God is Good

Did you ever receive a moment of clarity from God that all of your childhood prayers were answered. Your dreams of a loving, devoted husband? How about those beautiful kids with many of the same flaws that you possessed? Well, I have that clarity. No matter how bleak things may seem, no matter how many obstacles come up against me; God is with me and has already made all my dreams come true. My dreams are named Gump (Andy), Andrew, and Janis. I want for nothing if I have them with me; to laugh, cry, love, play, and PRAY with me. I never knew that my best prayer partner would be my 18 year old son, but that's just how loving God is. He takes from the least of us to make the greatest of His. I am grateful and blessed and I thank God for all He continues to do in my life!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! Praise God for his tender mercies. He has restored our well-being.

Philippians 4:6-7 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication,with thanksgiving, let your requests be made know to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

The Oil Change

My oil light keeps coming on so I took it to a local, family owned shop & the guy showed me (with my own 2 eyes) a broken tie rod, on my front drivers side. This, by the way, means that my tire is just about to fall off! Well, I knew it had been making noise & not handling well, but I'm a girl, as long as it stops & goes, I drive it. Long story short, they fixed it for me immediately, while I waited. I thoroughly enjoyed the company of the workers (mostly family , including the dog) & customers while I waited. It certainly was an expense I hadn't planned - to the tune of $200+. But, this family took such great pride in their work that I left there feeling good about supporting a local, family owned business! God Bless the American worker and All American Tire in Hobart, Indiana.

I Love My Dressing Room

For 19 years we have used our very small, 4th bedroom for many things. It started as a music room, back when our 961 sq ft home was HUGE to us. Then came a desktop computer and a bookkeeping job; voila, the room became an office. In 2003 our little home was tranformed into twice its normal size. Oooh. Exciting, yes; Messy, YES! But, lo and behold, we had a storage room. Nearly six years later, my wonderful husband has cleared that room of everything. My brother and sister-in-law gave us their old bedroom set (perfect!) and I think the little room has finally found its true purpose: CONTAIN MY STUFF! For the first time, ALL of my clothes have drawers, shelves, or hanging space. I LOVE IT! We need to finish the decor with paint & flooring, etc. before it is worthy of posting a pic. But I still couldn't be more thrilled than I am just having this space for my stuff. Beauty in the eye of the beholder? Definitely with this little ole room!

Tuning Out

So, lately I've been soul searching and even finding answers. Whattya know? God is faithful to lead when we seek his guidance. Gumpy & I have decided that our priorities needed an overhaul and the process is both exciting and exhausting. I have worked my final week of full time hours outside of the home and will work part time for an undetermined amount of time. I really can't wrap my brain around God' s purpose for me in this, but I have such peace that I am enjoying the journey! Every weekend Gump spends every spare moment working on the house. WHAT A BLESSING! I can't wait to have one of those "mom gets the house to herself" cleaning days! You know, a day where I can read the entire newspaper, clean in my nightgown, & put dinner on the table so early that the kids will wonder if they're in the right house! I long for the days when my biggest decision is dinner and my biggest obstacle is trying not to lock myself out of the house in my slippers ;-)

Cleaning the Shower & Shaving My Legs

So, it has taken forever and a strange realization to bring me to blogging. I had this awesome experience of joy today that I haven't experienced in a long time. All because I cleaned my shower and shaved my legs - on the same day! In recent months my life has been flying by like a swirl of activity & conversations. I take in so much information, that details of my own life have become a blur. My daughter laughed hysterically at the thought of me planning meals & preparing them daily. I laughed right along with her because the last 1 1/2 years have been nonstop work for me. Whether I was home or actually at work didn't matter; work never left my mind. In the blink of an eye, everything in my day-to-day life stopped making sense; so I asked God to lead and laid my burdens at the cross. He led me home, and boy have I missed it here! I love my home, I love my husband, I love my kids. I took a brief detour and showed them what not to do; now I will take great joy in showing them how to do it right. We can all laugh over these crazy months at the dinner table on Spaghetti Night!