Heavenly Father, thank You for so displaying Your love for me by sending Your only Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for my sins. Thank You that there is now NO condemnation for I wear the robe of Another. So, as I end a long stretch of not writing down the gifts I have seen I trust You to be glorified in my recognition of these gifts... all by Your grace.


Gifts received...

187. found out that I am not positive for that Group B Strep so I will not have to have an IV with those antibiotics at labor and delivery


186. sand and gravel from the church next door to help us continue building up the foundation on the other side of our home


185. time and energy to go to the grocery store without the kiddos


184. watching the clouds and then the rain with my hubby and kiddos before dinner and then seeing Joshua ride his bike in the rain and laughing


183. finding the disc with all my pictures from Jan 2007 through April 2007


182. a husband who lives with me in such an understanding way


181. being able to attend the first Training Up Your Child Seminar at our pastor's home this evening AND having a babysitter.

A Year of Living in the Big House

This past weekend marked a year since we moved into our big house on the corner. We've learned much about old homes, homes on the corner, homes with basements, homes that need windows, homes that are big in our eyes. All of those things can easily be wrapped up in what we've learned about God through getting this house: God cares for His children.

Gifts I see today that God lavished on me and my fam in the recent past...


180. Finding problems in our house that need to be addressed immediately and knowing we have savings to pay for them and not go back into debt.


179. Getting setbacks in our plans for home improvements only to see that God's way is far better, cheaper, quicker, satisfying, and suitable for our current situation. (Example: Owning an abnormally large front door which caused problem after problem in trying to buy a custom-sized storm door so we could open the door and get some fresh air without having bugs come in. Solution: William was able to build screens himself.)


178. Finding problems in our house that need to be addressed and God providing wisdom to know WHEN to tackle that issue, HOW to get it done, and TRUSTING HIM to help us in our inevitable poor choices.


177. William's salary has decreased since moving to IL, we've got more kids, a bigger home, and more expenses but God has miraculously provided for us in ways we could never have forseen.


Thank You, Father. Simply walking through this house should cause me to worship You for I should be able to see Your loving, merciful hand providing, caring for, protecting, and sustaining our family. Increase my vision for seeing You more.

176. Having family members willing to pray for us.

175. The many ways of escape the Lord provided yesterday. Father, You truly provide EVERYTHING I need... and so much more.

174. A friend who I was in accountability with in MD is willing to hold me accountable for praying for my hubby as I read through The Power of a Praying Wife. In fact, she's the one I read it with the first time four years ago! Lord, You are amazing!

173. Playing with legos on our bed with Joshua as the other two were napping.

172. A scheduled appointment with an exterminator (Monday) to deal with our bug problem. Also, thank You, Lord, that it looks like there's a good chance we just have swarming ants and NOT termites. Either way, You are way bigger than this problem!

171. God bringing to my remembrance 1 Corinthians 13 at dinner as I was really battling my anger. Felt conviction immediately as I remembered that love is PATIENT. Something that I was struggling with in that moment.

Ants

What a Wednesday! We woke up running this morning. I was trying to get a handle on the loads of laundry accumulating due to multiple urinary messes and one middle of the night nose bleed. My goal was simply to put one load of laundry in the wash before beginning my quiet time so that before the kiddos woke up for the day I could have a load in the dryer.

Well, here's what happened. I got the load in the wash and was carrying up the load from the dryer, watching each step carefully so I wouldn't lose my balance. As I got to the first landing I put my foot on the step and saw countless ants, crawling and flying, SWARMING around my foot.

Let me break here. If you know me well, you know I have a BIG BUG ISSUE. For whatever reason, bugs are very much attracted to me, always have been. As a result, I get TONS of mosquito bites, ant bites, and find myself stalked by all sorts of flying and crawling critters.

Back to the story. I gasp something like, Oh my, flick off my flipflop, and run tothe top of the stairs to meet William. He grabs the basket of clothes and I simply say, "Bugs! Tons of them!" He grabs a shoe to kill them and I say, "You can't kill them! There's too many!"

Because I generally am a whimp when it comes to insects, he goes to investigate and swiftly comes back saying, "Wow. This can't wait. I've got to go take care of this now."

So, at 6:15ish this morning, Hubby grabs a coffee to go and drives to Home Depot. As he leaves he tells me to put a towel down blocking entrance for other flying creatures to enter. He calls from his cellphone to tell me he's gonna buy some serious chemicals. I start praying and killing the ones that have that quickly come into our living space.

To skip all the details of what took place next, just know that though many chemicals were sprayed and many crawling and flying creatures died, William himself is freaked out. As of this evening, he can't tell where they are coming from. There are SO many. He even moved the fridge in our garage and found them there. Oh my oh my. Just typing this is making me itch.

But, I can still thank God for SO much! Here are some gifts I saw through this day...

170. Having a husband who drops everything to care for and protect our fam. And I am not being dramatic here! William is SUCH a gift! He knows just how seriously and quickly I scratch and am uncomfortable and he went out of his way to provide EVERYTHING I would need! He moved food we were storing down there. He put the load of laundry in the dryer for me. He's doing a load of laundry for me now as he doesn't want me to have to go down there tonight. He used the shop-vac to suck up those pesty things. And there's so much more! Hubby, you are so good to me!

Lord, would You strengthen my husband and pour out Your mercy on him. Give Him wisdom to know how to handle this situation. Thank You for his leadership and care for our fam.

Care Group

The gift I'd like to record today...

169. being able to attend care group is a gift from God. Not only do we have free, reliable, and excellent childcare (thanks to another couple in our care group who drops off their 16 year old daughter EVERY care group night!), we are exhorted and learn SO much from listening to the other members. I'm amazed at how God can use such a wide range of ages and experiences to help us see and love Him more.

With My Hubby

Just one I want to record for today...


168. having Hubby home for dinner ALL week! No night meetings!!! I think our last full week of dinners together was in March. Thank You, Lord, for this gift of time together! Help us to use our evenings together to bring You pleasure...