throwing in the towel and coveting

Yesterday and today I have had frustrating experiences. For one I was at a garage sale, which I had happened upon after dropping off my older girl to school. I was so thrilled to see one at this time of the year, considering weather in Ohio can be generally anything but this warm in October, but it has been a beautiful fall, with bountiful warmth. I stopped, grabbed my wallet and went up the driveway. I found a little stash of older clothes for my big boy and they were only $1.00 each and hardly worn. I was so thankful for this little bundle of finds that were great quality. However, my heart turned a quick one when I heard a lady exclaim, "Are you sure you want to charge only a $1.00 for these Willow Tree's?" My heart started skipping a beat...I turned around and saw every one that I've been wanting...the one holding a baby, the one with the husband wife and the pregnant one. All of which I was hoping to get when Kyle and I were first married, and when we had babies. And now that we no longer had babies it seems silly-almost to ask for these. So here I was running, almost leaping over tables at this lady's garage sale hoping to get a piece of that pie. However, to my dismay, the lady who had this great exclamation decided to buy the entire lot. I looked at her and said, "were you planning to buy all of them or just a few?" Her eyes caught mine and she said, "All of them." My heart was crushed! I paid for the clothes for my big boy and went around the corner, found another garage sale and found a few nice clothes for my big girl and started to drive past the house of the original garage sale. I stopped the car and walked up there again thinking maybe one will be there...and they were all gone. I fumed in my heart about this all day! I talked to my Mom on the phone about it twice, I told Kyle. I was flabbergasted! And then there's today! God got a hold of my heart, "Hey lady, you're heart is coveting!" There are so many times, I know I do this, as I know most of us do. I was wanting those figurines for only $1.00!! Goodness! I am so thankful today that God helped me be gracious to the lady yesterday, to forgive me for my heart that was so annoyed yesterday with not getting what I want. Lord I need your forgiveness--and thank You for helping me to see it!

I absolutely love photo books. I threw in the towel after my daughter was born (6.5 years ago) with scrapbooking! I remember I would get all my photos out, stickers, paper, pens, etc. and get one page done and then she would be up from her nap. Our cousin sent us a birthday thank you that was the cutest thing I'd seen and on the back it gave the website for Shutterfly and I've been hooked ever since. I have made photo books for each of my kids for their first year (well I am just now starting to work on little boy's book) and I am trying to get caught up for my big girl's years, by doing a book for every year, and then will be starting on the older boy's after that and once I am caught up it will be one book per year. Shutterfly offers free books all the time, or books at 50% off and a lot of times you can get free shipping. I have just started using the Custom Path which reminds me of scrapbooking because you can add stickers and embellishments, etc. All this to say, I thought now that my little boy has had his first birthday, it was time to start downloading photos for his book. I started loading photos and all  the ones I would download, about less than 50% would work and it would take all day to download 35 photos. I was so frustrated and called for help. They told me to remove all cookies and cache and neither of those helped. I was back on the phone today with them and they had me check my Java and Adobe. Both were so out-of-date that is the reason my Shutterfly is going haywire! Just a quick download and restart of my computer and here I am back up and running! Yay!! I was starting to think I would have to use a different website...which I love my photo books so much I didn't know where to turn next! So moral of the story, when ever you feel like you'd like to throw in the towel, you may need to update your software and restart!

Just a little snapshot of my life today!

Walking with God

Powerful words from the pages of scripture, "walk with God." As a youth group this year, our Pastor challenged us (and us as leaders) to read through the whole Bible in one year. This consists of reading 3 chapters a day, everyday for a year. And really that is not a lot. There are days that chapters seem longer than others, but so far (and I gather all year) it has truly been a blessing to me. I prayed before beginning that God will show me something with each weekly reading, that through this I will learn more about this Great Creator and Deliverer. So as we jumped into Genesis last week and I noted as I read from Genesis 1:1- Genesis 6:9  that  many, many men's names were listed: Cain, Enosh, Kenan, Mahalelel, Jared, etc., etc., etc., there were only two names of men who actually walked with God. In Genesis 5:24 it says, " Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. And in Genesis 6:9, it is written that "These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God.
I have read this account through the names of these men several times, and of course Enoch has stood out to me, because he did not live and die, but he walked with God and God took him to be with Him. Also, Noah walked with God. I was just challenged by these words. What will happen while I am living on this earth...will I walk with God all my days, will that be said of me? I know I will not be posted in a Bible or probably anywhere, but to my future generations of my family, will that be known of me? When I write in the journals for my kids, that is always my prayer at the end, "I pray you will walk with God all the days of your life, and to cling to Him." I pray it will be true of my three kids. 
Dear Lord, what a great example in just three little words (walk with God) to be said of unknown men. Lord, I pray that it will be said of me, my husband, my children and the generations to come. May my thoughts, motives, actions, words, etc. be a picture of someone who does walk with you! Amen.

Your Lasts

Have you read this book, "Let me Hold You Longer," by Karen Kingsbury? If you haven't, here's an expert from a page in her very wonderful, tear-filled book: 

"I keep taking pictures, never quite sure of your lasts..." This week I am feeling overwhelmed with lasts, I didn't realize these would be flooding so quickly, so very quickly this very week. This week was my last time nursing my last baby. Every child is weaned, that means no longer am I needed to give life to this world. I am no longer in the stage of birthing babies and nursing them and I have tried not to be heartbroken about it, but this week I am hit with the reality that the next time I hold a newborn baby from my family, I will be a grandparent (wow)! Now that's a reality! No more new babies, no more time of just them and me. Of course we make other memories now and memories that we will cherish together that I won't just have on my own. I think I am understanding when the Bible talks about Mary, Jesus' Mama, that she, "Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart." Luke 2:19--these are the types of things that she probably thought of. Of course Jesus was the Son of God, so there is nothing to compare, but Mary was a normal mother and I feel like today I get it...I'm cherishing these things and pondering them in my heart.

Yesterday, I realized the baby will be having a birthday in a month so he will probably be getting new toys and he is not interested in his baby things anymore...he wants to play tractors with his big brother. So I began sorting baby toys that he has outgrown, which lead me to cleaning out the toy cabinet. Never thinking today would be the day that my big girl, my 6 year old girl, would now be too big for her dress-up shoes, or 24 piece puzzles of Ariel or Dora (I know she's 6), or Littlest Pet Shop, or her magnet dolls. Never once did that cross my mind that she would look at me so nonchalant and say, "Mama, I am too big for those," or "Mama, I want to give them to my little cousin." I wasn't prepared for today, for the last time I'd see these precious shoes strewn across the floor or trip over them. I'll have the memories of her walking across the house in those shoes, "clop, clack, clop, clack" across the hardwood floor. With beads tossed around her sweet little neck and curls tucked around her ears. I didn't know today would be the last. 

I keep snapping photos, as the book above says, you just don't know when it will be their last!

Pondering, Lord I am pondering and cherishing. Thank you Lord for the memories you've given me to ponder, to cherish, to love. 

Oh! The Places You'll Go!

Oh! The Places You'll Go by Dr. Seus is a great book to give for graduation gift. A reminder of who you've become by the the places you've been and the people that you meet. My friend, Krista gave this book to me as a graduation gift from high school and left a very sweet note inside. Since my daughter started in K-4 last year my mom suggested to start having her teachers write a special note inside to my girl and then give it to her on her graduation day. I would love for it to be a surprise, but she is too inquisitive  and probably has it figured out, but she will have to wait until graduation to read the messages from these special people and special teachers. My mom did a few of these for her former students and suggested if I wanted to do it to get started early, because you don't want to go back and try to find all those teachers. I agree with that, maybe in one area I can be organized and on target with completing! I found a poem on Pinterest and the original can be found here. I took what was written and rewrote some and made it so it applied to us. Our daughter and our boys will go to Calvary Christian School so this is written to remind our children that it is through the Lord that sets us on our journey, He is the reason we meet the people that we do and it is by His grace that we get through all. This is their journey but it's by God's grace that they complete it.

To Kari's Teachers:

We have started a tradition

with each child that we raise

In hopes that on graduation day

Kari can see pieces of God's grace.

To show her God has a purpose

even with the people that we meet,

that Jesus can be found

through the people on her journey street.

You are one of Kari's teachers,

so there is a special spot for you.

Just open up this book

and write a note to her from you.

Please don't forget to sign and date

so she can always see

The teachers that taught and walked with her

and made her school journey complete.

We thank the Lord that you are a part of Kari's school journey.                             
Thank you for doing this for her.                                                                       -
Kyle & Kristy Gantz

I pray this will bless you and your children today.

From the wisdom of my grandmother and mom...

After all this time, I am just now seeing the necessity of having a weekly schedule for doing laundry. Could it be that I am up to my eyeballs in laundry every week due to having 3 children now? Why has it taken me this long? I remember my  grandma and my mom ALWAYS did sheets on Mondays and most likely or did have each other day scheduled or at least had the laundry always going. As the Flylady has shown me, that doing one load a day keeps the chaos away. I wholeheartedly agree with that! Start your routine everyday with at least one load of laundry going and try to get that one load done in the day. Don't leave it until tomorrow. Don't let it roll around in your dryer for days. Don't sit it in a basket and let it stand for days without putting it away. If you do your laundry, one complete load a day from start to finish, you will be able to keep up with your laundry. Believe me, it will help you in the end. This is how I am and do plan on doing my laundry every week. I am human and most of the time I let my laundry sit in a basket for days without putting it away, but my goal is to make sure that I take a few minutes to put it away and get those baskets off the floor (one more piece of clutter that is not needed!) Your house will feel more organized and orderly if you do just this one load of laundry a day. Here is my schedule and feel free to fill in laundry needs when you feel necessary. Have a blessed one!

Dormant

As my blog lays dormant now for months, I am attempting to get back into writing. As you may know or not, I just had a baby 6 weeks ago. He is growing so much so quickly and reminding me how quickly the look of newborn fades from your baby's face and they start growing into a not-so-new baby look. My two year old is enjoying life at home while his sister, our 5 year old is officially in Kindergarten a full day and week of school this year. My days are definitely scheduled by the clock of drop off and pick up of our daughter at school. I cannot believe we are already at this stage of life and with homework every night too. Yesterday for example, I was taking photos of my 6 week bundle and my older boy popped up to be in the photo too. I have countless photos of him when he was a baby with my girl there popped up in the photo. She should still be that small. But alas, time took over again. So here are a few photos of what we've been up to over the last few months:

 The arrival of our sweet number 3, baby boy weighing in

at 8 lbs. 3.6 oz, 20.5 inches long. 

 Happy First Day of Kindergarten! I jumped on the Pinterest

bandwagon of making these great signs, now I won't have to

look up the first day of school date on my properties of my photo,

it's right here in the photo for me!! Great for adding to a new

Shutterfly book, eh?

 Photo courtesy of Stacey Bazzle, my very sweet and talented

friend! We are all looking the same direction and smiling! Wonderful!

These beat hospital photos any day! Thanks Stacey! 

 Love his baby feet with our rings! Thanks Stacey!

 A sweet sibling photo from Stacey! Thank you! 

 Mr. 1 month old! Have you ordered this awesome stickers from Etsy.com?

I ordered mine and printed them off on sticker paper and cut them out myself and 

the purchase from Etsy.com was only $5.00, there was no shippping because it's a pdf file 

and they email it to you! I am sure I could make these myself and  sell them, but I love

these airplanes! So cute! And these are the cutest two boys in the world!

 Fall festival! He LOVED the bouncy house!

 Hammering tees into pumpkins, genius!

 Ring toss a pumpkin, you get a ring pop, awesome!

 Painting a pumpkin, rainbow, of course! That's my girl!

 Found out one year makes a difference in a young soccer players

life. She is now a good "runner" and stays with the ball, she has even

made one goal for the team this year! Her Daddy is a very proud coach!

Sweet photo of my favorite older two! Next year we'll fill out

all 3 holes of this pumpkin truck! 

Happy Fall!!

air conditioners, holes in the walls and dryers, O my!

Note before you read, I wish I could write or rather tell a story as a comedian. It's not my gift! But please know that I am giggling about all these events, and I am seeing in them all that God is teaching me to depend on Him through finances and homeownership! I pray that you will learn that too, through our experiences!

Roof:
I am officially 36 almost 37 weeks pregnant and I have officially flipped out! Aren't we supposed to do that as pregnant women? It wasn't until last week that I had my moment of brief insanity, but I have realized that in all things God does have a purpose and He will provide. Beginning in March of this year, we had an unbelievably warm March, for two weeks it was in the 80's or 90's. We were outside playing without winter coats, it was hard to believe for March in Ohio. We had planned on getting some of our roof done this year, so we put away some money for a partial roof replacement and hired a contractor to handle it. He did a great job! He's our neighbor and we are so thankful for his hard work! However, after he tore our roof off, he found rotted wood, more than he planned so the roof cost was a little higher than planned, but God provided. We are thankful to have a repair on our roof, and actually God provided before. Our neighbor could not believe that we hadn't had leakage in our home before this year, as it was a terrible mess under that roof.
Air Conditioning:
Since we are having number 3 in a few weeks, we had to make a decision on a roomier vehicle. We found an awesome buyer, my husband's cousin for my current car and sold it in May and then purchased a Mini-van! We were so excited to have this new-to-us vehicle!! The kids love it and so do I! I love all the room and how easy it is for them to step up in it and how the doors open for you! Wow! We are so thankful! At the end of June of this year, we had a terrible frightening storm, which made our power go out. Well, let me back up a bit...our power, amazingly did not go out! The power company came by and unclipped our power from being plugged in, so that when they start up other power lines again there won't be more and more blackouts/brownouts, so I had been told. I know we were not out as long as many others, but our power was out for 5 days. Again, let me reiterate, I am pregnant and in the 3rd trimester, so I am swelling and hot...I need air. Not only was I in need of a cool down, but my 5 year old girl had a temperature and needed to cool down as well. Well let me back up again, earlier that week, we had realized our air conditioner had gone out in our van. So I thought the best thing was to drive to my wonderful parents home, 2 hours away. I packed up the kids we drove to my parents, without air for 2 hours in the middle of the afternoon on one of the hottest days of the year! We made it and we cooled off!

We went home and our dealership where we bought our vehicle loaned us another van (God provided--we were so thankful to not have to worry about paying to rent a vehicle), and fixed our air conditioner for us (we had to pay for the parts-God amazingly provided again!)! We now had cool air in one capacity of life. And my awesome other set of parents, my sweet in-laws, provided a cool home for us to stay in while our home was still without power.

After the power came back on and our house was up and running again, after a few days or weeks (I am not sure everything is a complete blur) our air went out at home. We didn't realize that you should have those things serviced every other year or so. A big OOPS on our part! But again, God provided! Our technician came by and said it sounded like the whole unit would need to be replaced. However, as he walked up on it, he saw the problem right away, serviced the unit and fixed the problem. The price was minimal compared to a new unit! God provided! And we are now very cool in all areas of our lives and I especially am so thankful!!
Plumbing:
We have had a consistent dripping in both of our bathroom showers. Nothing too terrible at the beginning but as the summer has gone on we have realized how much water we were actually loosing. Upon receiving a letter from the water department, asking if we possibly had a leak, my husband's brother tried to help us fix it but it was beyond his expertise. So he passed along a name of a friend to help us! The guy came and he did excellent work! The only thing that was hard to watch was that he had to cut a huge hole in the upstairs linen closet to work on that shower and a huge hole in the hallway downstairs (for all the world to see) to reach the plumbing. It was hard to watch at that moment as he cut into the drywall right here from the living room, but then again, I realized that our plumbing was going to be fixed. A wall can be patched up and God provided the right person to fix it and help to keep our home running without consistent faucet leaking!
New Camera:
For over a year, I have been researching cameras. I have asked friends who take more professional photos, what is a good camera or company to buy from. I have a good camera, but I was consistently changing batteries (AA) and I wanted a better camera battery that would last. I also would try to steal a cute photo of my kids and the camera would say "processing." I am an amateur, and do not feel like a DSLR is for me, because grant it, I don't know what I am doing with all the lenses. However, I wanted something that was a step down from that. Still a point and shoot type camera, but has great quality, a better battery life and I can click onto the next photo rapidly. I found the perfect camera, the Nikon Coolpix P500. I saved my money all year. I am a stay-at-home Mama, but I was selling tiles that I created as coasters, trivets and decoration at a little shop in West Liberty. I sold a few from that and saved that money. I also made cake pops for some friends  and saved the money I made from those jobs for my camera fund. I asked for money for my birthday and Christmas and saved, saved, saved! After finding out that the 500 took AA batteries, I opted to go up to the 510 camera. I got my money together and went to Walmart and bought it! I love it! It's just what I had wanted. However, all of the sudden my computer has no longer recognized my camera when I plug it in, my USB cord does not work to download my photos onto my new program, but thankfully it does work to charge the camera! (God provided that at least). Today I tried to take it back to Walmart for an even exchange, only I came to find out that they do not allow returns or exchanges of electronics after 15 days! I have now called Nikon 4 times to get help and still I am without a properly working camera! I know I can take my SD card out and download my photos, so I am thankful so much for that. It has been suggested that I will have to send my camera back to the company, but again we are at T-minus 2 weeks and 3 days until this baby is coming (if not before) and I was hoping to have our awesome new camera for photo opportunities in the hospital. Despite all of that, God will provide.
Dryer:
Today I realized our dryer is not working. The heat is not turning on. So my whites have been rolling around for two days in the dryer without getting completely dry, they are still damp. Tomorrow, we are getting family photos done and my clothes are currently wet in the washer! And I haven't even picked out the kids or Kyle's clothes yet! So we are going to go at lunch time, when Kyle is off tomorrow to pick out a new dryer! Usually this gets me so excited to buy a new appliance, but right now, I just want something to work! Anything! Thankfully God has provided and we will be able to pay for our new dryer.

How do you even begin to plan for a summer like this? I know we did not have this money in our savings, but God provided each and every time for us to pay in full for each of these hiccups. We only thought we were getting a roof on...but as my Dad always says, "Welcome to homeownership!" And it's so very true! I am just learning that through these hard times, we have had to lean on our Lord for our strength and for our finances. He has provided and will continue to, I know it!