Blessings

I have so much to blog about and not enough time. As I currently do not have internet access at home, it is difficult to keep up. However, I have been blessed so much recently that I just have to testify! My life is kindof crazy right now. I am still living out of boxes; my "home" is being rented in Columbia, we are living in a flip house that will be put on the market in a few months, and we are waiting to close on a new home in GA. My days have been filled with fixing up a house, exercising, traveling back and forth to GA, and trying to survive in the heat. As we don't have cable right now either, we have been watching dvd's alot. Most of our dvds are packed in a box so we have been checking them out of the library and watching netflix. I am not one to buy a lot of dvds, but because it is our only form of entertainment right now, I decided to splurge and purchase some at Walmart a week or two ago. As I was perusing the selections, I came across a movie entitled, "Faith like Potatoes". I read the back and thought it looked interesting, so I purchased it. Wow, it has inspired me so much. I have also read a study guide for "The Prayer of Jabez". I am not one to get on the band wagon of the next great Christian trend, so I did not read this book when it came out. As I read through the study guide, I decided to pray for blessings, to be filled with the Spirit to expand territory for God, and to protect us from evil. I think there is a fourth one, but haven't dealt with that yet. Well these two things combined have reminded me to have faith to believe in the impossibles, and that God does answer prayers. I have experienced amazing blessings in the last few days. Discounts on bills, one bill completely covered, a free termite inspection, protection from a truck hydroplaning in a rainstorm heading right toward us and swerving away at the last minute. No rain a mile up the road from the incident. A huge financial blessing totally unexpected; really an impossibility. God has also allowed me to experience healing in my health issues in the last few months. While I know life is not lived on the mountaintops, God allows us to experience the mountaintop to encourage us. Believe me, I have experienced alot of sadness and difficulties as well, and God has taught me alot in the hard times, too, but right now the mountaintop is pretty awesome and a reminder that God cares about each one of us and will meet our needs even when they seem like hurdles too difficult to jump over. I also realize that I experience blessings everyday, but do I recognize them as such and give God all the glory and praise for each one of them? I am opening my eyes to see them more and more each day. Are you?

On the Road Again

Hard to believe I have not posted since April. Time flies and so much has happened and I have so many photos to post but will just make a quick update for now. We said goodbye to our 7 boys at IJGA at the end of May. We had a great year and a great time at the golf academy and have really enjoyed the boys God allowed us to house with. Hopefully, we will be able to keep up with them through the wonderful world of the internet. I have done so much driving and taken so many trips! I went to Bristol, VA to claim some of my grandmother's belongings. I will have to blog about all of that in the future! I went back and forth to Columbia and Hilton Head for various reasons, and we made a last trip to Blue Ridge, GA to pick up some belongings there as well. Now we are making trips to Snellville, GA looking for a new home. Mike accepted a Bible teaching position at Gwinnett Christian Academy. We are excited about this new opportunity, but finding a house has proven to be very difficult. We have one in mind and we are praying that all goes well. The summer will be filled with working on our flip house at Darian drive. We are busy, busy, busy but hopefully by August we will have moved and will be able to put down some permanent roots for awhile. I have so much to share but not much time right now as we do not have internet at home. As Josh says, I am currently a "wifi pirate"!

Apologies, Forgiveness, Trust

Recently, I have been pondering the issue of wrong doing. Most people do something wrong, say they are sorry and go about their business. In small cases, this is usually accepted and life goes on. In others, such as a public forum, or when the wrong doing results in severe consequences, the wrong doing becomes huge, overwhelming, and difficult for both the person who did the wrong doing and the person who was wronged. When a person apologizes, are they sorry for being caught, or are they truly sorry for what they did? How can they prove they are truly sorry for what they did? How can they show the person that they wronged that they can be trusted and they will never hurt them again? These are difficult questions and sometimes are not answered satisfactorily. Words don't mean a whole lot in this day and age and we have had very poor public examples of people who say they are sorry, but appear like they don't truly mean it. I was struck by this quote by Tiger Woods in his public apology on February 19, 2010. “As Elin pointed out to me, my real apology to her will not come in the form of words; it will come from my behavior over a period of time.” Whether this was "scripted" or not, I believe what Tiger said is a step in the right direction. Regret for wrong doing is not just expressed in words. It is shown in our behavior over a long period of time. It is not a quick fix. It is not easy. It takes effort. It may not prove to prevent the consequences of wrong doing. However, if one is really genuine and wants to make things right, it would be worth it. By the way, saying "I'm sorry" is not the same as asking forgiveness. Forgiveness implies that I have wronged you and I want you to know that I recognize that. Forgiveness is more about the one asking forgiveness then the one who grants it. In fact, the forgiveness may not even be granted but it is important to make the effort. This too, is hard. So, if you have done something wrong or have been wronged by someone, don't be discouraged. There is always hope in God and you can get back on track. What do you think?

Crafts

I like to do crafts, but I haven't been doing any for a long time. My life has taken a different turn in the last few years and so has my interests. When my children were little, I used to sew and craft all the time. Since they have grown up I don't have much opportunity to make fun stuff anymore. It doesn't mean I still don't enjoy crafts, and I suppose our new hobby of fixing up houses involves the same skills as crafts. Design, color, making something from scratch. I like using my hands and art. I still have hopes of making fun stuff again someday. Until then, I have several bookmarks of craft blogs, websites, etc. that I still use and look at on occasion. One that I want to share with you is Mirkwood Designs. It has a lot of paper templates for boxes, cards, etc. Maybe you will find something here you would like to make!

Paint Colors

Picking a paint color is not easy. I didn't have a choice in our apartment; we had to use what was already there. Yesterday I watched "Property Ladder" and the lady on the show had the worst time picking out colors for her walls. She bought 37 paint samples and ended up painting about 10 different colors in her house. It didn't look to bad when all was said and done, but she just couldn't make decisions. I also had a difficult time picking a color out for our flip house. You are supposed to use neutrals so it appeals to all people. Do you know how many neutrals there are? Oh my! There are thousands of shades of beige, white, grey, greens, etc. And you have to love all the delicious, colorful names for each shade. I ended up buying a lovely yellowish, beige color called, "Wishes" after much research. Of course, when I went to buy it, the paint company no longer made the color! I ended up somehow getting a sample and had it made. While researching paint colors, I came across this blog: http://colorbuzz.valsparblog.com/. I love looking at all the colors and pictures of rooms and ideas. If you have time, check it out. If you like paint and color as much as I do, I'm sure you will enjoy it!

Paint and Spring Cleaning

I have been busy this past week; painting. I love to paint. I like the smell of a freshly painted room and I like the look of clean walls that don't have any marks on them. I like to see fresh, white, shining trim and white crisp doors. The apartment we are living in right now really needed a good paint job. We received permission to paint and had some of the boys paint for community service. Mike and I painted our bedroom, bathroom, and closet and the boys painted the rest of the apartment. It looked so nice - not a mark anywhere! Of course that lasted about a day. Boys are hard on their surroundings. They can't help it. They are growing and clumsy and have lots of paraphernalia to carry around with them (especially at a golf academy:) It's okay. It still looks a lot better then it did and I feel better knowing it looks better. It also allowed me to do a lot of spring cleaning which was really necessary! I packed a few things, got rid of clutter, dusted the fan, and shined the windows. How about you? Have you done your spring cleaning yet? Warm weather is just around the corner! Wouldn't it be nice to welcome it with a clean house?

House Flip

Blinds I put up

painted garage floor

one room full of stuff (there was more to come!)

Nice white garage

new toilet

new tile floor in bathroom

bamboo floor (not cleaned yet)

Darian Drive house

I haven't posted much about our house flip. It's kind of hard to explain. When we decided to rent our house, we needed a place to store all our stuff as we live in a condo in Hilton Head that is fully furnished. Therefore, the house purchase was more of a need for storage then anything else. Unfortunately, when we moved all our stuff, we realized we have a lot more stuff then we thought, and there really isn't much room in the house. When we bought the house, we didn't think it would need much fixing up, but if you know us at all, you will understand why the project became alot bigger then we originally planned! We really only had about 2 weeks to get things done and of course, we didn't finish. However, we did do the things necessary to get all of our stuff moved in. We decided to smooth the ceilings which is a very messy process. We hired Bill, a very old guy who knows his drywall. After the ceilings were done, Mike and "The kid" put in the bamboo floors. I painted the nasty paneled walls in the garage with Emily's help (even though she had a cold) and was able to paint the garage floor with the help of a rented kerosene heater to keep it warm. We also had all the walls and trim painted. Mike put in a toilet and light fixture in one of the bathrooms and tiled both bathroom floors, and I put up all the blinds. It is a beginning, but there is much left to do. The fireplace is an issue as it doesn't work and we had to tear all the brick around it down. We also still have to put in a kitchen, add vanities and light fixtures, hang doors, and fix some odds and ends. We are hoping to be able to work on it in May. All in all, I think it will be a lovely little house when it is finished. It is in a nice neighborhood and it is a unique little house with character which I love. The pictures chronicle some of what we have done so far.