Prayers Needed

The house across the street from us is going up for auction on Thursday. We (I) have thought about moving before but we really love our neighbors and don't want to move just to move. We see this as an opportunity to get some things in a home we are currently lacking; garage, basement, flat back yard. If we could get it for a good price it would be awesome, of course we haven't even thought about trying to sell our house and this has come about in the last two days. We thought maybe we'd rent, or sell, or...who knows, but none the less we are moving forward. We've worked out the details, called the bank, prayed. So now we ask the few who stumble across this blog from week to week to just please pray that we see God's will clearly in this. It will be a huge struggle to handle the two mortgages in the transition period, so if He's not in it, it's going to be disaster and one thing we've learned is that our family under finacial stress is a bad thing. So please please please Thursday at 11:30am pray for us to just be calm and be able to hear Gods prompting when it comes to what we should pay for this house. Thank you!!!

Tragedies and Triumphs

Here's my week in snippets...we'll start with the good stuff.

We've got the boys sleeping in the same room, and the best part is we are putting them both in bed awake and they are falling asleep together!!!!!!!!

Gentry started signing "more" today. The funny thing is it wasn't for more food, but because he wanted the necklace I took away from him back...

Micah research project got approved by Martek, this is big because he'll be able to use work hours to do school work, and he won't have to drive to Lex. to work on it. Ya!!!!!

bad stuff

sister filed for divorce, husband checked out of rehab.

aunts live in boyfriend got hit by drive by, paralyzed from waste down

Micah's aunts house is covered in floodwater, lost just about everything

I finally conceded to putting Grey in school under the compromise of a Montessori school...never mind it's $3000 for 9mo. of 3hr a day schooling...back to homeschooling I guess.

Love for Logan Benefit

For once I'm going to put something of substance on here. We have some friends, Brian and Anita Keating, who's 2 1/2 yr. old son is in need of another heart surgery. He will require a long recovery period so Anita is going to stay home with him. They are going to have a benefit dance for him to help with the income they are going to lose because of this decision. The Keatings have always thrown stellar shindigs so if you don't have any plans Aug 3, please come and party with us and help support sweet baby Logan. Everyone is invited, but tickets are limited.

http://www.wave3.com/Global/story.asp?S=2523308

Gardencourt
Louisville Presbyterian Seminary
1044 Alta Vista Road

August 3, 2007
8:00 pm – 12 midnight

$20.00 single or $30.00 per couple

contact Marcia email mhampton53@hotmail.com

Back to the grindstone...kinda

Well, thanks to Amy, who hooked me up with a cush job, I'm now part of the working world again (2days/wk, 3hrs/day). I know it's not much but it feels like a big step considering that I haven't worked in 4 yrs. I watch the child care room at a gym, which yesterday had a ton of little girls. I got to do hair, dance to Hannah Montana, and pretend to be a giraffe. It was a lot of fun. The sweetest perk is a gym membership, I can't wait to use that and start working out. I've been talking about it since Gentry was born but our gym here in town has teenagers in the child care room and I just don't trust them. So here we go, lets see if I actually do it. The only downside is it's a $12 round trip in the suburban, so I think on the days I work Micah will be riding his bike to work and I will be taking the focus. I'm so not thrilled about driving the little blue tuna can, but it's half the price, so I guess I should.

Wealth and the Middle Class...how do you feel about it?

Thank You SJP!!!

You may think this is going to become a shallow tribute to Sarah Jessica Parker, but it's not. I saw an advertisement saying that she was going to be on Oprah today...so I thought I'd watch. And low and behold she's started a new clothing line called "Bitten". The cool thing is that there is nothing in the the 400+ items over $19.99!!!

About 2 yrs ago I read a book called "Disciplined Woman" by Ann Sanders. It was written back in the '70's and it talked about all the things a woman can do to make her family feel more loved and to streamline her home. One of the things she did to accomplish this was to strip everything from her closet that wasn't essential. She was a preachers wife, so for her that meant having 5 dresses, 7 pantsuits, 5 daytime outfits, etc. Not only did she pair the clothing in her closet so that she new exactly what outfits she had be she knew what accessories and shoes went with each. Her reasoning was that women waste way to much time and money trying to look good and get dressed in the morning (and most of us get angry in the process).

So I decided that that was something I could do, and then I got pregnant, and then had a baby, and then lost the baby weight...anyway it's been a little hard to get the outfit thing down. But I have stuck by the second part of the resolution I made that day and that was to not spend more than $10 on a piece of clothing from then on. Now I have made an exception here and there. I spent $27.99 on a dress ($400 retail, used on ebay) for our anniversary and $15 on a pair of Christmas dress slacks, but for the most part I've stuck with it.

That's why I'm excited. For the past couple years I have had to shop very carefully, usually used (not that I care). It takes so much less time to know you can just walk in a store and be able to buy something, instead of having to search for the sale rack and then scourer it for the best deal. And now I can buy clothes that actually have a "cut" to them again (and ladies you know what I mean). So watch out everyone, I just may start to look fashionable once again!!!!

Still waiting Lord

Last week at church they taught on the parable of the vinyard owner who paid all of his workers the same wage, the ones who worked all day and the ones who only worked an hour. I've thought about this all week because I am often envious (not really jealous) of others. It's not that I think they shouldn't have what they do, I just wonder why God does't want me to have the same. I think we've all heard things like "God will surprise you when you least expect it" "He never tests you beyond what you can bear" "He will wait until you are broken and no longer want it and then you will be rewarded with it" "He will take away the hunger and teach you something new". I agree with all of these statements and have seen a few of them work in my life but I'm still battleing with issues that have consumed me for years. I've prayed over them, kept myself busy so I don't think about them, and I've tried to solve the problem myself, all to no avail. So what happens when you get to this point? I don't know...I'm waiting I guess, because unless we go into debt, unless we move, unless things change, none of my petty (yes they are petty) desires will be filled. Does that make me a shallow, materialistic, petty person, or just unequivically human. I'm unsure, but it makes me feel really crappy.