What a difference 3 years makes!

I really can't believe I haven't posted for so long. So much has changed. The renovations are still not complete, but that's okay.
    We have chickens, ducks and turkeys. We moved an unused coop we found in the woods, repaired it and voilà, poultry palace! We tilled and planted a large garden and I learned to can. We have had many meals produced from our own land. It feels good to eat what you grow. Our orchard has begun with 8 assorted trees and we have a berry garden too.
    I have gained some perspective on the break in. I'm glad it happened. God used the 3 extra months when we couldn't move in to have our (unknown to us) pedophile next door neighbor arrested and convicted. I shudder to think what could have happened to our children. God is truly great and he has wonderful things planned for all of us, even when times seem so dark that we can't see the good.

We're in!

  We've moved in. Blog updates will be sparse until we have internet run in the house. I have no idea when that will be since we are kind of enjoying life without T.V., internet and phone. It's very peaceful. We are getting lots of stuff done each day and we love our house.

Try to remember.

   We had such a nice weekend working out at the house. We have been trying to remember why we wanted the house and what we were doing all of it for. We know now, this weekend gave us back our desire. We fished, we played, we had a campfire, we saw bald eagles fly overhead, it was glorious! We started the electrical part of the renovation today and so far, so good. Our electrician was very impressed with the size of the beams and the sturdiness of the house overall and thinks the house is older than we thought based on the lumber used to build it. It's kind of exciting to know your home has been around for well over 100 years and will probably be there for at least another 100! I needed someone to appreciate our house! Now that we have the upstairs painted, we're planning on moving in this coming weekend and I'll just be grilling till we get the stove in! It's going to be nice not having to drive 20 minutes just to measure something or do a little painting. I can't wait to just be there.

Keep on Keepin' on...

   We're still working hard to finish the house. We are getting closer to a move in date as most of the bedroom renovating is almost done. As soon as we can get the beds and dressers in, we'll move and can do the rest of it in time.  We've also made good headway in the family room and living room though my arms are screaming with fatigue from the wallpaper steamer. (still so grateful to have it though!) Our insurance company has done NOTHING for the house in over 2 weeks and it's very frustrating.  Our poor kids are really suffering from having us so focused and busy with the house, leaving not much time for anything else. My 9 yr. old son had a breakdown last night because he just wants to be a "normal family" again. We all do. We are running the race set before us, and are trying not to tire mentally. Physically we're about done in.

Under Attack

       I think we are under attack by the Devil right now. I know to many of you this will sound like an extremely weird statement but I do believe that the Devil is real and does try to destroy Christians. I didn't always believe this but since going back to the church and becoming a faithful student of the Bible again, I do believe it now. I see the reality of it in peoples lives and feel it in our own right now. This doesn't mean that I think that every bad thing that happens is because of Satan. People make bad choices and sometimes bad things just happen but I do feel like this time, for us, the Devil is trying hard to spoil all that we are trying to do for God and our family. We have never in our lives had a string of "bad luck" like the one we've had since purchasing our home. The home that we were moving to so we could give our kids a simpler more Christian upbringing, away from some of the distractions of the outside world. The home we still can't live in because of the robbery, the home that for some unexplainable reason our insurance company can't even get repair men to fix correctly or in a timely manner. The home that we can barely get to to fix because we have had an unending stream of illness in our family. Not just colds and stuff but things like pneumonia and bronchitis, ear infections that need 2 courses of antibiotics to cure and stomach flu. Twice. Who gets stomach flu twice in a month? People who are being attacked by Satan, that's who! We made a commitment to spend Holy Week in peace and prayer and what happened? We ended up flat on our backs in misery or hanging our heads over a bucket. No church, no bible study, no nothing. We did do some family devotions here and there but is definitely wasn't the Holy Week we'd been hoping for.

    Our trials are so small compared to what Job went through and I know that everything that we're going through fits God purpose for us. I'm working hard on faith and patience right now. I'm trying really hard to put my trust in the Lord and not in physical things. And I'm trying to see the bigger picture and look to the end result. It's just so hard when it seems so far off. But that's what faith and salvation are all about. Belief in things unseen and trust in our future in Heaven.

Time Out!

We'll be taking a time out from the house this week to focus on Jesus and all he has done for us! We all needed a break from the stress and we want to make sure that we spend Holy Week in quiet and contemplation, in communion with the Lord who has given us everything. With all the break-in drama and disappointment, it's been hard to remember that we are on the right path and that Satan would not be trying so hard to derail us if we were not! So we commit to spending our time at church and with our family in peace and study. I've told all the repair people that we will not be available (except this afternoon briefly, for an inspection) this week and will be resuming all repairs the following Monday. I have not received a single bad response after I explain the reason why and I hope our ideas encourage others to take some time to think about the Savior. So anyway, Happy Easter, God's blessings to you all, and if you don't believe in Him, why not ask Him into your heart today? It's given freely and He loves you!

God is good...

We found a good Christian plumber last week who came to the house, found a sensible solution to our water problem and will be able to fix it for almost $1000 less than we first thought! We got a good amount of work done to the house over the weekend and the weather has finally decided to be like spring! We have a small problem with neighbor kids trespassing while we are not there but I think that should stop when we move in. Today I'm getting laundry caught up, grocery shopping, looking at bedding and decorator things for the kids bedrooms and trying to organize the rest of my week. I have a very busy week ahead and I have no idea how it will all come together, I hope the Lord has a little bit of extra grace I can have!