My Ebenezer

Today has been a great day so far. We are gearing up to go over to Matt and Jen's to share Thanksgiving dinner with them and Jen's family, as well as a couple from church. Today we all enjoyed sleeping in a little, taking our time just being a family this morning. Josh and Noah worked on the motorcycle--the tire was flat--while I started making the Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle I'm bringing for dessert. I didn't spend much time thinkng over the disappointments of recent days; rather I've been doing my best to focus on what the Lord has given me. A Great Family. I love my immediate family and extended family on both sides! The Lord is good to have placed me in such a good family. Most of us are believers, which is such a blessing when we get together because there's already a common bond. A Husband Who Loves Me. Josh and I have been married almost 8 years, and we're still best friends! I am thankful to the Lord for giving me Josh who balances me; I can...

A new day usually brings at least a little distance from the pain; the ability to step back and look up rather than be steeped in my distresses. Today I am sad, but thankfully I've quit crying (I think! Funny what small things trigger all those emotions again). Hurting, but not without hope. "Make me know Your ways, O Lord; Teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; For You I wait all the day. Remember, O Lord, Your compassion and Your lovingkindness, For they have been from of old... All the paths of the Lord are lovingkindness and truth To those who keep His covenant and His testimonies... My eyes are continually toward the Lord, For He will pluck my feet out of the net. Turn to me and be gracious to me, For I am lonely and afflicted. The troubles of my heart are enlarged; Bring me out of my distresses..." Ps 25:4-6, 10, 15-17 My sister-in-law Melanie commented yesterday that my questions will probably go answerless. Th...

I am, in a word, discouraged right now. There are far too many details to share, some that would probably be too much information anyway, but suffice it to say we are still not expecting a baby . I'm having more difficulty over this than I usually do. I've mentioned before that I rarely cry over my infertility anymore, but I made an exception today. Let me back up; I was convicted earlier in the month over my growing disbelief that God was ever going to give us a baby unless we adopted (a great option for some, but I still grimace at the thought). I had almost even stopped praying about it, but then I had been reading through the book of Matthew in my daily devotions and came across passages like these: "Ask and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened unto you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him...

Our Playpals activity for yesterday led us to the St Johns River downtown, where we took a fun ferry ride! It was just Jen, Brianne, Noah, and me, but we all had fun anyway. The weather was perfect, and the kids really enjoyed the boat ride. I had fun talking to Jen and watching the kids enjoy themselves.

Cool. Semi-foggy. And the lone tree brave enough to change colors, bless its heart. Thank you Lord for the beautiful world You made!!

Here are some recent pics from the worksite over at Cellar Cir. It's slowly changing from a work zone to a home. Flooring helps! The countertops are headed back to the shop for adjustments, as you can see they're a tad too long.

Lately if Noah wants to compliment someone to the highest degree, he'll say, "You look like a king!" (whatever that means, but it must be good, right?). If I get dressed up for church, or fix my hair Noah will announce that I look like a king. Awww. Kind of made my heart melt until we went to the fair last weekend and he said the same thing.... about a PIG!! It had to be the hugest pig I have ever seen, and she had a pen-ful of piglets with her. Noah said, "That pig looks like a king!" Great. Thanks. Now I know that when I get dressed up, I either resemble a king or a very huge pig. Thanks, sweetie!

That's a cell phone in his hand. :)

"In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." Enjoy!

Saturday evening we needed a break from all the rehabbing and work projects, so we headed downtown to the Fair which happened to be in town for its final weekend. I had read a book to Noah earlier in the week about a mouse who went to the Fair, and ever since then he's been determined to ride the Ferris Wheel. It turns out in real life they won't let someone who is 36" tall get on the Ferris Wheel (you have to be taller), so that was a little disappointing, but we made do very nicely with the Kiddie rides instead. :) That was fine with me. Kiddie rides are more my style anyway (right, Rachel? The "Little" Dipper? Ring a bell? Inside joke.). They had an agricultural section with all kinds of animals, like these cows. Noah thought they were big and "smelly". Chickens! He loved that a few had laid eggs in their cages. Bunnies! The helicopter ride, which Noah begged to go on. Way cool. The following video is of Noah on The Motorcycle Ride. I also ...

Sadly my blog has fallen by the wayside again. Well, probably none of you are saddened by my absence, but I miss writing and journaling. This blog provides an important outlet and diary for me, and my ideal would be to post at least once a day. Lately that goal would be close to impossible to pull off so I will just have to be content to post when I can until this Living In Limbo stage comes to an end (hopefully soon?). Mom Rowley has been a tremendous help to us over the last week that she has been here. She leaves tomorrow for Connecticut. We have gotten more done this last week than any of the previous weeks because she has been here helping with Noah and even pitching in at the jobsite almost every day. Rehabbing and shopping at home improvement stores with a two-year-old in tow is not the easiest thing in the world to accomplish! If I am working with Noah there, I'm functioning at about 10% of my normal capacity simply because I am constantly distracted and having to re...

Today, as I mentioned before, I was able to take a stroll through Publix armed with my coupons for a blissful I-actually-completed-a-thought-without-someone-fussing-or-distracting-me shopping trip! Everyone should have a shopping trip like this at some point. No deadline. No interruptions. Just you, your coupons, and a shopping cart. Here's what I scored today for $16.40! That's: 4 boxes of cereal a 5lb bag of potatoes 4 cans diced tomatoes 2 jars pasta sauce 2 tubes toothpaste (1 regular, 1 travel size) Tylenol 2 packages ready-to-bake cookie dough 2 tubes lip gloss I could have done even better, except I thought I had coupons for some of the items and it turns out I didn't, but I bought them anyway. I don't think I'll ever do as well as my sister-in-law Melanie, who recently got paid for her groceries. **scratches head in disbelief** But I'm saving money over what I used to spend, so that's at least progress! Can I tell you a little secret? I don't do...

In Action is always the best way to describe Noah! Grammie took him and Brianne to the park today so I could do some couponing at Publix (finally!) and I joined them after I was done. These are a few of the shots of Noah I was able to secure in between his constant busy-ness. P.S. To my mom: The shirt on Noah is one of the ones you gave him for his birthday! He was excited to wear it today :)

We've made a lot of headway in the kitchen over at Cellar Cir. The floor has been tiled and the cabinets are in! Thought you'd like to see some of that progress: After the first coat of paint went on the walls but before tile. After Matt took pity on us and came over and helped pour concrete over the floor to make it level. It turns out, there was a SEVERAL INCH floor slope from one end of the kitchen to the other; a huge problem if you don't want your tile to be weird or your cabinets to be sloped. Laying tile on our newly-leveled floor. Tile laid! This was pre-grout. I'm wishing I had gotten pictures of the grouting process because I did most of it! After the cabinet installation (the drawer that's missing is actually laying in the cabinet on the left. We fixed it shortly after this picture was taken.) Cabinets installed! Now for the sink, countertops, and appliances! Stay tuned. One big piece of news is that we've been given a time extension on o...

Josh's mom is flying down here today for the express purpose of helping us out by watching Noah and/or painting or whatever we need her for! She's giving us her time for a week and I am so excited! These days I hardly know which way is up, as each day is busier than I can remember being in a long time and I fall into bed exhausted every night. I am so looking forward to an extra pair of hands for a week. :) Matt and Jen have been super helpful as well. Jen has watched Noah for me on more than one occasion and Matt took pity on us and came over and laid tile in our kitchen yesterday! Thank you, guys! I'll have to be better about taking and posting pictures. Right now I have a few pics of the tiling and painting that has been done, but I haven't taken the time to get them off the camera and onto the computer. In other news, Noah caught a cold yesterday, which has made things interesting with the work going on. I'm praying that he heals quickly and that none of...