The 7 o'clock News

There have been a lot of things that have happened in the last several months that I have either not had time to write about, or that I didn't want to write about for whatever reason. I figured I'd cover a few of those in this post. It may be long and rather disjointed, kind of like the 7 o'clock news where you may hear--in no particular order--about anything from an elephant escaping from the zoo, to a political faux pas, to a major catastrophe. Thankfully, I don't have any of those to report about.

This year has been interesting health-wise. (I dislike the word "interesting", probably because my 11th grade Creative Writing teacher frowned upon it so heavily.) At the beginning of the year, Josh and I were concerned that something might seriously be wrong with me. I was exhausted all the time, was experiencing daily abdominal pain/bloating/indigestion, and some other things as well. After multiple visits to the doctor, a colonoscopy in May (all clear, praise the Lord!), followed by a scary bleeding episode in June, we decided to go ahead and have a hysterectomy at the beginning of August. This has been a phenomenal decision so far! I cannot put into words how much better I am feeling. I have a lot more energy than I had in the past few years, and I hadn't realized before just how much of my life was being consumed with my monthly cycle (sorry) and cycle recovery. It was literally sucking the life out of me. I'm praising God for restoring physical health to me!

Josh and the boys went to Cuba at the end of October. (Would you be more surprised if I told you an elephant had escaped?) Why Cuba? Because Josh loves to travel and had accumulated points with Southwest Airlines. He needed to go somewhere that they fly, and wanted an exotic place in the same time zone as we are. Voi. La. I had the opportunity to go, but then we would have had to bring Eden (my blood pressure went up a few points just typing that), plus I hate to fly, so there's that. Josh's sister Melanie and two of her kids went with Josh, Noah, and Seth. They learned a lot about the government and culture in the few days they were there. This trip also whetted Josh's appetite to take a missions trip somewhere soon.

In May, Josh bought a house on the river at a foreclosure sale. He got it for a good price, and as usual before a foreclosure, he was not able to see the inside before bidding. That's not usually a problem, because you can usually assume you'll have the bathrooms and kitchen to redo without question. Possibly flooring and definitely paint. However, when he won the bid and was allowed access to the inside, he was shocked to discover that the entire house had been gutted all the way back in 2007 or 2008.  He had thought the people were living there, but they just had been using it as an overgrown storage facility! They had started a renovation, and ran out of money to finish it. So, we own a house with a gorgeous view of the river that we had thought *maybe* we'd move into, but now there's the fact that it needs everything done to it, and I do mean everything. There's I think one piece of sheet rock up in the whole house; other than that it's all studs. All the hvac needs to be replaced (because raccoons lived in there for a while. They didn't do it any favors), and there are trenches in the concrete floors where the people had replumbed all those years ago. Josh doesn't regret buying it, because even if we sold it as is, we think he could make a little bit of profit. And if we did decide to move into it, it's a great deal because the purchase price was low enough. BUT. It's a lot of work should we decide to keep it and fix it up. There's the blessing that we'd get to choose literally everything that goes in, but also the reality that the work has to be done. This is a matter we've been praying about since May: to keep it or sell it? It's on a street called Rio St. Johns, so we refer to it as Rio. If you hear me talk about Rio, that's what I mean.

Are you still with me?

This school year has been a very challenging one in a lot of ways. I don't know whether to call it depression or what, but I really was struggling mentally/emotionally/spiritually for a while. In the last week or so, I feel like the Lord has really helped me to see that He is with me. There were some really oppressive dark days and weeks and months where I was feeling like I just couldn't go on homeschooling. I hated my life. I don't want to dwell on that right now, so I don't know if I'll write more in the future about that or not, but I am so thankful that "the Lord Himself is near me with a special mercy for each hour. All my cares he gladly bears and cheers me; He whose name is Counselor and Power. The protection of His child and treasure is a charge that on Himself He laid. 'As thy days, thy strength shall be in measure;' this the pledge to me He made!" (name that song)

I think I'll stop there for now. I feel so much better just being able to take some time today, on this Black Friday, to write. I miss writing. I miss documenting the big and the small parts of our life. I'll end with some things I am thankful for.

1. I am so thankful for God; my Savior who knows my need and meets them and keeps His promises!

2. I am so thankful for Josh, who of late has begun helping out more than he used to. As I type this, I am sequestered in my room in my pretty gray chair, while it rains outside and the kids are cooped up. And Josh is out there in the thick of the kids, bravely manning the fort so I can write all by myself.

3. I am thankful--in my sane moments--for the flexibility and privilege to homeschool my kids. I do need to pray for more strength in that area. I still would say our homeschooling efforts are not pretty, but I'm thankful.

4. I'm thankful to have a church that preaches the gospel and tries to please the Lord with all of its heart.

5. I'm thankful for beautiful music that lifts my soul and reminds me of the truth.

6.  I'm thankful for a godly extended family.

7. I'm thankful for each of my three children. Can you believe I have three children? God is so good!