Home at Last!

So we've FINALLY moved in! Needless to say, we aren't totally unpacked or anything like that yet. And the kitchen floor is still waiting for its lovely laminate tiling, but it's so good to have place to call our own once more.
Our sweet church family blessed us with a welcome grocery shower and I spent the morning trying to fit it into our pantry! Screwed up a few more cupboard doors(Darren finished that up this evening) and tried to do some laundry. I say tried because I discovered first that the washer wasn't hooked up, and secondly, after washing the first load, that the dryer wasn't either and couldn't be without a new vent pipe. So now the load will wait and hopefully tomorrow Darren can find time to fix it.
Snow is on the forecast, and Darren is to bed early with prospects of being out plowing in the morning. He really hopes to be able to, as we can use the cash after all those moving and remodeling expenses! Thankfully his foot, which he was afraid that he re-broke at volley ball is doing much better. An answer to prayer - because it did NOT seem we needed that on top of everything, an added expense and a hindrance to work.
I got out some school stuff and played word dominoes with John today. He had fun and we laughed over the silly sentences I made up for the words he created.
Here is a picture Faith Yoder took for me after we had started priming the kitchen -

Before

And now the after! The fruit basket is just a part of the abundant blessing our church family poured out in welcome. We had double that much to start with - and THREE pineapples! Yummy! You see that empty gray wall to the right of the sink? That's were I'm going to put my wall art! It's going to say - Today I choose joy
That's because each day's joy is a choice and choosing to see my glass half full instead of half empty helps my life to be not just half full but overflowing. That's how I want to live - full, not empty. I want to splash God's love on others as I come in contact with them, and that includes my little ones.
As you can see the floor is still a work in progress. Below is a photo of some of the progress while in progress :) The tile laminate in the lower right of the photo is what the finished kitchen floor will be.

Here's my start at a home coffee/tea center. I want to give our future guests a warm welcome. :)

Coffee, hot chocolate mix, sugar, and creamer. The tall canisters are thrift store finds repurposed. The ones with the clear knobs were candle holders, and the lids were two for twenty-five cents and happened to fit perfectly. I just took out the votive holders from the top and replaced them. The sugar container used to hold vanilla bath salts(don't worry, I cleaned it well) and the creamer container was part of a Christmas gift from Dara Weaver several years ago. Thanks, Dara.

Repainted some orange Christmas tins - also a thrifted find to make these silverware holders. My drawers are too riskily unstable to hold heavy items.  The curtains below - another thrift find, but perfect.

So there you have it - a peak at my kitchen today. Maybe I'll add some other photos another day.

Painting and new carpets

Brand new carpets are finally in! It looks wonderful! They were able to install them with out any seams from the master bedroom all the way out through the livingroom. The place is also smelling one hundred percent better now that the smoke smell is sealed out with Kilz. We girls worked on painting the kitchen today and the guys are working on cabinet doors tonight! Yeah! The home stretch is in sight! We should soon be able to settle in!
We had some refreshing challenging messages from bro. Keith Daniel of South  Africa.  Stirred once more to be daily soaking myself in Gods word and pouring out a life of witness to the world around me. Also reminded of the importance of his anointing on my life in my daily calling of mothering my three wee ones.

Slow Progress

The progress on the house goes slowly. We've been here almost three weeks and are still waiting to actually move in. Saturday is scheduled for carpet installation, and so hopefully first of the week next week we can actually begin unpacking. Last week both Darren and I made ourselves ill painting with Kilz without proper respirator masks. Darren came staggering in after a long day of painting, and I was so concerned that I called mom to see what I could do for him. After several glasses of water, some charcoal, and an epsom salt soak, he started to feel much better.
Faith Yoder helped with some painting and snapped a few phone pics that I hope to add when I can so you can see the progress.
Today I am thankful or his grace in day to day moments. Give thanks to Him with me.

A Family Photo

Here's the family photo we took just last month. I hadn't gotten to posting it till today.

Go West, Young Man

Last week I was enjoying the big blueness of the skies, scattered with puffy white clouds, and the rolling plains leading off to snow capped mountains as we rolled towards Denver airport to be reunited with our children.  I had to think of these famous words, that have probably rung in the hearts of many men over the years.

 “Go west young man, go west! Do not lounge in the cities! There is room and health in the country, away from the crowds of idlers and imbeciles. Go west, before you are fitted for no life but that of the factory.” Horace Greeley

I'm not sure if the highway out here is named Greeley in honor of Mr. Horace or not, but we are here in Cheyenne, Wy "where the west begins." As I traveled I was asked by many people where I was going, and the unanimous consent of all the male population seemed to be one of envy for Darren getting to live out here. It seems to be many a man's secret dream!

We've been here for over a week, and no, we are not getting settled into our new house yet. We discovered that the very wet weeks and flooding our here leading up to our arrival have caused a mold problem that has to be taken care of first. One of the bedrooms was actually growing mushrooms! So there will be some extra work and cost involved before we get to the settling-in stage.
The carpets and paneling have been ripped out, and the exterior calked. Today I think they will try to finish repairing the siding and then prepare to drywall and paint. Thank you to each one of you who is reading this because of a personal interest in our lives. Please keep us in your prayers as we start out in this new area.


Yesterday I was reading in Hosea 6 -
“Come, let us return to the Lord;
for he has torn us, that he may heal us;
he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.
 After two days he will revive us;
on the third day he will raise us up,
that we may live before him.
 Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord;
 his going out is sure as the dawn;
he will come to us as the showers,
 as the spring rains that water the earth.”
 What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?
What shall I do with you, O Judah?
Your love is like a morning cloud,
 like the dew that goes early away.

... I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
 the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings."(italics added)

I got to pondering how often I am like Ephraim and Judah. There are revival meetings or I hear a message that stirs up my heart in love and worship to the Lord. For a short time my love fires burn brightly, then like the morning dew when the sun has risen, it seems to evaporate, and I am back to "normal life."  What is my normal everyday living like? If I rate my devotional life, prayer life, and witnessing on a scale of one to ten, what would it really look like?  Not long ago I dreamed that the Lord's return was taking place, and the one regret in my heart was my lack in these areas.  I want to live my life so that if the Lord did come back today, I wouldn't have regrets.  I want to truly "press on" to know the Lord like the passage says.
May the Lord help me to seek him with my whole heart,  to sow and reap a harvest of steadfast love and his refreshing rain of righteousness! 
Hosea 10 :12  Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground,
for it is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you."

Moving Preparation

Today we left the children with Grandpa and Grandma Weaver. They will stay there while we finish our last few days of packing and meet us in Wyoming in a little over a week. We will miss them! Darren's folks will bring a trailer on Monday night and we will load up. Then Darren will leave on Thursday, and I will fly to join him with Edward on Friday.


 But they are sure to have a splendid time :)



Little Edward is growing so fast! It's had to believe he is already 2 months old!



My brother James with Edward - photo credits for this post - Peg Kelly

It was great getting to see my family one last time before moving, and an added treat - my mom's cousin Peg, who is like an aunt to us was there also. I hadn't seen her in years! So nice to be able to touch down! Joyce and Carol also came and spent the day. Now they should all come and visit me in Cheyenne!

Edward at Two Months

Here's our little man - two months old today! Doesn't time have a way of flying!?