Oh goody! Today is our last Monday of school! I'm pretty sure that I'm just as excited as my children! Travis will still have 4k, but WEDNESDAY is our last day of school work. My dad is planning on taking the boys on a camping trip up to the hunting cabin, and the boys are counting down the days! Since they'll be gone this weekend, I'm planning on having a yard sale to try to part with some of our junk...I mean treasures! :)
So basically, I haven't even really started the week, and it's going to be a busy one! My friends, Amanda and Jay, invited us to come to their house for supper tonight. Amanda and I went to college together, ran cross country together, and share some very special memories. It was a great time of fellowship and watching our children interact together. We have nine children between us, and for the most part, they got along fabulously. Emma was a little over loving on their little boy, but everyone survived.
Tomorrow the truck has to go into the shop so that we can get it tuned up and ready for a drive to Arizona! The boys are looking forward to this new adventure in their lives, and everyone is anxious to see daddy. I don't think I'm a very good single parent, but I'm doing the best I can do. God supplies grace every moment at the right time, although sometimes I just need to keep my mouth shut!
I recieved a very special blessing in our mailbox today. Some very dear friends to our family wrote us a little note and enclosed a gift of money. It was SUCH an encouragement to my heart as I had just been talking to Roger about a bill we needed to pay. God always provides at just the right moment, yet I still have to remind myself to not worry!!
Update on our open house:
We had an open house yesterday, May 3, and it was exactly what God planned. It wasn't what I wanted to see happen, but I'm not God. The couple we accepted the offer from came through and looked at the house again. The good news is that they still want the property, and the bad news is that their house hasn't sold yet. I really was praying that God would allow them to have an offer on their house by Sunday or that God would give us a different buyer. However, the buyers are meeting with the bank again this week, and I'm praying that they get an offer on their property this week.
Update from Arizona:
Roger is three for three! He called me on Sunday and left a voicemail stating, "well, Babe, another one bites the dust!" I was trying to figure out what in the world he was talking about! He told me later that his trailer mate quit the job in favor of a better job. Apparently, Roger scares off his trailer mates. :) However, will you pray with us on a prayer request? Since Roger doesn't have any trailer mates, we are praying about possibly renting out the trailer house. It would be more than the campground to rent, but we wouldn't have to mess with an RV, getting it to Arizona, getting it to whatever place is next, and the wear and tear on the vehicle. I think it would ease my mind a bit to not have to think about hauling a trailer to Arizona. So, we are praying that perhaps the company would allow us to rent out the trailer house.
Tuesday, May 5,
Another day of school is finished...one more to go! I was on my way home from school when I received a phone call that someone was interested in our car. Interestingly enough, I was driving the car we are trying to sell! The truck needs some work, so it's in the shop today. By the time I arrived home, our friends were waiting to look at the car. I watched their children so that they could take the car for a drive. Teresa and her husband decided that they would like to buy the car. I had prayed very specifically that we could sell the car this week. The truck was in the shop, but I had no idea how I was going to pay the bill for the truck! Thankfully, God answered my prayer, and He sold the car this week! I did have to work out a few details with Teresa since she was buying the car, but I need the car until we get the truck back. God provided all the details to be worked out, and as of Wednsday night we had our truck back and the car is sold! Praise the Lord- Jehovah Jireh!!
Later on Tuesday, I went to the visitation for a dear lady in our church who passed away last week. I didn't want to take the kids, so my parents went to the visitation first and then they came to watch the kids. While they watched the kids, I went to the vistation. It's sometimes overwhelming to try to figure out how to make the most important things work out, and take care of my children's needs.
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday,
These days were so busy that they all kinda ran together! Wednesday was a busy day since it was our last day of school. I had told the kids that if they did well on the last day of school we would have lunch at McDonald's. Well, they didn't have a great day at school, so no treat. :( I'm pretty sure that I was more sad than the kids! However, we did go home and take naps since that is what everyone needed. I laid all the kids down for rest time, and then I cleaned the house again. We had a showing on Wednesday night, so the house needed to be spotless again! (I'm hoping this will be behind us soon!) We left for church early since we had a house showing, and I needed to do some grocery shopping for the boys camping trip. Grocery shopping is probably the boys least favorite thing to do although they do enjoy eating! We survived it...I think! :) We had dinner at a friends house, but she had had a long, rough day. I should've been more sensitive to her needs and just went to the park for a bit. Sometimes I crave adult interaction so much that I'm not as sensitive as I should be to others needs, but it's something I'm working on! We only have a few more weeks of our Wednesday night kids programs, so the boys are soaking it up. I spent some time sharing burdens with a friend, and spent much of the night in prayer for a dear friend.
Thursday:
Finally-it's the boys camping trip today! I have four excited boys ready to go camping with their papa. They were able to invite their friend, Ben, along so the boys were ready to go at about 6:30am. About every ten minutes one of them would ask when Papa was going to get there. Papa arrived at about 9:30, and the boys were waiting! I know that they will come back grubby, dirty, sloppy, happy, and very, very tired! I'm very thankful that my dad is willing to spend time with them. I wish I could say that I now had 48 hours with just myself and Emma, but instead we had a garage sale this weekend! We are haivng it at our friends house in Berlin. The Longsines are trying to sell their property, but they have graciously allowed me to use their driveway for the weekend. It's a much better place to have a sale than out in the country where we live. I've been hauling our junk (I mean treasures) there throughout the week, so most of it is in there garage. My friend, Katie, came over for a few hours on Thursday to help me sort through items and price things. My mom took Emma for a few hours so that she could nap and I could work faster. :)
Friday was a crazy day! I left the house around 7:30 to set up for the yard sale. It's challenging to set up and move tables by yourself and with a small child! However, we managed to do it. People were out and about and I was selling stuff as I was trying to set it up! The truck was in the driveway, I'm working on tables, and people are looking throug boxes and handing me money for items. It was a tad overwhelming, since I needed to sort through the clothes by sizes, watch Emma, and take in money. Thankfully, my mom came around 10:30 to take Emma for a nap, and about 11, Gretchen showed up with coffee in hand! Yay!! I was able to get all the clothes sorted through and all the items out on the tables. Gretchen left about 2:00, and I had the yard sale open until about five. Then I ran to pick up Emma, dropped off a meal for a dear friend, and we went home. Emma and I were both exhausted. However, we made $279.00 on Thursday!
My friend, Jenna, and I have been having some conversations about praying specifically. She asked me how much I would like to make at the yard sale. I told her that the truck repairs had cost $492.49. I would like to make $502.00, so that we could have a coffee date. Because although we sold our car, I would like to use the money from that sale to pay off a few other bills, and leave Roger and I with a little breathing room. :) So, my friends, Autumn and Jenna, and Roger and I, have been praying specifically for God to provide through this garage sale. Guess what?! At the end of today (Saturday), I counted up the money. It was hard for me to wait to count it until I had picked up the leftovers from the yard sale, taken care of my responsibilities, etc., when all I wanted to do was COUNT THE MONEY!!
And God has once again proven to me that He is the GREAT I AM! I made $503.68!!! Can you believe that? The most expensive item I sold was $7.50, so that was a lot of little items that added up!! God is so incredibly good, and I love it that He provided specifically what we prayed for today. Roger could hardly understand what I was saying when I called because I was so excited!!
The boys all had a great time on the camping trip. They are exhausted, and so is Papa! :) The had some great life lesson experiences, and Papa shared with them practical lessons from Gods Word. I'm so blessed to have my dad take such good care of them and invest in their lives.
I am on cloud nine quite literally! God has just proven to me over and over and over again how much He cares for me. God is so good!!
I've also enclosed a post I wrote earlier this week about another mountain top experience for me! :)
On Sunday, May 3, two of Wyatt's teachers from his children's church class approached me. Erica and Mariel both came to tell me that Wyatt had come forward during the invitation given during Children's Church. Although Wyatt listened closely, when asked if he wanted to pray, he said no and that he wanted to think about it.
On the way home, I asked the kids about their Sunday school classes. They each explained what they had learned, and then Garett announced that Wyatt had gotten out of his seat in Childrens Church. I could tell that Wyatt was uncomfortable with all the talk and that he was very unsure. So, I asked him if he would want to talk about it with me later. He said yes, but then when we arrived home the afternoon escaped us. We had some friends drop by, and then it was time for evening church. After church, I could tell it would be best to talk about such a decision at another time. However, on Monday, on the way to school, Wyatt told me that he was going to talk to me that night. I was delighted that the topic was still on his mind.
After all the kids were in bed on Monday evening, Wyatt and I finally got the opportunity to talk. I explained again that all people have sinned, and that we all deserve to go to hell. (Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23) I asked him if he knew why Jesus died on the cross. Wyatt replied that he realized that he was a sinner, and that he needed to ask Jesus to come into his heart. I quoted John 3:16 to him, and explained that God loved Wyatt so much that God sent Jesus to die on the cross for Wyatt's sin. Wyatt then wanted to pray on his own to ask Jesus to come into his heart. It was so real and moving to watch and hear him express in his own words that he needed Jesus to come into his heart. When he finished, I asked him if he knew where he would go when he died. He smiled at me and said, "I'm going to heaven when I die, mama!" I know that the Angels in heaven are rejoicing with us as another soul has accepted Christ as their Savior!
Our sweet boy...Wyatt!
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