More Faithful

In our small group, we have been studying Deuteronomy and God's faithfulness to the Israelites as the went on their journey from Egypt, their wandering, and on the cusp of entering the promised land and taking hold of the inheritance that the Lord had prepared for them. One of the themes is remembering those faithful times with monuments for the coming generations. We are in such a time of obvious faithfulness...the Lord has and is moving on our behalf, and I have been encouraged to document it, so here goes.

We came to Minnesota a few years ago and moved to the middle of nowhere. It is beautiful and still and big and wide here. I know why I fell in love with it. I know even more why Ben did. But in addition to those things, it is too still. Lonely even. At least for me, who is the primary "at home" person. It is too far from what I really love. I have been blessed with amazing, out of the ordinary community here. And they have been my sanity in a lot of ways. However sometimes it feels like I see them from the other side of the fishbowl...the outside. You see when gas prices rise and little kids have naps to be taken and other concerns, it is difficult to access that amazing network. It takes an hour of packing up and driving to get to and from anywhere--which means I need to bring snacks, meals, and all kinds of things just to go out for a 15 minute errand! And the gas! A 15 minute errand? Yeah right! I learned a long time ago to bundle my errands, because we can't afford to go into town every day--I tried that. :) So as much as I have been blessed here, I was still having a hard time.

Ben has been so diligent in completing school while we have been here. He has worked his tail end off, and the Lord blessed us with the opportunity to move to Iowa, into a town, with Ben moving up as the Camp Director at Pine Lake Christian Camp.

It has been a possibility for almost 2 years. And we were eager to jump at it, but then the practical stuff started looking almost impossible! Turns out we bought our house at the absolute peak of the market. We cannot expect to sell it for less than a $30,000 loss. That's nearly 1/3 of it's value! I was so disheartened to find this out.

We went to visit at Pine Lake in November, and I remember the current director, Roger, praying for God to move mightily and reward our step out in faith. I thought--yeah, that would be amazing, but how will that work out? What could possibly keep that huge financial loss from happening? Well, never put God in a box! I know all the reasons it wasn't going to work, let me tell you now how it is...

Our bank agreed to a short sale, which basically means that they are going to suck up whatever is lost on the house instead of us...leaving our credit intact. They will mess with lowering the price and all that jazz. Then the Lord brought a friend back into the area looking for a place to rent, and our house is the perfect fit for her and her daughter! And Ben's dad offered to help do the handyman type stuff for them while we are away.

Then we found a house in Iowa for sale that we really liked but couldn't afford until our house sells...and we set up an appointment with a Realtor to look at one we might be able to afford. While looking at and deciding that it wasn't for us, we found out the house we liked was being rented. We asked when we got back if they would be interested in renting it to us. And their current renters were moving out the week before we need to move in--what timing!

Oh, and did I mention that someone approached us about buying our second car--the one we had decided to get rid of, because we won't need it when we live in town?! Crazy!

Everything about this has been so amazing! Proving the Lord's faithfulness again and again.

We are in the middle of getting ready to move, and it has been a zoo! Please pray that the moving and getting all the work done on our house so it is ready for our friend goes smoothly, and then that we are able to get plugged in to the community down in Iowa quickly. I'm positive that the Lord will continue in His faithfulness, but praying always helps!

I missed it!

It completely skipped my mind that today was inauguration day. I realized it when I caught sight of the news this evening.

Later, I was doing some devotional reading and happened upon the following quotes in reference to some of Israels' kings in the book of Isaiah. I have to say that I find it appropriate in the light of some of the extreme attitudes some people have regarding President Obama. He's on such a pedestal that I feel bad for him; no man should be seen as a Savior. This is what I read:

"No earthly leader is incapable of misleading...We need more than a leader on our road to freedom. We need a Savior--One who keeps on saving. Although we need to be saved from eternal separation from God only once, Christ continues his saving work in us for the rest of our lives...Christ sets us free by the power of His Spirit; then He maintains our freedom as we learn to live from day-to-day in the power of His free Spirit."
--Breaking Free: Discover the Victory of Total Surrender by Beth Moore

Whoa--intense!

Erin's in for quite the night. She would appreciate any kind thoughts you can send her way--she even made the news.

Check out the story by clinking on these words.

~Ben

Minnesota Nice

Means picking up turtles in the middle of the road and moving them to safety so they don't turn out like this.
Photo Credit: Arkansas National Heritage Commission

I got my first lesson tonight on how to pick up a turtle. Ben was the teacher, though he laughed a bit at how gentle I was. I didn't really want it's little legs to come out and claw at me, so I was very ginger while picking it up. I spotted a painted turtle so it was pretty easy, but I'll have to learn what a snapping turtle looks like so that I don't get snapped! I wish my camera had been on me, but here is what a painted guy looks like! :)

Photo credit: Dan Nedrelo and the Wisconsin DNR children's website.


We seriously need one of these signs in my neck of the woods, because turtle road kill is about the saddest things ever. They're so pokey; they don't even have a chance!

Photo Credit: a waymarking site for those interested in turtle rescues ;)

Confessions of an Over-eager Blogger...

Or, what I have learned (so far) about blog etiquette.

This week has been a bit of a learning experience. I have never had anything "published" before, and now I know why there are teams of editors for people who publish their writings for a living.

I have my own team of sorts, that I didn't know was there, and it is a good, albeit humbling thing.


Lesson #1: Know thy audience: Or rather, know that you may not know thy audience, and they may not know you. They don't all have assumptions about your writings or personality based on personal experiences that they share with you, because let's face it, they may have never met you! I was checking out some of the features on my site tracker the other day and was amazed to see that people from Belarus, Slovakia, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, El Salvador, Brazil and Korea were checking in on my blog!

Lesson #2: Fact check: I posted something this week in a hurry, and I had a mantra running through my head that I recalled from somewhere back in US History. I used it as something I loved about this country, and then I was reminded that it was actually a segregationist mantra--yikes! *blushes* I really should have taken a minute to look it up and confirm what I was saying. Accuracy is important even in one's personal writings, when they are up for the world to see. Thanks for the save dear editors!

Lesson #3: Someone else's news isn't always yours to tell: So if you are one of my readers who knows me in real life, you know that I have a very enthusiastic, exuberant side of me that is extremely loyal to both my friends and family, and that when something great happens, I desire to shout it from the rooftops! Now, this can be a good thing, but sometimes your greatest strengths are also your greatest weaknesses. Sometimes someone else wants to do the shouting. This is something I will probably have to work on my whole life long. My last personality test compared me to Oprah. That is really great, but it also means that I require an audience of many people. Which makes blogging a super outlet. Unless you use it to steal thunder. Thank you again dear editors.

I don't do well with criticism. It cuts me to my core. BUT, it is necessary, and it will make me a better person and writer, so I cringe as I write this (because sometimes you get what you ask for), but in the interest of growth, bring it on!