Happy Saturday!

Derek decided to take today off, and I didn't even ask him to! He's so wonderful.

So we piled into our beautiful new-to-us van and headed out to Shipshewana. We got a handful of things from E&S and ate some delicious lunch there. Then pet a horse and some puppies and played on the playgrounds!

Later tonight I get to go out with my sisters and mom for a girls night! Woot!

All this after a week full of playdates, workouts, MOPS, and free clothing for the babies! So grateful for a God who enjoys being a Dad.

I hope you all are having just as amazing of a Saturday.

This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it! Psalm 118:24

((Remembering some friends who are hurting tremendously. Praying they have a beautiful and peace-filled Saturday, too!))

Tomorrow...

I've got all sorts of crazy mixed feelings. (None of which involve anything related to sadness, though!)

Tomorrow at 3:00 we will be meeting to officially close on our new home - nearly 4 months after first stepping foot in the perfect house.

...

D: "What do you think, Linds?"
L: "It's perfect."

...

I'm anxious. Yep. I think "anxious" is just the right word to encompass my emotions.

I'm sitting in an almost completely packed house. If something goes wrong tomorrow...

Or if the funds just aren't there...

So I'm writing this post to request prayer. Prayer is so powerful! And so is trusting in the only One who is truly worthy.

Please pray:

• that closing will go smoothly and quickly (Derek has Micro Soccer Academy at 5!)
• that the timing for everything involving money going out will coordinate with money coming in (no bounced checks!)
• that God will continue to miraculously (yes I believe in miracles!!!) provide
• that we will not waver in trusting Him
• UPDATED: We desperately need a washer and dryer!

I've heard this quote several times recently, I can't resist using it:

"From your mouth to God's ears!"

This trusting thing has been so hard and so amazing at the same time! I was so proud of my husband the other day when he called to tell me he was on his way to the insurance company to pay for home owners insurance. He asked what we should do as we didn't have the money to pay for it. I was stressing just a little. Suddenly he said, "I'm just going to write the check."

That was that. So far God's got it covered!

Derek said later that doing that was the scariest thing he's ever done. Not moving halfway across the country. Not spending 6 weeks in Ukraine. Not preaching in front of hundreds of people.

No. Trusting God without the faintest idea of how He would work it out. That's scary.

And oh so rewarding!

THANK YOU for your many prayers!!!

((Don't worry, picture update of the house will come as soon as possible!!))

House Update

I just love this place.

Well, there's not much to report. The basic house inspections have mostly passed. One problem that has popped up is the radon level is high in the basement. Apparently that's common in these parts. As long as we can find a way to pay for it, it's not gonna stop us from buying this house! We're still waiting to hear about the well and sewage... I think. Anyway, prayers that everything else comes back in tip top shape would be much appreciated!

Otherwise, the papers have been signed! So unless something major happens (like God says no!), we'll eventually live in this house! Eventually. While there is a closing date, the loan is still in the hands of government people. Enough said.

Here at the good ol' rental, we have some serious mice issues. But we've done a pretty good job lowering the cochroach population. The toilet broke last night. We were told it was completely new. When the guy came to fix it, he said the piece that broke was very old and just had to be replaced. It's just like our landlords to cut corners. They seem to be very good at it.

I'm learning to be grateful. I mean overall this rental is just what we needed. I'm praying that the reason we're having so many problems is because God is giving us a way to get out of the lease and move into our own home soon!

This verse encouraged me yesterday -

"Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, and He will do it." Psalm 37:5-6

I am a woman

and as a woman I have the right to change my mind... again.

I don't like the idea of combining this blog with my jewelry blog. It just doesn't make sense.

So head over to my new DandLs DangLs blog to keep up with contests and giveaways, tutorials and tips. You'll love it there! :)

Also a prayer request...
The people selling the house that we LOVE decided they were willing to accept our offer! Please pray that -

- the loan goes through quickly
- the house passes all inspections (the sellers condition was that we buy it as is)
- our landlords will be willing to return our deposit even though we will be breaking our lease
- all the little details fall into place
- we will continually be sensitive to God's desires.



Thank you!!

Starting from Scratch

If you don't know anything about us considering moving out of PA, catch up here (Jan. 14 entry).

After Derek was offered the job that we were sure was exactly what God wanted for us, I had a sort of prophetic meltdown (for a little more explanation on my spiritual gift visit the Dec. 21 entry). While learning another side of my spiritual gift (the side where I cry), I unwittingly announced to my wonderful husband that I would be miserable if he took this job. If momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy... so the saying goes. In a weird twist I begged him to take the job anyway, but he's much better at knowing when God is speaking through me than I am. The next day we officially decided that God did not want us to take this job.

So we're back to square one. We don't really have any job leads. We don't really have any churches that we feel confident about at this point. But really that's like square 2. We're not even there. We don't even know if God has called us to the Elkhart area for sure. We still see it as a serious possibility, but not a definite.

Grr. I know God's ways are the best and the last place I wanna be is where God doesn't want us to be. But... grr...

We see Russia way out there... it's like we know what to do once we become missionaries. The path is crystal clear way out there. But there's this HUGE empty hole between the step we're chillin' on right now and Russia. We can see nothing. Nada. Completely blank.

I've never really been one to plan all that far ahead, but this is driving me nuts.

The only thing we know for absolute sure right now is that we need to pray with open hearts. We've been dreaming of moving back to Indiana for a couple years now. But we don't want to pray with that end in mind. We want to pray with that big, black, empty hole in mind. What does God want us to fill it with?

We are also praying that God will provide a job that is ministry related and pays 30 grand a year. (We believe in praying for specifics!) If the job isn't ministry related, we're praying that it will be a day time, week day job that will leave our schedules open to be involved in ministry in the evenings and on the weekends. We are confident God will provide this. Where and when is the question. Please pray with us!

"Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did." Gen. 6:22