Jumping the gun...

"Right now, I'm questioning how well I know God. Maybe, it's more that I don't know Daily Bread well. Or possibly, that I'm evaluating the situation too soon."

With three statements, I was bound to be right with at least one of them. The sad truth is that I am probably right on all three...

See Drew's Blog to read up on how things got back on track with the house.

Going...going....gone?

House things have taken a turn for the worse. We can't get financing because the house won't appraise prior to several of the major much needed repairs and the seller doesn't have the money nor the time to do this - she will be forclosed on if she doesn't sell the house by the end of the month.

Right now, I'm questioning how well I know God. Maybe, it's more that I don't know Daily Bread well. Or possibly, that I'm evaluating the situation too soon.

I'm still holding out hope.
Jobs have risen from the ashes.
Perhaps houses do too...

No Mold on the Daily Bread....

Sunday morning I went to my first Vox Prayer time. We just started it a couple of weeks ago but I haven't been able to go because we don't know what to do with our kids yet. Well this week, I went and Drew stayed home with the kids. (He did pretty well getting them both ready to go by himself...just a couple of hick-ups, huh Drew?) It was an incredible time of directed prayer. Dallas lead us, moving us from one direction to another with scripture from the message. At one point, he told us to ask for our Daily Bread. I thought immediately about how God has been providing for our family lately. He's been giving us our Daily Bread - and this house is, apparently, just one more way that he's providing. But, let me just say that this mold issue has had me nervous. It cost us $775 just to test for the mold & if it was present, then we wouldn't buy the house and we'd be out all of that money. The last couple of times we started shopping for houses (in Arkansas), we had huge unexpected expenses come up that wiped out our savings and stopped us from pursuing the house-hunt. So, I'm gun shy. I was afraid that we'd pay for this inspection, only to find out that we didn't want the house. I was afraid that we'd been given Moldy Daily Bread. But Sunday morning, I realized that that is not in tune with God's character.

⁹"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? ¹¹If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! Matthew 7:9-11

Finally, I trusted God BEFORE he proved himself!

***In case you aren't sure...we got the results back on the mold test yesterday & we're in the clear!***

I found one! I found one!

House hunting.

We've spent the past several months looking for a few good houses. And then, for the last month we've been looking for a good house. Just one. We didn't need a whole set of good houses. Just one good house. Well, we thought we had found one. We wrote up a contract, and due to some underhanded stuff on the part of the sellers agent, our offer wasn't even considered. We had prayed that God would let us know if that wasn't what he wanted for us. He didn't delay in stopping that house! Before we even got home from the real estate office we learned what had happened. To be honest, I wasn't that disappointed. I don't know why. I just wasn't.

Then, the next day, or maybe two days later...not sure exactly - Drew and I, separately, happened to locate the same house listed on the internet. I didn't mention it to him because it was a bit out of our price range. Later in the day, while on the phone, Drew told me that he had driven by a house on Karen - the same house that I had been looking at on the net. We decided to ask our agent to check in to how long it had been on the market and to get us an appointment to see it just in case we could possibly underbid. Drew called and left her a message. He had to leave a message because she was on the phone that very moment speaking with the agent selling the house on Karen, learning that the price was being dropped $20,000 but that they would take even $10,000 under the new lowered listing price. So we went to see the house that day...along with a MILLION other people. (I might be overestimating a bit.) We decided that we wanted that house (although I couldn't remember much about it 5 minutes after I left because I felt so rushed to make a decision due to the nature of real estate and the numerous other people who had learned about the price drop!). So we went to the back to the office to write up a contract - very quickly. We included a letter letting them know a little about ourselves and why we had moved to Lafayette and that we had 2 kids under the age of 2 and that we were looking to buy our first house and wanted to use it for ministry. At least three other offers had been sent to the seller, but we learned while we were at Bible study that night that our offer had been accepted and that our letter even made the seller cry! The house is 2113 sq. feet and has 4 bedrooms and 3 baths and 2 living areas. One bath, bed & living area were part of an addition to the original house. The original part of the house has wood floors thru out all bedrooms and living area. Then the living area in the addition has very cool terracotta tile floors & one wall of really nice built in bookshelves. This house has incredible potential to be fixed up and really sold for so much more. I just learned today that the average selling price for homes sold in the subdivision in the last 6 months is $80,000 more than what we offered on the house! And we haven't even made it to negotiations yet...

Great neighborhood, great schools, right in the heart of Lafayette. Lots of space...room for more kids...and/or guests...wood floors...big back yard. It really seems like exactly what we want! It needs a good bit of work - flat roof on the addition has not held up well at all and needs to be fixed, harvest gold kitchen countertops, dated bathrooms, addition needs siding...probably numerous other things that we will learn of from inspections. Tomorrow we find out for sure whether there's deadly mold growing in the messed up roof - and hopefully there's not - then we can move forward with everything else and close on Aug. 31st! We really are very excited! The more I think about it, the more excited I get. I drive out of my way to pass by it and peek inside the windows. Don't worry, it's vacant. Please pray with us that everything goes smoothly...and that this house really can be a tool for our ministry! It seems like God is really putting all of this together for us and providing in a way that exceeded our expectations!

Jed the Sweetest Bully Ever

Jed has become a real bully. He is way into the pushing thing. He even pushes kids twice or 3 times his age since he's still bigger than most of them. So, I'm constantly apologizing to other moms. (Sorry, Carrie & Elias!) The other day a neighbor kid came to play in the sprinkler with Jed. The other kid, who is several months older than Jed, didn't want to get in so Jed kept pushing him in...and every time Jed would push him, his face would get sprayed and he'd cry. I asked his mom if he didn't like water in his face. She replied snidely, "No, he just doesn't like being pushed." Oh. Sorry.

On the upside...Jed has learned to say "Thank You". Although, it sounds a lot more like "doot-doo". He now says it without prompting when you give him something or help him do something.

So I guess he'll be the kid that pushes and then says 'thank you' when he's given a shove in return...or a black eye...or 'the bird'...or whatever else will start a great little fight.