AGH!

I am still attempting to process everything so hopefully this will not become a huge rambling mess. Todd, being on the forefront of another job possibility, was informed today that they felt led to hire another candidate. Through this long process, I have struggled quite a bit. I wanted more than anything for Todd to be able to be in ministry again. He has worked for 12 years in a shop doing 55 hours (currently) of a job he does not enjoy. We have come so close, it seems, to "burning" those dreaded work clothes, yet God wants him there for a while longer.

Last year was an extremely painful year for us. We went through so much healing during that time and at the beginning of this year it appeared that God was turning the tide for us. We both strongely heard God tell us to "stay" so we took our house off the market, stopped sending out resumes and settled into a church that has blessed us tremendously. We even were blessed financially for the first time in 10 years of marriage. I love our church. We plan to be there for a long time unless God moves us. I hoped to never have to sit in a service at a church and have to fight hurt yet we will have to once more tomorrow evening. That is when they will announce their choice for youth pastor.

The hurt is not intentional. It was caused simply by our hopes and desires surpassing God's plan for us. We wanted the thing that would make the whole year of turnaround complete. We wanted the perfect piece to complete the picture we thought we could interpret. We were wrong. Apparently, the picture we thought we could see, is not as simple and clear as we hoped. I guess maybe we were trying to force the piece in without even considering that our plans could not even compare to what God has planned for us.

We have a pastor friend, who has been out of a paid position for four years I think. His family has suffered unimaginable things not only emotionally, but financially, and even physically. My fear when we left our previous church was that we would eventually suffer as they have. I thought that if someone who had impacted lives so greatly could be put into a Job situation, how could we possibly escape from the same fate?

I honestly have no idea where this puts us. We will stay in our church and continue to serve as we had. Todd will continue the grueling job he has had to deal with for our entire marriage. I don't know what lies ahead, because obviously my plan is dead.

Thankfully, God's plan is not.

WHAT AN INSANE WEEK!


This week has been one crazy event after another! Tuesday, we returned from California and I was looking forward to a relaxing week to unpack and wash clothes.
Wednesday, I went to my first physical therapy appt. The doctor and his assistant (I believe she may be his wife) are both Indian and I could hardly understand anything they said. Then the first procedure they did to me was hook my elbow up to electrical currents! I was a little nervous that this was some sort of "middle eastern technique" until I spoke to some else who said that kind of treatment is pretty standard. LOL I felt a little silly then. Both kids went with me and neither one wanted to sit still and look at the magazines the assistant brought over for them. Instead, they were bouncing on the trampoline, doing floor exercises, lifting weights, rolling balls and whatever they could find to do in the open therapy room. Kinda hard to relax when that is going on!
When I got home, I received a phone call from a mother of a 2 yr old who needed me to start sitting for her daughter next week instead of September as originally planned. She wanted to interview me at my house that afternoon so I had to hurridly run around cleaning and vacuuming so the house would at least appear clean. I shoved all the suitcases and piles of laundry in the bedrooms assumming that those room would not be seen. WELL, as soon as the mother arrived, she wanted to see the whole house. NICE.
Thursday, I was babysitting our neighbor's daughter and a friend asked if I wanted to meet her at the park with her kids. Because the park is a few blocks away, we decided to walk there. It was relaxing and after almost two hours we decided to head back. Unfortunately, her car would not start and so I offered to have her come to our house while she waited for her husband to pick her up. I wasn't able to touch the piles of now clean clothes in my room or the suitcases, but I really enjoyed spending time with her. It was a nice trade-off! :)
Friday, I had another therapy appt but this time, no kids! My mom came over to watch them so I was able to go in peace. Thankfully, I was able to go home and put things back in order. That night, we took a couple whom Todd will be marrying out to CiCi's Pizza. It was a fun "last meeting" before their big day.
Saturday was busy with lots of cleaning and other things, but Sunday was quite another story!
As the service was ending, a woman from the Kid's Zone came and told me that Caleb had hurt his lip and was bleeding. I jumped over the pew (yeah, skirt and all) and quickly went to see him. He was sitting red faced, with tears and blood smeared over his cheeks. One look at the hole in his lip and I knew we were in for yet another trip to the ER. Must be the summer for them! Amazingly, he did not hurt himself by running but was sitting is his chair and fell forward when his chair was kicked. His teeth pierced through his lip in two places. The top tooth not only went through completely, but also managed to get chipped. I took Caleb to Troy Beaumont while Todd ran inside the church to see if his parents could give he and Hannah a ride home. We were suppose to meet my family at a Chinese Buffet to celebrate my dad's birthday, so this was becoming quite a mess. Thankfully, there were only a few people in the waiting room so Caleb was seen within a few minutes. When the doctor mentioned stitches, Caleb had a meltdown (his previous experience with stitches was in his eybrow). A great stern nurse came in and had a "talk" with him and them proceded to tell him the rules. #1 You can yell as loud as you want and #2 You may not move. It took three of us to hold him still, but the five stitches eventually got in and we were on our way. Caleb's fat lip did not even prevent him from eating some great tasting shrimp and noodles!
So at this very moment, I am thinking of all the things I could be and should be doing after all the excitement, but honestly, I AM JUST TOO TIRED! I think I'll go find a good TV show to watch. :)

Before and After shots

















A CHANCE TO BE PAMPERED

This afternoon I went to a local salon for 2 1/2 hours and got pampered. I have never had my hair colored and cut together at a nice salon so this was a real treat! Some friends of ours (who recently had their baby!) gave me a gift certificate so most of the special treatment was from them. I enjoyed it soooo much! Thanks, Matt, Mary and baby Clara!!