Great is Thy Faithfulness, Lord Unto Me!

It's hard to believe we've been in Texas a whole year, now. Just after dark one year ago tonight, our little caravan arrived at our new home. We moved just the mattresses into the house that night. Then we went to a New Year's Eve party at the home of one of Gary's friends.

God provided a few able-bodied friends to help us unload the truck the next day, January 1st, 2007. That was a huge blessing, too, because the whole time we were traveling down here we were wondering what to do about that! My key verse through the whole ordeal was Isaiah 40:11 - "...He gently leads those that have young." He did truly lead us gently and brought us safely here. We began 2007 by moving into our new home - how's that for timing?

God has provided in so many ways this year. Gary and I both grew up in Illinois, so our roots there were quite deep. But, when it was time for us to actually go, God "worked in us to will and to act according to His good purpose" and so neither of us had any reservations about leaving. We're both amazed at how joyful we were to come here, even though it was painful to say goodbye to so many beloved friends there.

From our old home in Illinois:


To our new home in Texas!



He has provided us with a nice new house to live in, with plenty of room. Well, okay, we might wish for one more bedroom, but we certainly aren't complaining! God provided for the house in Illinois to sell quickly so that we could purchase this one. It was really nice that we could rent it for a while, a "try-before-you-buy" kind of deal.

I have enjoyed getting to know our new surroundings. (Google Maps has been a huge help to that end!) The traffic patterns around here are quite different than Illinois, so that took some getting used to. I'd never seen a "turnaround" before we came here!

He also has provided us with a church home that doubles as a homeschool support group! We have been very much blessed this year, and we know without any doubt that it was His will to move us here. We're looking forward to what He has in store for us in 2008!

Happy New Year to you all! Or, as Amy says, the Texas State Word is "ya'll"!

"Tis the Season to be Sneezin'

Well, now that Christmas is over with, I have my annual virus. I haven't had a cold since the end of last January. This is the first time in years that I've gone that long between colds! That's another part of northern Illinois winters that I haven't missed much.

I'm so glad it waited until AFTER Christmas to make its appearance. My head feels like a brick and this afternoon my voice shut down, so the kids know they'd better not not make me have to yell at them. When my voice sounds like this, and I have to yell, they know they're in big trouble. I'm glad I called Mom and Dad yesterday - today they wouldn't be able to hear me!

I'm also glad that it showed up during Christmas break when I'm not trying to muddle through school with the kids - we don't get much of anything accomplished when I'm sick.

So, that's the bright side of it, I guess. The not-so-bright side is the fact that I had to cancel our trip to Tulsa because of it. Dad's blood count is too low to enable him to fight off infection much, and the last thing he needs is for me to show up there and give him this! So they're going to come here next month to visit us instead! I think that'll work a lot better, and we're all looking forward to it.

What's an HTML-illiterate blogger to do?

I've been wondering - you know when you post a picture on your blog, you can click on the picture and see it in a larger size? Well, I've been noticing that sometimes it works that way and sometimes it doesn't. I post the pictures all the same way using the photo feature in the edit window, but sometimes it doesn't include the html code that it should. Is anyone else experiencing this? Do you do anything differently?

I tried comparing the html code for photos that worked and those that don't, and I noticed some significant differences. However, I don't know enough about html to rewrite the code to make it work. I experimented a little with it but all I did was mess things up.

I haven't been able to find any help on Blogspot, so if any of you has suggestions I'd appreciate it! Please leave a comment or email me!

A Christmas Caper

I glanced at the Christmas tree the other day, and I noticed that it was looking rather bare. The only thought that crossed my mind was that maybe we need to make some new ornaments for next year. We used to do that every year, but for the past few years we've been somewhat negligent in that particular area.

It never occurred to me that the reason for the apparent shortage of tree decorations could possibly be due to theft. I hadn't really paid that much attention.

That is, until yesterday, when I was helping Mandy clean up her room. I suggested that she might want to put some of her toys into the drawers under her bed. We opened the first drawer (the same one that had so effectively concealed our pork loin a while back).

There, mingled with NUMEROUS toys and prizes, were no less than ten of our ornaments from the tree. I looked at Mandy with my best Well-Now-You've-Been-Caught look. She just stood there, grinned, and gave me her best I'm-A-Good-Girl-I-Am look. I could have sworn I saw her hand go up to the top of her head to adjust her halo.

Tim helped me put the evidence back on the tree, high up where little fingers can't reach -- at least until they get a chair first.

We had a really nice Christmas Day. The kids actually let us sleep until around eight o'clock this morning! We even had breakfast before opening the gifts, and they were all very patient. Even Mandy seemed to understand that she'd be in a better mood AFTER breakfast. Yesterday, she couldn't quite comprehend the fact that "Christmas Day is TOMORROW!" She took a bit of a nap in the early afternoon, and then when she woke up she came to me and said, "Now can we open the presents? Please, Mom, please?" That's what I heard every ten minutes or so for the rest of the afternoon until we went to Opa and Oma's house for supper. They made a wonderful German dinner and then we opened their gifts. So, Mandy's yearning was appeased for the time being.

Today Opa and Oma came for a big turkey dinner and for the first time in I don't know how many years, we set the table with my mother's china. The kids also wanted to use my grandmother's lead crystal goblets (given to my grandma for her wedding in 1933), but those have been permanently retired to the china cabinet. So we used the blue-stem wine glasses from Arby's - not expensive ones, but they make a pretty addition to the table! The boys especially like being allowed to use them once in a while. Seems to give them the impression that I trust them... :) I think they feel a bit more grown up at times like this. I even bought some sparkling grape juice to make it extra special for them.

We're going to Tulsa on Thursday, and hopefully we'll have good weather for traveling. Guess I'd better get started with the packing! We'll be staying with my Mom and Dad, and my brother and his family are there, too. It'll definitely be a houseful!

'Tis the night before Christmas

It's Christmas Eve. For the first time in years, I actually have all the gift wrapping done - usually I don't get this job done until late in the day or evening on the night before Christmas. I finally have a chance to sit down and relax a bit. Usually by the time I quit for the night, I can't think about anything except my pillow. Maybe I'll actually get one post done this month!

It's been an incredibly busy month, most of it spent focusing on Psalty the Singing Song Book! Several months ago, when we heard that our church was going to do "Psalty's Christmas Calamity" for a Christmas musical production, I volunteered to help with costumes (WHAT was I thinking!?). I wasn't feeling well at the time and I was rather reluctant to be the one in total charge of the costume department because I didn't know what was wrong with me yet. That was before we found out that my gall bladder was causing the problems.

I learned some important lessons in the process of making the one and only costume that was required for this production:

1. Make sure you know beforehand what you're volunteering to do - though I'd heard of Psalty years ago, I hadn't ever actually seen Psalty or the costume before and I had no idea what I was in for. Amy and I both love to sew, and we thought we could help with that. Turns out the only costume needed was the big blue "songbook". Someone up there has a sense of humor.

2. Don't be afraid to deviate from the instructions when needed. I discovered rather late in the game that the instructions for making the costume included some...shall we say, completely USELESS steps that were a total waste of time. A LOT of time.

3. Elmer's glue is completely useless when you're trying to glue foam rubber pieces together. Use a hot glue gun, and make sure you have a LOT of extra glue sticks. Like about 200.

4. Have a teenager with a driver's license on call at a moment's notice so she can run to Hobby Lobby for more glue.

5. Don't try to use spray glue in the dark. It's bad enough in the daylight. (Maybe I should explain - we used spray glue to attach the blue fabric to the foam rubber for the book cover, and we did this outside on the patio. I've had experience with spray glue before and I didn't want to spray that stuff in the house. Unfortunately, it got dark before we were done and so we had a little trouble...)

6. Have above mentioned teenager take over meals for the duration of the costume production - at least during the last phases when the deadline is looming near on the horizon.

7. Write down notes on changes and improvements to the costume production; that way, the next person who does this will hopefully not have as much difficulty.

8. Pray that the costume will last long enough that the next person won't have to do this!

9. Instruct previously mentioned teenager to bring sandwiches and ice water at appropriate times. Hands shaking due to hunger make for sloppy work, especially when working with a hot glue gun.

10. Don't forget to give God ALL THE CREDIT for everything. Not only did He help me with getting this massive project done just in the nick of time, He even provided the blue knit fabric, at no charge, more than TWO years ago! That fabric was given to me by my mom two years ago and I'd forgotten all about it. Just when I was agonizing over where in the world was I ever going to find a pair of pants and long sleeved shirt, in a lightweight knit (NOT fleece - much too hot) in the same shade of blue that I did the book cover in...the Lord reminded me of a big bundle of fabric in my fabric box that just might do it. I know it had to have been He who put that into my head, because I honestly don't remember ever seeing that fabric before. Sure enough, when I looked in the box, there it was, all five and a half yards of it. I got it out and held it up to the book fabric, and nearly burst into tears at God's goodness. It was a perfect match. And there was enough of it to produce the entire costume and accommodate my mistakes.

God provided me with the physical ability to do this. It took me a long time to recover from my gall bladder surgery, but since starting on this project, I haven't had any more pain or stomach problems. I still have to be careful what I eat, but it seems my digestive system isn't nearly as oversensitive as it was for months. Our Great Physician healed me just in time.

God also provided me with the skills and tools to do this - all I needed were supplies but I already had all the tools I needed.

I'd never have had enough time to get all the Christmas shopping done if I'd had to do it the conventional way, so I'm also praising Him for providing online shopping with free shipping options! That saved us not only a lot of time, but a good deal of money, too. I was able to order the majority of the kids' gifts online at prices that were approximately 40% less than the retail stores were asking, and with free shipping...THANK YOU, LORD!

So, now I can focus on our family and the holidays. We're so thankful for our church family and the friendships we have with them. This has been the best year we've had in...well, years!