Blue Dog House: Fixin's...

I'm so sore. And my blisters have blisters on my hands. That's one of the things I remember most about my mom's hands growing up. They were just so soft! I try to take care of mine. I want to have a soft touch for my kids. And that means prep work. Lotion, grooming nails, etc. Speaking of prep work, my hands have taken a beating working on our new house for the past two days.

Ugh, they're ugly. I'm still bruised from an iv a while back, my palms are red from sanding drywall, blisters from gripping the lawnmower bar mowing the front and back yards, and nails chipped from peeling wallpaper. However, the wallpaper is off, the lawns are groomed and the holes we made peeling wallpaper are patched up and looking good.

One of the things that kept running through my head as Court, Carla and I worked on the house, was the reminder of God's blessings. How different they look sometimes. The house needs some fixing up. Especially the puddles in our dining room from the leaking water line connected to the fridge. But there's a still a blessing in that. None of us have moved our stuff in, and we'd moved the fridge to pull off more wallpaper. The repairs will not be our responsibility financially. And that is so big for us.

I think sometimes in my life, God's blessings take a little work. He wants to give you, me, all of us, exactly what we need in remarkable ways and proportions. In my life, the things I appreciate the most, are the things I can put a little work into. I love that God gives me blessings right out of the sky that I never see coming, but I also love when He gives me a blessing I can be a part of in the making. I love that He wants me to be involved in blessing others, including myself.

That being said, I am so tired, its unbelievable how exhausted I am. But I'm about to go to church, and the thought of it just makes me grin. There's rest there. And people I love there. And not one piece of wallpaper that needs to be peeled, or one blade of grass that I need to mow...

So Far Away...

My sister has surgery this week. I can't be with her. That drives me crazy. I remember when we were little how we couldn't wait to grow up and do adult things together. Now that we are "grown up" we're hundreds of miles away from each other. I don't see her face for months. MONTHS! Sigh. I ache that I can't hold her hand through this. Yet I know she's cared for. Her husband is there. More importantly, I trust God with her. I know He's got her in His hand. He has big plans for that young lady.

How the Blue Dog House was found...

So I've been bragging about how unbelievable God has been with the whole house thing. I'm a firm believer in telling of how amazing He has been in peoples' lives so this is practicing what I preach...

Here's what happened. Carla, Court, and I were talking about how we needed to find some place to live. We just started driving around. Carla really liked her old neighborhood, so we went and drove around there. Courtney was spotter, Carla was the 'write down the number' girl, and I drove. We saw the house where our worship leader lives with his wife...

We saw a ton of for sale signs in the area, but none for rent. We keep driving around, up and down blocks. Then out of nowhere, Courtney's eagle eye sees two on one street. We go down it and there's a cute little blue house for lease. We squeal like the girls we are at how precious it looks and that its for lease, not purchase.

We pull into the driveway. Of course we get out and snoop around the place. The back gate is open but all the blinds were closed so we couldn't see anything. Carla is scoping out the back yard for the dog she wants, Courtney's already thinking paint colors and I'm wondering what my morning and evening commute are going to be like to work.

Not having one iota of a view of the interior of the house, we knew we had a long way to go before this could even be a possibility for our home. It'd have to have 3 bedrooms/2 bathrooms, be affordable for all three of us, and be in a good neighborhood where three sets of parents won't have to worry about their girls in a home by themselves. As we are parked in the driveway talking about it, we decide we are going to definitely call the leasing office.

As we are leaving the driveway I say, hey! let's pray over the house. Court says, huh? I explain my weird random comment. Well, if this is the house for us, I want God to be involved throughout the whole process. Including us just looking at it. They agree. Court says, you wanna lay hands on it? Nah, we'll just pray in my car for it. So that's what we did. Asked God to be in control of this and if He wanted to spoil three of His girls with a pretty blue house, please feel free...

We talk to an agent and saturday was open for us to view it. We go see it. Ask the leasing agent to give us a few minutes, and then discuss. We love it. Yeah it needs paint. But its perfect for us. I mean really. Carla had a washer and dryer we were going to have to find a place for, however, we walked in and the laundry room is empty. Fridge, dishwasher, stove, microwave, everything BUT a washer and dryer are included with the house. Any maintenance questions I asked were always responded with a, just call the rental agency and we'll send a maintenance guy out. They are on call 24/7.

We'll do the paperwork this week. And maybe even get to go in and paint before we move. Which is wonderful. I still want God involved in all of this. That includes paint swatches and calling in favors to help three girls move and paint their new home...

The Blue Dog House...

Take a gander. Its a house Carla, Court and I looked at this morning.
Assuming all of our tees are crossed and i's dotted, we'll move May 1.
The color reminds me of those Blue Dog paintings.

Speaking of, I may call you to ask to help us paint inside.
Or move furniture.

A Sword Has Its Place...

I'm not supportive of blatant stereotypes of people groups. For example, this weeks' shooting at Virginia Tech. Heartbreaking, yes. Terrifying, yes. Reason to discriminate, heck no. I don't think there's ever a valid reason to judge someone just because of their race, religion, hair color, eye color, whether they eat vegetables or steak, or whether someone like them committed some horrible crime.

This whole thing has shocked people. Rightly so. Its atrocious what happened. And would I have wanted him put through the legal process, absolutely. I think that's why we have the legal system. Its put in place to protect the society we have created. That being said...

Why have we become so tolerant towards violence?!

The reaction to this kind of reminds of 9/11. We grieve, we get scared, we get pissed, and then we go buy a cup of coffee to prove we had it right in the first place. People were encouraged to keep going on with their lives, otherwise the terrorists "win." I understand the reasoning and comfort in getting back to a normal pace, but couldn't we learn a little about what's just happened before we become so jaded to it?

Since this shooting, anti-gun control groups have started jockeying for position, as have pro-gun control groups. Everyone's looking for a limelight and a way to get their foot in the door to convince society that gun control should be done their way. If you're looking to me for an answer, I don't have it. I know how to properly and responsibly wield a firearm. Should that centuries old right be taken from me because of harmful and dangerous decisions made by others? I don't know. Do I like watching the news every night and hearing of families being destroyed and hurt by actions involving firearms? No. Does it bother me that I could go into a store, spend a few minutes filling out a piece of paper, and walk out with a glock 9? Yeah, it kind of does.

I don't think God disapproves of weapons. Used as means of protection they can prove quite an asset. As for mindless violence, pretty sure He's not a fan of that. Remember when Peter chopped off Malchus' ear? Jesus wasn't like yay! thanks for turning your fear and rage into a reason to hurt a perfect stranger. He did the exact opposite. He told Peter to knock it off. "Put your sword back in its place," Jesus said to him, "for all who draw the sword will die by the sword." Matthew 26:52. He healed Malchus' ear, his last miracle, and then was taken into custody to go crucify Himself cuz He loved you and me unconditionally.

Unconditional love...now thats an idea I can tolerate.