House Update

These are the pics that our Realtor took today of our happy, little home. Our humble, little abode that we have LOVED, absolutely loved living in! It has been an amazing and unexpected gift to us (and hopefully to others who have been in it) these past seven years. We'd be happy here forever, except for the fact that we hope to have more kids :)

  THANK YOU to everyone who prayed! The lady that came by our house loved it and contacted us and Lloyd (our realtor), wanting pictures for her son. He's in the Navy stationed in Mississippi (I think) and he would be the primary buyer.  Now we are praying that the son would see the pictures and hear about our house from his Mom, and would fall in love with it too. And that he would act quickly and make us an offer. This may sound impossible, but not with the Lord! We've "heard" the other house we'd like to buy may have an offer coming in. In the end, we know the Lord is perfectly wise and knows far better than us what is best, and we want to trust HIM COMPLETELY! But we will continue to pray in the meantime. Thanks for praying!

**UPDATE as of 9/3

The lady and her son are both still interested and called today to see if we could leave everything as is in the back...meaning she wants all Joe's flowers :) That should make him happy that his hard work has paid off. He's been praying that whoever ends up here would love and care for his flowers :) They said we'll hear from them (I think meaning an offer), by Monday. So we are PRAYING for a miraculously GENEROUS offer! 

Also, we learned that the house we were hoping to buy is under contract. God knows what is best. If the Lord wants us to have it, I know He'll work it out. The process of selling our house feels like a HUGE leap of faith now,  not having a clue where we will end up! Thanks for keeping us in your prayers!

House Update/Prayer Request

Yesterday I was at Starbucks getting some boxes to finish up our house before putting it on the market last night. Since Starbucks is across the street from my house, I frequent it often :), and the employees all know me. We were talking about me putting my house on the market and a lady picking up her drink over heard our conversation. She asked me all about our house and asked for my number, saying she'd like to come by and see it. She called me a few hours later and planned to come by today at 2pm. Well, she and her son just came by and seemed to love the place (at least outwardly :). Soooo, we are praying that the Lord would move on their hearts and that they'd make us a good offer. She wants this house for her son who would take advantage of the sweet $8,000 from Uncle Sam that's available for 1st time home buyers right now. We had a great talk with them, and they are active in church, seem to be believers and are even originally from MD. Anyways, I know we may never hear from them again, but I have real faith to pray that God would direct their steps quickly to buy our home. We'd love your prayers! We heard a great message on prayer and faith today (from James 5:13-18), by our good friend Nick. I'm more inspired than ever to be faithful in prayer and the power of prayer and more than ever desire your prayers: 

"Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again, he prayed and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops"  James 5:17-18

So we are praying, full of faith, that the Lord would sell this house and preserve the other home for us. And fully knowing that God knows what is best and we want His will for us above all else. Thanks for praying!!! 

Praying, Packing and Trusting

This week has been quite a whirlwind. Last Monday Joe and I were driving home from date night and passed by a house for sale that used to be owned by friends of ours. Being that we've been in the home and have always liked it (great yard, great floor plan, great neighbors and 2 miles max from church) we decided to pull the flyer. Wow, actually in our price range! So the next week we went and looked at it (and a bunch of other homes, being that we've been planning on moving sometime this year), and absolutely loved it. That is problem number one. We love this house currently on the market, but cannot buy it until we sell ours! And in this present market it will take a miracle. But God is in the business of miracles and we feel in faith to do all that we can do to sell our house and trust the Lord for the final outcome. We know our house could sell in the next 24 hours or the next 24 months, but no matter what, the Lord is Sovereign and knows what is perfectly good for us. So for now, I am praying that my heart would be at peace and full of joy regardless of the outcome, for the Lord to give me continued strength to get all the work to get our house on the market AND praying in faith for a miracle. 

Now is the time...

"Now is the time to get things done...wade in the water, sit in the sun, squish my toes in the mud by the door, explore the world in a boy just four. Now is the time to study books, flowers, snails, how a cloud looks; to ponder ‘up,’ where God sleeps nights, why mosquitoes take such big bites. Later there’ll be time to sew and clean, paint the hall that soft new green, to make new drapes, refinish the floor - Later on...when he’s not just four." 

-Irene Foster

I read this quote today, and what a lovely reminder on a sad day. Life is short, and the time that my girls will be little and want to go on adventures, and splash in puddles, and chase butterflies and marvel at a dandelion are even shorter days. These are days filled with much joy! I pray that I can keep perspective on the days filled with more tantrums than laughter and more messes to clean than games that we play and days when not one thing seems to get checked off the to-do list. These days are precious. And they are numbered.

I know one day I will get to all of my to-do list, and my house will always be clean, I will actually tackle some projects and I will be able to finish my dinner without interruption. As good as those days will be (since every day is a gift from God, so it must be good),  I bet I'll be thinking about these days and missing them a lot.  What a precious season I am in, may I be grateful for each and every day!

3 years without Mom

It was 3 years ago today that my amazing Mother took her last breath and went to be with the Lord. How I miss her!! I am grateful to the Lord for every single day I got to spend with her (23 years!) and for the amazing relationship that we had. I think it was the closeness that we shared that has made missing her so painful. Not even a few days go by without me wanting so badly to pick up the phone and call her. How I loved talking to my Mom! She cared about anything that I cared about, and would take an interest even in the littlest things that only mom's care about- like what color to paint a room or that Alathea was teething yet again. And how I miss her wisdom, helping to navigate my way through life. I heard once that life without a Mom can feel like life without a roadmap...I can at times relate to that. But I do thank God for his abundant goodness to me and my family for giving us such an amazing, godly mother who I did get 23 years with. While I wish I could have 23 more years, I know Gods plans are perfectly good. And every day that goes by is just one step closer to me seeing my Mom again. Praise God for the gift of Salvation!

Summer

Sometimes I feel like a kid who just wants summer to last forever. Its always about this time each year, as school and meetings are slowly starting back up, and pool hours are slowly shrinking, and the calendar starts looking fuller by the day and stores start selling fall clothing, that I get a little nostalgic, and think about how I don't want summer to end.

Who doesn't love the long, warm days. More time to plan adventures, take vacations, swim at the pool and splash in the fountains. I love little girls in sundresses and sunglasses and flip-flops. There is not much about summer that I do not love.

So here is a sprinkling of what I love (and will miss *sniff, sniff*) about summer:

sweet times at the pool

packing a picnic lunch and eating it in our bathingsuits, poolside

watching Alathea finally start learning how to swim

summer mornings (and evenings) spent at Birkdale with the girls,

 splashing in the fountains

bringing friends along to join in the fun

fireworks

and summer concerts at the park

cousins hanging out at the concerts...

...and watching them dance for hours to the live music

the beach (i'll miss everything about that!)

loooong summer nights playing outside with friends

Joe's blooming garden

splashing in the rain puddles

cold stone ice cream

really cute little girly bathingsuits

eating and playing outside when Daddy gets home

all the warm rainy days

the gorgeous summer blue sky

lounging in the hammock with friends

berry picking

Oh, summer. Please don't leave us too soon :)

Rainy Day

I love hearing Alathea laugh again. Its been a while.

This is Abi's new camera smile. Cute :)

Taking a break to watch the airplane. This kid loves watching airplanes!

They love to hold hands while they walk and play. Gosh, it's so cute!

It is so easy for me to complain about a rainy day, especially in the last days of summer. But my girls are thrilled when they see a rain cloud and hope that it will rain! There is something about wearing rain boots, using an umbrella and splashing in puddles during a warm summer rain that is appealing.

So yesterday they enjoying the rain and "puddling hunting" together for almost 2 hours! It was a lovely morning watching them enjoy themselves! It was also the first day in over 10 days that Alathea was completely healthy! What a miracle! The doctors are still not sure what caused the long stretch of vomiting, but even without complete answers I am happy to see her laughing and playing again. And I'm praying they both stay healthy for a long time!

poor sick girlie

Just a quick post to ask you to pray for our Alathea Joy. She's had some sporadic stomach pain on an off for a few weeks now. Honestly, I thought nothing of it, since she still seemed her normal self. Then early this week while my family was here she had some diarrhea. Again, thought nothing of it. But starting Wednesday morning she has been vomiting. Its been on an off...a few hours in the morning she feels OK (like on Wed- we were at the zoo!), but then by evening she's puking like crazy and buckled over in pain for hours and hours. I've been to the doctor three times...Thurs, Sat & again today. They have ruled out a virus (they don't think its contagious, good news with Abi being around her)...and are thinking maybe a gastritis, parasite or something kidney related. Again, these are all guesses. If she's buckled over in pain again tonite they'd like us to take her to Levine's  Children's hospital. Hopefully this is nothing major and will pass soon. But if it is something bigger causing this, please pray wisdom. Joe's been in FL the past three days, which has made things interesting to say the least :) Fortunately he is on his way home today!!! Please pray for wisdom & healing! Thanks so much!

Update (9pm): Alathea has had her best day yet! Maybe she's on the mend?? She is eating for the first time right now and not complaining about her tummy! Praise the Lord!

Family Times

This past week my Dad, Rachel & Julie came for a great visit.

We had 5 wonderful days together. My favorite day of all was on Wed., 

when we drove to Columbia, SC to visit with my Uncle Perry & Aunt Janet

 and Grandma Bowers.

Before the sweet Bowers family visit, Julie, me and the girls spent an incredible morning at the Columbia Zoo:

 

I LOVE the Columbia Zoo. It is so "kid friendly"- meaning the animals have small habitats, but that makes them very easy to see! The girls could find the animal at every exhibit, which they were thrilled about!

I think we decided our favorite was the aquarium. 

We made it through the entire zoo, including eating lunch, in just 2 hours! Love it! That was perfect, and left us with time to go on a train ride and a pony ride!!

Alathea was beyond excited.

Abigail was quite jealous. She is obsessed with ponies (including 'my little ponies') and really wanted to ride the horse. She was too small to ride herself, but they let her put on the helmet and sit on the pony. That made her very happy.

After the zoo we headed back to Uncle Perry & Aunt Janet house, just down the road, where the rest of the family was hanging out. Abigail had a nap and we had a lovely visit together.

Grandma B and her boys

After Abi's nap we walked down the road to Lake Murray. 

We didn't bring bathing suits, but that didn't keep us from enjoying the lake!

Alathea loves her Pop-Pop

The girls with Dad & Rachel

(they LOVE Dad & Rachel :)

my all-time favorite sister

Uncle Perry and Aunt Janet

We ended the lovely day with a meal at Cracker Barrel. The only thing that could have made it better, was if Joe could have been there too. Poor boy was working hard in the office while we were having fun. It was another precious visit with my family and makes me miss them even more! I keep telling them they need to move to Charlotte :)