In The Small Things

Gosh, God sure does direct our paths. Each and everyday. In the smallest things. I guess I have always "known" that but don't really pay attention that much. Until today.

My husband hasn't been feeling well for a few days now. He doesn't get "sick" often and when he does we can usually associate it with stress and he takes a day off to sleep and then he is back on track. Well this time he got a real fever and it just wouldn't go away. This morning he finally called in sick so I acted on the opportunity and took Hannah to school solo. Left the the little ones home asleep. "Are you sure you are ok?" He assured me he was and I was off! Hannah talked me into walking her into the school since we didn't have the little ones instead of the big "drop off" at the curb. Inside I run into a friend I have been trying to get a hold of and she asks if I have a couple minutes to grab some coffee. "Well....sure." I call my hubby again to get a progress report and receive an all clear. So you know when two women get together with no kids within a five mile radius there will be tons of gabbing going on. Three hours later! I receive a call from a teen mom's mother informing me that this postpardum mom has returned to the hospital with complications. Ok. We happen to be two minutes from the hospital so we scurry over for a visit. I again call my hubby to make sure the kids were still alive and he was ok. Received another all clear. Then of course after a visit with a fearful mommy it was not worth driving the 30 minutes home just to turn around to come back 3o minutes to pick up my daughter from school. So I headed over to school to pick her up 20 minutes early.

Obviously by this time I had been gone all day and my hubby was "on his death bed". He was miserable. We got home to find that my little ones had managed to take pretty good care of themselves all day. They helped themselves to plenty of movies and snacks. We packed everyone up in the car and took Daddy to an urgent care clinic down the street. In 20 minutes they had a diagnosis....infection of some sort in his throat. Not strep just an infection causing his throat to swell. One steriod shot, some steriods for the road, antibiotic, and Vicotin for pain. Gosh, I felt bad for leaving him like that all day while I scurried about. But then I thought about my day. If I had my little ones with me to drop off Hannah I would have never saw my friend and gone to coffee. Therefore not being in the area of the hospital, childless, when I received the call that our teen mom needed support. I thank God for direction even in the planning of our everyday.

Saying Goodbye

As we are making the final preparations on the new house for the big move this weekend I have found myself reminising. We have only lived here two years and we have certainly done alot of moving around since we have been in Texas! Each house made a home from the memories we made. Bringing home a baby, celebrating a birthday, accomplishing a milestone, building relationships. It will be hard on Saturday saying goodbye. We grew so much here but we are ready for the change.

Sometimes too many refer to "change" as a bad thing. Sure sometimes it can be but not always. Change can be good, refreshing, and inspiring. During this season of my life I know God is encouraging change to grow both myself and my family. I don't easily accept change. I usually go kicking and screaming! Until recently. I am embracing change. Excited about the blessings that God has in store through the change. So long, little house...so long!

The New House

We have been renting a three bedroom house 20 minutes from work and school for 2 years now. We have since had baby number four and have noticed the house getting smaller...or at least it seems that way. We searched for several months within a 5 minute radius of church/school never to find the perfect place for the right price. We had taken a break over the Christmas holiday on the search. Right after new years, my husbands boss approached him with a house that the president of the company had for rent. He started telling him about the place, three bedrooms and still 20 minutes aways from our life. "Sorry, not interested." The same afternoon my husband felt a conviction to go ask more about the house. Ok so his boss was wrong it was a four bedroom 2700 square foot house! The house was right ... just the wrong location. So of course I protested! After several days I gave in and fell in love with it. Plus we were saving $400 a month on the rent compared to the houses we were looking at closer to church/school.

We had prayed for God to provide a house with four bedrooms and a bonus room so we could have the space we needed to be comfortable. He gave it to us...at a discount! For whatever reason, God doesn't want us closer to church/school. We don't know the reason yet but I cannot wait to find out!

Date Night!

After a really long, fusterating week dealing with contractors and preparations for the new house, my Friday night plans consisted of a night of childcare for a last minute class at church. Would have liked to go home to bon bons and a good movie. I knew that plan had to be scrapped for another night so I packed up the little ones for the journey to pick up Daddy and big sister. Due to time restraints we had planned to pick up my husband from work and then my daughter from school. We drove the 20 minutes to get my husband. Waited for him to finish. Stopped off for a potty break and were on our way again. While sitting in traffic to get my daughter my phone rang...it was a friend of ours that has been known to watch our children on occasion. She wanted to speak to my hubby...weird. He proceeded to have a secret conversation. I soon discovered what he was doing. "Wait, I have to work tonight!" Ooops....his plans of an extremely long over due and much needed date had a huge glitch. Well after some negotiations and rearranging we were able to get a replacment for the childcare at church, leave our kids and go to dinner. It was great! Just what we needed!

I cannot tell you how much it meant to me for my husband to realize we needed some time together and make the arrangments to make it happen. That never happens. Actually, dates never happen either! Our last date was 18 months overdue. We had dinner at a restaurant that was so loud we couldn't hear our conversation and then proceeded to Walmart where we split up and went shopping for the kids! Well I did anyway. I think he was in the electronics department. Isn't that terrible? We are so caught up in taking care of our kids, our jobs, and other people that we are neglecting each other. Do something to grow your marriage everyday. Go the extra mile. Acknowlege their feelings and do what it takes to make them feel special.