Getting caught up and a tornado

I can’t believe that it has been almost a month since my last post. We have been in our new home now for close to seven weeks. Some days it seems more like seven months. Things have improved a lot around here, starting to feel more like home to us. We’ve managed to get pictures on the walls, furniture in place and are finally getting used to one bathroom for the four of us.
Like I said in my last post, we were supposed to move in on July 14th, but it ended up being that Monday the 16th before we actually stayed in our new home. So after a week and a half of unpacking and getting things in place, we decided to have a day at the beach on Friday (the 27th). We got up that morning and drove an hour to Panama City Beach. Sad to say that the only pictures that I took were of these birds.

Then on Saturday (the 28th) Chuck’s parents came up for a quick visit. We showed them around the college campus and our “little town”.  Although we didn’t get to spend a lot of time with them (they went home the next morning) we were so glad that they came to visit.
Chuck started classes at the college on Monday, August 13th. So the kids and I had that week to get school clothes and supplies for them. Tyler also started football practice that week. They both started school on Monday, August 20th. I was an awful mom, I did not get any “first day of school” photos of them.
So much has happened since we’ve been here. Of course the obvious was everyone starting back to school, well not me, for now anyway.  Chuck was hired as the Interim Youth Pastor at FBC Graceville. Thanking God for providing a position for Chuck at a local church. Tyler is fitting in really well with the youth at FBC. Kaelyn is trying to but she is the youngest one in the group. However she has made several friends at school.  Everyone is adjusting well.
Last Friday night was the first football game of the season. It was the kickoff classic game. Both Varsity and J.V. teams played. Tyler is on the J.V. team this year and his games will be played on Thursday nights. Because of him coming onto the team just a few weeks ago and not having much experience playing, the varsity coach thought it would be best for Tyler to move down to the j.v. team to get some playing time in.  He did get to play in this game.  Tyler is #79. Even though they didn’t win their game, Tyler had a good time playing.

Kaelyn was all dressed up in their school colors of orange and black to cheer on those Tigers and her brother!

Finally to close out this post with a little excitement for us today. Chuck was going to go get Tyler picked up from football practice and asked if I wanted to go with him. So I did, Kaelyn stayed home to get her homework finished before time to leave for Church. It was really cloudy outside and had been raining off and on all afternoon. Just before we left an alarm went off on the cell phone saying there was a tornado warning until 5:30 p.m. CDT. I turned the t.v. on to a local news channel and they said that a tornado had touched down just outside a nearby town. I didn’t really think anything about it, considering it was a ways from us and heading in a different direction. When we got to the football field/locker room area, we saw some of the players running inside. Well a few seconds later someone came out of the locker room yelling for people to get inside. Sure enough there was a tornado coming. It went over the locker room and touched down on the other side of some trees on the northwest side of the school. Talk about one of the SCARIEST times of my life. All I could think of was that Kaelyn was at home (less than a mile and a half down the road) by herself. I tried calling her, but couldn’t get through, finally after about the third time of calling she answered the phone. I told her to stay calm, that there was a tornado that just went over us and for her to go close the bathroom door and get down in the hallway with pillows over her. We could hear the tornado while it was on the other side of those trees and all I could think about was why in the world didn’t I just stay at home with Kaelyn or have her come with us. I was almost to the point of being sick on my stomach right there in front of the football team in that locker room. Not sure if it was my nerves, and panic feeling or the smell in there.  To make matters worse Chuck and I could see a very big black cloud over the area where we live at, but because of the school being in the way we couldn’t really tell if there was any kind of rotation going on in those clouds or not. Thank God, he kept our family and the rest of the families that were up there at the school safe. When we got home, Kaelyn was still hunkered down in the hallway. I was afraid she would be upset, but she wasn’t. She was just as calm as she could be. I thank my heavenly Father for keeping us all safe. 

Home Sweet Home

Wow, what an adventure this move has been. We were greeted with 100 degree heat and no power at our little (and I mean little) home. Let me back up and start with the morning of our move. Our plan was to have the moving truck completely loaded and to be leaving our rental house in Gainesville at 8:00 Saturday morning. Tyler had not been feeling well (I think it was partly due to being nervous about moving and also seeing the stress that his dad and I were feeling.) and was slow moving so it took him and Chuck a little longer to get the truck loaded.

Kaelyn taking a break

Needless to say, we didn't leave at 8:00 it was close to 1:00 when we finally pulled out of our neighborhood.

When we got to our little house (living in married housing on campus) we were met with 100 degree heat and no power (long story on that and to be quite honest just don't want to go there). My cousin Rebecca's husband Shawn had a couple of guys who also live in married housing there to help unload the moving truck.

The front of our house and yes I cried when I saw it.

After seeing the front of the house, this little gift basket bowl from Rebecca and her family was a welcome site. It was full of goodies.

All of the furniture was unloaded on Saturday along with some of the boxes. It was so hot and we were all tired. We locked up the house and went to Shawn and Rebecca's (which is just a couple of houses down from ours) where we had sub sandwiches for dinner that they had bought for us from Subway.

Fast forward to Monday, we finally have power in the house and the a/c was cooling really good. After much cleaning (the house was filthy and just plain old disgusting) we finally got things clean to where we could start putting stuff away. Here are some pictures of what awaited us upon arrival.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A dead bug and a shoe print in the bathtub. Bless my husbands heart he got in there and scrubbed that bathroom down. Also in the tub was what I thought to be spilled paint, after Chuck started cleaning in he said it wasn't paint. Apparently the enamel on the tub was chipped and who ever was fixing it didn't know what they were doing.

We noticed that every time the toilet was flushed we had to plunge it. The maintenance man was sent over and he worked on it then said he couldn't find anything wrong with it. Well after he left it still kept happening. So on Tuesday morning he was there to put a kitchen drawer back in (he took it back to the shop on Monday since when you opened it, it would fall out) we told him the toilet still was not working right. So he goes in the bathroom and after messing with it for about two hours he leaves and this is what we find.

He had to pull the toilet out. Turns out that something was stuck in it and he couldn't get it out, so he had to go and get a new toilet for us. When he left, Chuck went back in there and scrubbed the bathroom clean again. Gotta love a man that helps out by cleaning. ( ;

After being in the house for a few days the shock had worn off a little. We were able to make it more like home to us. We got boxes unpacked and hung some pictures up on the wall.  You're really not supposed to hang pictures on the walls because the holes could expose the asbestos in the walls. The maintenance man said we would "probably be okay".

 The maintenance man did come and clean all the "yuck" out from under the lifted up part of the kitchen counter, still could use some repairs.

Broken blinds throughout the house, we had to replace them. I was just shocked that all of this wasn't taken care of before we moved in. I was not in the best of moods during our first couple of days here, don't really think any of us were.

It's been a a little over two weeks since we moved to Graceville...and boy what a week that first one was! After starting off with no power in our house for 2 days, which is a rough way to start. Things have gotten better, our house is becoming a home and we are all adjusting well in our new "adventure". God is good!

"For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you." Isaiah 41:13 NIV

I will have another post up soon with pictures of our "little house" after the clean up. ( ;

A Big Change

I can't tell you the number of times that I have sat down to write this post then delete and start over again. This time I plan to get it finished and click on the "PUBLISH POST" tab. It's not that I don't want to write this post, it's just there are so many things I want to write and just can't seem to find the words for it.

If you remember this post where I said that there would be a BIG CHANGE for our family this summer. Well now is the time to share that with you, my friends. So with lots of excitement and also a little sadness I tell you all that we are once again moving.

Let me start at the beginning. We moved to Gainesville a year and a half ago, God has used that time to mold us, shape us and draw us together as a family as well as give us a clear vision for the ministry calling He has blessed us with. We know that their were people praying for us and that has been a comfort in the dark days and an encouragement to keep us going.

After much prayer and seeking God's will for our lives and ministry, we know that God is leading us to leave Gainesville and attend The Baptist College of Florida. Chuck has been provided much "hands on" experience in ministry and now it is time for him to have some formal theological training. We will be moving on July 14th and Chuck will begin classes on August 13th.

Our family would appreciate your prayers as we make these changes. Here are some of the specifics you can pray for:

• Tyler and Kaelyn starting a new school
• God to provide us with new friends and co-workers for the advancement of the Gospel
• God to provide for our family financially
• God to provide a church for us to minister in while in college      

A scripture that I have been clinging to for the last several months has been Philippians 4:6-7 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

To be quite honest I have been anxious about moving, we don't have a job, how will we pay for groceries, utilities, etc. Well that is where I have been clinging to and praying the above verse. And you know I can say that I feel at peace. I know that by stepping out in faith and being obedient that God will take care and provide for our needs.    

I love what Priscilla Shirer says in her bible study "Discerning the voice of God": God knows your life from beginning to end. He knows all the details necessary to take you from where you are to where He wants you to be and keep you in His perfect will.

I am excited about this new chapter in our lives, but at the same time sad that I will be moving away from people that I love and care about deeply. Most likely I will be missing from the blog for a few weeks as we pack up this next week and get ready to move next weekend, then of course getting unpacked and setting up house again. Once we get "somewhat settled" in our new home I'll be back to share pictures and of course how our move went.

Love to all my family and friends!

A Trip to the Beach

Last week we were able to spend a few days at the beach. My in-laws rented a condo in St. Augustine for the week and invited us to come stay too. On Friday (the 15th) Ray and Harriet (my in-laws) picked our kids up and took them on to the beach. Then on Saturday they met up with my husbands brother and his wife to pick up the other two grandkids. There is a big age difference with the four grandkids, our kids are 12 and 15 while the Aidan is 7 and Sean is 4. On Sunday (Father's Day) we joined them in St. Augustine along with Doug & Caryn (my brother-in-law and his wife). Went out to dinner to celebrate the Dads and then back to the condo. Doug and his family visited for a while and then headed back home. Ray & Harriet decided that they would go ahead and head on home too so that our little family could have some time together at the beach. Once everyone left we put on our bathing suits and headed down to the beach.

On Monday we took the kids to the Ripley's Museum and also walked around St. George Street. We went back to the condo to rest and then got ready to go out to dinner. We went to Saltwater Cowboys.

source

We got up Tuesday morning and went back down to the beach for a few hours then it was time for us to pack up and head back home. Ray and Harriet went back to stay for the rest of the week to have some down time. We really enjoyed our time there and are so thankful that we were asked to go and stay.

I'll end this post with a photo that I took while at the beach, made Kaelyn and I laugh as we were sitting on the beach while Chuck and Tyler were out in the water.