1. One of the first things I remember about him was that he hid one of those chocolate bear cookies with the big sugar sprinkles on it from the bakery at Safeway for me to find somewhere in our house. Those cookies were so good!
2. He would sit and watch me dance around the living room for the longest time. He never seemed to get tired of watching me be a girl.
3. He told me I was the daughter he always wanted but never had.
4. He would listen to me and my friend Jayne sing Pointer Sister songs, and tell us we should start up a singing group. The neat thing was that he really meant it.
5. He awkwardly gave me a Barbie doll dress that he picked out on his own. He told me he had no idea if it was a good one or not because he had never played with Barbie dolls. It was perfect.
6. He would listen to me talk about nothing and everything for hours, and he was interested the whole entire time.
7. He teased me all the time, but I always knew he thought the world of me.
8. He helped me make a mock school lunch for a school project once. "We", meaning "he", somehow glued together soybeans perfectly into the shape of a hamburger. I had the best school project of anyone in my class thanks to his help.
9. He took me out fishing, even though I thought it was boring. And, I definitely didn't want to touch a slimy, gross fish, but I think he kinda liked that about me as well.
10. He and my mom would drive down Main Street with the windows down playing Elvis songs really loud. I would duck down in the backseat, completely embarrassed. However, at the same time, I loved that they were so silly together.
11. He taught me to drive on his standard truck. He took me out driving almost every evening for several months. He was calm the whole time, even when I almost ran us off a cliff.
12. Whenever my mom was at a meeting around dinnertime, he always took me to Long John Silvers to eat, since my mom didn't like it. He told me Long John Silvers was the only place that knew how to make healthy food unhealthy!
13. He made me feel like a princess.
14. He told me he didn't really understand girls, so to be patient with him. Little did he know, he understood girls really well.
15. He sincerely told me he knew I would be a good mom one day. Those words really stuck with me, and meant a lot.
16. He put those firecracker pull-its on my bike, and my bedroom door, and the bathroom door, and the front door, and...well, just about anywhere that he thought I would open and it would "pop" and scare me.
17. He made me feel special, and I didn't even have to do anything special for him to think I was.
18. He chose to love me, and for that I am so thankful.
I learned a lot from Bill and I miss him tonight, but I know that one of these days, I'll see him again. But, as for right now, I just wanted to share about him for a few minutes. Tomorrow, May 24, would have been his and my mom's anniversary. I'm so thankful they got married! They complimented each other well, that's for sure! And, thinking about this list makes me realize that the small things you do can make a big difference in someone's life. He made a big difference in mine just by being there. So, thank you, Bill! I'll see you on the other side! :)
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
The Job Offer
We had lived in our new home a few months when Name Brand Clothing offered Jeremy a job in the Kansas City area. Now, they had offered him jobs in other cities before, but we had always known we weren't supposed to take them. So, we had turned down other jobs they had offered him, all with pay increases. And, at this point, Jeremy liked the job he was doing for Name Brand Clothing quite a bit. He was the regional director over all the Name Brand Clothing Stores in the Tulsa region, and it was a perfect job, really. He was off every evening at 5:00 and didn't work weekends. It was wonderful, and really a life we hadn't known when Jeremy was a store manager.
But, Name Brand Clothing had a store in Lenexa, KS (which is near Kansas City) that had never been successful. They had tried several managers, and the store had never been profitable. Rusty, the owner of Name Brand Clothing, asked Jeremy if he would be willing to move to the Kansas City area and manage that store. One last try before they closed it for good.
As soon as Jeremy told me about that offer, I knew we would be moving. I just knew in my heart we were supposed to go. I think Jeremy knew it too. But, it was such a huge decision, and we really wanted to be sure it was what God wanted us to do. I mean, God had always led us pretty clearly in times past when we had big decisions to make, and we thought He would do the same thing again. So, we kept thinking and praying about it for about a month.
Nothing. Just that peace that we were supposed to take that job. No audible voice. There wasn't even a still, small voice. We would have been happy to have that, at least. No, there was just this inner peace, this inner witness, that we were supposed to sell our house and move to the Kansas City area. A little note here: This was so different from how God had led us in previous times, and yet, I think it is how God leads His children a lot of the time. Just by His peace, just by a "knowing" inside you. It's not based on what things look like in the natural. It's not a pros and con list of the good and bad things about the decision at hand. No, it's just what I would call an inner witness.
So, finally we sat down and said, "We know we're supposed to do this. We want a more dramatic sign from the Lord, but this is what He is giving us. His peace." You really can't go wrong if you follow His peace. So, we decided that Jeremy would take the job managing that store in Lenexa, and we would move there.
Here is what is so funny. During that month while we were deciding if we were going to take that job or not, Rusty would talk to Jeremy about the Lenexa store. He really wanted Jeremy to move and manage it. One day they were talking and Rusty said, "I know you just bought that house in Broken Arrow, and I know wives. I'm sure your wife doesn't want to move to the Kansas City area and leave that pretty new house."
Jeremy assured him that I wasn't like that at all, and that I would never make my decision based on the fact that we had just bought a home. Rusty was unconvinced. "No," he said, "I know wives. They don't want to leave a house they just bought and move to another one. And, they especially don't want to go from owning a house to renting again. So, you make sure and tell your wife that we will write a new house into your moving package. If you decide to take that job, we will include a down payment and the closing costs for a new home comparable to what you are living in now. That will be part of the moving package. You make sure to tell her that."
Well, Jeremy did tell me, but it didn't have anything to do with our decision to move or not move! :) Praise the Lord, though! What a blessing that was to us! God is just so good!
Besides the fact that we had never really wanted to buy a house, I had definitely never wanted to sell one either! That didn't sound like fun at all. We hadn't lived in that house very long, and we decided it would be best if we sold it ourselves, without a realtor. Now, Jeremy was traveling back and forth to Lenexa by this time, and I was at home during the week by myself with the kids. We were concerned about how we were going to show our house to potential buyers, since Jeremy didn't want me to be alone with people we didn't even know. So, we decided either people would have to come see it on the weekend, or my dad, who lives in Broken Arrow, would have to come over when people came to see the house.
That was the plan, but we ended up not needing it! On the Saturday we were putting out the "For Sale By Owner" sign, an older couple drove by and wanted to see the house. I can't remember the details of how this all happened, but I do remember that they came and looked at the house. They walked through it, told Jeremy they wanted to buy it with cash, and then they did. So, that was that. We hired someone to help us close on the deal, and the house was sold. Wow! It was amazingly easy and fast! They didn't even have inspections done since we had just had them done so recently.
So, the move was set for the summer of 1999! We just had to find a house to buy in the Kansas City area, and that turned out to be a far more difficult process for us than selling our house! Isn't it something that I had told the Lord we would leave that house in Broken Arrow any time He wanted us to and it ended up to be not even a year later? I never would have thought that! But, looking back, we could see how perfectly it all worked out that we had bought that house, even though we only lived in it for less than a year. If we hadn't bought that home, we would have still been renting, and I don't think Rusty would have been as apt to include the down payment and closing cost for a new home into Jeremy's moving package. He may have, because God can work things out, but it seemed like he wouldn't have! Thank you, Lord, for always knowing the perfect thing that we should do, even when we don't! Yep, you can never go wrong when you find out what God wants you to do, and do that!
But, Name Brand Clothing had a store in Lenexa, KS (which is near Kansas City) that had never been successful. They had tried several managers, and the store had never been profitable. Rusty, the owner of Name Brand Clothing, asked Jeremy if he would be willing to move to the Kansas City area and manage that store. One last try before they closed it for good.
As soon as Jeremy told me about that offer, I knew we would be moving. I just knew in my heart we were supposed to go. I think Jeremy knew it too. But, it was such a huge decision, and we really wanted to be sure it was what God wanted us to do. I mean, God had always led us pretty clearly in times past when we had big decisions to make, and we thought He would do the same thing again. So, we kept thinking and praying about it for about a month.
Nothing. Just that peace that we were supposed to take that job. No audible voice. There wasn't even a still, small voice. We would have been happy to have that, at least. No, there was just this inner peace, this inner witness, that we were supposed to sell our house and move to the Kansas City area. A little note here: This was so different from how God had led us in previous times, and yet, I think it is how God leads His children a lot of the time. Just by His peace, just by a "knowing" inside you. It's not based on what things look like in the natural. It's not a pros and con list of the good and bad things about the decision at hand. No, it's just what I would call an inner witness.
So, finally we sat down and said, "We know we're supposed to do this. We want a more dramatic sign from the Lord, but this is what He is giving us. His peace." You really can't go wrong if you follow His peace. So, we decided that Jeremy would take the job managing that store in Lenexa, and we would move there.
Here is what is so funny. During that month while we were deciding if we were going to take that job or not, Rusty would talk to Jeremy about the Lenexa store. He really wanted Jeremy to move and manage it. One day they were talking and Rusty said, "I know you just bought that house in Broken Arrow, and I know wives. I'm sure your wife doesn't want to move to the Kansas City area and leave that pretty new house."
Jeremy assured him that I wasn't like that at all, and that I would never make my decision based on the fact that we had just bought a home. Rusty was unconvinced. "No," he said, "I know wives. They don't want to leave a house they just bought and move to another one. And, they especially don't want to go from owning a house to renting again. So, you make sure and tell your wife that we will write a new house into your moving package. If you decide to take that job, we will include a down payment and the closing costs for a new home comparable to what you are living in now. That will be part of the moving package. You make sure to tell her that."
Well, Jeremy did tell me, but it didn't have anything to do with our decision to move or not move! :) Praise the Lord, though! What a blessing that was to us! God is just so good!
Besides the fact that we had never really wanted to buy a house, I had definitely never wanted to sell one either! That didn't sound like fun at all. We hadn't lived in that house very long, and we decided it would be best if we sold it ourselves, without a realtor. Now, Jeremy was traveling back and forth to Lenexa by this time, and I was at home during the week by myself with the kids. We were concerned about how we were going to show our house to potential buyers, since Jeremy didn't want me to be alone with people we didn't even know. So, we decided either people would have to come see it on the weekend, or my dad, who lives in Broken Arrow, would have to come over when people came to see the house.
That was the plan, but we ended up not needing it! On the Saturday we were putting out the "For Sale By Owner" sign, an older couple drove by and wanted to see the house. I can't remember the details of how this all happened, but I do remember that they came and looked at the house. They walked through it, told Jeremy they wanted to buy it with cash, and then they did. So, that was that. We hired someone to help us close on the deal, and the house was sold. Wow! It was amazingly easy and fast! They didn't even have inspections done since we had just had them done so recently.
So, the move was set for the summer of 1999! We just had to find a house to buy in the Kansas City area, and that turned out to be a far more difficult process for us than selling our house! Isn't it something that I had told the Lord we would leave that house in Broken Arrow any time He wanted us to and it ended up to be not even a year later? I never would have thought that! But, looking back, we could see how perfectly it all worked out that we had bought that house, even though we only lived in it for less than a year. If we hadn't bought that home, we would have still been renting, and I don't think Rusty would have been as apt to include the down payment and closing cost for a new home into Jeremy's moving package. He may have, because God can work things out, but it seemed like he wouldn't have! Thank you, Lord, for always knowing the perfect thing that we should do, even when we don't! Yep, you can never go wrong when you find out what God wants you to do, and do that!
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Daniel James
So, Diane was nine days late being born, and Daniel was eight days early! That was such a big surprise to us, but we were very thankful, since he was almost nine pounds when he was born! How much would he have weighed if he had been born on November 1, 1998? Oh my!
We decided to go a completely different route with a doctor and a hospital with Daniel's delivery, maybe because of our experience at The Doctor's Hospital. We ended up not really liking the doctor we had deliver Daniel, but St Francis Hospital in Tulsa, OK was wonderful! The difference was night and day from our experience at The Doctor's Hospital, praise the Lord! However, here is one humorous story that occurred soon after we got to the hospital.
My water had broken, and they checked us right into a delivery room. Shortly after arriving, a nurse came in and said she wanted to hook me up to an IV. Now, I hadn't had an IV with Diane, and I really didn't want one with Daniel since I was having a natural birth. But, she insisted it was a good idea since my water had broken. I can't remember all the details as to why (probably it was because they were hoping I would get an epidural), but I decided to just go ahead and let her put in the IV. I raised my left arm up towards her, and she started poking in the needle. At this same time, she was talking to someone else who worked at the hospital at the door of our room. I was watching her put in the IV, and was shocked to my blood squirting against the white hospital wall, right near the ceiling.
"Excuse me," I said to the nurse. She didn't hear me and she didn't respond. "Excuse me," I said, a bit louder. Again, no response. I just laid there, watching my blood squirt that wall, and feeling a bit sick. "Excuse me!" I said, quite loud and bold.
"What?" she said.
I pointed at the blood squirting all over the wall, and she quickly stopped what she was doing. Once she got in the IV, someone had to come wipe up that mess! Yuck! It was a surreal moment; it didn't seem like it had really happened, but it had.
But, other than that, our experience at St Francis Hospital was perfect! Everyone was so kind and helpful, and Daniel's birth, though hard, went really well and quick. He was so big when he was born, he looked like a Sumu wrestler! He had big eyes, but they looked like little squinty eyes after he was born, because his cheeks were so chubby and plump. As soon as he was born, they laid him, crying, on my chest and the second they laid him on me he stopped crying. Such a sweet moment! He was precious, just precious!
We had decided against me nursing. After all that had occurred with Diane, we had become big fans of bottle-feeding. I particularly liked that I could see exactly how much milk the baby drank, and I knew that the baby was getting enough milk. Yep, we both had become huge bottle-feeding fans! This was an unpopular decision with the hospital staff, and come to find out, with one of my friends who came to visit us at the hospital.
Jeremy had stepped out for a few minutes, and I was alone in the hospital room with our sweet baby Daniel. My friend walked in and we chatted for a few minutes, and then she popped the question. "Are you nursing?" to which I replied, "No, we're bottle feeding."
"What?!?" she questioned.
I briefly explained some of our reasoning as to why we were bottle feeding, but she responded and said, "Well, you have to at least nurse him the first few days so he'll get the colostrum. You have to at least do that."
Now, I know all about the benefits of colostrum, but we had decided against nursing at all. It's what we felt peace about, and it was what we were doing. And, I said this to her.
"But you HAVE to nurse him. You just have to!"
"No, as a matter of fact, I don't. He's our baby, and we've decided to bottle feed him, and that is what we are doing." And, the conversation ended abruptly and awkardly.
For goodness sakes! You can be a wonderful, nurturing mother, and not nurse your baby! We had a lot of problems with nursing the first time around, and we made our decision. That story always reminds me not to judge other people and the decisions they make, because I really don't know how the Lord is leading them, and what has occurred in their life to get them to the point where they are. Lots of times, we really don't know at all what people have been through, and so I try to be really careful about not judging people, even if their decision seems wrong to me. Because, I really don't know what's best for them in their situation. And, even if they are wrong, it's not always my place to tell them! Actually, I think it's usually not!
I also have been able to minister to a lot of women who have had problems with nursing, and assure them that they can still be a good mom even if they don't nurse their baby. There is a lot of pressure to nurse, especially in Christian circles, and it almost comes across that you can't be a good mother and not nurse your baby. Nursing is wonderful in a lot of situations, but it is not for everyone. Some moms really just can't handle it, for a variety of different reasons, and the best thing for them is to bottle feed, and not have all that stress. And, some moms enjoy nursing so much, and it's the greatest thing for them and their babies. But, people just have to be careful not to minister condemnation to a mama who loves their baby so much, but has decided not to nurse. My answer in ALL situations...just minister the love of God. That's what new mommies need, love, not judgement! OK, so now you've heard my soapbox, which I rarely ever talk about, but hey, this is my blog, so I guess I can talk about it here, huh? :)
Also, we were thrilled to take Daniel home to our new house! His bedroom was already painted yellow from the previous owners, and it looked so cute with his blue bedding set! I could hardly wait to get home from the hospital myself, since I had only really spent one night in our new house, besides that night when my water broke, but that didn't really count!
One of those first nights home I remember waking up in the middle of the night to feed Daniel. I had just finished feeding him his bottle, and had laid him back down in his bassinet. I was sitting in our beautiful, big new living room, and just feeling so thankful for our home. I started thanking God for giving us such a nice home. I started thanking Him for allowing us to live there, and blessing us with our precious children. I was just filled with awe, and gratefulness to God. I was walking around that living room, just praying and talking with the Lord. As I was thanking Him, I told Him that I would be content to live in that house the rest of my life, that it would suit me just fine, that I liked it that well. Thankfulness overflowed from my heart, but then I changed my train of thought and told Him that as much as I liked that house, I would leave it in a heartbeat if He wanted us to ever move. I told Him, "In my mind, I live in a box, and I am always opened to do Your will, to move where You want us to move, to go where You want us to be. Yes, this house is beautiful and nice, but I'll leave it in a second if you want me to, Lord. In a second. It really means nothing to me. What matters to me is You and Your will."
When I said, "I live in a box" what I meant by that was that I would pack up and move anywhere, anytime, at the Lord's direction. I will never hold onto things, because they are just that, things. They are wonderful to have, and they are a blessing, but on the other hand, really not worth much in comparison with doing God's will and His plan. Actually, not worth anything in comparison to that. I guess I just needed to reaffirm with Him and myself that even though we had indeed bought a house, something you may remember we had never planned to do, we would leave it in an instant for Him. And, I still feel that way today. I like the house the Lord has blessed us with here in Branson, but I could and would leave it all if the Lord wanted us to do it! And, I'd be thrilled to do it, too!
Little did I know that night in late October when I prayed that to the Lord that we would only be living in that house a few short months (Yes, months!) before the Lord actually would have us move somewhere else! Oh my, living for the Lord is a grand adventure indeed! But, more about that in my next blog, God-willing! :) Have a blessed day, my friends!
We decided to go a completely different route with a doctor and a hospital with Daniel's delivery, maybe because of our experience at The Doctor's Hospital. We ended up not really liking the doctor we had deliver Daniel, but St Francis Hospital in Tulsa, OK was wonderful! The difference was night and day from our experience at The Doctor's Hospital, praise the Lord! However, here is one humorous story that occurred soon after we got to the hospital.
My water had broken, and they checked us right into a delivery room. Shortly after arriving, a nurse came in and said she wanted to hook me up to an IV. Now, I hadn't had an IV with Diane, and I really didn't want one with Daniel since I was having a natural birth. But, she insisted it was a good idea since my water had broken. I can't remember all the details as to why (probably it was because they were hoping I would get an epidural), but I decided to just go ahead and let her put in the IV. I raised my left arm up towards her, and she started poking in the needle. At this same time, she was talking to someone else who worked at the hospital at the door of our room. I was watching her put in the IV, and was shocked to my blood squirting against the white hospital wall, right near the ceiling.
"Excuse me," I said to the nurse. She didn't hear me and she didn't respond. "Excuse me," I said, a bit louder. Again, no response. I just laid there, watching my blood squirt that wall, and feeling a bit sick. "Excuse me!" I said, quite loud and bold.
"What?" she said.
I pointed at the blood squirting all over the wall, and she quickly stopped what she was doing. Once she got in the IV, someone had to come wipe up that mess! Yuck! It was a surreal moment; it didn't seem like it had really happened, but it had.
But, other than that, our experience at St Francis Hospital was perfect! Everyone was so kind and helpful, and Daniel's birth, though hard, went really well and quick. He was so big when he was born, he looked like a Sumu wrestler! He had big eyes, but they looked like little squinty eyes after he was born, because his cheeks were so chubby and plump. As soon as he was born, they laid him, crying, on my chest and the second they laid him on me he stopped crying. Such a sweet moment! He was precious, just precious!
We had decided against me nursing. After all that had occurred with Diane, we had become big fans of bottle-feeding. I particularly liked that I could see exactly how much milk the baby drank, and I knew that the baby was getting enough milk. Yep, we both had become huge bottle-feeding fans! This was an unpopular decision with the hospital staff, and come to find out, with one of my friends who came to visit us at the hospital.
Jeremy had stepped out for a few minutes, and I was alone in the hospital room with our sweet baby Daniel. My friend walked in and we chatted for a few minutes, and then she popped the question. "Are you nursing?" to which I replied, "No, we're bottle feeding."
"What?!?" she questioned.
I briefly explained some of our reasoning as to why we were bottle feeding, but she responded and said, "Well, you have to at least nurse him the first few days so he'll get the colostrum. You have to at least do that."
Now, I know all about the benefits of colostrum, but we had decided against nursing at all. It's what we felt peace about, and it was what we were doing. And, I said this to her.
"But you HAVE to nurse him. You just have to!"
"No, as a matter of fact, I don't. He's our baby, and we've decided to bottle feed him, and that is what we are doing." And, the conversation ended abruptly and awkardly.
For goodness sakes! You can be a wonderful, nurturing mother, and not nurse your baby! We had a lot of problems with nursing the first time around, and we made our decision. That story always reminds me not to judge other people and the decisions they make, because I really don't know how the Lord is leading them, and what has occurred in their life to get them to the point where they are. Lots of times, we really don't know at all what people have been through, and so I try to be really careful about not judging people, even if their decision seems wrong to me. Because, I really don't know what's best for them in their situation. And, even if they are wrong, it's not always my place to tell them! Actually, I think it's usually not!
I also have been able to minister to a lot of women who have had problems with nursing, and assure them that they can still be a good mom even if they don't nurse their baby. There is a lot of pressure to nurse, especially in Christian circles, and it almost comes across that you can't be a good mother and not nurse your baby. Nursing is wonderful in a lot of situations, but it is not for everyone. Some moms really just can't handle it, for a variety of different reasons, and the best thing for them is to bottle feed, and not have all that stress. And, some moms enjoy nursing so much, and it's the greatest thing for them and their babies. But, people just have to be careful not to minister condemnation to a mama who loves their baby so much, but has decided not to nurse. My answer in ALL situations...just minister the love of God. That's what new mommies need, love, not judgement! OK, so now you've heard my soapbox, which I rarely ever talk about, but hey, this is my blog, so I guess I can talk about it here, huh? :)
Also, we were thrilled to take Daniel home to our new house! His bedroom was already painted yellow from the previous owners, and it looked so cute with his blue bedding set! I could hardly wait to get home from the hospital myself, since I had only really spent one night in our new house, besides that night when my water broke, but that didn't really count!
One of those first nights home I remember waking up in the middle of the night to feed Daniel. I had just finished feeding him his bottle, and had laid him back down in his bassinet. I was sitting in our beautiful, big new living room, and just feeling so thankful for our home. I started thanking God for giving us such a nice home. I started thanking Him for allowing us to live there, and blessing us with our precious children. I was just filled with awe, and gratefulness to God. I was walking around that living room, just praying and talking with the Lord. As I was thanking Him, I told Him that I would be content to live in that house the rest of my life, that it would suit me just fine, that I liked it that well. Thankfulness overflowed from my heart, but then I changed my train of thought and told Him that as much as I liked that house, I would leave it in a heartbeat if He wanted us to ever move. I told Him, "In my mind, I live in a box, and I am always opened to do Your will, to move where You want us to move, to go where You want us to be. Yes, this house is beautiful and nice, but I'll leave it in a second if you want me to, Lord. In a second. It really means nothing to me. What matters to me is You and Your will."
When I said, "I live in a box" what I meant by that was that I would pack up and move anywhere, anytime, at the Lord's direction. I will never hold onto things, because they are just that, things. They are wonderful to have, and they are a blessing, but on the other hand, really not worth much in comparison with doing God's will and His plan. Actually, not worth anything in comparison to that. I guess I just needed to reaffirm with Him and myself that even though we had indeed bought a house, something you may remember we had never planned to do, we would leave it in an instant for Him. And, I still feel that way today. I like the house the Lord has blessed us with here in Branson, but I could and would leave it all if the Lord wanted us to do it! And, I'd be thrilled to do it, too!
Little did I know that night in late October when I prayed that to the Lord that we would only be living in that house a few short months (Yes, months!) before the Lord actually would have us move somewhere else! Oh my, living for the Lord is a grand adventure indeed! But, more about that in my next blog, God-willing! :) Have a blessed day, my friends!
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Moving Day
Moving Day was set for October 22, 1998, which was ten days before my due date with Daniel. Lots of my friends said I was crazy to move so close to my due date ("I would never do that!"), but that was just the way things worked out, and I thought they actually would do it if they got to move into such a beautiful new house! I was so thankful we were going to be in our new home before Daniel was born, and not after. Besides, Diane had been nine days late, so I wasn't too concerned about Daniel being born early. I was absolutely huge (Daniel ended up being my biggest baby! He was one ounce shy of nine pounds!), and so my sweet husband did all the packing. I know, he's pretty great!
However, what did concern me was when I talked to the owners of our soon-to-be house a few days before moving day, and they said they hadn't even started packing yet! What?!? I didn't think that sounded too good, but when I mentioned it to Jeremy he said not to worry about it, that it was their job to pack their house and they could do it their way, which, of course, was true. "And," he pointed out, "what can we do about it anyway?" Men! They're just always so logical!
We, on the other hand, were packed and ready to move several days in advance. That's just how excited we were! So, on the morning of October 22 we were up bright and early, and we loaded our moving truck. It was a short move, because our new house was just about two blocks away from our rental house! Jeremy's dad had come to help us move everything, and we were set to take possession of our new house at 10:00 AM! I was so excited, I could hardly wait until 10:00!
We pulled up at the house right at 10, and imagine our horror when we walked into our new house and saw that all their furniture and household items were still there! Pictures were even still hanging on the wall! Oh my, that was not the best sight for an almost nine-month pregnant Mama on moving day! All I wanted to do was move all our things into our new house, but how could we do that when all their things were still there? I almost started crying, and I really didn't handle it too well (I completely blame the pregnancy for this, of course!). I held it together in front of the family, but when Jeremy and I went into a room to talk privately, I told him all the things I wanted to do, which was basically to move into our new house now, not later!
Jeremy very patiently explained that we would just have to help them pack and load up their entire house (and garage, by the way!), and then once that was done we could unload our moving truck. "We have the truck all day," he said, as if that was something positive. To me there was nothing positive about this situation, and once again I was thinking how men are just so logical! But, the thing was, he was right (Drat!) and that was really all we could do. So, we started helping them pack. They didn't even have boxes. We happened to have a big roll of sturdy black trash bags, so we packed their entire house in those trash bags. Can you believe that? Dishes and everything! It had to be terrible for them when they were unpacking. Jeremy and I later decided that it probably took them at least four months to unpack. So, we got them moved out, and then we got to move in, which was what I had been waiting for all day.
Now, the entire time we had been planning and talking about this move, I said one thing, "I just want to have the kitchen completely set up before Daniel is born." A woman needs a functioning kitchen, especially with a new baby, and I didn't want my little sweetie coming until my kitchen was all unpacked and ready to use! I didn't care about the rest of the house, but I wanted that kitchen to be done!
Of course I didn't get to work on that on moving day (another thing I was distraught about), with all that had occurred. But, I began working on that kitchen on and off all day our second day in our new home, which was October 23rd. Of course, I kept getting interrupted with other things that needed to be put away, et cetera, but towards that evening I really got to focus on it. Around 10:30 PM that night I put the last dish in the cabinet, the last can of food in the pantry, the last pan in the drawer. Satisfaction! The kitchen was done, and I was completely exhausted!
Here's a little information you may not have known about Jeremy and me. I am a stage-person, which means I like to do things in stages, and rest in between those stages. Jeremy, on the other hand, is not a stage person. He likes to start something and work on it until it is completely finished, no matter how long it takes. No breaks, nothing...just work until you are done. So, usually we are a pretty good balance for each other, but not this night. I think we were both just tired.
I walked into the living room, where Jeremy was working on unpacking boxes, and told him I had finished the kitchen (Yea!) and was ready to go to bed. His quick reply was, "Why don't we finish unpacking the living room first?"
Well, you can probably somewhat imagine how that went over with me, an almost nine-month pregnant woman. I was completely exhausted, and all I wanted to do was go to bed, together, in our new room. And, all he wanted to do was finish unpacking the living room. So, I sweetly went off to bed. Oh wait, that wasn't how it went. I stomped off to bed, and he continued working on the living room. I wasn't too happy with him about not coming to bed with me, but I was so, so tired, I laid down and fell right to sleep. It was after 11:00, and the last two days had been a lot of work.
Can you guess what happened from here? Well, I woke up not even two hours later, really needing to go to the bathroom. I went into the bathroom, sat down on the toilet, and my water broke! Yep, my water broke! I walked out to the living room, where Jeremy was still working, and flatly said to him, "My water just broke. We have to go to the hospital."
Now, women aren't as logical as men, so in my mind, it was Jeremy's fault that my water broke. If only he would have come to bed with me like I wanted him to do, my water wouldn't have broken! Ha! I'm sure no other women has ever thought this illogically, but that's what I thought! And, my next thought was, "Hey, at least I got the kitchen done!"
So, we called some friends of ours to come watch Diane, got a bunch of towels to sit on the seat of our car (because of the trickling water that wouldn't stop), and headed to the hospital. Praise the Lord, He is just so good and so merciful! We got set up in our hospital room, looked at each other, and decided we better not be mad about the unpacking-thing since I was about to have our baby, so we made up pretty quickly! And, Jeremy was a wonderful coach and helped me so much with that labor. My precious step-mom, Maggie, also helped me so much with that labor. I don't know what I would have done without them both, because Daniel was so big, and I had a lot of back labor with him. And, I wanted to have him naturally, without medicine, like I had done with Diane, so I did. And, God blessed us, and Daniel was born a little after 8:00 AM on the morning of October 24, 1998, just two days after we moved into our new home.
However, what did concern me was when I talked to the owners of our soon-to-be house a few days before moving day, and they said they hadn't even started packing yet! What?!? I didn't think that sounded too good, but when I mentioned it to Jeremy he said not to worry about it, that it was their job to pack their house and they could do it their way, which, of course, was true. "And," he pointed out, "what can we do about it anyway?" Men! They're just always so logical!
We, on the other hand, were packed and ready to move several days in advance. That's just how excited we were! So, on the morning of October 22 we were up bright and early, and we loaded our moving truck. It was a short move, because our new house was just about two blocks away from our rental house! Jeremy's dad had come to help us move everything, and we were set to take possession of our new house at 10:00 AM! I was so excited, I could hardly wait until 10:00!
We pulled up at the house right at 10, and imagine our horror when we walked into our new house and saw that all their furniture and household items were still there! Pictures were even still hanging on the wall! Oh my, that was not the best sight for an almost nine-month pregnant Mama on moving day! All I wanted to do was move all our things into our new house, but how could we do that when all their things were still there? I almost started crying, and I really didn't handle it too well (I completely blame the pregnancy for this, of course!). I held it together in front of the family, but when Jeremy and I went into a room to talk privately, I told him all the things I wanted to do, which was basically to move into our new house now, not later!
Jeremy very patiently explained that we would just have to help them pack and load up their entire house (and garage, by the way!), and then once that was done we could unload our moving truck. "We have the truck all day," he said, as if that was something positive. To me there was nothing positive about this situation, and once again I was thinking how men are just so logical! But, the thing was, he was right (Drat!) and that was really all we could do. So, we started helping them pack. They didn't even have boxes. We happened to have a big roll of sturdy black trash bags, so we packed their entire house in those trash bags. Can you believe that? Dishes and everything! It had to be terrible for them when they were unpacking. Jeremy and I later decided that it probably took them at least four months to unpack. So, we got them moved out, and then we got to move in, which was what I had been waiting for all day.
Now, the entire time we had been planning and talking about this move, I said one thing, "I just want to have the kitchen completely set up before Daniel is born." A woman needs a functioning kitchen, especially with a new baby, and I didn't want my little sweetie coming until my kitchen was all unpacked and ready to use! I didn't care about the rest of the house, but I wanted that kitchen to be done!
Of course I didn't get to work on that on moving day (another thing I was distraught about), with all that had occurred. But, I began working on that kitchen on and off all day our second day in our new home, which was October 23rd. Of course, I kept getting interrupted with other things that needed to be put away, et cetera, but towards that evening I really got to focus on it. Around 10:30 PM that night I put the last dish in the cabinet, the last can of food in the pantry, the last pan in the drawer. Satisfaction! The kitchen was done, and I was completely exhausted!
Here's a little information you may not have known about Jeremy and me. I am a stage-person, which means I like to do things in stages, and rest in between those stages. Jeremy, on the other hand, is not a stage person. He likes to start something and work on it until it is completely finished, no matter how long it takes. No breaks, nothing...just work until you are done. So, usually we are a pretty good balance for each other, but not this night. I think we were both just tired.
I walked into the living room, where Jeremy was working on unpacking boxes, and told him I had finished the kitchen (Yea!) and was ready to go to bed. His quick reply was, "Why don't we finish unpacking the living room first?"
Well, you can probably somewhat imagine how that went over with me, an almost nine-month pregnant woman. I was completely exhausted, and all I wanted to do was go to bed, together, in our new room. And, all he wanted to do was finish unpacking the living room. So, I sweetly went off to bed. Oh wait, that wasn't how it went. I stomped off to bed, and he continued working on the living room. I wasn't too happy with him about not coming to bed with me, but I was so, so tired, I laid down and fell right to sleep. It was after 11:00, and the last two days had been a lot of work.
Can you guess what happened from here? Well, I woke up not even two hours later, really needing to go to the bathroom. I went into the bathroom, sat down on the toilet, and my water broke! Yep, my water broke! I walked out to the living room, where Jeremy was still working, and flatly said to him, "My water just broke. We have to go to the hospital."
Now, women aren't as logical as men, so in my mind, it was Jeremy's fault that my water broke. If only he would have come to bed with me like I wanted him to do, my water wouldn't have broken! Ha! I'm sure no other women has ever thought this illogically, but that's what I thought! And, my next thought was, "Hey, at least I got the kitchen done!"
So, we called some friends of ours to come watch Diane, got a bunch of towels to sit on the seat of our car (because of the trickling water that wouldn't stop), and headed to the hospital. Praise the Lord, He is just so good and so merciful! We got set up in our hospital room, looked at each other, and decided we better not be mad about the unpacking-thing since I was about to have our baby, so we made up pretty quickly! And, Jeremy was a wonderful coach and helped me so much with that labor. My precious step-mom, Maggie, also helped me so much with that labor. I don't know what I would have done without them both, because Daniel was so big, and I had a lot of back labor with him. And, I wanted to have him naturally, without medicine, like I had done with Diane, so I did. And, God blessed us, and Daniel was born a little after 8:00 AM on the morning of October 24, 1998, just two days after we moved into our new home.
Monday, May 14, 2012
That's Your House!
One day about ten years ago I was sitting at a stoplight. I remember exactly which
stoplight it was in Olathe, KS on 151st Street right near Interstate 35. I was sitting there, not really thinking about
anything when the Lord spoke distinctly to my heart. I didn't hear an
audible voice, but just inside, in my spirit, I heard this, "My very name is the opposite of lack."
I
knew if He said it, it must be true. So, I just said, "That's right,
Lord! Thank you! That is so good!" I really didn't know what He meant,
but I am smart enough to know if God tells me something, it's the truth,
whether I understand it or not. Of course, I am also wise enough to
check in out in His Word later, but I was very certain this was the Lord
speaking to my heart.
Anyway, He spoke to me again and explained, "My name, El Shaddai, is the exact opposite of lack."
I
knew that El Shaddai is a name of God, and that it means "The God who
is MORE THAN ENOUGH." When I got home, I looked up lack in the
dictionary and saw that one of the definitions of lack is NOT ENOUGH.
God's name truly is the opposite of LACK or POVERTY. He
is the God who is more than enough. His very name means that! If you have lack in your life, know
that it is not what God wants for you. He is the God who is MORE THAN
ENOUGH. He has good things for you, and if you will seek Him, He will
help you out of any situation, because He cares about you so very much. Just ask Him for His help, and
He will be the God who is more than enough in your life, just like He is in mine!
Which reminds me of another story, of course. The year was 1998 and I was pregnant with our second child, Daniel. Jeremy, Diane and I lived in a rental house in Broken Arrow, OK, and Jeremy had just graduated from Rhema Bible Training Center that May. We were so thankful for our rental house: the price, the space, the garage, the backyard, the washer and dryer. There were so many things we liked about that house, but there were also some major problems: termites and the heating and air conditioning being the main ones. Oh my, the summer of 1998 was a long, hot summer for me, because our air conditioning didn't work very well, and I was pregnant with Daniel, who was due November 1, 1998.
So, Jeremy and I began thinking about moving from that rental house into another rental house. We didn't want to spend another winter in that house, since the heat didn't work very well. A little side note about Jeremy and me: Unlike a lot of people, we never wanted to own a house. We didn't want to buy a home, we only wanted to rent. We never wanted the hassle of having to sell a house, and we wanted to be free to move or go wherever the Lord wanted us to move or go on very short notice. So, we were pretty settled about not buying a home, but just renting our whole entire life. That was our plan, but not God's, as we soon found out.
We began looking for a rental house, but we kept coming up with nothing. Nada. Zip. We didn't even look at one rental house, because we didn't find anything to even go see. Now, the house we were currently renting was on Ithica Street in Broken Arrow, and to get out to a main road, we would drive down Ithica Street, turn right, and then turn left back onto Ithica Street. At the end of that street on the corner was a beautiful, red-roofed home that was for sale, not for rent. One day I drove by that house on my way out to the main street, and the Lord spoke the most surprising thing to my heart.
"That's your house."
That caught me so off guard, and I really didn't know what to think. First of all, I kind of felt bad about it, because that wasn't our house, and I certainly didn't want to be coveting another person's house, even if they did have it for sale. Second of all, that house was for sale and not for rent, and Jeremy and I had been pretty settled on renting our entire life. So, I just pushed it aside, and didn't say anything about it to Jeremy.
But, it kept happening. When I would drive by that house, I would hear this come up in my spirit:
"That's your house."
After several times of that happening, I finally mentioned it to Jeremy. He said that the exact same house had also been standing out to him, but it was for sale and not for rent, so he had just dismissed the thought. Hmmm, interesting. I told him maybe we should just go look at it. That wouldn't hurt anything. Just because you look at a house doesn't mean you have to buy it.
After much discussion, we decided we would look at it, and Jeremy called and set up an appointment for us to go see it. I am not even kidding you when I say that the second we walked into that house, we knew the Lord wanted us to buy it! We both were 100% convinced that the red-roofed house was indeed the house the Lord wanted us to, amazingly enough, not rent, but buy!
We were very committed to finding out what God wanted us to do and doing that, but I must say, this did take us by surprise. He wanted us to buy a house? What? And, there was one small problem with that idea, and that was the fact that we had absolutely no money to buy a home. We seriously had just given our last $200 to a guest speaker that had spoken at our church, Rhema Bible Church, just the week before. We had all that we needed, all our bills paid, plenty of groceries, and maybe $5 in our checking account. We had no savings account at this time in our lives.
So, if God wanted us to buy a house, He was going to have to give us the money to do it. We got home from seeing that house, joined our hands together, and told God that we were always opened to do His will. We told Him that we never thought we would buy a house, but if that was His plan, we would do it. (By the way, I said this with much trepidation, because I was very nervous about the idea of owning a home!) We asked Him to provide the money if that was what He wanted us to do. And that was that. The whole prayer probably took less than three minutes.
Within a weeks' time we had over $5000 in our checking account to buy that home! I am not kidding you one bit! Yes, when God wants you to do something, He more than provides for you to do it! What happened, you ask? Because, of course, you're like me and you want to know the details, right? Well, Jeremy remembered that his boss at Name Brand Clothing had told him if we ever wanted to buy a house in the Tulsa area to let him know before we bought it. Jeremy had assured Rusty, his boss, that we didn't want to buy a house in the area, and that we were content to just rent.
So, since his boss had said that, Jeremy went to Rusty and told him we had found a house in the area that we would like to buy. Rusty was not just the boss at Name Brand Clothing, by the way, he owned the entire company. Rusty asked Jeremy how much it would cost for us to get into that house, and Jeremy replied $5000. Rusty said he would have accounting cut Jeremy a check for $5000, after taxes, as a extra bonus for us. And, that, my friend, was that!
After tithe and closing on our beautiful new 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom home, we still had a huge chunk of money left! We were able to buy ceiling fans, a new hot water heater, et cetera, and we still had extra! It was glorious, just glorious! Yes, my friend, God is El Shaddai, the God who is MORE THAN ENOUGH!
Which reminds me of another story, of course. The year was 1998 and I was pregnant with our second child, Daniel. Jeremy, Diane and I lived in a rental house in Broken Arrow, OK, and Jeremy had just graduated from Rhema Bible Training Center that May. We were so thankful for our rental house: the price, the space, the garage, the backyard, the washer and dryer. There were so many things we liked about that house, but there were also some major problems: termites and the heating and air conditioning being the main ones. Oh my, the summer of 1998 was a long, hot summer for me, because our air conditioning didn't work very well, and I was pregnant with Daniel, who was due November 1, 1998.
So, Jeremy and I began thinking about moving from that rental house into another rental house. We didn't want to spend another winter in that house, since the heat didn't work very well. A little side note about Jeremy and me: Unlike a lot of people, we never wanted to own a house. We didn't want to buy a home, we only wanted to rent. We never wanted the hassle of having to sell a house, and we wanted to be free to move or go wherever the Lord wanted us to move or go on very short notice. So, we were pretty settled about not buying a home, but just renting our whole entire life. That was our plan, but not God's, as we soon found out.
We began looking for a rental house, but we kept coming up with nothing. Nada. Zip. We didn't even look at one rental house, because we didn't find anything to even go see. Now, the house we were currently renting was on Ithica Street in Broken Arrow, and to get out to a main road, we would drive down Ithica Street, turn right, and then turn left back onto Ithica Street. At the end of that street on the corner was a beautiful, red-roofed home that was for sale, not for rent. One day I drove by that house on my way out to the main street, and the Lord spoke the most surprising thing to my heart.
"That's your house."
That caught me so off guard, and I really didn't know what to think. First of all, I kind of felt bad about it, because that wasn't our house, and I certainly didn't want to be coveting another person's house, even if they did have it for sale. Second of all, that house was for sale and not for rent, and Jeremy and I had been pretty settled on renting our entire life. So, I just pushed it aside, and didn't say anything about it to Jeremy.
But, it kept happening. When I would drive by that house, I would hear this come up in my spirit:
"That's your house."
After several times of that happening, I finally mentioned it to Jeremy. He said that the exact same house had also been standing out to him, but it was for sale and not for rent, so he had just dismissed the thought. Hmmm, interesting. I told him maybe we should just go look at it. That wouldn't hurt anything. Just because you look at a house doesn't mean you have to buy it.
After much discussion, we decided we would look at it, and Jeremy called and set up an appointment for us to go see it. I am not even kidding you when I say that the second we walked into that house, we knew the Lord wanted us to buy it! We both were 100% convinced that the red-roofed house was indeed the house the Lord wanted us to, amazingly enough, not rent, but buy!
We were very committed to finding out what God wanted us to do and doing that, but I must say, this did take us by surprise. He wanted us to buy a house? What? And, there was one small problem with that idea, and that was the fact that we had absolutely no money to buy a home. We seriously had just given our last $200 to a guest speaker that had spoken at our church, Rhema Bible Church, just the week before. We had all that we needed, all our bills paid, plenty of groceries, and maybe $5 in our checking account. We had no savings account at this time in our lives.
So, if God wanted us to buy a house, He was going to have to give us the money to do it. We got home from seeing that house, joined our hands together, and told God that we were always opened to do His will. We told Him that we never thought we would buy a house, but if that was His plan, we would do it. (By the way, I said this with much trepidation, because I was very nervous about the idea of owning a home!) We asked Him to provide the money if that was what He wanted us to do. And that was that. The whole prayer probably took less than three minutes.
Within a weeks' time we had over $5000 in our checking account to buy that home! I am not kidding you one bit! Yes, when God wants you to do something, He more than provides for you to do it! What happened, you ask? Because, of course, you're like me and you want to know the details, right? Well, Jeremy remembered that his boss at Name Brand Clothing had told him if we ever wanted to buy a house in the Tulsa area to let him know before we bought it. Jeremy had assured Rusty, his boss, that we didn't want to buy a house in the area, and that we were content to just rent.
So, since his boss had said that, Jeremy went to Rusty and told him we had found a house in the area that we would like to buy. Rusty was not just the boss at Name Brand Clothing, by the way, he owned the entire company. Rusty asked Jeremy how much it would cost for us to get into that house, and Jeremy replied $5000. Rusty said he would have accounting cut Jeremy a check for $5000, after taxes, as a extra bonus for us. And, that, my friend, was that!
After tithe and closing on our beautiful new 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom home, we still had a huge chunk of money left! We were able to buy ceiling fans, a new hot water heater, et cetera, and we still had extra! It was glorious, just glorious! Yes, my friend, God is El Shaddai, the God who is MORE THAN ENOUGH!
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Honors Choir
Last year when Denise
was in 3rd grade she came home from school with a letter about Honors
Choir and said she would like to try out. Denise's school is fairly
large, and they have an honors choir for the 3rd and 4th graders and 60
kids make it, and about 200 kids audition. Now, Denise likes to sing, and in the van when we're
driving she'll sing out loud and strong, but last year when she sang,
lots of times it wasn't really on key or even to the tune of the song.
So, when she said she wanted to try out, I was hesitant. Like all moms I didn't want her to try out and not make it. I didn't
express this out loud, just asked her if she was sure she wanted to try
out. She was. So she did. And, the letter came home that Friday that
she hadn't made the choir. She was very disappointed, and she cried,
and Jeremy and I were very sad for her.
So, what comes home in her Friday folder the first week of school this year? A letter about the 3rd and 4th grade Honors Choir. I read through it, and tossed it in the trash. I didn't think Denise would want to try out again, after the rejection from last year. "No need to even mention it, and bring up bad memories of what had happened last year", I thought. So that was that. Until a couple of days later, when Denise asked me if I had seen that letter about Honors Choir, asked me where I had put it, and could she please try out?
"She wants to try out again," I thought. Wow! I told her how I had thrown it away, and maybe she could ask her teacher for another note about it. She did, and she signed up to try out at 4:00 on a Wednesday.
From a singing standpoint, I do think her singing has improved a lot from last year. She has a pretty voice, and most of the time she seems to sing on key and to the tune of the song. But, I was still leery about her trying out again. She was determined to do it, and the day of the tryouts, I felt very nervous for her. I said a prayer and asked God to let her true voice shine at the audition, and if it was His will for her to be in that choir, that she would make it. That was all I could think to pray for her, so that's what I prayed and left it at that.
On that Friday she came home from school beaming! I couldn't figure out what she was so excited about and she was very secretive about it. Finally, she came out with a letter in her hand and shouted, "I made Honors Choir!" At dinner that evening we all celebrated her victory!!!
Well, it is true that kids learn a lot from their parents. But, I have to say, I learn a lot from my kids. If I had been Denise, especially at that age, I know that I wouldn't have tried out again. Actually, I would have let the failure keep me from trying again. I know that's not the right thing to do, but that's what I would have done. Yet, she stepped out there, and tried again, and made it! Watching her taught me something...never give up on the dreams that you have, because just because someone else says you're not good enough, there's Someone in Heaven Who knows that you are!!! And, He will never give up on you, and He will make a way, and give you the desires of your heart, just like He did for Denise. :) Thank you, Lord! To God be all the Glory!
I wrote this story soon after school started in 2011, and since Denise just had her Spring Honors Choir program I was reminded of it once again. As an added note, I just want to share that at their Christmas concert four students got chosen to sing a quartet together, out of the sixty students that are in Honors Choir. Denise was one of the students that got chosen for that quartet! Wow! She went from not even making the choir, to getting chosen to sing in the quartet! God is just so good, and she has truly enjoyed her year in Honors Choir. Yep, I'm one thankful Mama!
So, what comes home in her Friday folder the first week of school this year? A letter about the 3rd and 4th grade Honors Choir. I read through it, and tossed it in the trash. I didn't think Denise would want to try out again, after the rejection from last year. "No need to even mention it, and bring up bad memories of what had happened last year", I thought. So that was that. Until a couple of days later, when Denise asked me if I had seen that letter about Honors Choir, asked me where I had put it, and could she please try out?
"She wants to try out again," I thought. Wow! I told her how I had thrown it away, and maybe she could ask her teacher for another note about it. She did, and she signed up to try out at 4:00 on a Wednesday.
From a singing standpoint, I do think her singing has improved a lot from last year. She has a pretty voice, and most of the time she seems to sing on key and to the tune of the song. But, I was still leery about her trying out again. She was determined to do it, and the day of the tryouts, I felt very nervous for her. I said a prayer and asked God to let her true voice shine at the audition, and if it was His will for her to be in that choir, that she would make it. That was all I could think to pray for her, so that's what I prayed and left it at that.
On that Friday she came home from school beaming! I couldn't figure out what she was so excited about and she was very secretive about it. Finally, she came out with a letter in her hand and shouted, "I made Honors Choir!" At dinner that evening we all celebrated her victory!!!
Well, it is true that kids learn a lot from their parents. But, I have to say, I learn a lot from my kids. If I had been Denise, especially at that age, I know that I wouldn't have tried out again. Actually, I would have let the failure keep me from trying again. I know that's not the right thing to do, but that's what I would have done. Yet, she stepped out there, and tried again, and made it! Watching her taught me something...never give up on the dreams that you have, because just because someone else says you're not good enough, there's Someone in Heaven Who knows that you are!!! And, He will never give up on you, and He will make a way, and give you the desires of your heart, just like He did for Denise. :) Thank you, Lord! To God be all the Glory!
I wrote this story soon after school started in 2011, and since Denise just had her Spring Honors Choir program I was reminded of it once again. As an added note, I just want to share that at their Christmas concert four students got chosen to sing a quartet together, out of the sixty students that are in Honors Choir. Denise was one of the students that got chosen for that quartet! Wow! She went from not even making the choir, to getting chosen to sing in the quartet! God is just so good, and she has truly enjoyed her year in Honors Choir. Yep, I'm one thankful Mama!
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
The Meeting
After I found out I was accepted to Missouri State University, there were a couple of things I had to do online, such as watch a video about being a new student, sign up for an email account through MSU's site...just a few things like that. Once that was finished, the next step was to set up an appointment with an adviser in the education department. I called and got my appointment all set, and the next thing I knew it was time to go visit my adviser.
I felt so silly, but I was very excited about meeting with my adviser! I had already found out that 72 of my credit hours transferred to MSU, so I was pretty happy about that. My appointment was set for 10:30 AM, and I dropped Derek off at preschool at 9:00 AM and headed straight to Springfield. As I was driving I came to the realization that I should have made the appointment for a later time. I had to get to the school, figure out where to park and where the building was on the campus. I pulled in a parking lot at MSU at 10:15. Not good, not good at all! I had brought a lot of change for the parking meters, and I quickly parked and put a quarter in the meter. Nothing happened. I looked closely at the meter and realized it was out of order.
"Great," I thought, "This is not good. If I leave the car here, they'll probably think I parked here on purpose so I wouldn't have to pay for a parking meter, which isn't true, but how will they know that?"
I decided I better move one parking space over, so I very quickly hopped back into the car, and moved over one space. Then I put a quarter into that meter. It worked, and gave me only 11 minutes of time, or something crazy like that! I had no idea how long the meeting was going to take, so I put every drop of change I had into that silly parking meter and ended up with a little over two hours. I quickly looked at the map in front of the parking lot and saw that the building I needed to get to was very far away. I glanced at my watch. I had nine minutes. I didn't think that seemed very good.
I started walking as fast as I could in the direction that I thought the building should be. Oh, I forgot to mention that it was also raining and very windy that morning, so my umbrella kept blowing up and pulling me this direction and that direction. The whole time I was walking, I prayed and asked God to help me make it where I needed to be on time. I didn't think I would make a very good impression being late, but there wasn't much I could do at this point.
After much brisk walking I saw the building. I ran up the steps, walked through the door and headed to the left. Praise the Lord, there was the office number where I was supposed to be right in front of me. I glanced at my cell phone and saw that it said exactly 10:30. Amazing! I walked in, and almost laughed when the secretary said, "You must be Nikki Storment and I see you're right on time." If she had only known, but she didn't, so I just smiled and said hello.
The secretary introduced me to my adviser, and I stepped into her office. Missouri State University has a lot of students, I think around 11,000, so I understand that advisers see a lot of people each day, and that some are more serious about their education than others. However, as I began talking to my adviser, I came to the realization that she didn't really think I was very committed to going back to school. Or maybe it wasn't that she thought that, but she just wasn't sure if I was really serious about going back to school, that maybe I was just there on some sort of a whim. I had an impulse to say, "Listen, I have a husband and five kids at home. I have a lot of things I could be doing other than sitting here in this chair right now, and I can guarantee you if I wasn't serious about going back to school and finishing my degree, there is no way that I would be here!"
But, I didn't say that. Now, I used to be a pretty good student, and as she began telling me about this advanced program they offer some students, I told her I might be interested in doing that. She looked at me and said, "You have to get approval to go that direction, and you have to maintain at least a 2.75 GPA."
When I didn't bat an eye, she suggested we look at my transcript from Emporia State University, where I have 71 college hours. When she saw that my GPA at Emporia was 3.74, the whole climate of the meeting changed, and she said, "OK, I think that might be a possibility for you." From that point on the meeting seemed to go better. I guess seeing that proved to her that I was a serious student, and that I just wasn't going through some kind of mid-life crisis or something like that.
The next thing she told me was that I had to take a College Base Test on June 16 (Yes, of this year!), which is a test the State of Missouri requires for teachers. It's a four hour test over Writing, English, Math, Social Studies and Science. In the words of another elementary education major that I talked to, "It's like the ACT test on steroids."
After that she proceeded to explain to me that all my credit hours had transferred, but not all towards an elementary education degree at Missouri State University. Then she showed me a list of all the hours I still needed to take, and when I asked her how long she thought it would take for me to finish, she replied, "Three years, at the earliest."
All in all, the meeting left me feeling like I just might cry. I really didn't like the ACT test, and I haven't taken any sort of test like that, well, since high school. And, the three year thing didn't strike me as that great of news either. On a positive note, she said that I could get some of the classes reevaluated to see if I might be able to use some of them for classes towards my degree (Praise the Lord! I have done that, and four more of my classes from Emporia State did get approved towards my degree, so that is wonderful.). The meeting ended on a very positive note, and she has been a great help to me since that meeting, but when I left I wasn't really feeling that great! I actually was feeling pretty discouraged and a bit overwhelmed.
When I got back out to my car, I sat there, just digesting all that I had learned. The Lord is just so funny. He truly has the best sense of humor of anyone. He does. Lots of thoughts were spinning in my head, one of them being, "Well! Three years at the earliest! This just makes it seem like all my time at Emporia was just a waste of time!"
And, the Lord replied (not out loud, but that still, small voice inside), "Yeah, because before you were planning to go back to school, it wasn't a waste that you spent two years at Emporia!"
Ha! God can really put things into perspective, you know what I mean? That made me laugh because it was just so true! I mean, I already went to school at Emporia. I already had those hours and I already had taken those courses. And, whether I ever went back to school or not, that was already done! Isn't it funny how we sometimes get upset about things that really don't make any sense at all? Because, either way, I already spent those two years at Emporia, so even if none of my hours counted towards my degree, that is already done. Funny!
The next thing I began thinking about was that three years were going to go by whether I went back to school or not. Time just keeps going. When you start something, it can seem like it will take so long, but in reality, the next thing you know, it's done. For example, almost two years ago the Lord began dealing with me about going back to school when Derek started kindergarten. That seemed like such a long time away, but now it's here.
I have a friend and she and her husband decided in August 2011 they should finish their basement before selling their home. It was a huge undertaking, as they also have four small children to take care of, in addition to their day-to-day life. But, they began working on it, and it's been a ton of work, and something they really hope to never do again. Yet, I talked to her yesterday and they are almost done! Their basement is almost finished!
What if they had never started? What if they had decided it would just take too long to finish their basement? Or it would just be too much work? What if they had said they just really didn't have time to do a project like that? They definitely could have legitimately used all those excuses, but if they had, she certainly wouldn't have been telling me yesterday that their basement was almost finished! No, she may have been telling me, "We sure need to finish our basement before we try to sell our house, but it's just going to take too long" when in reality, she could be almost done! Do you see what I am saying? The reason they are almost done is because they took the first step and STARTED! And, then they took the next step after that, and the next step after that, and...
Praise the Lord! And, it's the same for me with going back to school. I would prefer, in my own mind, to be done sooner, but three years is going to go by either way. And, you know what? That evening after I got home from that meeting with my adviser the Lord just ministered to my heart to just enjoy this time in my life. To just enjoy going to school, and being a student. To just get all that I can out of it, and don't be in such a rush to get to the next thing. Just enjoy what I'm doing today. I figure I might as well, and you know what? I will!
I felt so silly, but I was very excited about meeting with my adviser! I had already found out that 72 of my credit hours transferred to MSU, so I was pretty happy about that. My appointment was set for 10:30 AM, and I dropped Derek off at preschool at 9:00 AM and headed straight to Springfield. As I was driving I came to the realization that I should have made the appointment for a later time. I had to get to the school, figure out where to park and where the building was on the campus. I pulled in a parking lot at MSU at 10:15. Not good, not good at all! I had brought a lot of change for the parking meters, and I quickly parked and put a quarter in the meter. Nothing happened. I looked closely at the meter and realized it was out of order.
"Great," I thought, "This is not good. If I leave the car here, they'll probably think I parked here on purpose so I wouldn't have to pay for a parking meter, which isn't true, but how will they know that?"
I decided I better move one parking space over, so I very quickly hopped back into the car, and moved over one space. Then I put a quarter into that meter. It worked, and gave me only 11 minutes of time, or something crazy like that! I had no idea how long the meeting was going to take, so I put every drop of change I had into that silly parking meter and ended up with a little over two hours. I quickly looked at the map in front of the parking lot and saw that the building I needed to get to was very far away. I glanced at my watch. I had nine minutes. I didn't think that seemed very good.
I started walking as fast as I could in the direction that I thought the building should be. Oh, I forgot to mention that it was also raining and very windy that morning, so my umbrella kept blowing up and pulling me this direction and that direction. The whole time I was walking, I prayed and asked God to help me make it where I needed to be on time. I didn't think I would make a very good impression being late, but there wasn't much I could do at this point.
After much brisk walking I saw the building. I ran up the steps, walked through the door and headed to the left. Praise the Lord, there was the office number where I was supposed to be right in front of me. I glanced at my cell phone and saw that it said exactly 10:30. Amazing! I walked in, and almost laughed when the secretary said, "You must be Nikki Storment and I see you're right on time." If she had only known, but she didn't, so I just smiled and said hello.
The secretary introduced me to my adviser, and I stepped into her office. Missouri State University has a lot of students, I think around 11,000, so I understand that advisers see a lot of people each day, and that some are more serious about their education than others. However, as I began talking to my adviser, I came to the realization that she didn't really think I was very committed to going back to school. Or maybe it wasn't that she thought that, but she just wasn't sure if I was really serious about going back to school, that maybe I was just there on some sort of a whim. I had an impulse to say, "Listen, I have a husband and five kids at home. I have a lot of things I could be doing other than sitting here in this chair right now, and I can guarantee you if I wasn't serious about going back to school and finishing my degree, there is no way that I would be here!"
But, I didn't say that. Now, I used to be a pretty good student, and as she began telling me about this advanced program they offer some students, I told her I might be interested in doing that. She looked at me and said, "You have to get approval to go that direction, and you have to maintain at least a 2.75 GPA."
When I didn't bat an eye, she suggested we look at my transcript from Emporia State University, where I have 71 college hours. When she saw that my GPA at Emporia was 3.74, the whole climate of the meeting changed, and she said, "OK, I think that might be a possibility for you." From that point on the meeting seemed to go better. I guess seeing that proved to her that I was a serious student, and that I just wasn't going through some kind of mid-life crisis or something like that.
The next thing she told me was that I had to take a College Base Test on June 16 (Yes, of this year!), which is a test the State of Missouri requires for teachers. It's a four hour test over Writing, English, Math, Social Studies and Science. In the words of another elementary education major that I talked to, "It's like the ACT test on steroids."
After that she proceeded to explain to me that all my credit hours had transferred, but not all towards an elementary education degree at Missouri State University. Then she showed me a list of all the hours I still needed to take, and when I asked her how long she thought it would take for me to finish, she replied, "Three years, at the earliest."
All in all, the meeting left me feeling like I just might cry. I really didn't like the ACT test, and I haven't taken any sort of test like that, well, since high school. And, the three year thing didn't strike me as that great of news either. On a positive note, she said that I could get some of the classes reevaluated to see if I might be able to use some of them for classes towards my degree (Praise the Lord! I have done that, and four more of my classes from Emporia State did get approved towards my degree, so that is wonderful.). The meeting ended on a very positive note, and she has been a great help to me since that meeting, but when I left I wasn't really feeling that great! I actually was feeling pretty discouraged and a bit overwhelmed.
When I got back out to my car, I sat there, just digesting all that I had learned. The Lord is just so funny. He truly has the best sense of humor of anyone. He does. Lots of thoughts were spinning in my head, one of them being, "Well! Three years at the earliest! This just makes it seem like all my time at Emporia was just a waste of time!"
And, the Lord replied (not out loud, but that still, small voice inside), "Yeah, because before you were planning to go back to school, it wasn't a waste that you spent two years at Emporia!"
Ha! God can really put things into perspective, you know what I mean? That made me laugh because it was just so true! I mean, I already went to school at Emporia. I already had those hours and I already had taken those courses. And, whether I ever went back to school or not, that was already done! Isn't it funny how we sometimes get upset about things that really don't make any sense at all? Because, either way, I already spent those two years at Emporia, so even if none of my hours counted towards my degree, that is already done. Funny!
The next thing I began thinking about was that three years were going to go by whether I went back to school or not. Time just keeps going. When you start something, it can seem like it will take so long, but in reality, the next thing you know, it's done. For example, almost two years ago the Lord began dealing with me about going back to school when Derek started kindergarten. That seemed like such a long time away, but now it's here.
I have a friend and she and her husband decided in August 2011 they should finish their basement before selling their home. It was a huge undertaking, as they also have four small children to take care of, in addition to their day-to-day life. But, they began working on it, and it's been a ton of work, and something they really hope to never do again. Yet, I talked to her yesterday and they are almost done! Their basement is almost finished!
What if they had never started? What if they had decided it would just take too long to finish their basement? Or it would just be too much work? What if they had said they just really didn't have time to do a project like that? They definitely could have legitimately used all those excuses, but if they had, she certainly wouldn't have been telling me yesterday that their basement was almost finished! No, she may have been telling me, "We sure need to finish our basement before we try to sell our house, but it's just going to take too long" when in reality, she could be almost done! Do you see what I am saying? The reason they are almost done is because they took the first step and STARTED! And, then they took the next step after that, and the next step after that, and...
Praise the Lord! And, it's the same for me with going back to school. I would prefer, in my own mind, to be done sooner, but three years is going to go by either way. And, you know what? That evening after I got home from that meeting with my adviser the Lord just ministered to my heart to just enjoy this time in my life. To just enjoy going to school, and being a student. To just get all that I can out of it, and don't be in such a rush to get to the next thing. Just enjoy what I'm doing today. I figure I might as well, and you know what? I will!
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