Random Tidbits + Happy List Part 2

Well, Mike and I scrounged up enough money for another house loan (Thank you Lord!), went to Magnolia this weekend and found a house! It's a little bigger and a little older than the one we're in now, has hardwood floors and tile throughout, one living area, 3 bedrooms plus an office we can use as a bedroom (yay!) and 2 baths. I'm cautiously excited about it. I'm not considering it ours until after closing, and it's scary having 2 mortgages. Please watch over us, Lord!

#21 on my happy list: child-operated refreshment stands.
Jessica, Mikayla, and their cousin Kennedi made "Ginger Osiek's Sugar Cookies" the other day, and all I did to help was measure the oil and vanilla (love my Mexican vanilla), supervise the eggs and the mixer, and put the trays in and out of the oven. They are delicious!!! They set up a stand in our front yard by the road and sold them for 30 cents apiece or 4 for $1. Made $3.05! Very satisfying. This picture shows them with our next-door neighbor at the exact moment a car started driving down the road.

Mikayla lost a tooth the other night. She'd been working on it for awhile, and she was showing Mike how she could pull it down so far you could see the hole it grew in--he (playfully) swatted her hand down as she held the tooth and it popped right out! She bled and hollered and cried, and he felt awful, and was holding her on his lap and asked her if she was mad at him, but she wasn't. She was glad it was out.

As if there wasn't enough change in our lives right now, I'm considering homeschooling my girls this fall. 95% sure. I've never even wanted to a little bit before, but ever since Margo told me she's going to, and I looked at her curriculum, I've been wanting to. Jessica and Mikayla are begging me to. I have to decide soon, because I have to register by August 15 with the local school district. My last lingering doubts are about my objectivity with them and will they miss that classroom setting and atmosphere, group learning & cooperation. hmm. Still thinking & praying.

2 more pictures: Jessica and Mikayla performing "High School Musical" with their hairbrushes, and Rebecca lounging in the sun in her very own pool. I love my girls!

Is it trusting if you have to try?

Well, I guess here's where that "walking by faith" comes in.
We're supposed to be living in Magnolia a week from now. Ain't gonna happen. We can't find a place to live. I'm not exaggerating. Unless we want to live in a 2 bedroom apartment, which I guess is better than what most of the world lives in.
When we first took the job there, we got an offer on our house almost right away, and made an offer on a house we loved. I was so excited, and felt so reassured that we were doing the right thing. They both fell through, and we said, well, God must have been protecting us, and has something better for us.
2 months later, here we are still waiting. Still no offers on our house. So we decided to rent it out, and find something to rent there. We found something decent, 3 bedrooms, good neighborhood, and Mike was going to take me there this weekend to see it, so asked the landlord for first right of refusal and got it. Signed papers to rent our house out today. Then talked to the Magnolia landlord and discovered he'd rented it to someone else. So now what do we do? After a while, it gets a little old to say that God must be protecting us, and has something better for us, and you start to wonder if we've made a mistake, and God won't bless us until we fix it, or if there's some unrealized sin we need to confess. If my dad were alive, he'd say "remember what you know" (after he hugged me), and I would admit that I know God's not that way. I know because my dad taught me better than that, by words and example. I miss him. He was such a wonderful earthly model of my Heavenly Father. I need to remember that. Would my Dad have done all these things to hurt me, or punish me in some way? Then how could my perfect Father? I'll just have to hold on to that, and keep walking.

Swimming lessons!

Jessica and Mikayla took swimming lessons last week at my friend Amanda's mom's pool. They both knew how to swim before, and Jessica actually was already a better swimmer than I am, but now they both are! I'm very proud of both of them.

Rebecca's favorite song

Rebecca just came in from playing outside, all sweaty and stinky, singing her favorite Sunday School song at the top of her lungs: "Building up the temple, building up the temple, building up the temple of the Lord.." That's all I know, because even though she sings it all the time, I don't always understand her 3 year old singing. She walked up to me, still singing with all her might, but now improvising: "You gotta wear a brawl (bra) and find some underpants..." At this point I said, "What are you singing?!?!" She looked at me with great sympathy and said, "Panties." (duh) "Wear panties on your bahooky..." and the song went on. Then she turned to me, pointed and said, "Sing it!" I asked what, and she said, "What I said."
She is my favorite 3 year old in the whole world.

Well, here we go!

After much peer pressure and encouragement, I've finally got my own blog! I've been wondering how to get started...what do I write about first? It reminds me of writing in school, how the first paragraph is always the hardest. I remember reading Angie's lists and how they made me smile, so here is my list of things that make me happy.
1. Being loved--by my Lord, my husband, my kids, my Mom, my friends...
2. Worshiping with other believers
3. My kids' chalk drawings on the driveway
4. Starbucks
5. Chocolate
6. Shopping
7. Drinking a mocha from Starbucks while shopping (is that a sin?)
8. Re-connecting with old friends
9. White snow against a blue sky (don't see that as much as I used to...)
10. When people get along (my kids, siblings, in-laws, etc.)
11. Good music
12. Funny things kids say
13. Watching my kids play at the pool or beach and getting that slightly-sunburned-but-don't-really-care-buzz from being outside all day (get that more than I used to!)
14. Inside jokes with my husband
15. Realizing God is in control, knows more than I do, is more powerful than I am, and loves me more than I can understand
16. Hugs
17. Participating in leading someone to faith in Christ
18. Watching them get baptized
19. Watching them grow in Him
20. Newborn baby feet

Notice I didn't say ahead of time how long my list would be. This is because of a recent #12. While in Branson for a family retreat with Mike's work, the wives & families of the campus ministers presented them with notebooks full of letters of encouragement from various people in their lives. The other thoughtful, loving wives got their children to write letters as well. I didn't think about this until we got there, so dragged mine out of the hotel pool for them to dictate to me dripping wet. Anyway, one little boy gave his mom a sheet of paper that said, "5 (scratched out) 3 things I love about my dad" because he ran out of ideas at 3. Ha!
Also because I just may add to the list as I think of more things. Thank God, no matter what's happening in my life, He always finds a way to give me a "happy!"