The Hardest Thing God Ever Asked Me To Do...

Ok, Don't get me wrong, I have had hardships in my life...I guess you can say, I am no stranger to pain. This particular time I felt like I was inflicting the pain on myself. Making a Choice to follow God's plan and forget my own feelings. When the opportunity came up for us to move to Ohio, circumstances in my life were kind of rocky, and I jumped at the opportunity to even think about a move. Then the mood passed and I still felt God pushing us to make a move, things just kept urging us in that direction. We made arrangements to move and made an announcement that we were moving. That made the decision very real, we were excited about this new phase of our life and the possibility of a fresh start was very enticing. I started packing some things we didn't need in November and I felt sick over it. Then as the days progressed to weeks and the overwhelming challenge of packing up your life and loading it onto a truck was staring me in the face I was even more convinced we were wrong, God did not tell us to move. A little over four years ago, I faced the most difficult thing I have ever had to face and that was loosing my mother. Then almost two years ago we as a family faced another situation that was very emotional and overwhelming. I put this move right up there with those two things in my life. I did not know how hard this was going to be. I did not know how sad we would feel. The day we were to leave town, the house was just about all cleaned out, just a few more little items and our suitcases to pack, Riley decided to look around the house one last time and when I glanced at him I saw tears in his eyes. I had to look away, because I knew I needed to be strong for him. Brady, what can I say about my sweet Brady, He was so emotional he could not contain himself. He stood in the doorway of the garage and the kitchen and sobbed, very loudly, I might add. I kept asking him to be quiet, but he just cried louder...I think the emotion of seeing that empty house was more than his little four year old mind could take in. He finally stopped crying only when Nate picked him up, and our big strong daddy decided to have us hudle and pray...only he couldn't get the words out, so I finished his prayer of thanksgiving to our Lord~for the awesome priviledge of working at a Church like Glenville for almost 10 years, and for the opportunity to move on, not because of sin and we had too, but because it was time and God had made clear the path for us and opened the doors he wanted to open, the road we have been traveling has not been easy either, we came here with no home and it took almost a week to find a place to live. Our first sunday at our New Church was a difficult one for me as well, I received text messages from a couple of friends and didn't know if I would make it without crying all through the service, but I did. At the end of that service someone came and asked me to pray, I did and her prayer was wonderful, thanking God for me and Nate and praying that we would continue to let God use us...WOW! We are feeling at home here now, we still don't get very much done at the Church because people are still trying to get to know us and want to talk to us...we have dinners scheduled all the way to March...Time heals, and we are feeling that healing. We are excited about our future in Medina,Ohio, and anxious to see all that God has in store for us. I know that "All things work together for good to them who love God..." and I know that all things are working for our good. Moving across the country is an adjustment to say the least...but when you are seeking God's will for your life and listening to His voice, I have said it before and I'll say it again, there is no better place to be than in God's Will...Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift.

Our Week...

Our week has been good. We had no school on Monday, so Nate filed our taxes, and me and the boys just stayed around the house all day. On Tuesday, we woke up to about 3 inches of snow, and the really pretty kind too. Riley went to school and then we went to our schools last basketball game. Today, we woke up and it was snowing again...very beautiful. I have been at the church all day working on ideas for Ladies ministry and helping Nate get ready for our first Choir practice tomorrow night. It has been a fun day. The boys will have AWANA tonight and I am going to get my hair cut tonight for the first time since we left Wichita...I really miss my Susan, who used to cut my hair.

We still haven't heard anything on our house in Wichita, it concerns us a little. We had so much fun in that little house, We know God is in control, but it would ease some stress if it would sell. Keep us in your prayers regarding that. We are trusting and we know that God's timing is always better than ours.

This weekend Nate and I are leading worship at a youth girls conference called "BLOOM" in Louisville, OH. We are looking forward to it, right now they have over 125 girls signed up. We are excited and can't wait to be a part of it.

I guess that's all for now, I do have more to say but it doesn't go with any of this so I am going to blog again...

UP-Dates!

We are feeling good. It has been a good week. Busy, but good. We are getting into the swing of things and starting to get a schedule down. We keep having snow days though and that does throw a wrench in things at times...but I do love the snow. I love to look out my window in the morning and see it on my deck. We probably won't thaw out til April, but that's ok with me. Brady was sick last week for three days, but he is over the hump now. Riley is doing awesome in school. They tested him and he is reading on almost a 5th grade level. I was so worried coming here that he would be behind on things, but he is doing great...He is loving school and loves being in the same building as his daddy. Brady is doing good too, making the connection between letters and being able to read, he is working on writing his letters and numbers and is really liking his new class. I went to pick up an applicaiton to be a para sub today....very overwhelming to say the least, plus I am going to have to spend over $70 to even get all the stuff in and I have to have everything in by the 29th to be considered for employment in the middle of march...seems like things are a little more indepth than they were in Kansas. Maybe God will just start landing jobs in my lap and I won't even have to apply there. I keep praying...We are doing good though, and we are adjusting, It is hard to follow God's plan for your life sometimes and it's hard to just say yes and do what you feel He is asking you to do, but when You feel that peace of being in His will there is no better place to be. I Chronicles 28:10~"...The Lord has chosen you...be strong; do it!!..."

still trying to get settled

Well we have been in our house for 4 nights...and it is looking ok, I am still trying to figure out where I want things, and which things I can do with out for a while till we get to buy a bigger house. I am very thankful for this house that God gave us for a temporary residing place. If it were not for the garage out back we would have had to have a storage unit too, and now everything I own is all right there where I can see it...God is so good...It is an adjustment time, someone asked me this week what are your evenings like? I thought you know I don't know yet, it will take us a few weeks to figure out when we are going to grocery shop and when we are going to do laundry, but that will all come with time. We have two Sunday's under our belt and this Sunday was easier than last Sunday, so I am anxious to see how next week is..."All things work together for Our good." "God makes everything beautiful IN HIS TIME."