Saying I'm tired would be an understatement

We have had such a full week here in Ohio. I am as tired as tired can be, yet I feel refreshed from all the wonderful preaching I've heard. And the music, oh, the music! There is nothing quite like Christ-honoring congregational singing. We've spent about six hours each day getting our cups filled to overflowing. What a blessing! Cramming the six of us into a hotel room for the past week and living out of our suitcases has been challenging, but I have a feeling that the next week will be even more interesting. We're heading back to Georiga this morning; hopefully the 750 mile drive will be uneventful. :) Monday we will be tossing, throwing, cramming packing the rest of our belongings in preparation for loading the moving truck early Tuesday morning. We will be closing on the house, Lord willing, Tuesday afternoon. Wednesday will be spent driving to Florida, and we should sign the papers and be in the "new" house sometime on Thursday. The kids are getting very excited. I think I'll start getting excited once the stressful last-minute packing details are taken care of. I am really looking forward to seeing the "new" house! :) Posting will be sporadic in the coming days as there is so much to do. Our internet will be disconnected in the next day or two, and I'm not sure when we'll have it up and running in Florida. I cannot tell you how much we appreciate the prayers that have been lifted up on our behalf over the last month or so. It has been such an encouragement to know that people all over the world have been praying for us. I'm so glad that I'm a part of the family of God! :)

On the road

Our family is currently in Toledo, Ohio, attending a Bible Conference at the Hope Baptist Church. There is great preaching and singing each morning and night. You can listen live to the services here. We're also enjoying being able to fellowship with good friends we've served with in the ministry over the years. It's just a little taste of what heaven will be like. I hope you all have a wonderful week! :)

I know what I won't be asking for this Christmas

You never know what you have until you empty every last cabinet in the house. What you think is just a simple pleasure may turn out to be a force to be reckoned with.

Take for instance, my fondness of candles. Bookworm helped me go through every room in the house and gather all the candles to box up. Then I took out all of the candles from two cabinets in the laundry room.

These are my votives and tarts. Not too many of these.

Here are all of the scented oils. Not too bad.

I still have candles from my wedding. They're only 13 years old.

Now for the scary part. Here's the whole kit 'n kaboodle. I couldn't even fit them all in the picture. There are more sitting on top of the washer and dryer.
I think I have a problem.

Another Year

Two year ago today I wrote my very first blog post. Wow! I can't believe it's been two years!

I actually stumbled upon this whole blogging-thing when I was searching for information on creating a home management binder. Over the last two years I've blogged about so many different things and have been able to create a journal of the ins and outs of life in our home.

The best part of blogging has been *meeting* and gleaning from some very wonderful people. I have enjoyed reading about your families, your pets, your hopes and dreams, your favorite recipes, your ups and downs, and the lessons you have learned in your walks with the Lord. Many of you take the time to leave comments and share your thoughts, and I really appreciate that.

I look forward to sharing with you and learning more from you all in the days ahead. ;)

So far so good

All went well with the appraiser and home inpector. Now we just wait to see how quickly the lender can get his work done. The buyer wants to close a week ahead of schedule. That's fine with us, but it will mean that we really have to get busy! Mr. C was able to spend some time visiting with the buyer while all of the inspecting was going on. Would you believe the buyer currently lives in a town about 15 minutes from where we're moving to? In fact, he actually attended the high school in our hometown many moons ago. It really is a small world after all. Have a wonderful weekend; I'll "see" you Monday! :)

Slowly but surely

I cannot believe it is Thursday already! Where does the time go? It has been busy around our house. School lessons are getting done, boxes are getting packed, and the kids are getting more and more excited about the move. I've been trying to find a few minutes each day to do something relaxing in hopes of keeping my sanity. This morning I treated myself to breakfast in the garden. By the time I finished my grapefruit I was starting to sweat. :)

My to-do list is getting longer, but I'm working on it. There are several bags of outgrown children's clothes and shoes ready to take to the thrift store, and I remembered to call the vet and arrange to pick up pet records. The little details aren't hard, but there are a lot of them. :)

The buyer of our house will be here later today. He's bringing a home inspector along with him. Although we do not foresee any problems with the inspection, it's no fun having people go over your house with a fine tooth comb. We're praying everything will go smoothly.

The inspection is scheduled to take between 2 and 3 hours. I was planning on taking the kids to the park so we wouldn't be under foot, but with temperatures forecasted to be in the mid-90's I don't think that is going to work. We may just stay home and intimidate the inspector. ;)

"Be anxious for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:6 KJV)

Moments

Victorian Garden Happy moments, praise God. Difficult moments, seek God. Quiet moments, worship God Painful moments, trust God. Every moment, thank God.

The Simple Woman's Daybook~ June 2

For Today: June 2, 2008
Outside my window...the earlier overcast sky is now filled with sunshine.

I am thinking...about the devotional I need to finish up for tonight's ladies' fellowship at church.

I am thankful for...a signed sales contract on our house! You can read the details here.

From the kitchen...grilled chicken breast on a bed of baby greens topped with fresh tomato wedges and a vinaigrette dressing--the perfect lunch for a hot day. Later I will bake a pear crisp and a taco casserole.

I am wearing...an orange shirt, brown skirt, and brown sandals.

I am creating...lists--lots of lists! In addition to using the Motivated Mom's Planner (over in the right sidebar) to help me guide our household chores, I also make lists for the all the little extras that come up each day.

I am going...to work on school paperwork this afternoon. The monthly attendance forms for May need to be mailed, and graded papers needed to be added to the kids' portfolios.

I am reading...My Heart Remembers by Kim Vogel Sawyer.

I am hoping...to pack at least one box each day this week.

I am hearing...the waterfall in the Koi pond. It is such a relaxing sound!

Around the house...two loads of laundry have been done, the main rooms have been tidied, and the plants have been watered.

One of my favorite things...comfy pajamas.

A few plans for the rest of the week...homeschool, library, piano lessons, and packing. I also need to inventory the pantry and freezer and plan meals around what we have on hand.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing...
I looked out my bedroom window this morning and noticed this rose had bloomed over the weekend.
Thank you for reading about my day! You can read more Daybook posts by visiting The Simple Woman.

Here's a little story for you

Picture the following scene: It's Saturday morning. The lady of the house wakes early but decides to lounge in bed and read. She hasn't done this in months and considers it a major splurge. Her four mischievous angelic children make their own breakfast and do their own version of breakfast cleanup (at least the bowls made it to the sink). The kids play together and later start watching a video as the man of the house supervises. The mother is oblivious to all of this as she enjoys her book. Around 10:15, the phone rings. The mother reaches for the phone next to her bed and cheerfully answers. The phone conversation went something like this: Caller: "Good morning, this is Karen and I'm a realtor with Re-Max. I have some clients in my office who would like to look at your house. Is this a good time?" Lazy Woman: "Ummmm...exactly how soon would you like to come?" Caller: "We're ready to head out right now. We'll be there in about 15 minutes." Lazy Woman: "Ummmm...well, it's just that I have four kids and I need to pick up a little bit. Can you give me 30 minutes?" Caller: "There's a vacant house we can look at first. We'll be there in about 45 minutes." The lazy mother frantically jumps out of her bed, runs to tell her husband about the phone call, runs back into her room while tearing off her pj's, and spends the next hour flying through the house while on the verge of hyperventilating. Not a pretty sight. I would be laughing my head off at the crazy woman in this story, except for the fact that THE CRAZY WOMAN WAS ME!!! I know that you wish you would have been here Saturday morning in the midst of the chaos laughing at me as I moved fast enough to qualify for the Olympics. :) After six weeks of having our house on the market and six weeks without the first call on it, I went into a higher gear than I imagined possible. The house wasn't in horrible shape, but after a while one tends to get a little bit lax about keeping the house spotless for potential lookers when there aren't any. With the help of my kiddos and hubby, we whipped this place into shape like nobody's business. Just don't look under the beds or you'll see where we stashed everything. Thankfully the realtor gave us a few extra minutes, and an hour after the phone call Mr. C loaded the kids into the 'Burban while I rushed around lighting candles and making sure all the toilets were flushed-- 'cause it's the little things that count.:) Just as I was on my was toward the back door, the door bell rang. I opened the door, nervously greeted the realtor and her clients, told them to take their time, (please, please spend lots of time here and please fall in love with my house) and scooted out the back door just as quickly as I could. The nearest place to kill a little time was Mickey D's. The kids were excited to get Happy Meals. I was too nervous to eat. We headed back home, and I called our realtor to let her know that another agent had brought a couple by to look at the house. Mr. C and the two oldest kids headed to town for bus visitation. I stayed home with the little girls to unwind. My nerves were shot! About 2:30 our realtor called. I asked how she was doing and she replied, "Good. Very Good. Very, very, very good!!! We have an offer on the house already!" I got chills from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet. Really. It was like someone had dumped ice cubes on me. I called my hubby with the news, and he was just as shocked as I was. By 9:30 Saturday night the potential buyer had accepted the terms of our counter-offer. Just like that. We sold our house to the first person who looked at it. And that's just the beginning. The buyer wants to close right when we had planned to move, so that works out perfectly with us closing on the new house in Florida. Barring any problems the buyer may run into with financing (which we don't think will happen since he's pre-qualified) our house is SOLD!!! Praise the Lord!!! We had resigned ourselves to the fact that we would be moving to Florida and still be paying the mortgage, electric, water, and yard service for the Georgia house. I can honestly say that I was no longer worrying about it. We believe that God is 100% behind this move and all the details that go with it. We've seen His hand in it all. Our realtor made the comment that we must have really been praying because she hasn't ever had a house sell the first day it was shown after six weeks on the market. I told her that we have been praying and that we have so many others praying for us, too. :) Georgia law gives the buyer 18 days to back out of the deal for basically any reason, so my next step in this "trusting" phase of my life is to just keep trusting the One who has already worked miracles in this process. He's never failed me yet.

Ephesians 3:20 & 21 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen