Aahhh, I Can Breathe!

Michael & I are hooked on a PBS show called "Carrier". It's a cross between a documentary and reality tv, all about life on the USS Nimitz while on a 6 month deployment to the Persian Gulf. There are only 10 episodes and we've already seen the first 5 in the past 3 nights. It's so interesting because the people on board become real to you. We love it!

What I'm also loving is that last night Michael shared his Sudafed cold prescription with me (Sshhh, don't tell!). Within 30 minutes I was already breathing better. This morning I took a second one and it's like I don't even have a cold anymore!

Today I have to get busy getting this house ready for Open House on Sunday. It's strange to think that a bunch of strangers will be walking through while we're not here. But we're praying big that God brings a buyer out of one of those strangers.

"Be still and know that I am God."

That's our motto right now, what we're clinging to over the next several months. God is good, and He has a plan for all of us... Michael, the boys and me. We don't see it yet, but we're continuing to pray for direction, open doors and miracles. And then, regardless, we will give all the glory to Him.

And you know what? We're blessed with what matters most... we have each other and we have God. That's something all four of us are thankful for every day. Nothing else really matters. We'll get through this, and when we come out on the other side, we are looking forward to dedicating ourselves to helping others.

Not Feeling Good

I'm not feeling good today. It started Friday night and has continued with me since then... not bad enough to be confined to bed all day, but bad enough to keep me from doing what I need to do. Actually, I wish I were in bed right now. Michael's had the boys since lunch so that I could sleep. I tried everything I could to sleep, but nothing worked. My mind is just racing too much to allow me to rest. I feel worse now than I did earlier.

I thought that yesterday I had made progress in getting better. We didn't go to church because I didn't want to infect anyone else. Instead we went up to Michael's and he had me lay down while he took care of the boys. My chest hurt, my eyes were burning, and I think I fell asleep within seconds. Three and a half hours after my head hit the pillow, I woke up to find that the 3 "boys" had already had 2 lunches and one very long walk from Michael's to Craig & Vickie's and back again. As the afternoon wore on, I had more energy and we took the boys out to play in the dirt and then came back inside for a late dinner. It was nice and relaxing.

Today I seem to be getting worse as the day goes on. I don't like this. I want to get well. I could sleep more if I could just get my mind to stop stressing about my legal issues. It's hard. I also can't stop thinking about everything I need to do to get the house ready for our Open House on Sunday.

On a more positive note, I am officially as of today also the Preferred Wedding Planner for 5Rock Ranch. I love those people up there!

I need to go back and lay on the couch....

Overdue Update

So here is my newest appliance... the world's smallest coffee maker. Mine (the normal-sized one in the background) bit the dust this week for some unknown reason. Just decided to stop brewing at all. So my mom found this miniature one in her garage. It works and that's what counts!

This post will be full, but short. Michael just left for home after creaming me in Sequence (our game of choice that we play numerous times a week) and my throat and ears are hurting. I think I have finally succombed to the cold that Nick started and passed to Michael and then Drew. They're all on the latter ends of their colds and I thought I had escaped unscathed. Guess not. I'm sure stress lowered my immune system.

Tuesday was a very difficult day for me emotionally... just pure stress from legal issues with Matt, and a letter from the bank holding the mortgage indicating some devastating news I had not yet been expecting. I did speak to my attorney on Wednesday and was able to see just how much she had the foresight to put protections for me into our divorce document. What a blessing she is. With her help, I have already been able to get the house back on the market and she is sending me to an attorney who specializes in both family law and bankruptcy. (No, I'm not going bankrupt; however, there are legal issues I won't get into that necessitate me talking with someone in this field in order to put in as many protections for me as possible.) I meet with him next Friday and the two attorneys will work as a team. If all goes as it should, I will not be responsible for any of my attorney or court fees. I will know more on Friday. If you'd like to pray with me, here are my requests:

... that somehow, somewhere in all of this legal mess, my anger toward Matt will turn to forgiveness instead of hatred
... that God will protect my credit
... that God will protect my business and will send me numerous clients
... that God will provide a buyer for the house, and that He will provide the means for me to pay the full mortgage and insurance payments until then

Michael & I are praying big together and believing that God can do immeasurably more than all we could ask or imagine. I know that God may choose not to answer those prayers and may instead simply walk with me through the valley. However, I also know that we're supposed to ask and believe in a big God. I'm not used to asking that way and actually trusting that God will choose to do something that big. So for me this is stepping out in faith... and trusting God regardless.

While on the phone with me, my attorney again mentioned that part-time job at her office she talked to me about last fall. Until now, her business hasn't been able to support bringing me on; however, her legal receptionist is going out on maternity leave sometime in the next month and my attorney would like me to step in for her. It's perfect!... it's with a wonderful Christian person and it's part-time so that I can continue with my business. Plus, if it ends up being only temporary, it will look great on my resume... something more current.

I have had a great week with my business.... I received an excellent recommendation/testimonial from my first bride, I became a preferred wedding vendor for The Mansion at the Bayou, I secured some discounts for future clients with local wedding venues, I was interviewed as the subject of a high school senior's Senior Project (on wedding planning), and I was contacted by a junior at George Fox University who wants to offer me her services in my business for free! It would be an internship of sorts because she wants to be a wedding & event planner after graduation and she needs the experience.

I'm going to have to call this quits for tonight and get myself into bed. But if you get a chance, check out my newest posts on "The 'I Do' Rendezvous" blog and pass it along to any brides-to-be that you know!!

Sweet Day with My Boys

This morning while Drew was at school and I was doing my bills in the office, Nick came in and started looking at the pics on my bulletin board from when Michael & I took the boys to the beach last fall. He became obsessed with the thought of swimming and got out one of his swimming Pull-Ups. Trying to explain to him that we needed to wait for warmer weather just didn't compute with him. So he completely disrobed and proceeded to put on both the swimming Pull-Up and his regular Pull-Up. Except that both legs ended up going through the same hole and he was left with 2 Pull-Ups encircling his waist with absolutely nothing covering his little privates. I managed to get a "G-rated" picture and just had to post it here. I was laughing so hard at him that I just had to share it.

Then this afternoon while I was on the stepper Drew came in the playroom very excited, wanting to share a couple of stories with us. He said he had been using the upstairs bathroom and had left the door half open. He closed his eyes to pray and when he opened them, the door was closed. He is convinced that an angel jumped out of his heart and closed the door for him.

He then told me that he had been having a meeting with God while sitting on the toilet (hey, why not?). He said that he had been asking God about the message he sent up to Him (see my older post on him & Nick using balloons to send letters up to Heaven). He said God told him He had received Drew's message and was working on it as quickly as He could. I asked if Drew was specifically referring to his prayer in the letter for God to send me 100 clients. He said yes. And he is absolutely convinced that God told him that.

At this point, I am willing to believe in the faith of a child and in the heart of a God Who has a special love for children.... so I am going to prepare for an onslaught of clients! I think it was in the movie "Facing the Giants" that they said if you're going to pray for rain, you better prepare for rain. So I'm preparing...

Happy Spiritual Birthday!!!

Today at Michael's the four of us had a very special party for Drew... it was a celebration of the fact that Drew asked Jesus into his heart on Thursday. It was so special... he started a conversation with me in the car on Wednesday about Heaven and I was able to share with him what it means to be a Christian. We continued the conversation on Friday and he told me proudly that he had asked Jesus into his heart in our backyard the day before. He was able to tell me exactly what that meant. Since then, he has been doing all kinds of nice things "because I have Jesus in my heart". It's been so sweet and I am so proud and so happy! Drew knew that our party was a "mirror" of the party God & His angels were having in heaven for him.

To commemorate the day, I bought him his first real Bible. He & Nick have several story Bibles and Drew reads them all the time, so he was so excited to get this one. He didn't want to go to sleep tonight because he wanted me to show him everything that was inside.

In addition to the Bible, he got a fun balloon and some homemade cupcakes! Of course they were strawberry... Drew's favorite.

We all shared the cupcakes, but Nick thought the most fun way to eat one was simply to stick his face right down into the frosting.




This weekend, with the boys gone to Matt's, Michael & I spent the whole weekend doing nothing but relaxing together. It was wonderful.

Quick Week!

Is it really almost Friday already??

On Tuesday, after looking at another house together (not a keeper), Michael insisted on taking the boys home with him while I met with my clients at my house. He also insisted that I try to take a nap afterward before coming to get them.

Once I finally got to his house mid-afternoon, the four of us went for a walk. These two silly boys here each found a salamander that they adopted as "pets" while on our walk. The poor salamanders were flung around by their tails for a good half hour or so. Somehow they survived. The boys put them in a bucket at the end of the walk in the hopes that the salamanders would be coming home with us. Not so!!

That evening Craig & Vickie came over for a little while to play with the boys (we had called Vickie to bring us some peas we needed for the tuna casserole we were making).

I made coffee for myself in the coffee maker Michael found at a garage sale (he got it so I wouldn't be deprived when I'm at his house). The reason it tasted so good is because I had the foresight to stash a thing of Coffeemate in his fridge... something that I realized on Monday I was out of at my own house. That was the day I was so incredibly exhausted and I knew I needed coffee just to make it through the rest of the day. I eagerly brewed myself some, poured it into my cup in anticipation, and then realized that I had no Coffeemate!! I was desperate at that point, so I decided to try an experimental concoction with whatever I could find. I put in a little milk along with some Hershey's syrup.... thought maybe it would taste a little like a mocha. Let's just say.... it was nasty!! So having my coffee Tuesday night at Michael's was wonderful.

Wednesday was dinner at Mom & Dad's house since Gary was in town again to take more pictures. This time he brought Joelle with him. She was here all afternoon that day to play with the boys. I think she finally realized that they've grown up enough that they are truly boys in every sense of the word... which means that she was a little bored. I felt bad for her.

Today Gary & I made an awesome swap! He brought me his lawnmower and I gave him the riding mower. It's a long story, but let's just say that each of us felt extremely happy with the trade.

Michael was here to help Gary construct the ramps and then the two of them pushed the riding mower up into Gary's truck.

Good luck, Gary! :)

I already used his mower today to mow both yards. It's a great machine and I'm so happy to finally have one of my own.

Just before dinner, Michael (with his "helper", Nick) decided to clean out my whole storage shed in the carport. He finished up after dinner while I put the boys to bed.

When I put on my shoes to go out and see his handiwork, I think I stood there speechless for a few seconds.

Only someone who's ever been here before could appreciate the fact that everything is put away and I can actually walk in there... and see the floor!

I never really went in there before, and for over a year now it has seemed like such an overwhelming task to clean it out that I've never even attempted it.

Yay, Michael! What a servant...

Exhausted!!!

This is the grade Michael gets for how he did watching the boys this weekend. He kept them extremely happy, safe, healthy & well-fed. And he ran them ragged.... let's just say that after a day of giant pancakes, helicopters, church, the park, movies, flying kites, hot-tubbing, play-doh & puzzles (at Craig & Vickie's), and other various activities, my boys were sleeping HARD when I got there Sunday night! :) And in the midst of his own exhaustion, he still thought of me... he snuck flowers in my house while I was at rehearsal Saturday night, and when I arrived at his house Sunday night, the first thing I got was a foot rub to soothe my extremely aching feet. I brought him a little thank you, and then tonight the boys & I surprised him with a couple other fun things.

The wedding yesterday went great even though there were many issues that I had to troubleshoot (most successfully, but some that just had to be let go). That's actually not a bad thing because I'm now that much more prepared for what arises at the next wedding. It was a great experience. And of course I cried during parts of the ceremony. That, I'm sure, will be standard at every wedding for me. What can I say? Like most girls, I get very sentimental and emotional at weddings. I love them.

Today I was so exhausted that I felt as though I'd been hit by a Mack truck. All I wanted to do was sleep all day. Obviously that wasn't possible, but I did manage to get a nap in the afternoon. I still feel pretty exhausted.

Tomorrow I meet with my June bride to start going over the reception itinerary. With yesterday's so fresh in my mind, it's great timing.

I think there were other fun and funny things I was going to tell you, but right now my mind isn't working real well. I still just want to curl up and sleep a little more. Maybe I will....

P.S.
Here's one awesome thing... I'm actually getting a small tax refund!!!! It's around $240. I wasn't expecting anything at all, so when Kelly called to tell me, I was pretty excited.