Life and the times

My better half made it home Monday night... After 6 days out of town - retreating, renewing, visiting his best friend - I was ready to have him home. It was a lot of fun hearing all the stories from his trip. He sure needed that time. He returned home with a sense of purpose, hope and direction. Exciting stuff!

His being away really reminded me of how blessed we are as a family. I mean, aside from having an awesome marriage (which is huge! I'm not undermining that at all... If there is one thing I know for sure, most people do not enjoy half the fulfillment we enjoy in our marriage. That is really sad to me.)... I really respect single parents. Having our house on the market means having it in tip-top shape and ready at any given moment to be able to get everyone out of the house within 10-20 minutes. It took me 3 hours to get out of the house every morning Scott was gone. I had to get myself ready... Jeffrey fed, clothed and stuff packed, Eden fed, clothed and packed, and out of the house cleaning behind me on the way. Making beds, wiping down counters, sinks, toilets, bathtubs, folding clothes, setting out clean towels, doing dishes, vacuuming carpets, mopping floors, dusting, wiping fingerprints off of walls, windows, the TV and glass doors, picking up toys and making sure everything is just so... Good grief.

It takes a lot of energy and organization to stage a home. And doing it alone is kind of a big deal. It's nice to have a significant other - divide and conquer!

Life is so very different these days. Some day I'll go into much more detail about what has been happening, and what is about to happen. For now, we're just keeping it to ourselves to make room for God to move.

But I will say that while things are tough, there is so much joy. It's such an odd place to be. It makes me wonder how people get through stuff like this if they don't know Jesus. There hasn't been one single day that I felt anxious or worried about the future. And it isn't because we've planned so well... It isn't that at all. God has poured out blessings and met our needs in ways we would have never anticipated. His goodness abounds! It's a blessing to build our faith and testimony in this way.

Here's the quick low-down.

House officially hit the market on Monday, February 22nd. (Pictures finally made it up on MLS the following Thursday or Friday.) That very morning, we got a call that someone wanted to come see it. She fell in LOVE with the house. She spent 40 minutes there just taking it all in. She's preggers with her first baby and they want to be in a house by the time baby arrives in May. However, they are living and working in Portland, and haven't yet decided whether or not they will be moving to Salem (although her entire family lives here). All we know at the moment is she hasn't talked to her husband about it and they have not been back to see the house again. But, we're praying. We know from experience what it is like to have our first baby in that home, and commuting to and from Portland. Just praying that the husband will fall in love with the house, too, and that we'll see an offer come of it.

We had our first open house on Sunday, Feb. 28th. That was a total bust. I'm convinced that open houses are a waste of time for many reasons. People don't do open houses the way they used to. Most people would rather visit a house with their realtor privately. Not one single person showed up. I was pretty hopeful going into it, just because I (we) had put so much effort into making the house look perfect. The day before (while Scott was away) I spent 5 hours cleaning and polishing. The morning of, I baked cookies, set out freshly cut flowers, created a photo journal of the different seasons of the house, and wrote a letter to the potential buyer. Not one single person came. Not one. Ppppbbbbth.

It's all good, though. It only takes one. And we're just praying for that right "one."

The kids are officially home full time. Jeffrey's last day of school was last Wednesday. That was bittersweet. I love his school. I love the teachers. I love the kids. I love that Jeffrey learned songs about Jesus - reinforcing our values but in a different environment. This was such a great experience for him. It was really sad to pull him out. But... keeping the kids home is saving us quite a bit of money every month. It means more time with daddy - who is now Mr. Mom - so we just have to be creative in the way we plan our days so that he is introduced to new things the way he was in school.

Eden is growing so fast. I gave her her first solid food 2 days ago - mashed bananas. She was definitely ready to eat. She takes great interest in our dinner plates, and almost always tries to snag something off our plate when we're not looking. Amazingly, at only 4 1/2 months, she hardly spit anything out. She was so excited to try something new! She totally chomped on the spoon! Next week, rice cereal.

Scott is more relaxed than he's ever been. It seems strange to feel that way since being laid off - job eliminated, fired, whatever you want to call it. But it became perfectly clear to us that the way he'd been feeling up until that decision wasn't for nothing. It was not a good fit. He didn't have a good experience and was completely worn out. Several people have asked if he's looking for other church jobs. The answer is a resounding no way. I think we both feel that he would have greater impact for the Kingdom in a secular environment. Additionally, being able to focus on (the prospect of) teaching full time has renewed his energy. His talents were not utilized. His gifts were overlooked. And he's not ashamed of what God has put on his heart. Rather than having to fight to do what he feels God has led him to do, he's now free to pursue those desires. What a blessing! This is one area that makes me so proud of him. He is a teacher. Plain and simple. And he's so good at it. There is nothing that gives me such pleasure than seeing my husband do what God has created him to do. I am so very proud of him.

And me... well... I'm conflicted. I'm disappointed. I'm perplexed. I'm annoyed. I'm very frustrated. And yet I'm delightfully hopeful. I've spent a lot of quiet time sorting through my feelings. I'd love to lay it all out there to talk about openly, but....

I just feel like I need to keep more to myself these days. I don't trust people the way I did, so I'm very careful about who I'm letting in to my world. Many of the things I've told people in confidence have made their way to others' ears. That has been hurtful. But... I'm grateful to those who have kept their word.

Changing the subject quickly, there are some funny things that have happened. Of course, funny things happen all the time. I'm sort of a magnet for funny things. I love funny things. I love to laugh. I love to make other people laugh. I love to laugh at other people. I love to laugh at myself (which, actually, is where the vast majority of my material comes from).

Unfortunately, I've run out of time, so I'll have to save the funny things for later. Stay tuned.