Praise the Lord!!

THE HOUSE HAS SOLD!!

Friday afternoon while I was at work, my realtor called to let me know that someone would be walking through our house. Just a few hours later they put in an offer. After a counter-offer from each side, we accepted! This evening Jeff will come back to Iowa so we can meet with our realtor to do some paperwork.

This is great news. We were just a couple of day from putting up a garage in hopes that it would draw more buyers. Had we done that, this couple might not have been able to afford to buy it. God is so good and his timing is always perfect (even if we can't see it). We had already planned for me to join Jeff permanently in Minnesota by the end of April even if the house was still on the market.

Thank you to everyone for praying for our house to sell and for Jeff and I during this separation. It is great to have friends and family that we can count on.

What A Deal!

Jeff and I went Sunday and purchased a small freezer. Hy-Vee had a great sale; buy a freezer for $199 and get $200 in coupons for free grocery products. I couldn't fit one in my car to bring it up from Iowa, so we found a store about an hour in a half from Watertown that still had one. The freezer is quite small, only 5 cubic feet, but it is perfect for Jeff and I in this small apartment. We have a big, upright freezer in Boone that we decided to sell with the house. It is way too big for us now that the boys are grown.

It was pretty cool walking out of the store with a cart full of groceries and it was mostly free. We picked up about half of the food for Jeff and Josh to use here in Minnesota. The rest I will pick up in Boone. Most of the food is stuff that we would normally buy anyhow, such as ice cream, bread, juice concentrate, veggies, pizza, hash browns, sausage, and chicken strips. There are some great deals out there if you keep your eyes open.

Family Fun

Friday afternoon my youngest sister, Leslie, and my three nieces came to visit for the weekend from the Chicago area. Erika is 8 1/2, Meghan is 6, and Rebekah is 3 1/2. It was so good to have them visit and Leslie and I sat up until almost 3:00 a.m. talking. This maybe wasn't so smart, though, since the kids were up at 6:45 Saturday morning! I picked up Bryce (4), Hailey (2), and Khloe (2 mo.) for the day so that the cousins could play together. Zach and Andrea came for dinner later that evening so that they could visit with Leslie and kids, too.

My family had to leave right after church on Sunday morning because they had school on Monday. It was a bittersweet visit. I loved having them here, but I know that once I am up in Minnesota, the distance will prohibit them from visiting as often as they have been while in Iowa. It's hard not seeing family as often as I'd like. Even after all these years of not living near my family, I still sometimes struggle with not seeing them at holidays, family gatherings, or in times of need. I am thankful for computers and phones to keep in touch, as well as those times when I'm able to visit them or they come to see me.

Sorry that there are not any pictures. My camera was not feeling well. :(

God Is Good

Jeff came back to Boone for a couple of days this week so that he could go to a doctor's appointment and some testing with me. I was very thankful to have him here even though everything turned out to be okay.

While he was here, he decided to load up his truck with all of his books that was in storage. He was a little shocked to get there and discover that there is about an inch of water throughout the storage unit. Of course, all of our boxes stored in there are cardboard. He has at least 3 boxes that were totally soaked. We are not sure how much damage has been done to the books yet; he will take a better look when he gets back to Minnesota.

In the process of sorting through boxes, he jarred a pile of boxes that had a metal filing cabinet stacked at the top. It came loose and slid down the pile of boxes and hit Jeff on the head. The impact was hard enough that he blacked out. The whole incident was very scary because he was by himself at the time. Thankfully, his injury was only a goose egg on his head and some scrapes that will heal quickly. It could have been so much worse. If he had not had on his ball cap, he probably would've needed stitches. Who knows, something like that could have even killed him. While I'm not happy about wet books, I can still thank Him in this situation that Jeff was not seriously injured. It's funny how quickly we can change our perspective.

Proverbs 16:9

We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps. Proverbs 16:9 (NLT)




This past weekend I took Zach, Andrea, and the kids to Minnesota with me to see Jeff and Josh. It was a good (but exhausting) few days. All three kids travelled great without any tears or fighting. I think everyone had fun and I'm glad that it worked out for them to make the trip. Of course, not everything went as planned. You may not know this about me, but I like to make plans and follow them as closely as possible. I do not like getting off schedule or unexpected "surprises".

I had planned that we would get on the road by 10 a.m. on Saturday and stop for lunch at a fast-food place with a playland half way there so the kids could get out and run off some energy. That would put us in Minnesota mid-afternoon, in time for me to run to the store to shop so I could make dinner.

Unfortunately, lunch time found us sitting at Pat Clemons Auto Dealer's service center (yes, still in Boone) getting new brake pads and rotors (This would explain the funny noise I started hearing on the way to Zach's to pick them up.) We made the trip straight through without a break for the kids and got to Minnesota at dinner time. A few hours later we discovered that Hailey's blankie got left at home. This of course led to a rough bedtime. It seems like the rest of the weekend continued in a similar manner.

I was a little discouraged and slightly frustrated that all of my plans for the weekend had completely crumbled, but the Lord brought Proverbs 16:9 to my mind continuously through out the weekend. Maybe things didn't go exactly as I had planned, but we still got there and back safely and had a good time. God sometimes has his own agenda and we need to be willing to be his tool - even if it means we have to change our own idea of how things should be. Are you willing to be flexible in order to allow God to use you?