Conversations...

"Hey mom, I was thinking...let's sheetrock the house. We sure could use some new walls, and this open wall thing...not too much privacy."

"Ok, good idea...it is going to be a lot of work, but maybe we can get some help with it."

"Yea, it is work, but...hmmm...let's see..."

Brrrrrinnnnngg...."Hello?" "Yea, trying to get a little more done before we leave for Florida." "Don't have much time today" "Anything would be great."

"So how does that insulation thing work again?" "Thought it would be thicker, but it sure does dry fast!" "Insulation is in, so let's get this show on the road!, what's next?"

Sheetrock...

"Ok, Rich...where does that socket go for sure?" "Honey, it is backwards, needs to go up." "Ya sure?" "Oops..my bad." "That still isn't right." "My bad again." "Third times a charm."

"Veronica, want to come hang with us?" "Sure." "K..Kat, you and Vero get to mudding." " Alright mom" "No, no, no, not each other...the walls." "Veronica, sheetrock knife...not your fingers."

"What can we do to help?" "Want to mud? "Sure" "Wait, a sec..I don't know...." "No, really, we can do it, here is how." "Now, let's sand." "Ya'll need masks, too much dust.""Stop..need a family portrait"

Many hands make light work, inspire us to keep going, make the job less burdensome, and give us some time of sweet fellowship! Thanks for your time, you were an encouragement to us this week, at a time when we needed it most!

Active Listening

To listen-we have to be silent. These past weeks have so challenged my heart. Not a day has gone by that I haven't broken down and cried...not only because the weight of this situation is so heavy...and continues to get heavier...but because of a crisis of unbelief. Having faith and trusting are two different things, and I am realizing more and more that faith is the easier one. I can believe God can, it is believing God will that escapes me, because I just don't know that He will. I read and listen to His word, the truth that is there, the life principles that fill the pages, and KNOW He is true and His Word is true, but people...still have a free will, and they are still born into sin, and they still do what they want more times than not.

Nothing hurts like a disobedient child...doesn't even have to be the big offenses that are a crushing blow. Sometimes I sit back and kind of take in the situation, listen to what is being said, the world's perspective and its infiltration into our very thinking, and consider: Not so bad. My kids aren't doing drugs, running around all hours of the night, engaged in premarital sex, or whatever else the heart can imagine. They all graduated highschool with good gpa's and had or have college opportunities. Daniel is finishing up his bachelors, on scholarships, Katherine starts school this fall, on scholarship. My boys are married and self supporting. They are hard workers, you know, generally good people. All is well...but isn't that a world's take on successful parenting? Their outside successes matter little compared to what is going on in their hearts. What they can accomplish on their own has little merit if God is not in it. My goal wasn't to raise kids-it was to raise Christian adults-people who would give their hearts and lives over to the Lord. I read an article recently about a parent who believed that her kids would grow up and have her same values, only to find that isn't necessarily true...and...me too.

My devotional book, Lord, I Need Grace to Make it Today, begins with a lesson on sin. She says, "Walking your own way, doing your own thing, being your own god is the root of all sin...If you choose to be your own god, you make the choices, you run the show, you call the shots, you are the boss, you are lord or master! And you choose to live in ways which please yourself (Arthur 13). Yep...the root problem...choosing to live my life in the way that pleases me...and it isn't just my problem..it is THE problem. It is where all my life conflicts begin-a heart of selfishness-mine or someone elses. As long as everyone is getting what they want-it is all good. It is when someone doesn't get what they want that the problem arises.

Being a parent is the hardest thing I have ever done. It is the most painful. It is the most discouraging. It is the greatest faith trial. It is also the greatest analogy of God my Father's love for me. I understand deeper His sacrifice, His commitment, His great desire for my good, and His great pain at my disobedience all because I have children. My heart hurts deeper at my own disobedience to Him, at my own lack of trust in Him, and for my own stubborn self will. An understanding I come to daily because my children have reacted to our love in the same ways. They think they have a right to make choices, they have the right to live their life their way, our boundaries are too confining, too controlling...after all, we can't live our life through them...but isn't that exactly what God wants to do in my life-live through me?! Aren't His boundaries, His control, His will for my life, His working in my life all to fulfill His purpose? Isn't He trying to protect me from myself? Doesn't He want the absolute best for me because His love is so boundless?

Wow, God...even at this very moment..as I sit and ponder who He is in the midst of this chaos, the phone rings. We have so little help, so little concern, no one from our church family has been here. They stop us at church, ask, yet...one more time, "Is your house back together yet?" Uh...NO!!! This past weekend, three months later, our pastor asked Steve to give testimony about the flood...so he does...people were coming up to me after with comments like, "I didn't know your house flooded." Reallllllllllllly....it isn't a secret!...and then there is Shawna, and there is Toni. They have been my angels. Toni, with all her chaos, her battles with Edith, no time to take care of her own family, no rest for herself, her constant pain, and she calls. She calls to tell me that Edith is a little better and she wants to do something for me. She is going to make me dinner. So..I cry again...

This week one of our Barksdale B-52's went down over Guam. Our guys lost their lives. There have been memorials for them; it has been about a week now, and everyone will go back to their lives, except those families, those moms, those kids...that is how it is with a death...that is how this flood experience has felt....a death..we got calls the first few days...but no one came...and then everyone goes on with their lives, but we don't...ours has come to a stop, no not a stop, our life has turned into a perpetual day into night into day into night and again and again.

It really isn't about the house...it is about what I expected Christianity to be....my disillusionment at life in general...my inability to get my footing...and my confidence. I am trying to listen...trying to be what God wants...trying to serve...trying not to let this situation so control my life that it becomes my god. I am trying to do what is right.

Active listening-what is it? It is separating background noise and focusing on the speaker. There is an awful lot of noise in my life, and I have always had trouble figuring out who is speaking? Is God directing me, is it me trying to be the master of my own life, is it other people trying to impose their will on me? I am going to be silent; instead of talking, listen.

Lord, help me separate from the noise in my life, and distinguish your will for me, your voice, your call, a part from every other voice that threatens to control my life.

Listening

I am teaching in Sunday School this morning on the parable of the Sower from Matthew 13. I was studying that, and thinking about some other things that have been said this weekend about "active listening," when I came across this quote:

"...every mind is not equally improvable." Adam Clarke Commentary

Hmm? His reference was to bearing fruit as one of the three evidences of being a disciple of Christ. Those who bore fruit did not do so equally (Matthew 13:23). The fruit being the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22. Life circumstances, just where we have been affect us...at least it does me...guess I should be speaking for myself...because life is not always what it appears to be, and people aren't always what they say they are. Hearts harden when they are weathered, life burdens choke our desire to even be fruitful...sometimes the "trying" over and over again, the falling down...getting up...falling down...getting up..becomes burdensome.

Not everyone is open to change...most people think they already have it figured out...they think they know...when really who does? There is only one truth and only one God who does know...I find myself over and over in meaningless converstations where no one is listening to anyone else...everyone wants to talk, but no one wants to listen.

That parable is repeated in Luke 8 and ends with a warning: "Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have." (Luke 8:18)

Decisions worth making

Decisions, decisions, decisions....really glad we never undertook building our own house...don't think my mind could handle the multitude of decisions which have to be made! I sat down with all my samples: tile, countertop, grout colors, flooring, kitchen cabinetry, and paint swatches...to figure out what direction to go in. My goodness....it is just a house, do I really care that much??? How easy it is to make something so meaningless so important. How easy it is to focus my eyes on what will rust, decay, be destroyed by nature itself...and what on earth is the point of that?! It is JUST a house. It needs to be fixed for sure, but all these details have been weighing on me...what if I make the wrong decision? What if this doesn't match that? What if it won't hold up in another flood? (Wonder what all those people were doing in Noah's day when THAT flood hit-none of their flooring held, and the paint colors really were irrelevant!)

I am sitting here thinking about Katherine, Daniel, and Robert-they are making life decisions, ones that change our lives, not our environment. Life changing...those decisions are the important ones? Do we know Jesus Christ as our Savior? Am I living my life exactly the way He wants me to? Am I serving Him, listening to His voice, obeying His every Word? Am I honest with myself, seeing myself in light of the truth of who God says I am, or am I deceiving myself into believing some lie? There is no way for me to know what way they will go, if they know for sure that Jesus is their Savior-they have made professions-but only God can see the heart.

I have labored over the non-important temporal decisions way too long already...time to just make those and move on. I am NOT changing my mind about flooring, paint, or anything else...just gonna go with it, so I can get back to what is really important-serving my Lord!

Check the chaos at the door, Please

I sooooooooo needed a break from this chaos yesterday. These past two days, my stress level has been off the charts, and I found myself crying continuously. As much as I needed to do, I took the day off. I left my house at 9:30 and did not return till 4:30 or so. I took myself to breakfast, sat there reading my Bible when an older gentleman stopped to talk to me about what I was studying. He must have been a preacher! After that I went to the library to read about home decorating (of course!). I checked out a book about putting the heart into your home, designing a home around individual personality to provide a tranquil retreat from the world. Yep..that is just what we need, a retreat! Then I headed to the paint store to pick out paint. I decided on a green for my living room/dining room. (turns out it is almost the exact color in there right now...I am such a creature of habit) The paint guy was very patient, and he gave me a fan deck with thousands of colors to help me decide on the rest of the house. Next, I met Steve at the flooring place to talk to another dealer about flooring. We found another variation on the vinyl which we liked, but it is going to be over $4000 to install in the rooms we want it, so???? From there, I headed to Michaels, Linens and Things, and Lifeway. I browsed the stores looking for ideas for our bedroom and party supplies for my grandson. His first birthday is right around the corner! I had a wonderful conversation with my daughter-in-law, and got a sweet message of encouragement from my friend, Michelle. In Michaels I found this sea glass which is going to be my color inspiration for my bedroom. I have always wanted an ocean themed area because the ocean is my serenity place. I love the ocean! I also picked up my very first decoration, a metal fish tea light holder. It has an antique feel which I also love! Lifeway was my last stop. There I chose a few books and sat down to read them. I bought a devotional book, "Lord, I Need Grace to Make it Today" by Kay Arthur. (No surprise that one caught my eye!) I started it this morning and am excited about what God is going to show me through it! There was dinner, church, Starbucks, and a bit of evening drama. My day ended around 11:30. Welp...that was my day, and today is a new day. It too is a gift so, Lord, please don't let me waste it chasing after what is temporal when I could be spending it with eyes focused on the eternal!

In God's Presence

Daily DevotionsJuly 23

STILL WITH YOU
When I awake, I am still with You.Psalm 139:18

"This Scripture brings to mind an image of someone who talked with God the night before, lay down and slept, then awakened and talked with God again. Here is a person who remained in God's presence throughout the night and into the morning hours. In the Song of Solomon, God's blueprint for courtship and marriage, the Bride of the King gives us a word picture that captures the essence of this verse, the idea that we are to be with God all of the time. As she seeks ways to picture her love for her husband-to-be, she talks about an Old Testament custom. Women in that day would often carry a sachet of perfume around their neck. That way, during the day, and even the first thing when they awoke, they'd smell the beautiful fragrance they carried next to their heart. 'My beloved is to me a pouch of myrrh,' she says. And her thoughts of him are like a fragrance that she carries night and day. What a picture of how we are to treasure and carry God's thoughts, night and day! Lord, this day I will be still with and before You. Bless me, I pray."

© Copyright 2005 Smalley Relationship Center

http://www.smalleyonline.com/articles/devos/jul23.html

I sure needed that reminder today!

Gift

Life Is a Gift

Today
before you say an unkind word -

Think of someone who can't speak.

Before
you complain about the taste of your food -

Think of someone who has nothing to eat.

Before
you complain about your husband or wife -

Think of someone who's crying out to GOD for a companion.

Today
before you complain about life -

Think of someone who went too early to heaven.

Before
whining about the distance you drive

Think of someone who walks the same distance with their feet.

And when
you are tired and complain about your job -

Think of the unemployed, the disabled, and those who wish they had your
job.

And when
depressing thoughts seem to get you down -

Put a smile on your face and think: you're alive and still
around.

Too much selfishness in our world...Too much "ME ME ME." Today, I am frazzled, overwhelmed by the task before me, completely exhausted and unable to focus...too much work and not enough play while those around me who could be helping carry this burden all want to go play. I get up working, keep working, go to bed working. All day every day. There is no time, no money, no energy left for anything else. I am going to take a breath, pray, read my Bible looking for encouragement from my God who is always faithful to sustain me, try to refocus, and start over.

Demo crew

What a time we had last night! My sister-in-law is cooking for us this week. (We worked out a deal, she made the menu and grocery list, I went shopping for us, and she is cooking)! They were over, and we invited the Dial family over to eat with us, and while here, they lent a hand! We don't discriminate against age here, where else can kids safely take a hammer to a wall or write on the floors??? (Any interested applicants for the demo crew must apply directly with Keila-she knows how to swing a hammer!) Dan helped Rich and Steve take down the walls in Kat's room, and offered to come help us with the sheetrock. Turns out, he used to sheetrock. God does send the right people at the right time...the extra help sheetrocking will expedite the process greatly! The demo has taken so long, but we're down to the kitchen, bathrooms, and the main guest room...and since those rooms connect to other rooms, they are partly done too. Steve figured out our insulation problem yesterday, so that will be resolved this week. The flooring guy is going to call me with a quote today; prayerfully it will be within budget! Hmmm...might be walls and floors in my future yet!

Sizing it up

Some times you just have to take in the whole scene, size up the situation, and talk it out! After hours of hard work, we sat down, on our dining room floor (feet in the hole in the floor) to discuss our options. A cicada decided to join us. He hung out with us for a bit...ruffled Kat's feathers a little, but he didn't bother us at all. You know...we have this new "open door" "no walls" approach to life. If the cicada wants to come on in...so be it!

Hot Hot Hot

Hot...on fire...smoking...all of the above-we were it this weekend! Jon Isbell, our friend and electrician, came and got started on the electrical. He cleared out all of the jumbled up mess in the den which gives us a clean slate to work with in there. He also pulled some bad wiring in our breakfast room, and checked out our room. We really appreciate his hard work...it was really hot in here! Taylor joined us again. We love spending our days with him...he has been a trooper. He worked along with Kat, Steve, and Rich to lay subflooring in our bedroom...I have a floor! (Well more of a floor than I had!) We are feeling the time constraints for sure so we are working fast and hard. We have managed to get another room cleaned out and with our turbo fans, the house is drying out. We have taken down nearly every wall in the house, filled a huge 30 foot dumpster, and are working towards the reconstruction process. We did get our insulation ordered-it should be here this week...which means we will be able to wall (prayerfully) Alex's room next week. We are waiting on one price quote on flooring, and this week, I am picking out paint! The shed is just about completely cleaned out (yea!). That has been a hot, dirty process! All that is left is one corner that has to be bleached and swept out. After that, we are laying the new subfloor and putting a door on it. Wow...the work is tremendous, and it is so hot (did I mention how hot it is here!) Tonight, we hope to figure out a snag in the insulation in our bedroom, and get that up along with the sheetrock...Lord willing, a closet framed out too! I called my father-in-law this weekend to complement him on such a brilliant son! He definitely had a part in raising his son to be as handy as he is. By the way, still no roofer...but Jon has a friend that does roofing and is going to ask him about coming out. We still need our crawlspace cleaned out and can't seem to locate someone who does that...looking...waiting...and praying...as always...that God will send the right people at the right time!

Progress Continues

Progress continues...It looks like we are making a bigger and bigger mess! The roofing guy didn't show up yesterday, second time that has happened, but the crawl space guy did. He told us we are doing everything we should be doing and basically any company we contract with would be doing the same thing...which is treat the mold with a cleanser, wash off, let dry, and put a fungicide on it. Steve got under the crawl space. He said it looks fine under there except for a pool of water right under the center of the house. We don't know where that is coming from-a leak somewhere possibly. We set about taking down more walls last night-got the most of the living room and the hall way done. Steve pulled up some of the top layer of subfloor in the office. Underneath it we found the original subflooring. It is planked, and in remarkably good shape for being 60 years old! We decided pulling all that up was ridiculous so we are going to pull the rest of the newer subfloor, clean the bottom layer, treat it with a fungicide and water sealant, then put another subfloor back on top of it. I like knowing some of the original features of the house are still in tact! Check is in so today is a shopping day. This weekend, my bedroom subfloors and sheetrock are going up! Yea....and I picked out flooring at least for part of the house! We also decided on insulation...it is a diy foam insulation. All of our major mold problems were areas insulated with traditional insulation. Every other area dried out with minimal damage. The foam will not mold and it will dry out if we have this problem again. My flooring is a vinyl by Karndean...I am going with a 7" wood plank (looks just like the real thing), a barnwood style by Van Gogh VG2-7 Hazelnut. It is glued down with a waterproof adhesive and the floor itself is highly durable AND waterproof! :). We are ordering the flooring and insulation this weekend...another step towards completion! You can see more about the foam insulation and the flooring at the websites below!

http://www.karndean.com/index.asp?check=true

http://www.foampower.com/index.html

Flood Smart

We are continually researching and looking for ways to protect our home in the future...knowing that we can't prevent a flood, we can't change the elevation of our house, and we don't plan on moving out of the flood plane we live in...so....the best solution is education. We have already learned a lot. Tearing the walls down has given us an insight into how the water got in. Today we have a crawl space guy coming to give us an estimate of cleaning the crawl space and inspecting under the house for water/mold damage. Once that is done, we are installing crawl space fans which will circulate air under the house, keeping the humidity/moisture levels down, and maintaining a regular temperature. In a pier and beam house, maintaining the crawl space is as important as maintaining other features of the house. Roofing guy is coming today too. He is going to give us an estimate on the roof damage so we can repair those leaks before resheetrocking the walls....a busy day!

I am so grateful we have flood insurance....so many people don't. I read an article yesterday about a church in Shreveport that was flooded. They didn't have any insurance. Their congregation is trying to clean up, but without any aid, the cost is phenomenal. Our insurance is paying for our reconstruction, and although it has been slow coming...we know it is there.

Flood Smart
http://www.floodsmart.gov/floodsmart/pages/landing_pages/landing0000_1.jsp?WT.mc_id=FEMA_Google1&WT.srch=1

Memorable moments

It is finally done! I took my GRE today. It was certainly challenging. I highly recommend the Cliff's Notes version of the GRE prep book. It really helped. It has problem/question analysis, practice tests, hints, and format help so I knew what to expect. The test was laid out just like it is in the book...and let me tell you, if you plan on taking the GRE, brush up on your vocabulary skills! I was so tired yesterday that I went to bed really early. I got up this morning, had a good protein breakfast, got dressed, and looked over my book a bit. I was so focused on the test that I walked out the door with my slippers on. I didn't even notice till I was half way there, and I could not turn around. So....I went to a testing center to take a grad entry test in my slippers! Good thing they look like flip flops and not fuzzy pigs! LOL I had to laugh at myself....how funny is that!

Now I am going to start getting ready for the PRAXIS. I think the GRE was harder than the PRAXIS I is going to be, so it is next! Oh yea, and praise God...Kat finally got all of her TOPS paperwork done and approved. We hit a few snags along the way, but she qualified for the Louisiana TOPS performance award. She will get just over $1,000 for her tuition a quarter and a $400 stipend a year. She registers Monday for her first set of classes.

How is your vocab?

I decided my time is up-I HAVE to study for the GRE, which is tomorrow. I have been working on the math section and the writing sections, but left the vocab, thinking...I got this. After a Lowes run last night, a much needed hot bath, and a cup of coffee, I sat down to go over the vocab. It is analogies mostly, but how do you choose relationships or antonyms for words you have never heard of!? For example: IMBROGLIO, ABSTEMIOUS, INVEIGH???? I am definitely not as smart as I thought I was, and this morning I am working on my vocabulary! (Now ask me some carpentry terms or construction terms, and I might get those!)

Monday....

Today was just that! We started our day with a transformer blowing and no power. That meant I went to work today without a shower and lots of hairspray! Monday is always my long day and boy do I want a shower!

We were stopped by a few people this weekend asking us about our progress...the thing is...people don't seem to have an understanding of what it means to have a house flood. I know I sure didn't! It isn't as simple as mopping up the water, spraying the walls with bleach, and you are done. Sheetrock has to be taken down, up past the water line-all of it (even the closets)...now in a 2000 square foot house, that takes a minute! Floors have to come up, and in a pier and beam house, the joists have to be checked, and everything that got wet requires an anitmicrobial/antifungal treatment. Oh yea, everything has to dry out-which means open walls with fans blowing on them. (I had this crazy idea that you open the walls, clean them off, close them up...uh huh right...of course I also thought you could save the sheetrock off the walls which isn't wet..nope...it doesn't come off in sheets!) This is not a short term project....we are essentially rebuilding the house, at least the interior. There are so many things inside a house you can't see which becomes apparent when you take those walls down...and of course, then you have to fix that too!!!

I was so tired last night that I had a minor meltdown....too much chaos for me to handle, time pressures to get it done, just sooooooooo much to do all the time! Sigh :(

The WHOLE house is covered in this dust ALL the time...good thing we have a zippered portable closet or imagine what my clothes would look like! I sweep and sweep and sweep, and vacuum up dust, and damp mop...to absolutely no avail! Ok..Tina..patience...it will be ok!

Knowledge is meant to be shared

As a teacher, I certainly knew that...but this weekend that truth is even more real to me. Rich, Steve, and Taylor worked on taking up the subfloor in our dining room..worked REALLY hard. It had soooooooooo many nails in it that it took hours of hard labor. Along comes Ronnie...not only did he survey the house, what we were doing and what we needed to be doing, he suggested how to get that piece of floor up without the backbreaking labor. The guys heeded his advice and sawed up a section. Doing that allowed us to survey underneath to see what needed to be done. He also took a look at the joists in our room. Steve had tried to figure out how to level it, Ronnie knew how to do it and did in no time at all. He used a level to match the ends and ran a string diagonally across the room to level the middle. With a sledge hammer, he moved the joists to the needed height and secured the support beams in place with concrete screws. The room is now completely level. Steve just has to shim some of the concrete supports and add screws to the other side to finish the process. Steve had thought it would have to be completely rebuilt; we are so glad that wasn't the case! How we appreciate the help! He took time out of his day, spent a few hours with us, and gave us years of his knowledge and experience. Kayla and I took stock too...she went over cabinetry, flooring, counters, and color schemes with me. She even stopped by Lowes and picked up samples of counter tops so we could put it all together. We needed another set of eyes, and more sets of hands! Doreen cooked dinner for all of us-feeding a really hungry crew is more help than she probably realizes! Thanks so much everyone! God sends the right people at the right time and truly knowledge is meant to be shared.

Anniversary Wishes

Happy One Month Anniversary to Daniel and Lauren! Hope you have something special planned for your day!

Old House=character

Steve took a dive into the dumpster-a twist on dumpster diving-our construction dumpster that is. He was trying to redistribute the stuff so we could get more in it...still trying to achieve the goal of getting the drywall down so we can get the dumpster picked up! We made a trip to Lowes tonight which distracted us greatly from getting a lot of work done! We did make some interesting discoveries which is always fun, but better than that, we opened the new doorway into our bedroom (left). underneath it is planks which are probably left over from the original construction, and to the left of it is an old piece of siding-also probably from the original construction. Steve started to pry up the planks but I asked him to leave them. We will put the new door jam over it. We are still trying to make decisions on insulation before we start putting our room back together. We just don't know what is the best/economical choice for our circumstances.....?? Welp...stay tuned for the next episode of our remodel of our old house...if you want to check out the REAL This Old House and get great diy helps, check out their website: http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/

Small Opportunities

"God's plan for every believer is made up of a lifetime of small opportunities. No matter what our career or calling may be. We should each seek ways to serve the Lord daily. We do this by ministering wherever we are to family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers."

In Touch with Charles Stanley (online daily devotional, Friday, July 11, 2008)

www.intouch.org

A lifetime of small opportunities...I always want to be the Mary that sits at Jesus' feet soaking up His word, but find I am running around-often in circles-to accomplish whatever needs to be done-the Martha (Luke 10:38-42). I am encouraged to know that BOTH are needed, sitting at Jesus' feet and service. How can I serve if I am not first equipped with the power of God's Word?

My dear friend, Kayla, is back in Shreveport. She was one of the first people I met when we moved here nearly 19 years ago. Her boys and mine grew up together. Throughout the years, when others have come and gone, she has been a faithful friend...telling me what I needed to hear, not always what I wanted, always pointing me to Christ. She is also my interior decorator! She helped me when we first moved into this house! LOL. Last night, we walked through and discussed options. I enjoyed the fellowship with her over dinner (which Kat cooked!) and her insight. She had a viable theory on our crop circle (a well or septic system..hmmm???). She had a lot of good ideas for our reconstruction, and her hubbie is going to come by this weekend and lend us his expertise. We haven't had much outside help, so everything offered is much appreciated. I am just glad she is home, and I get to glean from her. Today, we are taking an afternoon off and going swimming together!

God Moments

Every once in awhile God reminds me He is still there, He really does care, and He really does answer prayer. Today, I had one of those God moments. For about twenty years now I have been praying specifically for my extended family. God doesn't work on my time schedule, but His own. Though there have been many setbacks, some tares sent our way to hinder the work in our family, and it often feels like we take two steps forward and three back, God has been answering those prayers. Today, through a simple conversation with one of my brothers, and the obvious work God is doing in His life, God reminded me that He has been listening. Yippeee!

He also reminded me that He is the master carpenter. We might be rebuilding a house, but He is rebuilding lives! Praise God for the moments when I get to be a tool in His hand!

Oh yea...A friend had this shirt on last night at church-love it!

I am too blessed

to be stressed

I am too annointed

to be disappointed

Mess upon mess upon mess

Kat and I got the trim down and the floor up in the dining room and hallway yesterday morning. Steve took over last night after church taking the sheetrock down in the dining room (where it is all still laying). I am continually amazed by the mold...when I think we can get by not doing something...I get to peek behind another wall...and yea, it is molded. I thought our insurance guy was overkill, but apparently he knows alot more about this than we do! The dining room was important because we needed to see if there really was another door opening back there, and YEA, there is. (See it on the left there?) That means we can move the opening of our room, which is right now off the breakfast room. We are moving it to open off the dining room. Changing that, and adding insulation, will give us more privacy and lots more quiet (at least we hope). We also needed to see if we could take out part of a wall which leads into the kitchen. We weren't sure if it was a support wall or not, and it isn't. That is really good news too.

We had really good services last night. I love how our pastor challenges us to live for Christ. Last night it was on following. I just taught a lesson in Sunday School on that same topic. He talked about God calling the faithful to follow Him, the importance of following, and the consequences for not. I was again challenged. He really heard my heart when he said that following isn't always the problem, figuring out if it really is God speaking is. That is it! I was talking to Steve on the way home about it, evaluating what God is doing in my life, the circumstances and people He brings into my life, and what to do with all of that. I am working towards going back for my MAT. I thought I might do some subwork while I am in school, but with my sister and Alex coming, and possibly Chance, I don't know if I can. I am also praying about the prison ministry-something which has been on my heart for a long time now which connects with another desire-teaching in the juvenile detention system...but, I don't know just where God wants me to be. Since I tend to want to do everything....I really have to wait on HIM.

We got home kind of late so we didn't make yesterday's goal. Tonight we will try to finish the hall and the office walls. The cleanup takes sooooooooooooooo long, and that is my job! :(....Steve and Kat get to demo, I get to clean it all up! I don't know if I like this relationship so much!

Today, I have to run some errands and go to work, so nothing is getting done until tonight. Sigh....It was so nice to be home all day yesterday...to not only get some demo done, but to be able to get basic housework done and dinner made.

Prayer: We are so busy....and we have to go to Florida to get my sister August 1. In the next month, we have all this house work to get done, especially some livable space and the shed (for storage of my sister's belongings), next week I take my GRE which I NEED to be studying for, we have to get Alex ready for school which is mid August, take care of some loose ends in Kat's school, settle down with the addition of another family to ours, and make another trip at the end of August to North Carolina. Time goes by so fast, and that sounds like an awful lot to do in just over a month's time. Please pray for us, wisdom to know what to do, how and when, the resources we need to make these trips and provide for another family, guidance in all these decisions being made, and health (my sinuses aren't liking all this nastiness in the air).

Turbo Speed

My brother came by last night. He said that we always seem to be working, but now we are in turbo mode! Yes, we are. We worked yesterday...Kat and I packed up miscellaneous stuff that hadn't made it into boxes yet, and we got all that out in the shed. Steve got home and we got the rest of the furniture out of the office and dining room. I got home from work, and jumped right in the demo job! We went to work taking the paneling down. The office, because of the paneling, really held water. We had to dig through a layer of paneling and a layer of sheetrock to get to the studs. It was quite nasty. When I saw that the only thing behind those walls was the kitchen wall and the laundry room...I entertained moving the laundry room to that room, and making our house a three bedroom, but...that room is going go be my nephew's room in just a few short weeks. ( I am sure he doesn't want to sleep in the laundry room!) When Rich came in and commented on our turbo speed...I responded with....do we want Alex sleeping in a room with mold all in it?? No, we don't! Steve's goal this week is to open up all the walls so that we can get all of them drying, and get rid of the construction dumpster. It is huge, and it blocks the back of our driveway. The cool thing about this project is seeing what is behind these walls and how the house is constructed. How many people get that opportunity????

Today...we are taking out the dining room walls, taking off the top row of sheetrock in the office, and taking the walls out in the hallway. Next is the laundry room and Kat's room... :)

Quote from "Conquering Through Conflict"

"One's godly behavior is a warranty deed for himself that Jesus Christ has cleansed him from his past sins and therefore that he was in fact called and elected by God." --Kenneth Gangel

"And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." 2 Peter 1:5-8

To everything there is a season

We have kicked the work into high speed! We are discovering that many walls are still wet underneath and need to be opened up. We have all the walls open in three rooms now, and a part wall in the bathroom. I got home from work last night to jump right in here. We moved boxes out to the shed, took down some furniture, and tore down walls. We pulled up some tile pieces in the breakfast room to check out the condition of the floors. They were damp under there. Not sure if all the floor is wet, but we are going to go

ahead and take up the tile in here. It is impossible to match it, therefore our best option is to replace it. And what have we learned here??? Sheetrock and flood waters are not friends, walls do not dry out witout air, paper insulation is really gross when it is wet and molded, pet doors aren't just for pets and putting one behind a fireplace is really not a good idea, all the plastic between subfloors doesn't keep water out-it actually traps water and keeps the floor from drying, muck out is a great word for clean under the house and joists, rats can come in the walls if you leave them an access point and they want a nice cozy safe home too!, reconstruction is a lot of work...and most of all....to everything there is a season.... (that print is a cross-stitch that got wet. I scrubbed it with oxyclean. It is going to be one of my themes as I remodel!)

New Day-New Perspective

Welp...a new day brought a new plan-God's plans are higher than our plans. Although we got our settlement in and it was WAY more than we were expecting...we are tied up right now. Our mortgage company won't release the check without this complicated process. We have to sign a letter, have it notarized and sent back to them...then we wait. They will release a 1/3 of it, after which we have to verify the work that has been done before they will release the second 1/3. The funniest part is they want 50% of the work done on the 1/3 and 100% done on by the end of the 2/3. Alright...how does that add up???? We will be praying about that because we are doing a lot more than is on the list. We did however get our list out and start checking off what we have done already. We compared cost with the task. Katherine's room is sponge painted which falls under faux finish. We did that at virtually no cost except paint. On our list it is valued at over $1200. Who knew?! God is still in control, and we are confident we will get done just what needs to be done at the price we can afford! So...we are organizing the shed this weekend, getting some of the packed boxes and furniture out of the house so that we can work on the dining room, finish dewalling the breakfast room and clean out that fireplace. That will enable us to have those rooms inspected. That should help us be ready to wall those back up very soon...but who knows, our plans change daily! We start where we are every day and revamp the plan according to that day! Bro. Jon, I love what you said about God's mercies being renewed every morning. I love that verse in Lamentations-it gives me such hope and confidence to know we do get to start new everyday! Praise God that His plans are higher than mine!

Wowed

You really can't outgive God. Steve's spiritual gift is giving. For years, it was kind of suppressed because I was a bit stingy, and he got taken advantage a few times. The last five or so years, I have been learning to let go, and God has so blessed. The giver that Steve has always been has resurfaced. He doesn't hesitate to participate in a special offering, or run to someone's aid, or give his last dollar for someone who needs it worse than we do. That giving spirit brings blessings on our family. There is no other explanation as to how we are able to do what we need to do, not just for ourselves and our family, but for others God brings into our path. This flood trial has been a perfect example of that. Even with all that has to be done here, the expense of it all, the time required which is phenomenal with both of us working....all of it.....has not hindered Steve from giving when he feels led to do so. Even if God didn't honor that, which He does, I would be so blessed by the example Steve is to me.

We are off to a good start this week. We took out our walls and trim in our breakfast room. That was surprisingly nasty. All I could do was say, "wow." We cleaned that up and it is drying out now. We discovered a shorted wire in there. "Wow," that could have caught fire at any time-God spared us! We got our BoraCare/MoldCare in. We sprayed the shed and our room last night. They are both ready to be sealed with a water sealant. The inspector came today and it passed. We are about ready to rebuild that room! Yea! We also got our insurance settlement in yesterday. Steve was thinking it would be about $45,000 because we got an advance payment of $5,000. We opened it...it is $59,000. "Wow" Not only can we fix our house, but because we are doing the labor ourselves...we can do so much more-we can share what God has given us. I can hardly wait to see what God is going to do next! I am sure I will be just as wowed!

Decisions

On our daily trip to Lowes, we peruse the clearance aisles and all the choices for cabinetry and hardware. We have been down the kitchen aisle sooooooooo many times! We had thought we would do the kitchen last, but maybe not! I decided on cabinetry last night, and now I am so excited. This online program at Lowes lets you put your style of cabinets, flooring, appliances, paint color all on the template so you can see how it works together. This is my future kitchen, ignoring the island, location of windows, lighting, and ceiling...and the desk. :) We are adding a wall and taking another one down, so the kitchen is going to change shape a little from an L form to a U. The cabinetry is an antique white, flooring is a neutral tile (not replacing that), appliances are black, counters a cayene red solid formica, and the walls a pale beige yellow. Wow! The price tag: about $10,000 give or take a bit. So...any thoughts???

Power Tools

This remodel is very much a family project! We are all learning how to do new stuff. Katherine got some father-daughter time this weekend with some instruction on saw and nail gun use. Her dad showed her how to cut the exterior panelling we are putting on the shed, and then she nailed it on with the nail gun. We spent most of our time outside this weekend, doing some finishing work on the shed, and cleaning up the yard. We got all the deck wood sorted and cleaned up. We have a yard again! Kat helped me with a little bit of landscaping...that we are doing in snippits...a little each weekend! Steve and I go into Lowes-he picks up self-help books, I pick up gardening and landscaping books! LOL. We bought two new ones this weekend. One is on bathroom renovations and the other is a general remodel book which has tips on just about everything. While we are breaking from the physical labor, we are reading! It is amazing what we have learned already! I love that Kat isn't afraid to get her hands dirty and is not a girly girl...sitting around looking pretty, but doing nothing to help the situation!