The kids really needed to go to bed tonight, I really needed them to go to bed tonight. Caleb was still working on supper dishes when I started doing "thank yous" with the girls and Glenn in the living room and he got there just as I was starting to read Matthew 14. I got to verses 16 and 17 "But Jesus replied, 'That isn't necessary - you feed them.' 'What!' they exclaimed. 'We have exactly five small loaves of bread and two fish!'" and started crying. Caleb turned to Glenn and asked him if he had picked out what we were going to read tonight and Glenn told him that no, that was just where we were at. Caleb said, "God must have known." After I composed myself and finished the passage Caleb turned to me and said, "You see mom, if God can use five loaves and two fish to feed five thousand men and that's not including women and children then He can provide for us."
I have been struggling with trusting God. I have been struggling with the whole "where are we going to be living next week" thing and then today I realized I hadn't calculated health insurance for Glenn into my projected budget for our family. The kids are eligible for Child Health Plus in NY so they will be taken care of but Glenn and I are not and he is required to have health insurance or he can't be a student. It is going to cost us a lot of money that I had not calculated in on my budgeting. It was a surprise to me and I said, "What! We have exactly 5 loaves of bread and 2 small fish" and God said in vs 18 "Bring them here." OK, God, here are my 5 loaves of bread and 2 small fish. They are Yours. You know our needs over the next 4 years until we get another paycheck again better than I do and You know how You are going to use what we have and what ever else You have up Your sleeve to provide for us. I can trust You.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Soon to be Homeless but Never Hopeless
Today is Monday. We told the man we are subletting from that we will be out by the 3rd at the latest. That is next Monday. I have no idea where we are going. Glenn's final test for anatomy is on Friday and he doesn't start orientation until 8/18 so that means we don't have to be in Syracuse for those almost 2 1/2 weeks. Where should we go? What should we do? I don't know. A few people have offered to let us stay a couple of days at their homes. We have been given permission to put all of our stuff up in the attic so that is my task for this week. I guess I am packing like we are going camping. A week's worth of clothes, tents, sleeping bags, etc and sleep where ever we find a spot. It may be interesting.
During our marriage we have never lived in any one city or town for 4 years in a row so living here in Syracuse for 4 years will be a first. I am interested to find out where we will be living for those 4 years. Moving an average of once every 9 months for the last 10 years has been exhausting. I would love to live in one place for the next 4 years to move our average up to moving once a year with our longest stay being almost 4 years instead of our current record of almost 2. I don't know if that is going to happen or not. We have been pre-approved for a mortgage but we aren't sure if that is what we want to do or not. We have not been able to find any rentals that we really liked. We have looked at a few houses to possibly buy. I think that we are spoiled. For the last 2 years Glenn has walked to work and this summer he has biked to school. It saves on gas, having to have 2 vehicles, paying for parking, insurance, etc. Because of all of that we are mostly looking in the University neighborhood because it seems to make the most sense. I am not sure if that is really the best thing to do or not. We could really use wisdom. We are considering putting an offer in on a house about a block from where we are currently living but the house needs a new roof and the hardwood floors redone among other cosmetic things. There is also people living in the house now that don't really seem eager to leave (they aren't the homeowners). This may complicate things. I am not even sure if the owners would take our offer of the price minus the roof price. We will see.
Anyway, we will be homeless as of this weekend. I don't know exactly what we are going to do. I guess it will be an adventure :) As we were heading home from church on Sunday we passed a couple under 81 with a sign saying something about being homeless and I couldn't imagine being in their situation and it made me think about how thankful I am for the situation I am in. Yes, we am soon to be homeless but I know that it is not for forever and I know that God will provide a place for us to live. I can trust Him that He will work it out in His time. We may be living at various New York State Parks for a while but we have a couple of nice tents. It will be OK. Glenn got into medical school. That was a huge hurdle. There will be many other hurdles along the way but no matter what God will be by our sides and in that I have hope. I will soon be homeless but I will never be without hope.
During our marriage we have never lived in any one city or town for 4 years in a row so living here in Syracuse for 4 years will be a first. I am interested to find out where we will be living for those 4 years. Moving an average of once every 9 months for the last 10 years has been exhausting. I would love to live in one place for the next 4 years to move our average up to moving once a year with our longest stay being almost 4 years instead of our current record of almost 2. I don't know if that is going to happen or not. We have been pre-approved for a mortgage but we aren't sure if that is what we want to do or not. We have not been able to find any rentals that we really liked. We have looked at a few houses to possibly buy. I think that we are spoiled. For the last 2 years Glenn has walked to work and this summer he has biked to school. It saves on gas, having to have 2 vehicles, paying for parking, insurance, etc. Because of all of that we are mostly looking in the University neighborhood because it seems to make the most sense. I am not sure if that is really the best thing to do or not. We could really use wisdom. We are considering putting an offer in on a house about a block from where we are currently living but the house needs a new roof and the hardwood floors redone among other cosmetic things. There is also people living in the house now that don't really seem eager to leave (they aren't the homeowners). This may complicate things. I am not even sure if the owners would take our offer of the price minus the roof price. We will see.
Anyway, we will be homeless as of this weekend. I don't know exactly what we are going to do. I guess it will be an adventure :) As we were heading home from church on Sunday we passed a couple under 81 with a sign saying something about being homeless and I couldn't imagine being in their situation and it made me think about how thankful I am for the situation I am in. Yes, we am soon to be homeless but I know that it is not for forever and I know that God will provide a place for us to live. I can trust Him that He will work it out in His time. We may be living at various New York State Parks for a while but we have a couple of nice tents. It will be OK. Glenn got into medical school. That was a huge hurdle. There will be many other hurdles along the way but no matter what God will be by our sides and in that I have hope. I will soon be homeless but I will never be without hope.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Scattered - Part 2
As I was thinking about this some more I was thinking about the fact that we aren't the only ones who have been scattered lately. It seems that there has been a large number of people scattered from our church in Rochester. Not scattered because of persecution but because of school and jobs and other things. People have left Rochester for Arizona, California, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New York city, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and soon Portugal (and these are just ones that I came up with quick off the top of my head - please forgive me if I missed you!). All of us have been taught and trained and given leadership opportunities at North and now we have been scattered by God to impact various parts of our world with the gospel of Christ. Our leaving also has opened doors for other people to get involved in ministry at North who otherwise "wouldn't have been needed." I am so excited to be a part of God's work. I loved our time at North and I learned so much from the messages, being involved in small groups, serving with the kids, and Adult Bible Classes. Phil. 3:13-14 seems appropriate "Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." For those of you who have also been scattered keep looking ahead. Use what God has taught you in the past to make an impact where you are. I get distracted when I long for home (Rochester) but when I long for Home (Heaven!) my priorities are aligned and my vision becomes clear. God has placed us here at this time for His purposes and I don't want to miss out on them!
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Scattered
I am often asked why we move so much. I don't really know what to say. This morning in church the message was from Acts 8 with Phillip and the Ethiopean eunuch. Phillip had been heading toward Jerusalem after preaching in Samaria when God told him to head toward Gaza on a desert road so he went and came across the eunuch reading Isa 53. It is a pretty familiar story that you can read if you would like. The thing that God pressed on my heart was the beginning of chapter 8 the reason that Phillip was up in Samaria was because of the persecution that caused the followers of Christ to scatter. The persecution didn't seem like a good thing at the time. They had to leave the comforts of home where they had friends and family to go into the unknown. If it hadn't have happened though how big would the church have grown? Because of the persecution followers of Christ were scattered and multiplied and their reach encompassed the known civilization.
The word scattered got to me. I don't like being scattered. I don't like leaving my friends and church family to go where I know no one BUT I don't go out and meet people if God doesn't "force" me to be scattered. I really would have preferred to stay in Rochester BUT if I had stayed in Rochester I would have stayed in my little bubble of Christian friends and not met the people that I have already met here and will meet in the days to come. I am lonely right now which makes me want to go out and meet people and get together with significant others of other med students which I wouldn't have needed to as much in Rochester. I know that I really need to allow God to scatter me. It is hard. I hate saying goodbye. I hate going to places where I know no one but God is faithful and proves Himself faithful again and again. I always see our scattering (moving) to be a bad thing but God always brings about good from it.
Thinking about the message and being scattered over the years brought me to a conclusion. I am thankful that I have been scattered. I have friends all over the country and all over the world that I know only because God has forced me to leave where I felt comfortable and step out in faith. There are people all over the world that pray for me because I was a part of their lives for a season. For that I am so grateful. There are 5 great churches that we have been a part of over the years that, when the time comes for us to go overseas, and even now, will pray for us because those who haven't had the "privilege" of being scattered so many times are still there and remember the impact that we have had on them for our short season there. For that I am eternally grateful. How many fewer people I would know if I stayed where I was comfortable instead of going where God lead? How many fewer people would I have impacted?
One thing that I was convicted of today though (and quite a bit over the last few months) is that I have gotten to know other followers of Christ and impacted them but I have not really gotten to know any non-Christians in the places where I have lived. Well, here in Syracuse I have already gotten to know a few people who are not followers of Christ. I am excited to develop relationships with them and also with some of Glenn's fellow medical students and their significant others. I have lived in a bubble for too long.
As I was sitting in church this morning part of Voice of Truth by Casting Crowns was going through my head:
"Oh,what I would do to have
the kind of faith it takes
To climb out of this boat I'm in
Onto the crashing waves
To step out of my comfort zone
Into the realm of the unknown
Where Jesus is,
And he's holding out his hand...
But the Voice of truth tells me a different story
the Voice of truth says "do not be afraid!"
and the Voice of truth says "this is for My glory"
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the Voice of truth"
I want that kind of faith. I am going to step out of my comfort zone and listen to the Voice of truth as I try to make an impact on this community for Christ. Our last morning in Rochester I woke up with the song God of this City on my heart, "Greater things have yet to come and greater things are still to be done in this city." God has brought us to Syracuse for a reason. "There is no one like our God" and He is going to to great things and I want to be a part of it.
Speaking of which I really want to stay in our neighborhood. I am one to talk to my neighbors when I see them but not generally go out of my way to see them. If we move out of our neighborhood I may never see these people again to become friends with them. I guess that is a matter of prayer. We still don't know where we will be living at the beginning of August but we found out on Friday that we may be pre-approved for a mortgage. Our application (for which I still have to write a letter explaining why we have moved so much over the past year. Should I just send a link to my blog??) will go before a loan committee this week and they say yes we may be buying a house. There is one just 3 doors down that we like and they are asking an amount which is a bit less than it is worth and a bit more than we will probably get pre-approved for. We will see. If it is where God wants us He will work out the details.
Scattered. It is not a comfortable place to be. It is not an easy place to be. It is not a very desirable place to be or something that people seek after but, I am thankful to have been scattered and I know that God will scatter us again several times in the future should He tarry. I long to be purposeful where ever He scatters me to because the call is the same every time: "Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I'll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age." (Matt. 28:19-20, The Message)
The word scattered got to me. I don't like being scattered. I don't like leaving my friends and church family to go where I know no one BUT I don't go out and meet people if God doesn't "force" me to be scattered. I really would have preferred to stay in Rochester BUT if I had stayed in Rochester I would have stayed in my little bubble of Christian friends and not met the people that I have already met here and will meet in the days to come. I am lonely right now which makes me want to go out and meet people and get together with significant others of other med students which I wouldn't have needed to as much in Rochester. I know that I really need to allow God to scatter me. It is hard. I hate saying goodbye. I hate going to places where I know no one but God is faithful and proves Himself faithful again and again. I always see our scattering (moving) to be a bad thing but God always brings about good from it.
Thinking about the message and being scattered over the years brought me to a conclusion. I am thankful that I have been scattered. I have friends all over the country and all over the world that I know only because God has forced me to leave where I felt comfortable and step out in faith. There are people all over the world that pray for me because I was a part of their lives for a season. For that I am so grateful. There are 5 great churches that we have been a part of over the years that, when the time comes for us to go overseas, and even now, will pray for us because those who haven't had the "privilege" of being scattered so many times are still there and remember the impact that we have had on them for our short season there. For that I am eternally grateful. How many fewer people I would know if I stayed where I was comfortable instead of going where God lead? How many fewer people would I have impacted?
One thing that I was convicted of today though (and quite a bit over the last few months) is that I have gotten to know other followers of Christ and impacted them but I have not really gotten to know any non-Christians in the places where I have lived. Well, here in Syracuse I have already gotten to know a few people who are not followers of Christ. I am excited to develop relationships with them and also with some of Glenn's fellow medical students and their significant others. I have lived in a bubble for too long.
As I was sitting in church this morning part of Voice of Truth by Casting Crowns was going through my head:
"Oh,what I would do to have
the kind of faith it takes
To climb out of this boat I'm in
Onto the crashing waves
To step out of my comfort zone
Into the realm of the unknown
Where Jesus is,
And he's holding out his hand...
But the Voice of truth tells me a different story
the Voice of truth says "do not be afraid!"
and the Voice of truth says "this is for My glory"
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the Voice of truth"
I want that kind of faith. I am going to step out of my comfort zone and listen to the Voice of truth as I try to make an impact on this community for Christ. Our last morning in Rochester I woke up with the song God of this City on my heart, "Greater things have yet to come and greater things are still to be done in this city." God has brought us to Syracuse for a reason. "There is no one like our God" and He is going to to great things and I want to be a part of it.
Speaking of which I really want to stay in our neighborhood. I am one to talk to my neighbors when I see them but not generally go out of my way to see them. If we move out of our neighborhood I may never see these people again to become friends with them. I guess that is a matter of prayer. We still don't know where we will be living at the beginning of August but we found out on Friday that we may be pre-approved for a mortgage. Our application (for which I still have to write a letter explaining why we have moved so much over the past year. Should I just send a link to my blog??) will go before a loan committee this week and they say yes we may be buying a house. There is one just 3 doors down that we like and they are asking an amount which is a bit less than it is worth and a bit more than we will probably get pre-approved for. We will see. If it is where God wants us He will work out the details.
Scattered. It is not a comfortable place to be. It is not an easy place to be. It is not a very desirable place to be or something that people seek after but, I am thankful to have been scattered and I know that God will scatter us again several times in the future should He tarry. I long to be purposeful where ever He scatters me to because the call is the same every time: "Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I'll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age." (Matt. 28:19-20, The Message)
Monday, June 29, 2009
Where am I looking?
I have been wallowing. I guess that is the best word for it. I know that I need to stop so I dug out Calm My Anxious Heart (I never have to dig far. It is one of those books that I can never have too far from me) and started to read it again. Chapter One is convicting. It starts out talking about a woman who has, from an outsiders' view, a nearly perfect life - cute, well behaved kids, loving, generous husband who works hard and helps out at home, beautiful new furniture, etc. and all that she does is complain. She is contrasted with another woman Ella Spees who was a missionary in Africa for 52 years where she had to bring in her thermometer in during the day because it would break when it got over 120 degrees who has been a huge challenge to me ever since the first time I read this book. Ella's prescription for contentment was this:
* Never allow yourself to complain about anything- not even the weather.
* Never picture yourself in any other circumstances 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.
OUCH! How has my thought process, even my blog from yesterday lined up with that prescription? Not so hot, I'd say. I think that I need to print that and put it on my fridge next to my Andrew Murray quote. How often I complain about everything, especially the weather "It's raining again?" "It is so hot." "Boy, it has gotten chilly." Ugg. Speaking of wallowing, it made me think of another quote from one of my Dillow books,"Two women look through prison bars, one saw mud the other stars." What is my perspective? Where am I looking? I love the quote from Elisabeth Eliot "I know of no greater simplifier for all of life. Whatever happens is assigned. Does the intellect balk at that? Can we say that there are things that happen to us that do not belong to our lovingly assigned "portion." ("This belongs to it, that does not")? Every assigment is measured and controlled for my eternal good. As I accept the given portion other options are cancelled. Decisions become much easier, directions clearer, and hence my heart becomes inexpressibly quieter. A quiet heart is content with what God gives." Someone has to be in control and if I choose to let God be in charge instead of me I will be content. The first time I did this study I had to write a definition for contentment and I wrote, "thankfully, happily taking whatever God sends my way as what He has for me/ His will without complaining or desiring things to be different." That is how I long to live my life. It is a conscious, day by day, moment by moment choice. My life is not perfect but it is the perfect life for me according to God's plan to make me into the woman He wants me to be.
Anyway, I wasn't intending to do a chapter summary on chapter one or I would have gone into the monk story, I guess I will save that for another day. The real reason that I sat down to write this was because I was laughing at myself. I was digging in the cupboard for chocolate (it doesn't really help but I always think that it is going to, hence the reason why I have gained so much weight lately) and a song started going through my head. I still ate the chocolate but came to the computer to look up the words/ listen to the song. The words that were going through my head were "Find rest, my soul, in God alone Amid the world’s temptations; When evil seeks to take a hold I’ll cling to my salvation." It made me laugh... Why am I looking to chocolate when I am down? Where should I be looking? Psalm 62 has the answer "My soul, wait silently for God alone, For my expectation is from Him." I love the song by Aaron Keyes that we sang at North based on Psalm 62. So I ate my chocolate and went to look up the words online.
* Never allow yourself to complain about anything- not even the weather.
* Never picture yourself in any other circumstances 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.
OUCH! How has my thought process, even my blog from yesterday lined up with that prescription? Not so hot, I'd say. I think that I need to print that and put it on my fridge next to my Andrew Murray quote. How often I complain about everything, especially the weather "It's raining again?" "It is so hot." "Boy, it has gotten chilly." Ugg. Speaking of wallowing, it made me think of another quote from one of my Dillow books,"Two women look through prison bars, one saw mud the other stars." What is my perspective? Where am I looking? I love the quote from Elisabeth Eliot "I know of no greater simplifier for all of life. Whatever happens is assigned. Does the intellect balk at that? Can we say that there are things that happen to us that do not belong to our lovingly assigned "portion." ("This belongs to it, that does not")? Every assigment is measured and controlled for my eternal good. As I accept the given portion other options are cancelled. Decisions become much easier, directions clearer, and hence my heart becomes inexpressibly quieter. A quiet heart is content with what God gives." Someone has to be in control and if I choose to let God be in charge instead of me I will be content. The first time I did this study I had to write a definition for contentment and I wrote, "thankfully, happily taking whatever God sends my way as what He has for me/ His will without complaining or desiring things to be different." That is how I long to live my life. It is a conscious, day by day, moment by moment choice. My life is not perfect but it is the perfect life for me according to God's plan to make me into the woman He wants me to be.
Anyway, I wasn't intending to do a chapter summary on chapter one or I would have gone into the monk story, I guess I will save that for another day. The real reason that I sat down to write this was because I was laughing at myself. I was digging in the cupboard for chocolate (it doesn't really help but I always think that it is going to, hence the reason why I have gained so much weight lately) and a song started going through my head. I still ate the chocolate but came to the computer to look up the words/ listen to the song. The words that were going through my head were "Find rest, my soul, in God alone Amid the world’s temptations; When evil seeks to take a hold I’ll cling to my salvation." It made me laugh... Why am I looking to chocolate when I am down? Where should I be looking? Psalm 62 has the answer "My soul, wait silently for God alone, For my expectation is from Him." I love the song by Aaron Keyes that we sang at North based on Psalm 62. So I ate my chocolate and went to look up the words online.
Is this a battle I will struggle with my whole life? Will I ever be content? Oh Lord, please help me to keep my eyes on You and to turn to You trusting that You will prove Your mercy again and again as You have so many times before. O praise Him, hallelujah, my Delight and my Reward, Everlasting, never failing, my Redeemer, my God.My soul finds rest in God alone, My Rock and my salvation,
A fortress strong against my foes, And I will not be shaken.
Though lips may bless and hearts may curse, And lies like arrows pierce me,
I’ll fix my heart on righteousness, I’ll look to Him who hears me.CHORUS
O praise Him, hallelujah, My Delight and my Reward;
Everlasting, never failing, My Redeemer, my God.Find rest, my soul, in God alone
Amid the world’s temptations;
When evil seeks to take a hold
I’ll cling to my salvation.
Though riches come and riches go,
Don’t set your heart upon them;
The fields of hope in which I sow
Are harvested in heaven. (TO CHORUS)I’ll set my gaze on God alone,
And trust in Him completely;
With every day pour out my soul,
And He will prove His mercy.
Though life is but a fleeting breath,
A sigh too brief to measure,
My King has crushed the curse of death
And I am His forever. (TO CHORUS 2X)BRIDGE
O praise Him, O praise Him, hallelujah, hallelujah,
O praise Him, O praise Him, hallelujah, hallelujah,
O praise Him, O praise Him, hallelujah! hallelujah!
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Hahns... Files... Trips to Waterloo
It has been a while again. Time to play catch up. Not as bad as some other times which is nice. It seems we have become quite popular since moving to Syracuse. We have had quite a bit of company which has been a lot of fun. I guess it helps that we have a bit more space for people to be in our current apartment compared to the little house we were living in in Rochester. Sigh... how I wish we could stay in this apartment...
Anyway, last weekend our friends the Hahns who are friends of ours from our first year at Houghton came up to visit us. It was so great to see them. It had been almost 2 years. They came on Friday evening and enjoyed my birthday dinner of chicken fajitas on navajo fry bread with us (so yummy!) and stayed until Sunday morning after church. On Saturday we all went to the Regional Market (not nearly as cool as the Public Market but OK) to check it out. While there we got to look around at a lot of neat stuff and bought a tomato plant. It was pretty big and already had some flowers on it (it has itty bitty tomatoes on it now, we are very excited!) On Saturday evening we hosted our Domino's American Legend houseparty and got all 6 American Legends pizzas to try and share with our guests. Our neighbors from next door and downstairs came as well as my aunt and uncle and cousin and her little guy and friend. We had a lot of fun and the pizzas were very yummy! It was great to spend time with Sam and Jen, get reacquainted and catch up some on their lives. I guess one benefit of moving a lot is that we get to meet and make new friends everywhere we go. The common bond of Christ helps keep those relationships solid even when it is months or years between visits or talks.
We have been plugging away at school this week. I know that it will be harder for the kids to want to focus on school in the mornings once the neighbors come back from their vacation so I am trying to keep them focused and working now. We have made some progress and have had some fun in the process. Hannah is improving every day in reading and I really think that she will be reading on her own by the end of the summer which is very exciting.
Glenn has been studying hard. He had his first exam on the Wednesday before last and did really well on it. It was a confidence booster for him. After being rejected so many times and by so many schools it was good for him to do so well on his first exam in medical school to help him believe in himself again though he does know that it is all only by God's grace.
On Friday we had another visit from friends from Rochester. Karen, Priscilla and Gabe came for Gabe to be able to spend part of his birthday with Caleb. We had fun visiting with them and hanging out at our house and eating lunch then we headed to the zoo (it is completely reciprocal with Seneca Park Zoo memberships if anyone else wants to come out and go to the zoo with us). We had to dodge some raindrops but it was fun.
The kids and I had to make a couple of trips to Waterloo this week. The first one was unplanned. We got school work done in a hurry on Wednesday morning and headed to Waterloo to sign some paperwork that I had to sign during business hours then spent the afternoon hanging out with my grandparents at their pool. Some cousins and Uncle Russ stopped by to swim too. As we were leaving AmyJo and Ehren stopped by with two puppies. We were already planning on heading to Waterloo yesterday for a party at Phoebe's house. It was fun to see her and other friends while I was there and the 8 kids that came with their moms all played really well together in the backyard while Leah watched them. After the party the kids and I headed up "to meet the puppies" which really meant we went to see Paul and AmyJo and Kyle. We visited with them for a while then moved our little party to Grandma & Grandpa Nelsons' for a pool-side picnic. It always goes this way - feast or famine. We had missed seeing Grandma & Grandpa in all of our trips between Rochester and Syracuse in our moving process because they were never available as we were passing through. It was great to spend 2 afternoons with them and Grandma even made me birthday cupcakes :). It has been years since someone else made me a birthday cake so that was a nice "surprise" :)
This week we also have continued our search for a home. We went to see a couple on Thursday but the first one we weren't even allowed to look at because the landlord "doesn't rent to people with children" (I know, it is illegal, but I don't really want to rent from her if she has a problem with kids, there would just be problems the whole time we lived there) and the other one was slightly larger than our little house on Meadowbrook but pretty gross, smelled of cat pee, and had basically no kitchen. I have been pretty discouraged this week but I have looked back through my blog at where we have been over the last several years and seen how God has faithfully come through over and over again and I am trusting Him to do it again.
So for this coming week we will continue to look for a place to live so we won't be living in a box (I guess it would take several boxes) when August 3rd rolls around and continue to get more school work accomplished while Glenn prepares for his next exam which will be Thursday then he has a 3 day weekend! We don't know yet what we are doing but we are hoping to get away somewhere.
I'll try to keep up better with this so it isn't such a book everytime. No promises though. Until next time.... keep l@@king up :)
Anyway, last weekend our friends the Hahns who are friends of ours from our first year at Houghton came up to visit us. It was so great to see them. It had been almost 2 years. They came on Friday evening and enjoyed my birthday dinner of chicken fajitas on navajo fry bread with us (so yummy!) and stayed until Sunday morning after church. On Saturday we all went to the Regional Market (not nearly as cool as the Public Market but OK) to check it out. While there we got to look around at a lot of neat stuff and bought a tomato plant. It was pretty big and already had some flowers on it (it has itty bitty tomatoes on it now, we are very excited!) On Saturday evening we hosted our Domino's American Legend houseparty and got all 6 American Legends pizzas to try and share with our guests. Our neighbors from next door and downstairs came as well as my aunt and uncle and cousin and her little guy and friend. We had a lot of fun and the pizzas were very yummy! It was great to spend time with Sam and Jen, get reacquainted and catch up some on their lives. I guess one benefit of moving a lot is that we get to meet and make new friends everywhere we go. The common bond of Christ helps keep those relationships solid even when it is months or years between visits or talks.
We have been plugging away at school this week. I know that it will be harder for the kids to want to focus on school in the mornings once the neighbors come back from their vacation so I am trying to keep them focused and working now. We have made some progress and have had some fun in the process. Hannah is improving every day in reading and I really think that she will be reading on her own by the end of the summer which is very exciting.
Glenn has been studying hard. He had his first exam on the Wednesday before last and did really well on it. It was a confidence booster for him. After being rejected so many times and by so many schools it was good for him to do so well on his first exam in medical school to help him believe in himself again though he does know that it is all only by God's grace.
On Friday we had another visit from friends from Rochester. Karen, Priscilla and Gabe came for Gabe to be able to spend part of his birthday with Caleb. We had fun visiting with them and hanging out at our house and eating lunch then we headed to the zoo (it is completely reciprocal with Seneca Park Zoo memberships if anyone else wants to come out and go to the zoo with us). We had to dodge some raindrops but it was fun.
The kids and I had to make a couple of trips to Waterloo this week. The first one was unplanned. We got school work done in a hurry on Wednesday morning and headed to Waterloo to sign some paperwork that I had to sign during business hours then spent the afternoon hanging out with my grandparents at their pool. Some cousins and Uncle Russ stopped by to swim too. As we were leaving AmyJo and Ehren stopped by with two puppies. We were already planning on heading to Waterloo yesterday for a party at Phoebe's house. It was fun to see her and other friends while I was there and the 8 kids that came with their moms all played really well together in the backyard while Leah watched them. After the party the kids and I headed up "to meet the puppies" which really meant we went to see Paul and AmyJo and Kyle. We visited with them for a while then moved our little party to Grandma & Grandpa Nelsons' for a pool-side picnic. It always goes this way - feast or famine. We had missed seeing Grandma & Grandpa in all of our trips between Rochester and Syracuse in our moving process because they were never available as we were passing through. It was great to spend 2 afternoons with them and Grandma even made me birthday cupcakes :). It has been years since someone else made me a birthday cake so that was a nice "surprise" :)
This week we also have continued our search for a home. We went to see a couple on Thursday but the first one we weren't even allowed to look at because the landlord "doesn't rent to people with children" (I know, it is illegal, but I don't really want to rent from her if she has a problem with kids, there would just be problems the whole time we lived there) and the other one was slightly larger than our little house on Meadowbrook but pretty gross, smelled of cat pee, and had basically no kitchen. I have been pretty discouraged this week but I have looked back through my blog at where we have been over the last several years and seen how God has faithfully come through over and over again and I am trusting Him to do it again.
So for this coming week we will continue to look for a place to live so we won't be living in a box (I guess it would take several boxes) when August 3rd rolls around and continue to get more school work accomplished while Glenn prepares for his next exam which will be Thursday then he has a 3 day weekend! We don't know yet what we are doing but we are hoping to get away somewhere.
I'll try to keep up better with this so it isn't such a book everytime. No promises though. Until next time.... keep l@@king up :)
Monday, June 15, 2009
One Week down, Another 7 to Go
Leaving Rochester I promised people that I would try to keep up with this but so far I have not been successful. We spent Glenn's last week of freedom getting settled and exploring the area a bit. There was a Hike/Bike homeschooling event at Erie Canal Park in Camillus that we got to late and did kind of run into 2 other homeschool dads with their kids but didn't really connect much. We had only brought the kids bikes so we decided to bring a picnic lunch with us and everyone's bikes to go back there after church on Sunday. That was a lot of fun. There is a museum there that we got to check out with a Canal Store which was neat. I decided that we should study the Erie Canal this summer with our school so we checked out some books on it at the library. Another outing that we had was to the Rosamond Gifford Zoo. We ended up buying a family plus one membership to the zoo so that everytime we go we can bring one guest with us for free - anyone want to go to the zoo? :) It was a lot of fun to check out. It is different from the Seneca Park Zoo but our membership here is good there too whenever we go back to Rochester :)
Glenn started his anatomy class last Monday so the kids and I started school as well because we have taken too much time off this past school year. We are not going to have to do math for all 8 weeks but we are going to have to do phonics. I am praying that Hannah will gain confidence in herself as a reader this summer. She is almost there but she gives up and gets frustrated too easily. Glenn has been a bit overwhelmed with all the material that he now has in his brain that he did not have a week ago. His first exam is on Wednesday on the thorax. He has been studying a lot but has made it home for dinner every night except tonight because he had review sessions. He has been biking to class. It is a little less than 2 miles. His lab group is working together pretty well and they have become a study group as well. He says they seem to study pretty well together so that is good.
The kids have thoroughly enjoyed having kids nearby. They love playing with 4 year old Elodie downstairs and 5 year old Kyle, 8 year old Trevor, and 11 year old Francesca next door. They play with them outside and then as soon as I tell them that we have to go in for dinner they run upstairs and back on the back porch to talk to them some more. It is fun for them. (yes, we have porches. Abigail told us her favorite thing about Syracuse is that we have "twoooo poh-cheeeeehzzz" - front and back). The next door neighbors have a fun backyard with a pool and the kids have gone swimming with them several times. We love this apartment, if only we weren't subletting and could rent it for the 4 years.... Alas, the guy we are subletting from has had the apartment for 11 years, I doubt that he is going to want to give it up :( I know that God has good plans and He knows where we will be living in 2 months. Why is this always the story of our lives? Everyone here makes you sign a 1 year lease so most likely we will be at our next place for 12 months, at least.
We went to a different church this week and I really don't think that we'll be going back there for regular service. It was OK. The service seemed more like a show than a time to gather and worship. It's not my style. After church Caleb asked if we could go back to West Genny next week. We kind of felt at home there so we may be going back next week, or we may check out a couple more churches. We really don't know. I know that if we had just stayed at FWC like we did at North it would have saved us a bit of misery. Sometime before Sunday I'll try to get a chance to talk to Glenn about that one.
VISITORS!!! We welcome visitors :) On Saturday night our dear friends the Lishawas came to visit us and brought us a picnic supper. We headed out in search of a park with those little grill things. We were told about a couple of them but we decided to go up to Onondaga Lake Park. It is a fun park but it is hard to find grills. They are way up at the north part of the park, I think that it was Willow picnic grounds or something. After driving around the park for a while it was a relief to finally find what looked to be 'grill heaven.' The guys manned the grill while the kids played on the playground. Brian had promised Caleb that before we left Rochester he would take him for a dip in Lake Ontario but we ran out of time and it wasn't able to happen so they (Caleb and Brian) insisted that it happen when they visited us. So Brian and all 4 of my kids went into Onondaga Lake. Gross. Our downstairs neighbor told me that they are probably some of only 10 people who have been in that lake in the last 30 years. Anyway, they did it. It was too dark by the time we got there for me to really see how gross the water is. I will have to check it out next time we go to the park. Anyway, it was so much fun to visit with Brian and Kristina. They are leaving Rochester soon as their residency is ending this month and they'll be heading to MI for a while before heading overseas.
On Sunday night we had other visitors. Mike and Rachele S came by to see us on their way to NH to see her family. Rachele and Glenn had gone to India together back in 1997 with TMI. We had not seen Rachele since she came by to check out TTU before we had even gotten married. We have gotten re-connected with them over the last couple of years through their update letters. They are getting ready to go overseas too at the end of July so it was so great to see Rachele and meet Mike. The kids made fast friends with these people who are on our fridge that we pray for. (big surprise there.)
We would love to have more visitors. I know that I need to go out and meet people and make friends here since we will be here 4 years but I would love to see old friends too. Oh, and what better opportunity than my Domino's American Legends HouseParty this Saturday at 6pm. I am super excited about it. I was picked by houseparty.com to host a party and they sent me a gift card to buy one of each of the American Legends specialty pizzas from Domino's and a fun new game to play with my guests as well as coupons for pizza and the game and free movie popcorn. If you can't come but might want to host your own houseparty you should register on the site. I think that it is going to be a lot of fun!
OK, this concludes my book. I will try not to let it go so long between postings so I don't have to write a book each time.
Glenn started his anatomy class last Monday so the kids and I started school as well because we have taken too much time off this past school year. We are not going to have to do math for all 8 weeks but we are going to have to do phonics. I am praying that Hannah will gain confidence in herself as a reader this summer. She is almost there but she gives up and gets frustrated too easily. Glenn has been a bit overwhelmed with all the material that he now has in his brain that he did not have a week ago. His first exam is on Wednesday on the thorax. He has been studying a lot but has made it home for dinner every night except tonight because he had review sessions. He has been biking to class. It is a little less than 2 miles. His lab group is working together pretty well and they have become a study group as well. He says they seem to study pretty well together so that is good.
The kids have thoroughly enjoyed having kids nearby. They love playing with 4 year old Elodie downstairs and 5 year old Kyle, 8 year old Trevor, and 11 year old Francesca next door. They play with them outside and then as soon as I tell them that we have to go in for dinner they run upstairs and back on the back porch to talk to them some more. It is fun for them. (yes, we have porches. Abigail told us her favorite thing about Syracuse is that we have "twoooo poh-cheeeeehzzz" - front and back). The next door neighbors have a fun backyard with a pool and the kids have gone swimming with them several times. We love this apartment, if only we weren't subletting and could rent it for the 4 years.... Alas, the guy we are subletting from has had the apartment for 11 years, I doubt that he is going to want to give it up :( I know that God has good plans and He knows where we will be living in 2 months. Why is this always the story of our lives? Everyone here makes you sign a 1 year lease so most likely we will be at our next place for 12 months, at least.
We went to a different church this week and I really don't think that we'll be going back there for regular service. It was OK. The service seemed more like a show than a time to gather and worship. It's not my style. After church Caleb asked if we could go back to West Genny next week. We kind of felt at home there so we may be going back next week, or we may check out a couple more churches. We really don't know. I know that if we had just stayed at FWC like we did at North it would have saved us a bit of misery. Sometime before Sunday I'll try to get a chance to talk to Glenn about that one.
VISITORS!!! We welcome visitors :) On Saturday night our dear friends the Lishawas came to visit us and brought us a picnic supper. We headed out in search of a park with those little grill things. We were told about a couple of them but we decided to go up to Onondaga Lake Park. It is a fun park but it is hard to find grills. They are way up at the north part of the park, I think that it was Willow picnic grounds or something. After driving around the park for a while it was a relief to finally find what looked to be 'grill heaven.' The guys manned the grill while the kids played on the playground. Brian had promised Caleb that before we left Rochester he would take him for a dip in Lake Ontario but we ran out of time and it wasn't able to happen so they (Caleb and Brian) insisted that it happen when they visited us. So Brian and all 4 of my kids went into Onondaga Lake. Gross. Our downstairs neighbor told me that they are probably some of only 10 people who have been in that lake in the last 30 years. Anyway, they did it. It was too dark by the time we got there for me to really see how gross the water is. I will have to check it out next time we go to the park. Anyway, it was so much fun to visit with Brian and Kristina. They are leaving Rochester soon as their residency is ending this month and they'll be heading to MI for a while before heading overseas.
On Sunday night we had other visitors. Mike and Rachele S came by to see us on their way to NH to see her family. Rachele and Glenn had gone to India together back in 1997 with TMI. We had not seen Rachele since she came by to check out TTU before we had even gotten married. We have gotten re-connected with them over the last couple of years through their update letters. They are getting ready to go overseas too at the end of July so it was so great to see Rachele and meet Mike. The kids made fast friends with these people who are on our fridge that we pray for. (big surprise there.)
We would love to have more visitors. I know that I need to go out and meet people and make friends here since we will be here 4 years but I would love to see old friends too. Oh, and what better opportunity than my Domino's American Legends HouseParty this Saturday at 6pm. I am super excited about it. I was picked by houseparty.com to host a party and they sent me a gift card to buy one of each of the American Legends specialty pizzas from Domino's and a fun new game to play with my guests as well as coupons for pizza and the game and free movie popcorn. If you can't come but might want to host your own houseparty you should register on the site. I think that it is going to be a lot of fun!
OK, this concludes my book. I will try not to let it go so long between postings so I don't have to write a book each time.
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