I Really Should Play the Lottery.....

.......because Chris and I are also going to be closing on our first house on Friday! Our loan came through and everything's all set now! We are so thrilled with this good news.

It is funny how my life usually tends to end up.....it's generally all-or-nothing, and this is definitely no exception. This house has given us a bumpy ride, but we are SO thankful that God chose to see it through for us and it really seems to be His plan, given all of the things that seemed to go wrong at first with excess paperwork and needing to fire our initial realtor (long story, but it was definitely merited).

Some of you know Liz P. from school, and she's home from teaching in Korea for only about 9 days before she heads back. I'm going to Staten Island tomorrow to visit her for the day, and we're also going to the Korean Consulate! I'm sure Consulates are actually very boring, but I'm excited to be in the inside of one! lol Oh, and to see Liz again. haha

My days of relaxation are quickly coming to an end.... :)


But I think I'm okay with that.

I Got a Job!!!

It has been two years and three months since I graduated from school (wow, exactly three months), but yes, I FINALLY HAVE A CONTRACTED JOB!!!!! God is faithful!!!

I got the call this morning!!!!!!!! I finally get to do this! :) Even though I've taught music in a public school before, that was always a long-term sub position. It was mine, but not really. This is my classroom(s), my kids, my program, from the beginning of the school year 'til the end!

I am just...giddy with excitement. As my mom said, "This has been a long time coming!"

Praise the Lord!!

The high-school music teacher (who is super sweet) left me with her number the other day, so I called her back. She is going to take me on a tour of the campus (K-12 is on the same campus) and show me my classrooms and introduce me to the principals and let me ask her questions. :) Then on the 19th I go in with the other "new hires" and sign my contract and learn about the district, and then on the 26th, THE KIDS COME!! I can't wait!!!!

Thanks for praying! :)

I'm Baaaaaaack!

Oh my goodness, I do not even know where to start! To say that our week in the DR was amazing would be selling it short. It was just....so fantastic! Meeting people from Chris's past, experiencing the Dominican culture, taking communion with brothers and sisters in Christ in a Spanish-only church, starting with pieces of wood and nails and constructing a chapel by the end of the week, leading children's songs in Spanish and playing with village children.....it was seriously indescribable. We got back really late on Wednesday night and I am still trying to sort through all of the laundry piles - I've done 7 loads so far, but who's counting? - and start up our life here again. Oh the stories I have for all of you! And I promise I will post pictures.

But first, I need to continue to waddle through the mess of laundry and luggage that is still our apartment.

I can't thank you enough for praying!

First of all, I just want to thank everybody who showed support for me and my family either through e-mails, cards, messages, or coming to my uncle's wake. It was definitely one of the worst weeks of my life, but the body of Christ is definitely an amazing thing. Example: a man from my church handed Chris an envelope on Wednesday night with a Bible verse and $100 inside to cover our travel expenses - not from him, from someone else who wanted to remain anonymous! It was definitely a small glimpse of God's provision in the midst of a horrible time, and I'm really thankful for whoever that was - you know who you are! :)

Anyway, some of you already know that Chris and I are leaving in an hour and a half (!!!) for the Dominican Republic with the team from our church. It has been a ridiculously crazy week - house inspections, my uncle's sudden death, travel to Connecticut, taking my final and test 3 for class today....and oh yeah, leaving the country. But seriously, I am SO excited for this trip. I am really glad to be away from sadness for a while, and to be able to concentrate on other people's needs. I think it will be very healing.

Be back in 12 days or so..........

*Sigh*

I was saddened today to realize that a fellow blogger had copied one of my blog ideas only a day after I originally posted. This is not the first time she has done this. She's not a regular commenter or anything, but I knew that she read my blog and vice versa. She's not anyone I know in real life, but she does profess to be a Christian.

She has recently been writing about/asking others for new ideas for her blog, saying that she was fresh out. I guess I'm mostly disappointed because she has a ton of readers, and I have...well, not a ton :)...and maybe she has figured that since so few people read my blog, no one would realize she was copying my thoughts almost exactly?

I e-mailed her today about it. Because even though we live in this virtual world, as Christians we are supposed to admonish one other when someone has done something unpleasing to God. I was very kind - not rude at all, although I wanted to be! haha


I've just always hated when people condescendingly say, "Copying is the sincerest form of flattery."

No, actually, it isn't.

It's unethical, lame, and just plain rude.

*Whew* Okay, had to get that off my chest!



In other news, has anyone gone strawberry picking yet? I've been waiting for about 3 months now and I think I'm going to go this Friday, since I don't have class. My mouth is dying to taste strawberry shortcake again. Does anyone have a great strawberry recipe? Please share!

Something Happy, Something Sad

I'm baaaa-ack! :) I have a lingering hacky cough with some congestion, and I think today I sprained a muscle coughing (no joke) because I'm in a lot of pain on my right side. STILL, I am a normal, functioning, non-streppy throat human being again! Hooray!

So as you can see from the title, I do have some sad news. We had the inspection on the house today, and it did NOT go well. I mean, there are a LOT of problems with the house that we just simply couldn't see without the trained eyes of a professional. Mold in the attic, multiple pests (including mice!), serious foundation issues, plumbing issues, serious sewage issues....I could go on. For a house that looked like it was well-taken care of, those two guys helped us see a lot of issues and helped us to realize that this house would be a money pit. When all is said and done, you can't truly fix a house that's on a bad foundation - you can only put a band-aid on it. We are still waiting for his official report, but it's pretty much a no-go.

So, besides being out about $625 dollars (between inspections and paying for a professional appraisal, which we needed to get our mortgage), it also hurts emotionally. I know that sounds corny, but I had already moved myself into that house, you know? I was planning parties there, decorating, landscaping, all in my mind. It was pretty devastating to stand there and hear all the things they were saying about my house.

Except it isn't my house, thankfully.

Although I have cried a LOT over this house today, at the end of today what I mostly feel is relief. Sure, I'm gonna miss that money, but we can make it back.

But praise God, I am not going to be throwing thousands and thousands of dollars away on a home that I know now would never truly be fixed.

It's still pretty depressing, but not a black-hole kinda depression. It's weird to feel regret, sadness, disappointment, and relief all in one big package.

---

But, since I promised something sad and something happy, here is a little treat that got me through all those strep-throaty days that I wanted to share with you all. Maybe it will cheer YOU up!




I modified this from my Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook:

• 1 6 oz. cup of Dannon Light 'n' Fit Vanilla yogurt (so good!)
• 1 banana, sliced
• 1 3/4 C frozen blueberries
• a splash of whole milk (count to 3 - lol!)

Blend and top with whipped cream. Makes 2 servings. De. Lish.

Funny how I have been a Christian for nearly four-fifths of my life, and yet sometimes I am hit with the simplest of all ideas about my faith.

As I have written on here before, I substitute now, and it is usually no picnic. I consider myself to normally have very good classroom control, but when you are in a room full of adolescents who know that you're not 100% sure of what you're doing (even though you're acting your darnest, and can usually fool them!), it gets a little exasperating day after day. The boredom, the not knowing anyone's name, etc.

And so usually, I offer up tiny little snippets of prayer throughout the day. "Oh Lord, let me get through this. Let me have a good day. Please! "

On Monday morning, it dawned on me.....um, hi! Praying for myself all this time? What is wrong with me?!

On Monday, I prayed this: "Lord, please let me just bless at least one child today. Amen."

The day becomes an adventure. How many kids can I smile at? How many can I be extra-kind to? How many can I offer a compassionate word to?

It wasn't that I didn't do all of those things already. In fact, I think most teachers do, too. After all, you don't go into teaching because you hate children. It's just that they weren't intentional. I know what you're thinking: "Isn't intentional worse? Doesn't that mean that somehow you're faking?"

No. It means that rather than "be myself" and pray that I have a "good" day, the Lord and I are going to make a good day, rather than having the good day make me.

Today has been such a relaxing day. I woke up at 6:30 to make my dearest some breakfast before work. After waking up and accidentally dropping something in a toilet I had just peed in (i.e., a horrible way to begin a new day on earth!!), and then having about 3 million things in the kitchen fall because my eyes were half shut, and having the things stay on the ground because I was too grumpy to pick them up, I finally remembered the Good Reason I do not do this on a regular basis. I love my husband, but mornings have none of my love.

Anyway, I had a doctor's appointment today, which is why I wasn't able to work and thus the bold and (I thought!) magnanimous statement I had made to my husband last night about making him breakfast before a long day. I am happy to report that my doctor said my ear looks free of infection but that I have a slight swelling of the ear canal, which is probably why things are still a little muffled in that ear. (As far as she's concerned, I am basically healed! THANK YOU for praying for me! :)

My day scooted along quite nicely....grocery shopping, library, light housekeeping, etc.

About half an hour ago I went to Biblical Womanhood and read a post about Crystal's friend whose husband had suddenly died in a boating accident on Easter Sunday. I went to the woman's site, and I wanted to cry as I scrolled down through her last week or so of blogging. She was working on her house, she was a new member of her church, she had just gotten a great deal on her camera, she was killing mosquitos in her house, for goodness' sake.

And then, one day, her husband dies.

I cannot possibly help but take note of this. She lives in Australia on a farm, but her life has many overall similarities to mine. Building a life with her husband, writing about things that caught her eye or excited or frightened her. And then God takes her husband away.

And everything is over, or so it seems.

....................................................................



Of course I will continue to write about my life on this blog, and of course it will include my quirkly little interests like cooking and yes, buying stuff at CVS.

But can I please encourage you to take the time today to tell your husband (or wife) how much they mean to you? Thank God for the life that you have together. If you're fighting, fix it. If you've been meaning to do something kind, do it. If you haven't laughed together in a while, talk about old dating stories over dinner. Go get ice cream. Take a walk.

"Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. " James 4:14

Rejoice in the day the Lord has given you. I know this sounds horribly morbid, but the love of your life really and truly could, in God's providence, be gone tomorrow. You have no idea how long God has given them to you. Live and love to your fullest today!

I have been struck frequently lately by how easy it is for humans, in general, to adjust themselves to any new situation. In other words, how anything can feel normal if you live with it long enough. In many situations, this is helpful - scientific, even: homeostasis allows our cells to find balance - to get the correct amount of sodium or water or whatever they need. It prevents us from sickness and implosion.



But have you ever noticed how easy it is to fall into a bad kind of normal? Sin has that dulling effect on us, doesn't it? The same sin, the same laziness, the same not-so-good thing, either done to us or by us, done over and over and over again, can strangely mutate itself into becoming the accepted and even the praised.



I recently purchased The Hiding Place, one of my favorite books, from Goodwill. I read this book over and over again when I was younger. And I remembered again how striking it is when Corrie ten Boom, released from her concentration camp, is awestruck at seeing a hot bathtub, clean sheets, a simple tablescape ready for dinner. Simple comforts she had lived with all her life, yet post-Ravensbruck, they were extravagant.



Oprah recently talked with a homeless man who had been the subject of a social experiment - the "experimentors" randomly gave him $100,000, then followed him around to see if his life would change. Even in a nice hotel room, he preferred to sleep on the floor.



What has become normal to you? Are you living the abundant life Jesus died to give you? Have you let some subtlties creep into your life - is your sense of normal being altered into something sinful without you even noticing?

Recently, we got rid of our tv. For a lot of reasons. Tv always amazes me in that when you live without it (like at Cedarville, or with one fuzzy channel our first year of marriage) you can almost forget that it exists. Put it in your house, and you can easily spend hours after work, relaxing, flipping channels, blowing time on mindless entertainment. Without our tv for several weeks, its amazing what we've gotten done - we read and talk so much more. Watching three hours of tv every night became easily normal because we let it become so.

Think on this profound quote by C.S. Lewis:

"Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."

Jesus Christ did not call us to live our lives as placid and mindless people. We are called to be radical.

If your normal needs to change, make it happen.

You have a magnificent Lord to glorify and not a lot of life in which to do it.