Company

We had our first guests tonight in the trailer!

Pastor and marme came bearing gifts of chocolate shakes...but she really just wanted to make sure that we were living in livable conditions!

What was the advice you gave us? Something along the lines of "if the trailer's a-rocking, don't come a-knocking"....something like that.

Thanks, marme, for the tasty shake and for looking out for us!

Pictures of the Trailer

I just realized I did not take any of the outside...oh, well, next time!

A Sacrifice of Thanks

Yes, I meant to say thanks instead of praise.

I was spending quiet time with the Lord this morning (btw, la, thanks for introducing us to the fragrant offering song, seriously!), and I was looking for a particular scripture. In the process, I read this one:
Psalm 50:14-15
Sacrifice thank offerings to God to fulfill your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.

The second scripture I read was this one:
Philippians 4:19
And my God shall supply all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

I wrote these scriptures down in my journal, and the Lord told me to write down my needs as well, and begin thanking him for them. So I did. I wrote down all the pressing needs that we have and began to thank him because in this there is a two-fold outcome:
He will deliver us.
He will be honored.

I pour my vial of worship over you...

Well, It's Official...

We are completely out of our house and are residents at the KOA in our trailer!
We got the last out of the house last night, but we've been staying at the trailer since Sunday night. It was easier that way, so that we wouldn't have to try to live in the same place we're trying to pack up, you know?
Things are going well, but we've found that we don't really have the space for all the things we thought we needed! =)
We've also learned that we have WAY too many pieces of clothing! =)
I finally have tomorrow off, so I can try to get things organized...

Overshadowed Pictures

Daughter,
Stop relying on the strength and ability of man.
Rely on my strength, my ability.
I am not man.
I will not fail.

Nothing

I don't know anything...

Just wanted to post something....anything....

It's 9:30, and I must go to HEB. It seems the dog-child is out of food. Such bad parents are we!

Ha! I made a rhyme (unintentionally, of course)!

I want ice cream....and one point fudge pops just won't do it tonight!

Big sigh...

Thank You! No, Thank You!

No, REALLY, thank YOU!!!!

Thank you to all who helped make our garage sale a success! Whether you brought stuff, bought stuff, or lifted us up in prayer (power lifters, no doubt!) you made it happen for us!!!!

Thank you, my peeps!

This is kinda funny....

Dan had figured about how much it was going to be to drive to Illinois to pick up the camper. He based his figures on diesel being $3 a gallon and the truck getting 13 miles to the gallon. So, he had this certain amount in his head he was shooting for. He said the longer he sat there at the garage sale, the more his mind started churning, so he started making hash marks for every $3 he made, representing a gallon of gas. When people would come up and ask what he'd take for this or that, he'd ssy "$3!" then make another hash mark.

Babe, you crack me up!

Between the Garage Sale and the Blogging...

Somehow, my dog feels I am neglecting her and needs to be close to me...

Okay, Y'all...

Garage sale preview at my house Friday, 7 PM.

Our address is in the church directory, but we are unlisted in the phonebook. If you need our address, you can call me at the store Friday until I leave at 5 PM.

I hope you all can come! If not, the garage sale will begin at 7 AM Saturday morning.

Oh! There will be an ad in the paper both Friday and Saturday, even though the garage sale is only on Saturday. It will also have our address there.

...parting is such sweet sorrow.....

Going through our things and separating between trash, garage sale, storage, and trailer has really made the reality sink in.
I'm completely fine with it all, but packing up some of my treasures has made me a little sad.
I had a quilt rack in my guest room that had special quilts on it, like mine and Dan's baby quilts, and quilts our family members had made. I put them away in my trunk, ready to go into storage.
Among them was the quilt I made about six years ago for our baby. I had mixed feelings about packing it away, but (silly, I know) with a sandwich hug from Dan and me, I tucked it away between our own baby quilts, assured that it will not be long before I go and retrieve it to await the arrival of our little one.....one day.
I'm really excited about this new chapter in our lives, but with some things.....parting is such sweet sorrow...


The second baby quilt I ever made. The first was for my best friend's first baby 10 years ago.


Tucked away between my baby blanket (left) and Dan's baby blanket (right).

Thanks, Babe...

Today Dan came by work to pick up some boxes and bubble wrap I had set aside from our freight truck. He walked into my office and handed me the cutest card and a box of chocolates...

Just because.

Thanks, babe. I'm glad God gave me you. I love you.

My Song

Disappointment overwhelms me
One more day I've been let down
I struggle needlessly cuz I forget
You are God and I am not
So I straighten up and put my eyes on You
I give You thanks no matter what You do

And still
You are my Rock
Still
You are my world
My all in all, my Prince of Peace
And still
You are my God
Still
You are my song
My all in all my Prince of Peace
My King

Indecisiveness confronts me
Should I stay or should I go
So many choices here and I confess
You are God and I am not
But I know You know the plans You have for me
You see things I sometimes cannot see

And still
You are my Rock
Still
You are my world
My all in all, my Prince of Peace
And still
You are my God
Still
You are my song
My all in all, my Prince of Peace
My King

Changes

I mean, serious changes!
I've started to blog about this several times, but here it goes!
For the last year or more we have been struggling with what we really felt like we were called to do. Both of us were called to the ministry as teenagers, and have been in the ministry for part of our married life, but for one reason or another, long story, we've opted out.
Slowly but surely, God has been drawing us back and giving us glimpses of what our ministry should be. The area we have struggled with the most is just the overwhelming realization of the mistakes we've made in the past and the shortcomings we see in ourselves. I'll be honest, I have trust issues. Some of you know that already from past conversations. The Lord has brought me a long way, but I'm not complete yet.
Regardless, we are taking the plunge.
The first step is cutting our expenses and saving some money. So, we are having a huge garage sale on the 15th, selling most of what we have. Some things will go in storage, but everything else must go. We gave notice to our landlord this month. We are moving out of our house and into a 34 foot bumper-pull trailer.
You can get up off the floor now. Sorry, I should have given you some warning.
Step two is a little higher up on the trust scale. I will be giving my notice to my job somewhere around December to leave at the end of that quarter, the end of our fiscal year, the end of January.
Step three is basing out of the Dallas area, probably still living in the trailer, since it will keep our expenses down. Hopefully, we can work during the week, then we will travel on the weekends to different churches. Our ministry is called Ready Now Ministries, and that pretty much sums it all up. Hopefully when you hear the song on my blog, or anywhere else, for that matter, you will think of us and pray. It really is our heart.
I wanted to let my blogging family know what was going on because I really covet your prayers. We are so excited about this! There really is so much more than I can write at this time. God has already provided and orchestrated so much it is unreal, like the camper, so I know that He can provide the rest, like a truck to pull it with! =)
One thing I ask, though, is that you are careful about talking about this in public settings. There are a couple of people from church that I work with, and at this time, they do not know about our plans. As I said earlier, I'm not planning on giving my notice until December, so I would like to keep it on the down low as best I can.
Thank you! Love you all!!!!

Shut Up, Stupid

I was so excited today because we were going to a friend's for dinner tonight, and she had asked us to bring a dessert. Well, after much consideration, I decided to make fresh apple fried pies. Even though it's a lot of work, I love making fried pies because the dough is my great grandmother's recipe, and it is ssssooooo good! This was going to be my first attempt, however, making the filling from scratch, but I was confident.

I got out my little sliding slicer, cored my apples, and began slicing. At one point, it began getting difficult to slice. It would just stop as I ran the hand held over the cutting device. I pushed a little to hard, and the next thing I knew, my thumb was bleeding profusely. I ran over to the sink and began running cold water over my thumb. I kept it under there forever, it seemed, but it would not stop bleeding. I finally got a couple of paper towels and began to hold pressure on it. After ten minutes, it was still bleeding. Of course, my medical man wasn't at home at the time, and if you know my husband well, you know he never leaves the house without his phone. I somehow managed to call his phone (have you ever tried to dial the phone while one hand is trying to hold pressure on the other hand?) and his phone starts ringing in the living room! Great....

So, I'm just sitting there holding my own hand. Finally, the car pulls up. He comes in immediately knows something's up because there are half-sliced apples in the slicer and I'm nowhere to be seen. I briefly fill him in, and he goes to work. I knew it wasn't bad enough to go get stitches or anything, but I just couldn't get it to stop bleeding. Finally, after he gets me all fixed up and everything, we go into the kitchen to clean up. I walk him through how it happened, and I figured out why the slicer kept getting stuck. I told him I felt really stupid for trying to force it.
Joking, he said, "Your not stupid.....stupid."
I said, "Oh, hush!"
Then at the same time we said, "Shut up, stupid!"

Thanks, Pastor!!!!
(It was a funny from Sunday's sermon.)

By the way, I took a picture of my thumb, but I didn't post it because I didn't want to gross anyone out. It's really not that bad, but it just seems that way when it's your thumb! :)

Garage Sale

Just in case any of you still have some things that didn't sell at the last garage sale or you did not participate in the last garage sale, we are having one on the 15th. Let me know if you would like to join!