I confess. I've been a bad blogger lately. I was doing so good for awhile there and posting regularly and then life got a little crazy. But, here I am and I'm going to give you an update on what has been keeping us so busy and what we've been up to lately. So, here are the highlights from our household:
*I just got a very part time job. I never thought I would do this, at least while my kids are little and I am home schooling, but it is a match made in heaven and is just perfect for me. It is doing church secretarial work for 10 hours or less a week. I can go in to the office absolutely anytime I want to and pick all my own hours, it pays decent, and if I wanted to, I could do most of the work at home. Wow! It kind of just fell into my lap. I wasn't looking for a job and I'm plenty busy but when my friend, Jenny asked me if I would take over for her because she and her husband and little girl are moving soon, I couldn't pass it up. I just met the pastor yesterday, gave him my resume, and got oriented with the office and what I'll be doing and I was SO excited!
I'll probably go in for a few hours on Thursday and Friday evenings and then maybe a couple hours on Saturday morning if I still have work to do. It helps that I've done this type of work before when I was in college and it is also work I enjoy. I will be there mostly by myself and to sit in complete quiet and work on a project without any interruptions will be really nice! The extra money will be nice and I also love that I can take the work home.
Sam was totally supportive of me doing this and is willing to be Mr. Mom for a couple of evenings. I will be shadowing my friend, Jenny for a few hours next week and learning the ropes and then will officially start the beginning of November. It may be a bit of an adjustment at first but with so few hours and having the option of taking the work home -- well, it just seemed right for us.
*We are currently trying to sell our house. This is a loooong story but I will try to make it as short as possible. Basically, we were offered a beautiful lake view home to live in rent free as long as we paid utilities and did some projects around the house. It seemed out of the question at first -- after all, we own a home already and like it here just fine. However, Sam does have a 45 minute commute to work each day and this house being offered to us was closer to work. Then, I remembered that I had been praying for God to provide a way for us to pay off our school loans and debt much quicker. And things just started falling into place! We put our house on the market, we have two couples that have requested second showings, and there is a tax credit expiring soon that is motivating people to buy now. The timing seems perfect. We started crunching numbers and were so excited about how fast we could pay off debt without having a mortgage or rent payment.
Then, things sort of fell through. Yeah. I had a bit of a heart attack when I got the e-mail a couple of days ago from our friends saying that the house might not be available until spring, if at all. So, we are praying and trying to figure out what we should do. We are keeping the house on the market because we really want to use the profit from the sale of the house to pay off at least some debt and then possibly use some of it for a down payment on another house. It would still be nice for Sam to be closer to work and it would be nice to move across the bay and be in an area with much cheaper property taxes. So, if you think of us and would like to pray for guidance for us in this area, we would be so thankful!
It's been a lot of work trying to keep our house spotless for showings and still live in it too. :) But, I have faith that things will fall into place the way they should and that God is still going to work something out.
*Home schooling is going fabulous and Aubrie is really reading now! It is so exciting to see her pick things up and the 1-2 hours we spend each day is getting more manageable as I find ways to keep Kayley and Christian busy (or napping) during this time.
*I went in for an ultrasound yesterday (NO, I'm not pregnant!) because I've been having random attacks of pain on the right side of my abdomen for almost two years now. The pain has been getting more frequent and sometimes lasts for days. I am suspecting gall bladder troubles and my doctor thinks it could be that too so we started with the ultrasound yesterday to see what could be going on. If everything shows up normal on that, then I will likely have to have some sort of scan test where they inject dye into me and I sit under a camera while they watch my gall bladder contract. That doesn't sound fun to me and I won't be able to nurse Christian for 24 hours if I do that, but he's old enough now and drinking other things that it should be okay. I have not gotten the results from the ultrasound yet and hope to hear back soon.
*I am still working out at the YMCA and loving it. I've been going four times a week and I'm so happy that I reached my goal of losing all the pregnancy weight, plus an additional 7 pounds or so. I feel great! Of course, I won't be able to go quite as often with the job I've started unless I go later at night but if I can get there at least a few times a week, I should be able to maintain the weight loss. I have been jogging 3-3.5 miles on the treadmill and then doing 15 minutes on the eliptical. After that, if I still have time, I do some weights. It's been great for my mind and body and I'm thankful I've had the opportunity to go as much as I have.
*Lastly, Sam and I went to a pro-life banquet last weekend and it was awesome. The featured speaker was a lady who used to do abortions but then got saved and now fights for life. I loved hearing her story and I was hanging on her every word. Sam's mom watched the kids while we went and we were treated to a fancy, adult only, sit down dinner and it was so much fun! I talked with the speaker for just a little bit afterwards and told her about some of my sidewalk counseling experiences and she was so nice and easy to talk to. In the past, I may have thought it strange to shake hands with someone who used to kill unborn children. But, the night served as a reminder to me that nobody is out of God's reach and that her sins are no worse than mine. God can transform and redeem anybody and what an incredibl testimony she now has. It also reminded me to be praying for the people who are in the abortion industry. The lady who spoke said that after she got out of abortion work, she received a letter from a lady she did not know at all who told her that she had been praying for her for 14 years. Wow! God sure answered those prayers.
So, there's an update! I hope you enjoyed hearing about what's been going on with us and we covet your prayers for all the situations going on in our lives right now and please let us know how can be praying for you as well. Thanks!
5 comments:
Wow, what an update. You sure have had a lot going on lately!
That's great about the part-time job. It sounds so ideal!
I'm sorry to hear about the house falling through, but I'm sure God has other plans in store for you guys in that area. If you do move, it will be a bummer for us not having you live right off the highway where we can pull in for pit stops on our treks out to Michigan! But we also understand that you can't base your house location on our convenience! :-)
I'm anxious to hear what you found out with your gallbladder, and hopefully you'll be able to get it resolved quickly.
Take care!
Lesley-
Thanks for your sweet comments on my blog. It's nice to catch up with you! We'd love to see you again if you're out this way!
Just a quick idea--do you know exactly how much you'll profit once the house is sold? Obviously, I've never done this kind of thing before, but I know that sometimes with closing costs it takes several years to pay off enough of the principal to actually get a sizeable amount in profit. That make sense? Just might be something you might want to crunch the numbers on. :)
Glad you guys are doing well. Lots going on! Here, too--that's why I haven't blogged in a while, too. I'll probably have to do an update post like yours! :)
Kristin -- I'll be sure to let you know what happens with the gall bladder stuff! I told my doctor about you and said we have the SAME symptoms. I wanted to avoid the ultrasound because I wasn't convinced it would show anything but the doctor wanted to start there and it was quite the thorough ultrasound. The tech spent quite a bit of time on my right side where it's sore. So hopefully we'll get answers! Also, you can still use us as a pit stop even if we move! :) There are a few places we're looking at in D. that wouldn't be too far out of your way. Either way, you are always welcome! I'm sure we can think of other excuses for you to visit other than passing through to Michigan. :)
Heather -- good to hear from you! Thanks for your insight on the house stuff. You are right -- there are closing costs, realtor fees, etc. and selling a house can actually be expensive. Thankfully, we were able to buy our house for a very good price, do extensive remodeling over the past 18 months including a brand new kitchen, and have our realtor set our listing price significantly higher than what we paid for the house. We have crunched the numbers and after the closing costs, realtor fees, and then looking at the principle balance left on the loan, we will still come out way ahead if we get anything in the ball park of our asking price. Thankfully, our realtor is knowledgeable and helped us with the numbers too. Thanks so much for your comment and maybe we can catch up with you guys sometime soon!! :)
sounds busy! I remember how stressful it was to have our house on the market...I dread the thought of ever doing that again...
I was going to write a longer comment...but I gotta go...
Wowsers! That was quite the post! You are about to go through what we just went through it sounds like! I hope everything works out and that if you are supposed to sell your house, that it sells in the right timing and that God opens the door to a new and better place to live.
I'm so proud of you for losing all that weight. I wish there was a nice gym around here so I could go work out in peace and quiet and lose my baby weight! You inspire me!
Maybe your job will feel like a vacation next to watching the kids! Or maybe it will overwhelm you and will just be a temp. thing. But it sounds like a great job for you and worth giving it a try!
Hope your physical pain stuff gets resolved and that God is very close to you at this time.
Was I supposed to call you on Tuesday or were you supposed to call me? I thought we were supposed to have a call but oh well! We can postpone doing a call until next month if it would be easier for your schedule!
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