Current Mood: So Happy to See You!

I just found some more of my note cards, and wow…it’s amazing when something you wrote or studied a long time ago really speaks to your heart! I don’t believe so much in “accidents” or “coincidence”…I think those ideas are just God’s way of remaining anonymous! That said, I will share a few tidbits from my notes because they might inspire you too!

When God hovered over the watery mass during Creation–we should see that what was chaos, God turned to order…same with our lives, whatever the case, God can bring order to chaos. He can take a chaotic mind and bring order to it as well.

Through out the Bible there are too numerous to count the times that God has strategically placed people in different places, times, and events. They are like the representatives of His influence. If we have the Spirit of God with in us then we can be assured that God HAS strategically placed us at this time, in all of creation, in this place, in all the world, at this moment, and rely on the fact that EVERY moment here after is also part of His strategy. We might wonder what that really means? It means that God has a role for us. We are in a position to either fulfill that role or deny it. Our salvation does not rest on our taking the role and relishing it, BUT our happiness most likely IS dependent on it. We “glow” when we love God enough to put our faith completely in Him and allow Him to use us where we are. When we give ourselves to God this way we feel a completeness and wholeness that nothing else in the universe can compete with. No person, object, feeling, or fulfillment can EVER touch that spot that God holds.

So…all that to say…If we are still here, on this earth, then we can know that God is simply not finished with the work He is doing IN us…OR the work He is doing THROUGH us. It is up to us whether we experience either of those in our lifetime.

God bless!
Susie

Current Mood: Amazed & Beloved! & Happy

I have been really getting things organized in our computer room/office…and I ran across these note cards from when we sat down together during one of our devotions and wrote down a special prayer of thanks to God. I thought I would put it here…each person in our family contributed to different parts and I thought it was such a beautiful reflection of our hearts at the time!

Dear Heavenly Father,

We praise you for creating our family, for creating homes, for giving us the emotion of love and for loving us no matter what.

Thank you for canoes and beautiful streams to use them in to fish and bond with our family.

Thank you for the food you created for our pleasure.

Thank you for animals that we can call “pets”.

Thank you for cars that help us live more comfortably and giving us abilities and skills to do jobs to give us the things we need to survive.

Thank you for warm muffins and cookies to share as a family.

Thank you for soft beds to sleep on and help us grow and become the people you created us to be.

Thank you for awesome monkeys and penguins, fishies, and TV for entertainment.

Thank you for the beautiful bond you create in our marriage and for the absolute sanctity of our lives.

We praise you Lord, Creator of All We Know, See, and Hold Dear. We are unworthy of even the smallest token of your affection–yet you have filled our world with your love for us to see every single day.

Thank you Lord God Almighty, Sweet Lover of Our Souls, and the Great “I AM”

I think we should do this again! It was probably about 2 years ago. We pray together everyday as a family, but this was with specific purpose to praise and love God and we wrote it down so that it would have more meaning. If you haven’t ever done this I bet your family would love it. It is a very special time, and of course, I *love* knowing how happy it makes God that we praise Him all the time, but I suspect when we come together to unify our praises it is extra special to Him!

God bless!
Susie

If you have followed me even for the smallest part of time, you will know that one of my “love languages” is most certainly music…this is the latest song that has me completely head over heels with my husband =o) Faced with the possibility of being apart while he goes to Bahrain…he told me this song was for me this week….

You can go to David’s Official Site to hear it for free! Right on the front page…

Lyrics:

Never really said too much
Afraid it wouldn’t be enough
Just try to keep my spirits up
When there’s no point grieving

Doesn’t matter anyway
Words can never make me stay
Words will never take my place
When you know I’m leaving

CHORUS
Try to leave a light on
When I’m gone
Its something I rely on
To get home
One I can Feel at night
a naked light
a fire to keep me warm
Try to leave a light on
When I’m gone
Even in the daylight
Shine on
And when its late at night
You can look inside
You won’t
feel so alone

Verse #2
You know we’ve
Been down that road
What seems
A thousand times before
My back to a closing door
And my eyes
To the seasons
That roll out
Underneath my heels
And you don’t know
How bad it feels
To leave the only one
That I have ever
Believed in
Bridge
Sometimes it feels
Like we’ve run
Out of luck
When the signal
Keeps on breaking up
When the wires
Cross in my brain
You’ll start my heart again
When I come along

Okay here is the slideshow…I hope it works!

There are LOTS (over 100) pictures in the gallery, if you want to take a look there too! This is just a bit of them…if you need a username and password for the gallery just email me!

LOVE YOU ALL!

God bless!
Susie

Wow…okay so you know I have no idea where the ever how many days have went…seriously, for the most part it seems like yesterday when we moved into the new house and BOOM! It’s a new year! So first, let me say I am going to be adding a slide show in just a bit of some of the work we’ve done on the house so far…I am moving the pictures right now! WOOT! So that will be here shortly…now for an update. I will just do blurbs for now to get it all out here and I *promise* to come back and do some real updates on it all…Oh and please forgive me if you are one of the people I have not answered or returned phone calls, emails, or messages from. Well, to be honest, if you are someone I know you probably fall into that category and for that I am ashamed. Forgive me for checking out for so long in every area…hopefully, I will make the new year better by checking in much more often!!

So here’s my tidbit update:

–Thanksgiving was AWESOME at my parents house! We had good food, wonderful fellowship, and best of all we got the results back from my Dad’s most recent blood test and his numbers were down! WOOT!! We had our traditional Tuesday Thanksgiving and did not really do our big Black Friday shopping spree this year…but we DID get one GREAT deal! I also spent a HUGE amount of time reading all four of the Twilight books because my husband bought them for me…eep. I read probably 50% of them outloud to Julia my Sister-in-love, and we both were fascinated. Her and I went to see the movie too which was outstanding (hubby had already taken me on a date to see it)…I know vampires are not really the most well…hmmm…well, let me just say this about the characters in the movie/books…they are unbelievably MORAL. I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone so I won’t say anymore than that.

–We soooo surprised B for Christmas! All he wanted was an Xbox 360…and we had told him because of the new house and stuff we might not be able to get it for him until after the first of the year…he is SUCH a good boy, he never complained, and he really, truly and sincerely believed he was not getting anything for Christmas on Christmas morning. SO…on Black Friday we were able to get his 360 on sale AND with 5 FREE games!!! We bought the other game he wanted and we KNEW how amazed he was going to be…and we were so not disappointed!!! He freaked totally haha it was great! He fell onto Rob and I into this full contact football hug and just lay there forever lol he said thank you a hundred times I know and then just gushed and gushed about how amazed he was…hey getting a surprise over on a 15 year old is not the easiest thing to do…haha The girls got the surprises they wanted too and it was wonderful…I was super blessed with some of the most thoughtful gifts ever! I received a Twilight book from my son (who is encouraging my habit if I say so myself!), stunning necklace and earring sets from the girls, and oh the sweetest little tea pot and “blooming teas” from my husband!!! They are so cute, I haven’t gotten to try them yet but I need to–they actually change and are like art in your teapot…the teapot he got is a little one that is clear so you can see the blooms…I looked at the website and my stealthy husband peeked and ordered them for me! It was precious!! I got him some surprises too! I got him the Christmas Story leg lamp string of lights for his “man cave” and the coolest clock to hang in there too that looked like a tire…it was awesome! But the best gift was the T-shirt that I got him that said “I do everything the voices in my wife’s head tells me to do!” LOL I love it!

–We have nearly finished the biggest stuff on the house…we just did the island counter top with resin…and finally got the tin backsplash up! WOOT! It is GORGEOUS.

My todo list for the three main rooms of the house are:
Dining room: put the trim and rosettes up on the wall that holds the mirror (and yes, that is IT!)
Kitchen: Finish the white trim around the window, put the backing fabric on the backs of the cabinets, put the tin up on the sides of the island, and trim the island (and then yes! We’ll be done!!)
Living room: Decorate the top of the entertainment center (LOL I did not even notice this until I just took pics…how embarrassing!!!), get the sticker off my mirror on the mantle (I have no idea how it got there!), get the wires and stuff fixed for the electronic stuffs and get it all put in the unit….and then we will be DONE!

The rest of the house is coming along more slowly, but maybe a todo list will hold me accountable there too:

Computer room: finish putting up the last of the stuff that needs a “home”…it is worse than it sounds I promise! Run the telephone wire and hide it, otherwise this room is done!
School room: Currently unusable thanks to the clothes we have been sorting in there–so finish sorting and put away the last bits of odds and ends in there, hang up my white boards and cork boards…
B’s room: Finish his fabric wall with trim, paint the last wall orange, hang up his stuff, and decorate it
Girls room: Hang up stuff and organize some of it…not much is needed here…but finish the window seat and make the cushions and curtains for the doorway…build the shelves for their books…
Our bedroom: Wallpaper top half, hang up stuff and decorate…
Craft room…finish organizing…hang up curtains for laundry area…

Wow, seriously it does not seem like much stuff even when I write it but when I look at it then it’s all so overwhelming!

Okay onward with my list:

–we went to an overnight even with the Church on New Years eve…it was soooooo fun! We went to the Church for a lesson, then to the movies to see “Bedtime Stories” (which was VERY cute!) and then to the bowling ally, and then to skate! Then we went back to the Church for a hot breakfast at 7 and then to BED LOL It was soooooo awesome!!!

–Rob is pretty close to getting orders for his next assignment…it is looking very seriously like he might be going overseas for a year…I know there are lots of people who are unaware that the Coast Guard is actually part of the FIVE branches of the military–but they are. I’ll post some links later to explain it because I love to talk about it, but anyways, they are a part of the military and have been a part of every single war we have fought as a country. They have also been very active in “lesser” events like when the Haitian uprising happened (hubby spent three months there!). They are port security so they go in and secure the ports before the other branches come in…they are the last to leave as well. Yup, their boats do all the aids to navigations and drug/fisheries law enforcement, but they are also capable of being “suited up” with guns and proper gear for handling military crisis also. That said, yes, there is a contingent of Coasties over in the Middle East right now. I will have to check with hubby on the number but it is either 7 or 9 units over there right now. Hubby would be in charge of the guys from the boats that are his rate, and he would do some other collateral duties as well. He would not be on a boat but would work off of the Naval Base located in Bahrain. Shudder. Yeah, I don’t *like* it but I do see the benefits, the awesome opportunity, and the good things that can come from this–not the least of which that he would be more or less local after this until he retires which is a very good thing. Please pray for us and for us to be open to God’s will no matter where that takes us. It is hard to imagine this time apart from one another…the very thought is very painful…but God is capable of sustaining through ANY suffering…and I know that God is all over this situation.

–R turned 12! Yes she did…it was so exciting…I made her peanut butter fudge and she was sooo spoiled…she just had a home party with her friends over and really had a good time! It was impossibly hard to imagine that she had already been in our lives for 12 years!! She is SUCH a joy!

–My Momma gave me the most amazing set of silverware EVER!!! It is SO beautiful and heavy and perfect, and well, you know there is just something about having a really nice set of silverware…what IS that about? I love it!

–my heat bill was like $300 for this last month. EEP! I nearly croaked. Not because we can’t afford it, because we’ll be okay, but wow. That’s alot! I will be really happy when we can do the whole budget billing thing, but we can’t until we have been here a year. We have a list of things we are going to do to try to weather proof the house some…it is a big house…like 2400 square foot, and it’s an older house, so I know it has some leaks where we are losing the heat…and then on the other hand, well, it IS a big house, so maybe it is really just that hard to keep it heated. I will do without pretty much anything but I do not like to be cold. At all. Ever.

–Our little kitties that we rescued have been spending more time inside…it is a possibility that we might be able to house train them. They are SO sweet. We ended up naming them Eenie and Mo. As in “Eenie Meanie” and “Miney Mo”. Hehe…they are good and so far are getting along famously with the other cats and the dog…as surprising as that is, the dog really should have had to pay the $400 vet bill!

–we have been visited by a friendly donkey and a bull and a cow with her baby calf! They have all come up to the field beside our house and we have just enjoyed that so much!!

–our friend’s son got a four wheeler and we have been riding it here at our house because we have room for it. I have not ridden it alone, but I have let Rob drive me. WOOT!

–OH one of the coolest things I got for Christmas was a surprise for everyone. Rob didn’t even know what it was. I knew there was a chance he was going to be sent to the Middle East before Christmas so I got an idea and bought each of us one of those Shining Stars animals! I got me the giraffe (of course!), B the penguin, R the blue dragon, C the cow, and for Rob I got him the monkey–because you know if he does go over there then he can take one of his monkeys with him haha Anyways, you get to register a star =o) So we’ll be able to look into the sky and see each others stars, I thought that would be awesome for all of us. =o)

Ahh…we’ll that’s it for now…I will write more later I PROMISE!

Stay tuned for pics!

God bless!
Susie

I know it has been forever–FOREVER–since I wrote!! You can not even begin to imagine how crazy the last few weeks have been!! I am so thrilled to type that we are actually first time home owners!!! I am serious when I say that every time we go over there to work I am in awe of God and what He has done for us! I stand there trying to absorb the fact that He has given us something so wonderful and grand!! I could fall to the ground in worship of our God who is so loving and generous and who far more than simply “met” all of our needs (none the less our very desires as well!) but exceeded everything we could have ever imagined!! I love, love, love our house! There were the expected few hiccups here and there in the loan process and closing but everything finally came together and we got the keys to the house on September 18th =o)

We are still moving and my hubby will be here any minute to get started so I can’t write lots, BUT heres a quick rundown of what is done and what needs to be done!

Finished:
built a huge island in the kitchen
painted the kitchen cabinets guacamole green!!! They are SO cool!
beadboarded the walls in the kitchen (we actually had started to paint them but there was wallpaper under the paint that was there and it bubbled up so our plan B was beadboard and I simply LOVE it!)
painted the beadboard/walls in the kitchen sunshine yellow!
paint the diningroom royal red from the Biltmore collection
paint the island in the kitchen the same red
build in a doorway from the dining room to the craft room
build in the doorway from the dining room to the girls room
cut through a hall closet to create a new doorway for the girls room
paint/decorate the girls room
painted B’s room
upholstered 3 of our new dining chairs
got our phone, internet and cable hooked up
got all of our utilities on
bought all of our appliances and have them up and running!
had a gas line run so that we could have a gas stove! (woot!)
built our chandelier for the dining room! (soooooo beautiful!)
found new lights for the living room (Thanks Mom and Dad!!!!)
moved over all of the living room, kitchen, girls room, and B’s room…
moved Rob’s VW Bug over there
moved the children’s bikes over
got to see the Goodyear blimp! WOOT!
got to see the neighbors round up their cattle to move them to another area–real cowboys on horses and everything!!!

Need to do:
put the trim up in the kitchen
finish the “fabric” work in the kitchen (I am putting fabric on the back of all the top cabinets because I am not putting the doors back on–and putting fabric around the window too)
put up our tin backsplash in the kitchen (has not arrived yet)
install the chandelier in the diningroom
install the lights in the living room
finish painting B’s room and decorate it
decide on what color we are painting the living room and our bedroom and paint them (may come later I dunno!)
finish painting and upholstering 2 more dining room chairs
paint the dining room table and buffet/hutch and the church pew we bought white
find a rug for the dining room
finish moving the school room, the computers/desks, craft supplies and desks and our bedroom (whew! still seems like SO much to do!!)
move the stuff in the attic and storage shed–we will have to get a storage unit locally for our stuff we can’t store at the house…we need to buy or build a few sheds but can’t do it right now financially SO we will just have to wait and improvise for now!)
clean this house so we can checkout and get our money each month
move all our animals (and figure out the arrangements for them all lol)

Well, that’s a lot huh? Please keep us in your prayers as we do all of this, as it seems very daunting and while Rob and I are still doing really good energy and will wise, the children are exhausted…so please pray for us!

I will update again MUCH sooner!!! Oh and if you do not have an account for the gallery just email me and I will set you up with one…there are all sorts of “as we go along” pictures on there!

God bless and much much much love!
Susie