A Calling

The circumstances behind my grandmother coming to live with us seem unimportant now.  Suffice it to say that her current living arrangements with her son and daughter-in-law (my parents) was not working out. 

I would like to say that it was my grand idea, that I willingly chose to be the good granddaughter and offer her a place to stay.  But it wasn't me.

It was God. 

How do I know that it was God? 

Because I am a sinful creature and therefore far too selfish to willingly sacrifice my time and room in my house for someone, let alone the grandmother who I had never really been able to get along with.  If I had been thinking clearly I would have helped find her a nice little room in a nursing home somewhere where she wouldn't be a bother.  That's what I would have done.  But this was God.

When God calls you to do something--- you do it.  I mean, whose to argue.  So when the idea popped into my head and my husband agreed fervently that this was in fact "the best thing to do", I thought:

"Hey! This will be easy!  Everything will be smooth sailing from here because if was God's plan"

THAT is where I really messed up. 

When things started to unravel from my marvelous plan on how things were going to go I remember crying out to God.  

 "I thought you wanted me to do this!  Why is it so hard?"

And immediately in my heart, a small voice:

"I TOLD YOU WHAT TO DO, I DIDN'T SAY IT WAS GOING TO BE EASY"

Because sometimes God calls us to do messy things.  Don't believe me? Pick a Bible story, any Bible story.  Joseph and his being sold into slavery,  Esther and her calling to be a queen.....Christ.  The Bible is full of sacrifice.  Sacrifice of time, energy, money, family and sometimes their lives; all to fulfill God's glorious plan. 

Who was I to question?

People often compliment me on how nice I am to take care of my grandmother, that I am a wonderful person.  I appreciate it but I know its not true.  I am not wonderful, kind or even patient.....but HE is. And I know this because I, in my fallen nature, would not have willingly chosen this path.....it was chosen for me. 

"I can do all things through HIM who strengthens me" 

Phillipians 4:13 NASB

I would love to write more on this that I have been called to do.  I also want to let people know that "YES!" keeping your loved one at home to care for them is possible and, in my opinion, the best option.  But for now, I have breakfast to prepare, toys to find and a pill keeper to fill, in my BLESSED life. 

New Year, New House, New...everything

Last year was just plain crazy.....

Mikey was born in January 

We moved out in the country in April

Found a wonderful church in June

My grandmother had moved in with us in October.

We were baptized in November and became members of the church.

I started babysitting a one year old little boy that goes to our church in December. 

Whew....I'm tired just reading that list.  But I also feel so very very blessed. 

And this year looks to have the same sort of excitement. 

January 2011 we BOUGHT a house!  yay!  ( I know I said bought but technically we are "buying" the house, but its still a step up from renting, eh?)

The move went amazingly well and I'll tell you why:

  We have the most wonderful church family in the world! 

A usual move for Jason and I consists of many, many, MANY trips with just me and him moving ALL of our belongings.  And of course we have to be crazy reptile people so some of those belongings are huge, heavy display cabinets and aquariums.  Not to mention, the world's heaviest entertainment center crafted by my dad, rustic carpenter extraordinaire. 

When Jason and I move it takes a month easy.  It took a grand total of 4 HOURS.  That is loading everything and unloading everything.  Yeah, I know, impressive huh?

We did have a few hiccups in the moving process, ie. transferring utilities.  As you probably know calling customer service is equivalent to gouging your eyeball out.  But everything eventually got turned on.......and we did finally get a trashcan 3 WEEKS AFTER ORDERING IT.  Ahem.  I'm still a little upset over that one, can't you tell?

On the personal aspect of moving, Jacob transitioned beautifully, this is officially our "new house" to him. Mikey wasn't sure at first, but has learned his way around.  Jason and I are in LOVE with it and praise God every day for making this possible for us.  My grandmother?  At 100 you would think the move would be a strain on her but it doesn't seem so.  The only difficulty we had is making sure we located all of her stuff pronto.  And she remembers....every.single.thing.   *sigh* 

Isn't it adorable?

The house by the way, is a 3 bedroom ONE BATH.  No, one bathroom isn't a problem for us, as in Jason, myself and the kids.  But you add my grandmother into the mix and you might as well order a Porta-Potty for the backyard. But I digress.....

It's in the city, something we didn't think we wanted until we found our church home.  It became difficult to attend anything because of the drive and trying to keep my grandmother and kids on some semblance of a schedule.  Being in town, we believe, will allow us to not only attend Wednesday service and Sunday school more regularly, but will also make it possible for us to help the people of our church more.  I believe God helped us get this house for a reason, HIS REASON, therefore, we desire to bring him Glory through it. 

So goodbye country roads, hello city livin'.....again.  But its not as bad as it sounds.  Our neighborhood is excellent, and what I mean by excellent is full of little old people.  The most excitement I see is 2 old men racing each other on their electric scooters, headed for dollar general. 

Yet, I can see HEB from my house.  Hip, Hip Hooray!  Of course there are also restaurants everywhere, so fighting that temptation will be difficult. But its 8 minutes from church and Jason's work.  Can we say, "Hallelujah"?  I think we can. 

Our giant dogs seem to be doing okay and we did keep 5 hens for eggs. City law says hens are okay but roosters are a no-no.  How more annoying can a rooster crowing be than the neighbors yappin' chihuahua?

The house was built in 1950 so it still has old house charm in the way of original hardwoods and glass door knobs.  "SQUEEL!!".. 

Originally a 2 bed 1 bath, at some point they added on a huge (15 x 18) den with a fireplace and a closet.  THAT is what we converted into our room.  I'll save details and pictures for another post. : ) Okay maybe just one picture but its not very good:

There is storage all in the house, closets, cabinets....you name it, I've got space for it : )  Also there is a nice shop and carport outside.  LOVE that, but not as much as Jason.  He's like a kid in a candy store when he goes in there and starts laying out his tools.  I'm sure he's happy about not having to rebuild his make-due tent/shed every week after the wind would destroy it out in the country. : )

Anywho, gotta get back to unpacking and chasing rugrats (Now 2 one year olds and a 3 year old, man, I gotta give it up to you "moms of many" out there)

Guess what??

Yeah, you guessed it, we did end up moving.  So now you understand why I've been absent on here as of late.  A lot of changes for the new year and tons of things to blog about.  Yet, there is so much life to be lived its hard to stop to blog about it. : ) 

Hope to "see" you all again soon!