecting their first child. Was it a blessing or a curse? We know only a fragment.

The college that they were attending lost it's regional accreditation and it was discovered that the teachers that graduated the year that the girl did would be the first to graduate without state certification to teach. Was it a blessing or a curse? We know only a fragment.

Their firstborn, a son, came and was adored by all. The grandparents on both sides loved him, especially since he was the first for all of them. Was it a blessing or a curse? We know only a fragment.

The boy and his wife along with their son soon moved to a small house in a nicer part of the city that they lived in. Was it a blessing or a curse? We know only a fragment.

There were complications with a heart catheterization that the girl's mother had. As a result the girl, along with her husband and small son, moved to New York to help out while her mother spent 3 months in the hospital and her last 18 months in a nursing home unable to use her arms or legs and with very limited speech. Was it a blessing or a curse? We know only a fragment.

The mother passed away and the boy needed to finish his education but few colleges would accept credits from an unaccredited college. One college that would offered a scholarship to make it cheaper than another college that would so the boy took his wife and two children and one on the way to that college in rural New York. Was it a blessing or a curse? We know only a fragment.

The boy graduated from college taking nearly all of his science classes in two years and applied to medical school. He was not accepted to any of the schools that he applied to so he moved with his wife and four children to his wife's hometown where tenants had just moved out of an apartment owned by her grandparents in the middle of the night. Was it a blessing or a curse? We know only a fragment.

The boy substitute taught while he re-studied for his MCAT exam. After getting his improved score the boy and girl decided that he should re-apply to American medical schools. Was it a blessing or a curse? We know only a fragment.

Unable to find a job in the town where they were living they family of six moved to a city an hour away where the boy had gotten a job at a hospital. He got two interviews at medical schools and was put on waiting lists at both places. Ultimately rejection letters came from both schools. Was it a blessing or a curse? We know only a fragment.

After seeking direction from God and discovering that his application to the medical school in the Caribbean was lost they decided that the boy should re-apply to American schools and they sent out 16 applications. The boy got but one interview that time but soon thereafter got news that he was accepted at that school. Was it a blessing or a curse? We know only a fragment.

The family packed to move to the new city two hours away. They moved into a sublet near campus assuming that they would be able to find more permanent housing during the two months that they were there. Was it a blessing or a curse? We know only a fragment.

The boy and girl were pre-approved to buy a home and started to look for one to get the $8000 tax credit but time had run out on their sublet. Was it a blessing or a curse? We know only a fragment.

The young family packed their belongings and put them into storage and lived out of their van at the homes of friends for 2 ½ months while making offers on 5 different houses that fell through and then finally deciding to rent. Was it a blessing or a curse? We know only a fragment.

They finally moved into an apartment that exceeded their expectations both in the low price and amenities with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, plenty of living space and free laundry. Was it a blessing or a curse? We know only a fragment.

The family hoped that they would be able to stay in that apartment for all of their time in that city but the landlord informed them that he had come into some money and was going to gut the place and move back into it with his family and that they needed to be out by the end of September at the latest. Was it a blessing or a curse? We know only a fragment.

There are so many chapters in the story that were skipped over and the next part of the story is unknown but I am glad that I know Who does. Epictetus once said, “I am always content with that which happens, for I think that which God chooses is better than what I choose.”

Glenn prefaced telling me the news that we have to move again this summer with “We have another horse situation.” If you have known me long or followed my blog you know how much I don't like moving and that we are in our 15^th place in 10 years. (We have decided to ignore our homeless time of last fall in our count because we really don't know how to count it.) I walked myself over to my fridge and read Ella Spee's Perscription for Contentment:

* Never allow yourself to complain about anything – not even the weather [or having to move again]

* Never picture yourself in any other circumstance or someplace else

* Never compare your lot with another's.

* Never allow yourself to wish this or that had been otherwise

* Never dwell on tomorrow – remember that tomorrow is God's not ours.

And then I read my favorite quote by Andrew Murray: “In time of trouble, say, 'First, He brought me here. It is by His will I am in this strait place; in that I will rest.' Next, 'He will keep me here in His love, and give me grace in this trial to behave as His child.' Then say, 'He will make the trial a blessing, teaching me lessons He intends me to learn, and working in me the grace He means to bestow.' And last, say, 'In His good time He can bring me out again. How and when He knows.' Therefore, say, 'I am here (1) by God's appointment, (2) in His keeping, (3) under His training, (4) for his time.”

I guess I am glad I am going through Linda Dillow's Calm My Anxious Heart again. Contentment is still something that I am striving after and have not completely attained. I got the horse story and the above quotes all from that book and I would highly recommend it! Some more thoughts on contentment from that book:

“Our thought life, not our circumstances determines whether we are content.”

“Are you going to judge God by the circumstances you don't understand or judge the circumstances in light of the character of God?”

“If we are going to find contentment in the midst of trial and uncertainty we must accept our situation as being purposely allowed into our lives by a personal and loving God.”

And lastly this prayer from Betty Scott Stam, martyred missionary to China, “Lord, I give up all my own plans and purposes, all my own desires and hopes, and accept Thy will for my life. I give myself, my life, my all utterly to Thee to be Thine forever. Fill me and sela me with Thy Holy Spirit. Use me as Thou wilt, send me where Thou wilt, work out They whole will in my life at any cost.” In the front of my Bible I signed my name under that on 1/27/08.

I just jumped back to the end of Habakkuk where my list of “thoughs” are (homework for the “Trusting God with the whys” chapter for this week). I made a list back in April of 2007 when I first read the book and then again last April. Two of the “thoughs” have been answered – God got Glenn into medical school and He provided a place for us to live 6/1/09. Most of them have not and may never be. I laughed as I looked at the last “though” I wrote last April “Though we may move many times in med school.” I had no idea what this past year would entail but my God is faithful and He faithfully provided just what we needed when we needed it. It is a journey of faith He has us on. Why it involves packing and unpacking so much I really don't know but I know that I can trust Him and that He is going to provide another place for us to live and He is going to teach us more in the days, weeks, months, and years to come Lord willing should the Lord tarry. I guess I will close with this “Though..... Yet I will exult in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, and He has made my feet like hinds' feet, and makes me walk on my high places.” Hab. 3:17-19.

I have a lot to look forward too :)

Sonja Maas will have lived 15 places in her first 10 years of marriage. I have decided that, if we live to have been married 60 years, I only have 76 moves left after this one :)

Orientation and school starts

We are here!!! Sorry no more pictures at this point but did want to write a quick update. We moved in on Tuesday the 4th with the help of Sonja's brother Russ and his wife Camy. (We also had help moving out from Amy Jo, Sonja' aunt.) We did not get electricity until Friday so we spent Tuesday and Wednesday nights at Russ and Camy's in Farmington about 30 minutes out of Rochester. Thursday night we spent the dark night here. When the power came on Friday morning the kids all cheered. We went to church at North Baptist this past Sunday. It is a bigger church but seemed somewhat friendly. We are planning on going back this coming week. Today was the start of orientation for Glenn and also the first day of school for Caleb and Hannah. Hannah was so excited to start school and had a good day. (Caleb had some power struggles with Sonja but the day went ok.) It is going to be an adjustment to teach two kids and Sonja would appreciate your prayers. Well that is all for now. Thanks for all of your prayers and keep them coming as the house is still far from settled (even though we did have company over tonight for supper as Russ and Camy were able to come over for Lasagna.)