“When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the Rock that is higher than I.” This is one of my favorite Bible verses, and it’s often quoted when referring to being overwhelmed with sorrow, grief, or sadness. However, it’s also true when my heart is overwhelmed with all the wonderful things that my Heavenly Father does for me/us. God is good. Even when things seem impossible, God is bigger.
We serve an amazing God- which if you’ve been following along with us for any length of time, you know that God has answered our prayers time and time again. When we were looking for and praying about a property in North Carolina, we were specifically praying for a place with a little land, a place with some privacy for loud, noisy children, a place with a wooded lot, a place that we wouldn’t have to have much/any mortgage. I was dreaming of a house with a wrap around porch, plenty of space for guests, and a spot to call “home” again. We’ve looked at quite a few properties. Roger has driven past many of them, and nothing has been available. We decided that we were willing to move a little farther north and west with our search, and God directed both of us to point out the same property on Zillow! The property is about 26 minutes from Roger’s work, and it’s in a good location for us. This past week, we put in an offer on a property! It’s not my dream house, but God has provided us with an amazing location for our large, noisy family. We have an accepted offer on a property with almost seven acres, a wooded area, a house that can’t be seen from the road, and only chickens for close neighbors- oh, wow! God is good, so good! As I texted one of my friends last night, I couldn’t help the tears from flowing as I was reminded of how God has continually provided for our family in the midst of a challenging and difficult year. He’s been faithful. I’ve wavered in my faith at moments, but God has carried us through. We are preparing to close on this property on May 23, which is just a short three weeks away. The property needs work and there is no doubt about that! However, we have five children that are capable of helping us with picking up the yard, painting, landscaping, drywalling, and other miscellaneous projects. Another amazing thing about this property is that we didn’t have any other offers to contend with, and the buyer is ready to sell! We put in our first offer on Tuesday night, and the buyer counter-offered that same night! We countered again, and settled on a price- almost 17k under the original asking price! We serve and worship an AWESOME GOD! (If you want to see the link to the property, I’m happy to send it to you. Just message or text me.) Please pray for the house inspection this week as well as the closing to happen as smoothly as possible. What a God we serve!
In other news, Roger has been adapting and adjusting to his new job. He started on the 18th, and we have an accepted offer on a property on April 28th. Since we will be closing on the house before school is finished for the year, Roger will have a little bit of an opportunity to “jump start” some projects. We are excited about finishing school. Chandler often prays, “help me to just finish strong.” He’s right! It’s been a year to remember, and we are very much looking forward to being together. But we want to finish what we’ve started. I do ask for extra prayers for our smack-dab-in-the-middle child as he wrestles through some things regarding his grades, character, and choices he makes. It’s been a struggle, but God is bigger.
Also this past week we had a couple of other fun memories. Last week my parents came from Wisconsin to watch Hannah and Josh’s kids while they attended a wedding. We spent quite a bit of time driving up to visit them and play with the kids last weekend and into this week. I’m a bit biased and I think my boys are great with little ones. But it’s always wonderful to hear someone else say, “Your boys are so good with the little ones.” And they are! We drove up last Friday night to my sisters house, and I could tell my parents were tired when we arrived. Hannah and Josh had left early Friday morning, and my parents had driven the 21 hours from Wisconsin to Maine, pulling into the driveway about 9:30pm on Thursday night. Three kids ages five and under will make you tired! The kids and I were able to help clean up from supper, bathe and dress kids, read to them, and prepare everyone for bed. It was a good opportunity to serve. We drove back up on Saturday morning to visit and play for a few hours, but then we needed to head home. The boys had been planning an airsoft party with some of their classmates, and they were looking forward to that.
Saturday afternoon (4/23)found us at the Davis’s house with about ten other junior high boys. Almost every boy in Chandler’s class had come out for the air soft party, and it was a fun, fast 2 hours of playing together. It’s amazing how much boys can fight and squabble in small spaces, but give them some space and opportunities to work together, and suddenly they’re friends! We are thankful that Jess and Tim were willing to have a bunch of kids out tromping through their property. I’m especially thankful that Tim was even willing to play with the boys, and Jess and I had a great visit with another mom (Bethany) for a few hours!
This past week we felt that school both dragged and flew by! I took all the kids out of school on Monday as my parents were in town. It was a fun, full day with visiting and enjoying each other’s company. On Wednesday my parents drove down to get a few boys out of school for the day, and the rest of us came up after school. We spent a lot of time driving last week, but it was worth it to soak up family time. We are going to miss Hannah and Josh and their little ones when we move to North Carolina.
My friend, Jess, had invited me to a painting class at her church that was happening on Friday night. Two things: I’m not an artist and everything sounds like a better idea earlier in the week! By the time Friday night rolled around, Jess and I were not “feelin” it, but hey, we had paid and also a few other ladies that we knew were going to the class too. Per usual, I am glad I went. My kids hung out with the Davis’s kids while we were at the painting class. I’m not an artist, but at least I can tell what the painting is supposed to be! Emma asked if she could hang it up in her room at the new house-yes, yes, you can! It was a fun evening of fellowship with Jess and other ladies.
Saturday dawned chilly and cool, but it was the day of our school 5k race. I had already signed up, and paid for our family to do it, so there was no backing out now! We didn’t have as much advertising for the event as in years past, so I wasn’t sure what the turnout would be. However, this was a good community event as families from the school, church and community came out to support the event. Chandler had gotten a shin smashed at his last soccer game, so I told him that he might want to think about taking it easy. Haha! Not if that meant Garett could beat him! The race was on! I haven’t run three miles in…well, I don’t know how long, but one thing I remember is the voice of my cross-country coach in my head, “Run your race. Don’t ever look back. Keep your pace.” Once I started, I was committed and not quitting that’s for sure! I kept Garett and Chandler in my sights for a while, and Travis and Wyatt both kept pace for me for almost a mile. Gradually, I lost sight of the older boys, and pulled ahead of the two younger boys. At the last turn in the 5K someone shouted to me that Chandler was in first place. Good for him, but I still had my own race to run! I finished with a time of 24:35 or something like that, and I was at least a full five minutes behind Chandler! I came in 9th place, right behind Garett. Chandler had won the race with a time of 19:16. I was excited for him, and happy that I had finished the race and not died! Wyatt and Travis came along shortly behind me, and Emma was a ways back, but she did finish! The last race Emma had run she had placed dead last, so this race was a definite improvement! Chandler had won the race and was the first place male runner, BUT his mother was the first place female finisher! Haha! I’m not going to let him forget that! My friend, Jess, placed first in her age category (which is the same as mine). But when her name was called, she said, “I’m not the winner in my age category, Sarah is!” Since I had won for the first place female runner, I wasn’t getting two medals. But now I’m going to forever give her grief about announcing to everyone how old I am! Ah, it’s good to have deep friendships!
We left shortly after the race so that the boys could go to soccer practice and Emma has two more gymnastic classes. Travis announced that he was “way too tired for soccer and someone else can chase the ball”. He went with me and Emma to her gymnastics class, but the rest of the boys went to play soccer. I’ll just say that it was a quiet afternoon at our house! Everyone burned plenty of calories and energy!
The hot water heater hasn’t been working since Wednesday night, so we’ve been improvising. Garett has taken cold shower, I’ve found a friends house to shower at, and the rest of the tribe isn’t worried yet about a shower! Emma and I went to my friend’s (Allison) house on Saturday. I spent more time visiting with her, but I did take a shower too! There is no way that I was going to be able to sleep after running in the morning without a shower. I’m so thankful for friends that are willing to help in whatever way we need. God is good- all the time. We will be thankful for hot water again, but Garett told me that God must be trying to teach him something about the dishes! I was like “huh?” Garett says, “Well, first I realized that I wasn’t thankful enough for our dishwasher. Now I realize that I wasn’t thankful enough for hot water to wash the dishes by hand!” Oh, the lessons we learn!
Thank you for your prayers and love for our family. We are so thankful for amazing friends and family. May God use our family for His glory.
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