The Story of Tuck

As many of you know, our first dog, Pudge passed away last summer.  

Then sometime last November, I found myself perusing dogs on Craigslist hoping to find another dog to add to our family. At the time though, nothing worked out and after several closed doors, I eventually let the idea go.  Who wants to be trying to housebreak a puppy when it's snowing outside anyway? Not me!  Plus having just one small dog was nice and easy and I was enjoying that.  

Then at the beginning of this summer, we went down to Florida and stayed with my in-laws who had gotten a new puppy since the last time we'd seen them.  And their new pup, Charlie and Max had the best time playing together.  I came home from that trip pretty much convinced that we needed another dog.  Tim, however, was not so convinced. 

Every morning, I would check Craigslist for new dogs.  But each time I showed Tim a dog I found, he was just not that interested.  Until one day in early July, I saw this ad

Her name was Bailey.  She was part French Bulldog, part Pug and Beagle.  Her family loved her, but the kids were allergic to her, so they had decided that they needed to find a new home for her.   She grabbed our hearts from the beginning because she looked so much like a mini-Pudge.  She was the first pup that Tim was interested in at all, so I contacted the owners and we set up a time to go meet her the next morning.  The only problem was that the owners were asking a pretty hefty re-homing fee that was more than we wanted to pay.  But we were hoping that they'd be willing to negotiate the price once they met us and saw that we would give their puppy a loving home. 

The next morning, after meeting Bailey, Tim and I decided to make a decent offer and hope for the best.  The husband called his wife (who wasn't there with us) and she didn't want to accept our offer.  She said there were a few other people who were interested in Bailey, so she wanted to wait.  And since we didn't have a peace about offering any more money, we just asked them to let us know if things didn't work out with anyone else. I felt at peace about it; knowing that God was in control and if it was supposed to work out for us to have Bailey, then it would. 

For the next week, every time my email dinged, I hoped and prayed it was Bailey's owners contacting us. But after a few weeks of not hearing anything, I assumed she was sold and I started looking for another dog. But even as I looked, nothing grabbed my heart like Bailey did. 

Then one Monday morning in the beginning of August,  I was doing my usual morning check on Craigslist for dogs when a new ad for Bailey popped up.  My heart leaped and I immediately texted Tim (who was out of town) and asked him if we should contact them again.  He was completely on board, so I emailed the owners and just said we really loved Bailey and would like to try to reach an agreement with them on the price.  

This time, the wife emailed me back and said they would be willing to meet us in the middle on the price.  At this point, it felt like God had opened the door back up and was giving us the go-ahead, so we agreed on the price. Then I asked the wife if we could get Bailey the next day.  She emailed back late that night and said that they were going out of town the next morning and wouldn't be back until Thursday night, so we could get her on Friday morning.  

This sounded a bit odd to me, (were they taking the dog?  why would you list a dog on Craigslist right before you were going out of town?  were they going to pay to board her while they were gone?) but what could I say?  So I just agreed we would wait and get her Friday morning.  Tim was going to be coming back in town late Thursday night, so it would be nice that he could go with us to get her.  Plus Friday was the day before my birthday, so I felt like God was giving me a birthday puppy. 

All week long, the kids and I talked about Bailey.  We went to Target and got a collar for her and a dog bowl.  I ordered a name tag with our phone number on it to put on her collar.  And we counted down the days to Bailey. 

On Thursday night, when I was tucking the kids in to bed, they were so excited.  They kept saying, "This is like Christmas!  Tomorrow we're getting Bailey!".  

I went to bed feeling a tad wary because I hadn't heard anything from Bailey's owners, but figured no news from them was good news.  I had my phone on my nightstand that night because Tim hadn't made it home from his trip yet.  At midnight, my email dinged.  Thinking it was possibly Bailey's owners, I checked it.  It was the wife and basically she said they had changed their minds.  She said their kids were so upset when they broke the news to them and it seemed that their allergies hadn't been as bad lately.  They felt like Bailey was a part of their family and they just couldn't bear to part with her.

Ugh.  This was not the news we wanted to hear.

I forwarded the email to Tim, who was almost home at that point and then I laid in bed feeling like I had gotten punched in the gut. I felt awful, so sad, mad and disappointed, and I hated thinking of how we were going to break the news to the kids the next morning.  

When we told the kids, there were some tears and a lot of disappointment.  What was supposed to be a very exciting and fun day turned out to be a sad and hard day for all of us.  We reminded the kids though that if Bailey wasn't the puppy for us, then God had something better and we could trust Him. 

Up until we found Bailey, I was just looking for a dog and I didn't really know what I wanted. But after Bailey, I realized how much I liked French Bulldogs (she was part French Bulldog). But Frenchies are literally thousands of dollars, which is way out of our dog budget.  Plus Tim didn't really like French Bulldogs, but during this process, he realized how much he liked English Bulldogs.  At least we could agree on the bulldog part.

As the weeks went by, my desire for a bulldog puppy got stronger and stronger and I couldn't even have told you why.  It didn't make a lot of sense even to me but I was feeling so impatient.  I was constantly searching for bulldog puppies all over the internet and everywhere I looked was a closed door.  Finally, one Saturday, Tim found a breeder of Shorty Bulls on Facebook.  We had never heard of Shorty Bulls, but after looking into them, we felt like one might be a good fit for us.  The breeder was just a few hours from us and he had one puppy left.  Tim contacted him and it worked out that he was available to meet with us the next day. 

Well, we fell in love with that puppy from the moment we met him and we brought him home that night.   

His grandmother is a French Bulldog (what I wanted) and his dad is an English Bulldog (what Tim wanted).  So I feel like we got the perfect mix for us.  He also reminds us so much of Pudge in both his looks and personality.  It took us a while, but we finally settled on the name Tuck.

I can't help but see the way God worked through everything to bring us to Tuck.  He put desires in our hearts and lead us step by step. He opened doors to move us along the path and then closed doors to keep us from making wrong decisions.  I see it so clearly in this.  Also Tuck has a tiny brown spot on the back of his ear and because of this spot, someone that was going to buy him decided not to buy him because she wanted an ALL white dog.  So we got him instead.

Don't let his sweet face fool you though, he's quite the handful and I constantly feel like I have a toddler again.  I can't let him out of my sight for even a minute or he gets into things he shouldn't.  He's stubborn, cuddly, sweet and clumsy.  He snorts like a pig and charges like a bull. 

  

And that wrinkly face is so irresistible!  We're head over heels in love with him and we know he's the pup for us.  

And the funny thing is that Bailey's owner called a week after we got Tuck and said they were ready to sell Bailey to us (apparently the wife had just been having a hard time letting go).  Of course we told them we already had a puppy and weren't interested in Bailey anymore.

Good Morning America

The craziest thing happened last week….

Five years ago, I turned my leftover pumpkins into a snowman.  Do any of you remember Frosty the Pumpkinman?

He sure was cute!  I just never dreamed that one day he would have me making an appearance on Good Morning America!!

Well, hold on… let me back up.

Last Sunday night around 9:30, Tim and I were just casually sitting on the couch watching t.v. when my email dinged.  I don't normally check my email immediately, but I was waiting to hear back from a company about an order I had made, so hoping it was from them, I checked my email.  But the email was actually from a producer at Good Morning America asking me if I would be interested in coming on their show on Friday (5 days later) for a segment called, Holiday Hacks, and showing America how to turn their leftover pumpkins into a snowman. 

I was completely taken off guard.  Shocked.  Mind-blown.  Speechless.  Terrified.  All the feelings.  I shoved my phone in Tim's face and asked him what he thought.  He googled the producer's name to make sure it wasn't a hoax.  It wasn't.  So he said, "You should do it."  Just like that.  So casual.  Meanwhile, I couldn't wrap my brain around standing in front of millions of people and showing them how to make a pumpkin snowman.  If you know me at all, you probably know that public speaking of any kind is not my thing.  As in, I'm terrified of it.  I changed my major from elementary education in college because I didn't want to stand in front of my classmates and do practice class lessons.  I would much prefer to be on this side of the screen writing blogs or taking pictures. 

That night, I forwarded the email to two close friends and then Tim and I called his parents and mine.  Of course, we all agreed that it was an unbelievable, once in a lifetime opportunity.  And I knew in my gut that I couldn't just pass it up because I was scared or I would always regret it.  It felt like God was opening a door for me and He wanted me to walk through it.  He seems to be having fun lately showing me that He can do absolutely anything in my life that He wants to.     

The email said if I was interested, to please make a video that explains and shows how to make the pumpkin snowman, upload it to youtube, and then send them the link by early afternoon the next day.  These videos are how the bosses approve which guests get to be on the show.  Talk about a time crunch and tad bit of pressure!! I'm not a video person. I'm a blogger.  So all of a sudden, I went from looking forward to an easy week in which to finish up all my last minute Christmas stuff before my kids got out of school for Christmas Break to being completely stressed out, overwhelmed, can't sleep, can't hardly eat, scared out of my mind.  

But I also knew I just needed to take things one step at a time.  And the first step was the video. So on Monday, I made the video, just doing the best I could on such short notice.  I emailed it to GMA around 1:00 pm like they requested. And I prayed they would pick someone else.  The producer called later that afternoon and said she still needed an official okay from the bosses, but she wanted to go ahead and get all my information to start making the travel reservations.  I begged God to slam this crazy door closed.  I waited and waited.  On Tuesday evening I got the official green light email that I had been dreading.  I immediately called Tim and told him that we were going to NYC!  I couldn't believe that I was going to be on Good Morning America talking to millions of people on live television in just a few more days.  This was not my dream come true, this was a nightmare I was going to have to face. 

People kept asking me if I was excited and I kept saying, "No! I'm terrified!"  Like in every sense of the word.  I am not exaggerating for drama here.  I was seriously terrified.  There were times when God gave me a calmness that I couldn't explain and didn't make sense.  But there were other times when the fear was so overwhelming that I felt like I just wanted to throw up.  I spent a lot of time praying and listening to God, asking for His peace, needing to hear His voice and be reminded that He would get me through.  This was not something I could do on my own.  I  needed him to show up for me big time.

I just kept asking, why me Lord?.. of all the people that would love to get up in front of millions, why are you choosing me? This is not my thing!!  I'm not ready for this! I can't do this.  Please, please choose someone else!!

As I sat with the Lord and listened, some of the impressions I felt on my heart was that this was all His plan and even though I never imagined (or wanted) anything like this, He wanted me to surrender, to flow with Him, trusting that He was the current in my life, taking me where He wanted me to go.  This was something He was doing and He wanted me to let go of trying to control my life and relax, allow Him to work, and trust that wherever He takes me, He will get me through.  He said that His timing was perfect and that He had prepared me. He reminded me that I was His and that He would be faithful to me.

All of that was very encouraging, but the fear was still so loud and overwhelming, making me feel sick to my stomach and anxious almost constantly over the coming days.

An interesting side note : A few weeks back, Tyson has asked me when we could to to New York.  At the time, we had no real plans to go, so I just told him that we would go one day, but I didn't know when.  Now here we had such a unique opportunity to take the kids to see NYC at Christmastime.  I told Tyson that God had heard his heart's desire to go to NY and He was making it happen.  I want my kids to recognize when the hand of God moves in their lives and He does something extra special for them just to show them He loves them.

On Thursday afternoon, we loaded up the kids, dropped the pets off with neighbors and drove up to NYC.  I cannot even tell you guys how nervous I was.  I didn't sleep a wink that night.  I had to be at the studio at 5:15 in the morning, so I got out of bed at 4:15 to get ready.  There were times when I honestly didn't know if I would be able to go through with it.  This was the hardest/scariest thing I have ever had to do.

Tim prayed for me before I left the hotel and then texted me this verse a few minutes later which encouraged me "Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you… "1 Chron. 28:20

Thankfully, the staff at GMA were all so nice and put me more at ease.  They reminded me that it was just a fun segment and I didn't need to worry about stumbling over words or forgetting what to say.  They said to just try to forget about the cameras and have fun.  And they reminded me not to overthink it. Obviously that's easier said than done, but it took some of the pressure off.  We still practiced several times so we knew what we wanted to say, but the atmosphere was very laid back. I went to hair and makeup while someone went and got me a Starbucks and I felt a little bit like a movie star in that moment.  So surreal.  Then we did a few teasers where we were told to stand in front of the camera and dance with our props for all of America to see.  I was thankful that I had a snowman to dance in front of the camera.  One lady had garland and the other had a box, so I feel like that would have been a lot more awkward if on of those were my props.  The teasers ended up being fun and actually helped me relax a little bit as I realized it wasn't so awful to be in front of a camera.

Here we are getting ready to do a teaser.

Tim brought the kids down to the studio just after 8 a.m.  My segment was scheduled to be on at about 8:45.  So we hung out in the green room for a few minutes then headed outside to wait for our turn.  It was freezing outside and I couldn't stop shivering, partly from the cold, but I'm sure partly from nerves too.

And then it was time!  I said a desperate prayer of, "Jesus, Help Me!!" right before we started.  And he did.  Because I stood up there and said just what I needed to say and the words came out smoothly.  It went fast.  The two anchors did such a great job of keeping things moving and helping me get through it.  And I was so so relieved when it was over.

This picture below is just a screen shot.  Scroll down for a link to the video.

I could not figure out how to get the video up on my blog,  but you can watch it by clicking the link below

GMA Holiday Hacks

Afterwards, we showed the kids around NYC.  It was such a special blessing to be able to do this.  We had already decided to stay Friday night in the hotel so we wouldn't have to rush back home.  We wanted to take full advantage of this opportunity the Lord had given us.

We thought this gingerbread house at Anthropologie was awesome!

We took the kids to Central Park.  They had a lot of fun running around and climbing on the big rocks.

About eight years ago, when I was pregnant with Peyton, Tim had a work trip to NYC and I got to join him for a few days.  We took a picture (which I can't find or I would post it) sitting on a rock in Central Park, so here we are again eight years later.  We think it's the same rock, but we're not really sure!

We ate a really early dinner that night and were back in our hotel room by about 5:30.  I was so exhausted that I was in bed just after 6.  Tim and the kids watched t.v. until about 8:00 and then everyone went right to sleep.  It felt so good to sleep without feeling a pit of nerves in my stomach every time I rolled over.

On Saturday morning, we walked to Rockefeller Center because we thought we might take the kids ice skating, but the rink was so crowded (and it was so expensive) that we decided it wasn't worth it.  We took some pictures in front of the tree and did a little shopping.

Back at Anthropologie because they have the best window displays (and they were having a great sale!).  I'm always amazed at what they can do with things like, oh, I don't know… cardboard!  

We had to take several different pictures because now each kid wants to take a picture.

Of course the kids had to check out that Lego store too!

After that it was time to head back to the hotel and finish packing so we could check out on time.

I'm glad I did it, but mostly, I'm just really relieved it's over and that the Lord got me through it without me making a complete fool of myself on national tv. I'm also thankful for the time we got to be in NYC with our family at Christmastime. We made some special family memories. And I hope my kids remember that time their mom did something that was hard and scary but the Lord upheld her. I can't even say how much it meant to me to have people supporting me and praying for me through all of this. I'm not sure if I would have done it without the support of Tim and our families and friends. I was really reminded of how blessed I am to have so many people who love and care for me and cheer me on.

Salvaged Farmhouse Table

Well, Hello!  Does anyone still come to this space anymore?  It's been awhile since I've sat down to blog.  There are many reasons for this and right now I won't go into them, but today I wanted to pop back in and share something that recently happened and left me so encouraged. 

I'll begin by saying that over the course of the last few years, God has been changing my perspective of him.  He's teaching me to come to him as a beloved child instead of an orphan. He's teaching me to trust him with the desires of my heart, however big or small. He's been taking me by the hand and walking me out of guilt and fear and leading me into the love and freedom that can only be found in him. It's taking time and the change is slower than I would like, but I can look back and see how he's led me so kindly into trusting his goodness and faithfulness to me. He doesn't always give me what I ask for, but sometimes he does!  And this is a story about one of those times that he surprised me and made a little one of my dreams come true.

A few years ago, we had a lot of family coming up to visit us and we needed a bigger dining room table to host them, as well as room to host friends when they came over. At that time, I wasn't quite sure what I wanted in a table and we didn't want to spend a lot of money, so we found a good solid table on Craigslist and hauled it home.  It was nice enough and it worked for what we needed.  

(our craigslist table)

But then a few months ago, I just fell in love with the salvaged farmhouse table from Restoration Hardware.  We're pretty frugal and careful with how we spend our money, so a RH table was far beyond what we would even consider spending on a table.  But because God has shown me how he delights to bless his kids, I asked him for it anyway.  I would talk about it with him and even allow myself to dream just a bit that maybe one day I would get one.  I scoured craigslist almost everyday looking to see if someone posted one for sale.  

Then one day, we were out at the Leesburg outlets and we stopped in the RH outlet to look around.  I asked them if they ever got the salvaged farmhouse table in their store.  They replied that it was pretty rare, but that every once in a while, they do get one.  They added my name to a preferred customer waiting list and promised to call me if one ever came in to the store.  

One Friday a few weeks later, I got the call that I had been waiting for from the RH outlet.  They informed me that they were expecting to get a salvaged farmhouse table into the store on Sunday.  They were having a 25% off sale at the time, so not only would the table be marked down to the outlet price, but I would get another 25% off of that price.  I was so excited, but my excitement quickly deflated when the sales rep informed me that someone else had already put it on hold.  She offered to put in on a second hold for me, meaning if the guy that had it on the first hold didn't get it between 10am - 12pm on Sunday, then they would call me and hold it for me for two hours.

I was hopeful and even had a little feeling that this was God answering my prayers, but I was also trying not to get too excited about it.  I didn't want to be devastated if it didn't work out.  I knew I just needed to wait, trust him, and see what happened.  In the meantime, I talked to him about it, but promised him I wouldn't beg (cause I just hate it when my kids beg me!).  

And then around 11:30 on Sunday morning, RH outlet called to let me know that the guy decided not to get the table.  I was stunned!  Really?!!  They told me the reason he didn't want it was because there were oil spots on the table.  After asking the RH rep to describe them to me, I wasn't too concerned because the table is a very rustic table and I don't mind some imperfections.  I always just call those kinds of things "character".  And after all, there is nothing perfect about the table to begin with.  I also knew that we weren't going to be keeping the table in pristine condition or anything, because we have three kids who spill and drip stuff all the time.  

I quickly called a neighbor and asked if my kids could come over to their house to play for a few hours so Tim and I could drive to the outlets, which are about 45 minutes aways.  We needed to be able to use the entire back of the van to get the table home.  The funny (or not funny) thing was that the air conditioner in the van had just stopped working a day or so before this and it was blazing hot outside, so Tim and I had to drive the entire way in an un-airconditioned van in the middle of summer with windows down.  I promised Tim I would treat him to a starbucks frappuccino on the way home.  Our little drive to the outlets, windows down, music blaring, felt a bit like a fun date in the middle of a Sunday afternoon. 

Upon arriving to the store, we went straight to look at the table and honestly, I couldn't even find the oil spots.  I had to ask the sales rep where they were.  After she pointed them out, I could see them, but they blended in so much with the salvaged, rustic look of the wood that they were just barely noticeable.  I could not believe that someone passed the table up because of them.  Yet, deep in my heart, I knew that God had orchestrated the whole thing for me because he loves me!  Seeing those oil spots bring joy to my heart.  I look at them as God's fingerprints, put there by him to make sure I got my table. 

This table is such a reminder to me of God's love, how very personal he is with each one of us, how he delights to bless his kids, and his ability to maneuver events and bring His purposes to pass in our lives. 

I am hoping to be back in this space blogging more soon, so don't give up on my just yet! 

I’m going to Paris!!

God has been doing some really incredible things in my life lately. And each time, it just leaves me standing in awe of Him. I’ve been blown away by the great lengths He goes to to remind me that He sees me and He cares, that He loves me. He knows my heart, my needs, and my desires more than I know myself.  And He knows how to give me a gift that goes beyond my wildest dreams or expectations.

 

One morning a few weeks ago, I was thinking about how mine and Tim’s 11th wedding anniversary was coming up at the end of this month and we didn’t really have any plans. I thought back to our tenth anniversary last year and how we celebrated by taking the kids to Hershey Park, an amusement park in Pennsylvania. It was fun, but not a romantic getaway by any stretch of the imagination. In those few moments of me reminiscing, there was a fleeting feeling of disappointment that our tenth anniversary slipped by without anything romantic and memorable.  And for a few milliseconds, it felt like we had missed out. I thought… the tenth anniversary is usually one when you do something big, like go on a trip to Paris, not Hershey Park with your kids.  But we were (and still are) in a season of life when it’s extremely hard to get away without the kids.  We don’t have grandparents near by to watch them, so getting away on our own is kind of impossible. And as far as Paris goes… well, Paris..that’s just super extravagant and not something we would even dream about doing right now. And realistically, going to Paris isn’t anything I would probably ever plan to do because of the magnitude of planning and the amount of money that would be involved in a trip like that. Plus, going to Paris would totally be out of my comfort zone. I would never pursue that on my own initiative. God would literally have to tell me to go to Paris...  

Looking back, it’s so funny to me that I was thinking all of that.  One, because Paris is so far from all my normal daily thought processes, it was so completely random to be popping into my mind that day. And two, because now I know that this was God just setting me up for what He was doing. I think God loves to plant little (or big!) thoughts and ideas in our mind and heart and then fulfill them.  It’s so much more fun that way.

Well, later that evening, when the kids were in bed and Tim and I were relaxing on the couch, he said, “Umm… I have something to tell you.”  By now, I know this is his way of saying, “I know you’re not going to particularly be thrilled about this, but I have to go on a trip for work.”  So I grumbled, “Where are you going?”  And when he said, “Paris”, my jaw about hit the floor.  And then he told me the dates he would be gone, which just so happened to be over our anniversary (at this point, he had not even noticed that).  So I hit him with the book I was holding and very sarcastically told him to “Have fun on OUR anniversary!”. We laughed so hard that evening about the irony of him being in Paris alone on our anniversary. It’s one of those things that’s funny, but not funny.

I was still clueless that God was setting any of this up for me. 

Then that evening, as I was getting ready for bed, I just felt the Lord nudging me to not close the door on Paris. But honestly, I just couldn’t see everything lining up for it, it seemed impossible.  I would need a Passport, plane tickets, and we would need someone to watch the kids. Tim’s parents had just been here to visit last month and my parents already have a trip planned to visit in June, which couldn’t be switched.  And there’s really no one else that I would leave my kids with for several days while we were out of the country.  Did I mention that it seemed impossible?

But God just kept whispering to me about going. He impressed upon my heart that this wasn’t just about me and Tim and our anniversary, but also about me and Him; that this is an extravagant gift from Him and He doesn’t want me to allow fear or risk keep me from missing what He has for me. So I told Him that if He opened the doors, I would trust Him and go. 

So… long story short, God began opening doors for me to go and within a few days everything was set.  Tim’s parents bought plane tickets to fly up and watch the kids. I got an expedited Passport and then Tim booked plane tickets for me.  And before I could even fathom what all was happening, everything was lined up for me to go to Paris. Crazy!

Earlier this week, I dropped Tim off at the airport and as he hugged me goodbye, He said, “See you in Paris.”  And I laughed out loud because I so never imagined this.  I never imagined being with him in Paris, much less on our anniversary. This adventure that God planned out and surprised us with is far beyond anything I’ve ever dreamed.

I’ve never flown to another country, I don’t speak French, I don’t know where I’m supposed to go when I get there or how to find Tim, I’m absolutely clueless, really excited, and a tad terrified, but I know that God’s got this and I’m trusting Him.

So here I go…my plane leaves tonight!

House Hunt Update

As I’m sure most of you know by now, we’re moving up to the D.C. area in just a few weeks.  Back in October, Tim and I went on a house hunting trip, put an offer on a house, got outbid and then ended up coming back home without a house.  Feeling a tad desperate and knowing we would need somewhere to live, we started looking into temporary housing options.  But God just kept closing doors on us.  It seemed that every which way we turned, a door closed.  Day after day ticked by with nothing.  At this point, it was already mid-November and the movers were already scheduled to pack us up on the first of December.  Talk about stressful!  We prayed, we questioned, we waited anxiously for God to open a door. 

Then during the week before Thanksgiving week, a few new listings in Virginia and Maryland came available that we were interested in.  Almost on a whim, Tim called his parents to see if there was any chance they could come up at the last minute and take care of the kids for a few days while we made a quick house hunting trip up to DC.  They immediately agreed to help us out; even changing a doctor appointment so they could come up a day sooner than originally planned.  Tim also checked with our realtors (we have one in VA and one in MD) and both were available that weekend.  So since all of a sudden, God seemed to be opening doors for us instead of closing them, we decided to take a step of faith (in the form of a loooong car drive) and see what He had in store for us.

Tim’s parents drove up that Wednesday afternoon and then Tim and I drove all day Thursday to Virginia.  

 

The plan was to spend Friday looking at houses in Virginia and then there were a few houses we wanted to look at in Maryland on Saturday morning. 

 

Well, it turned out that we both fell in love with the third house we saw in VA that first morning.  We decided to quickly see the last few houses on our VA list, just to be doubly sure though.  And each time we walked into another house, we just felt more strongly about that third house. So after a quick lunch to pray and talk it through, we were ready to make an offer.  From our previous experience, we knew we needed to act fast.  We wrote our offer, prayed over it (again), and then submitted it to the sellers.

It was a long night of waiting and praying.  And, for whatever reason (most likely from our previous experience of falling in love with a house and then being outbid and losing the house), I lost all hope that night that we were going to get this house.  I cried and I doubted God’s faithfulness and goodness to us. Throughout most of this house hunting journey, even through all the questions and confusion we were facing, I felt God’s nearness.  I heard His whispers.  I knew that His hand was upon us and He was walking with us through all of it, that He had a plan and He was leading us.  But that night all I felt was fear and doubt and discouragement.   I couldn’t hear Him and I couldn’t feel Him near.  I felt completely lost. 

 

The next morning, since we didn’t know if our offer would be accepted and we had no time to waste, we went ahead and met with our Maryland realtor to see a few houses over there.  And afterwards, we were even more confident about our feelings for the house in VA.  We really loved it, and for us, nothing even compared.  So with nothing else to do but wait (with giant knots in our stomachs), we decided to go to Ikea and dream about all the things we would do to our house, if we got it.  We had just arrived there and were walking through Ikea when Tim’s phone rang. It was our realtor. I’m sure ya’ll have had those moments when time just seems to stand still, your heart freezes, and three seconds seems like a lifetime.  This was one of those times.  So when our realtor told us that the seller accepted our offer (and there were actually multiple offers!), I almost fell on the floor right there and cried from sheer joy and sweet relief.

Right here is where it all went down.

 

We had a house! We wouldn’t be homeless for Christmas after all!  I would not have to live in a tiny apartment on the 7th floor with three small children and an overgrown Boxer!  God had totally come through for us, seemingly at the last minute. I honestly felt like He had parted the Red Sea for our family. We were ecstatic, overjoyed, triumphant, victorious!  Our mouths probably hung open from complete awe and amazement of God and what He did for us that day and through this entire experience.

As things worked out, we were even able to get the home inspection scheduled for early the next morning before our drive back to Alabama.  It was a whirlwind trip, completely planned and destined by God.  One we will not likely ever forget.  (And if we do, I now have a blog entry to remind us.)

 

It amazes me to see how God used so many people, experiences, and situations to weave our path over these last few months to get us where we needed to be when we needed to be there.  He had a perfect way and perfect timing and a perfect home for us.  I told Tim that I feel like we’ve been through a maze.  At times, we tried to go the wrong way, but God always pulled us back on the right path each time.  He has faithfully led us through every step of the way. 

 

I can look back and see that now.  Although in the middle of everything, I felt like we were walking in complete darkness with no idea where we were going or how we would ever get there.  Sometimes, like when we were outbid during our first house hunting trip and lost the house, I felt defeated and hopeless.  But it’s clear to me now that that first house was a step on our path, not the final destination. God used that house to pull us away from putting an offer on the Annapolis house (which would have been a mistake) and then also to lead us to Fairfax.  During that first house hunting trip, after making that offer on the house, we spent days staying in Fairfax eating, shopping, and driving around looking at houses and getting to know the area.  We fell in love with the city, but then ended up leaving without a house.  At the time, that was devastating and scary.  But then in His timing and when the right house for us was on the market, God brought us back (very unexpectedly) and gave us the house He had for us. God works mysteriously like that and sometimes His ways totally blow my mind.

We also realized later, that if Tim’s dad wouldn’t have thought to change his doctor’s appointment and come up a day early (they came up Wednesday instead of Thursday), we wouldn’t have been able to drive up to VA on Thursday, see this house on Friday morning and gotten our offer in by that afternoon.  And considering that there were multiple offers on this house, it most likely would have been off the market by Saturday when we had originally planned to see it.  Crazy, huh?!!

 

Here’s a peek of our soon-to-be-home.

 

I can’t wait to get in there and start making it a home for us.

House Hunting

I guess it’s time for a little update on the move.  So much has happened over the last few weeks that it’s hard for me to figure out how to put it all into words that make any sort of sense.  It has really been a roller coaster ride and I’m still a little bit dazed and confused by all of it.

But anyway…

Back in the middle of October, Tim and I took the kids down to Florida to stay with the grandparents and then we hopped on a plane to D.C. for ten days of house hunting.  Originally, I thought it was going to be kinda like a fun little getaway for me and Tim, a second honeymoon so to speak.  No kids, ten full nights of beautiful uninterrupted sleep, coffee shop mornings, dinners out, some shopping, and of course the house hunting.  Which I am totally into the HGTV show, House Hunters, so I was completely excited about that part of the trip.  I mean, who doesn’t love getting to pick out a new-to-them house?   I had made my list of all my things that I wanted in our next house…  older with lots of character, fireplace, lots of natural light, hardwood floors, white kitchen, front porch, and on and on.  I was ready and I was excited.  (Except for the part about leaving my kids for that long, which was so completely heart-wrenching.) 

 

We spent the first few days with our realtor in VA.  We looked at probably at least 20 houses and didn’t like a single one.  I fully expected to just “know” when we walked in and I never got that feeling that “this was the one”.  Many times, we walked in and then turned around and walked straight out.  Sometimes, we pulled up to a house and then told our realtor, “um… no.” and we just went to the next.  It was exhausting and a little bit discouraging.  I didn’t like Virginia.

 

After exhausting all the Virginia possibilities (and probably our realtor too!), we headed over to Maryland for a few days with our other realtor over there.  She handed us a stack of listings and we set off hopeful to find our house.  To make a really long story a little bit shorter, we found two houses in Annapolis that we liked.  They both had their pros and cons and we were stuck on making a decision. There wasn’t a clear “this is the one” feeling, but that night, I talked myself into a decision and then attempted to convince Tim it was the right decision. We had a few more houses on our MD list to look at the next day (just to be sure) and afterwards we thought we would probably go ahead and make an offer on the house.     

 

But that next day, after finishing looking at all the MD houses, Tim had a very strong inclination to go back to VA and look again before making the offer.  A few more houses had come on the market in VA and he wanted to be sure.  I was not thrilled to be going back to VA, but I obliged him anyway.  We walked through a few houses and I was pretty closed minded about them.  My mind was still set on the house back in Annapolis.  And then, we walked into the third house on our list and Tim and I both completely flipped for it.  We knew.  We loved it immediately and the more we walked around in it, the more we loved it. We honestly felt like the Lord had led us to this house and that this was the house He had for our family.  We decided to put an offer on it that night.  But as we were sitting down with our realtor to write up the contract, we found out that someone else was also putting an offer on it.  It was seriously one of the most stressful ordeals ever.  Of course we prayed and we were trusting that the Lord was guiding us, but the entire time my stomach was in knots.  During the process, we took a short break and when we walked outside, we saw this rainbow.

Can you see it?

  

It was such a sweet reminder that the Lord was in control.  We put in an offer above asking price (which seems completely ridiculous in this market, right?!!).  And then for over 24 hours we waited and prayed.  It was hard to eat, hard to sleep, hard to think about anything but that house.

But then, to our complete and utter dismay, the other offer was accepted.  “It was much higher.”  What?!!

And then we hit rock bottom.

 

We were completely discouraged and confused.  There were no more houses to look at.  I didn’t want the house in Annapolis anymore.  I knew the difference then between thinking a house was the right house and walking in and knowing a house was the right house.  And then there was the fact that we really believed that God had led us to that particular house.  No other house seemed right anymore.  Our hearts were set on the that house.  It was supposed to be our house.

And so we kinda stumbled around in a daze for a few days, not knowing what to do next.  We prayed.  I cried.  A lot. Eventually we started looking at short term rentals and apartments.  We needed something.  But God just seemed to be shutting all doors.  The best thing we found was an apartment on the fourth floor.  Which seems pretty impossible to me… three small kids, a dog… I just can’t imagine that working out well.  Lugging groceries up four flights of stairs, taking the dog out at night, up and down with kids, etc…

In the end we came home with nothing.  Nothing. 

This past week, our house here in Birmingham went under contract.  The movers are scheduled to come in a month to move us out.  And the absolutely crazy thing is that we have no idea where we are going to go.  We believe God is faithful, that He has a plan and that He will make a way for us, but right now, that way is very unclear.  Our faith and our trust are being stretched daily. 

Today, in Jesus Calling, I read

“When you don’t know what to do, wait while I open the way before you.  Trust that I know what I’m doing, and be ready to follow my lead.  I will give strength to you, and I will bless you with peace.”

And so we wait…

Living Room Chair Update

After buying our new couch back in January and then selling our old sofa and loveseat, our living room was looking a little bit sparse.  And although our new couch offered plenty of room for our own family to cozy up on and the kids thoroughly enjoyed all the open space to run and play, we were quite limited on extra seating for any guests. So I knew I wanted to add in a few comfy chairs to complete the room. 

I have learned my lesson in the past from trying to replace something too quickly and then ending up with something that’s not really what I want because I was too impatient.  So this time, I set my mind not to settle and to wait patiently until the right chairs came along.  For a while, I dreamed of white tufted chairs, but once common sense kicked in, I knew that white chairs would not mix well with kids.  I didn’t want to be fanatically yelling at them all day not to touch the chairs. So, eventually, I let that dream die and although I didn’t know exactly what I wanted instead, I felt like I would know when I saw them.  The problem was that I really had no time to shop for chairs.  And I know this might sound weird a little bit, but I had felt the Lord leading me to trust Him more in providing us with the things we need and even want for our home (rather than stressing and exhausting myself trying to make things happen).  So in an effort to follow His leading, I told Him that I would trust him to provide the right chairs for us in His timing.  This is kind of new to me (to trust God with decorating my home), but He’s God and He knows what I like, what we need, He’s intimately involved in the details of my life, and He loves to bless us as His children.  I also figured He would be an excellent decorator and I was excited to see how and what He would provide for us.

So after a few months of patiently waiting (and maybe sometimes reminding God that I was patiently waiting), one day I was perusing through my daily email from Joss and Main and I saw some chairs that I thought were cute and might possibly work in our living room.  If you’re not familiar with Joss and Main, it is “a premier members-only site that offers private, limited-time sale events on the world's best brands for your home and life. Each day, members receive an email invitation to exclusive sale events on the best merchandise at prices up to 70% off retail.” (from J&M website) The only hiccup was that these chairs were non-returnable.  And since there was no way for me to check them out in real life, sit in them, or make sure the color and pattern would work in my living room, it would require a pretty big leap of faith on my part to order them. I mean, it’s not like we have money to burn around here.  And I definitely didn’t want to be stuck with something I hated.

So I went on about my day chasing kids, cleaning up messes, and squelching squabbles and I kind of forgot about the chairs.  Then that evening, as I was cleaning up dinner, those chairs very clearly and randomly popped back up in my mind.  I showed them to Tim.  He liked them and he especially liked the price, but he was leaving the final decision up to me.  (Cause he’s super smart like that.) And so I stared at the empty chairless spots in our living room and then I stared at the photo online.  Back and forth I stared.  I tried to mentally imagine the chairs in the room.  I walked around the room.  I sat and stared some more.  I totally stressed myself out over the decision.  I asked Tim about a million times if we should go for it.  And I prayed.  And in the end, (with a little encouragement from Tim) and on a little hunch that these were the chairs God was dropping into my lap, I decided to leap.  And then I held my breath for several weeks while I waited for them to be delivered.

And once they arrived, I ended up loving them even more than I originally thought that I would.  (Cause God’s pretty awesome like that.)

Wanna see them?

I hope so, because I’m about to bombard you with pictures of my living room. (These are all iphone pics, so the quality is not amazing, but it gets the job done.)

Here are my new Shadow Tufted Swoop Arm Chairs.

 

 

I may have had to let go of the dream of all white chairs, but the tufts were a must have for me.  I love tufted furniture right now.  And I love that the chairs go with the couch, but aren’t super matchy.  The pattern is light and fun and playful (without being over the top) and that adds some interest and personality to the room.  I don’t like super serious furniture (hence the spool being used as a side table between them) and I actually think these chairs probably fit better with our style than all white chairs would have anyway.  And clearly, the gray pattern will hide things a lot better than the white would have.

 

 

And in case you are wondering what my children do while I stage the house and take pictures, these last two pictures are for you.  Where’s Hudson?!!

 

Happy Memorial Day weekend!  Have fun.  Be safe.

Caught in Grace

Hello Bloggie Friends!  Happy Weekend!  I hope I didn’t totally confuse you by changing the name and the look of my blog all at once.  It was a bloggie overhaul makeover for sure!  For months, I’ve been thinking and praying about a new blog name and I wanted a new look to go with it.  I wanted a name that was a little more creative, a little more catchy, and something with more meaning to it than just “The Scott Family”.  Over and over, I just kept coming back to “Caught in Grace” and I think it describes my life in a nutshell (at least as much as three words could).

So I was pretty much a “good” kid growing up.  I asked Jesus into my heart when I was 12 years old (or somewhere around there) and I was basically a rule follower.  I didn’t drink, didn’t smoke, didn’t party, didn’t skip school etc. etc. etc….  Sometime during my college years, I started wondering why I would go to hell if I didn’t have Jesus as my Savior.  I mean, what did I do that was so bad?  I wasn’t a bad person, I was good.  I remember praying about it, asking Jesus about it.  And, can I tell you?  He started showing me my depravity, my need for a Savior.  Maybe I wasn’t doing all the ‘bad’ things, but my heart wasn’t exactly pure either.  There was selfishness, greed, pride, impatience, unkind thoughts, the list could go on.  So since I am a perfectionist by nature, I wanted to fix myself, I worked hard on myself, I was hard on myself.  At that point, I didn’t understand grace.  I didn’t understand, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9).  What I didn’t understand then, what He has patiently been showing me over the years, is that I can’t fix myself, I can’t make myself good enough, no matter how hard I try.  But the good news is that because of His grace, God can and does make me good enough.  I am a work in progress.  He loves me and accepts me just as I am, but at the same time, he’s working on me to make me who He wants me to be. 

After college, Tim and I started dating.  For about two years, we dated, we he got confused, we took ‘breaks’ to pray, we even broke up for real one time, we got back together, we fasted, and we prayed some more.  I made that sound as if it was all hard and confusing, but it wasn’t, there was a lot of happiness and fun throughout those two years too.  To sum it up, it was one of the best times of my life (falling head over heels in love, pitter pattering heart, new and exciting relationship) and one of the hardest (trying to discern if Tim was “the one”, feeling heart broken and lost when we broke up, periods of confusion).  But by the end of our dating relationship, God had done some amazing things that got rid of any doubt or confusion surrounding our relationship.  Beyond any shadow of a doubt, I knew we were meant to be together and Tim knew it too.  No matter how much we stumbled through our dating relationship, no matter that we got confused and broke up, no matter what happened, by His grace, God kept us together and worked out His will in our lives. 

As an adult, there have been times, especially over the last two years when I felt God speaking to me about specific situations in which I was to walk with eyes of faith.  It always went against what made sense, what I could see, or what I felt.  Most of those time, I felt as if I was on a long, dark trail and I couldn’t see where I was going.  I couldn’t see which way to turn.  I couldn’t see the roots and rocks along the trail that might trip me up.  A lot of times, doubts would flood me and I wasn’t even sure if I was on the right trail anymore.  I would spin in circles for awhile, totally losing my way.  And then, I would reach out for God’s hand in the dark, and sometimes I couldn’t find it right away.  So I would desperately call out to Him and try to hear His voice and even then, sometimes His voice seemed to be faint or drowned out by my own doubts or thoughts.  So I would listen closer, petrified of going the wrong way or missing Him.  But He never gave up on me.  He never got tired of finding me if I got mixed up and wandered the wrong way for awhile.  He never got tired of waiting for me if I got overwhelmed and stopped to throw a pity party rest.  He never left me stranded on my own.  There were times that I was overcome with doubts and I stumbled along, there were other times that I tried to walk by my own sight and tripped on bumps and stumps, there were times I wandered off the trail, times I fell, but because of His grace, God was always right there to pick me up and get me back on track.  His grace set me in the right direction.  By His grace, I had the strength to keep going.  And His grace always brought me through to the other side. 

And even on a daily basis, I stumble, I mess up both as a wife and a mom.  I lose my patience, I get off balance or focus on the wrong things (the house needs to be clean vs. my kids want to play with me), I can be selfish, my words can be rude, thoughtless, or sharp, sometimes I am just plain grumpy.  Like I said, I’m a perfectionist, so I tend to have a hard time extending myself grace when I’ve messed up (which is often).  But I am learning that when I stumble, when I make a mistake, when I outright screw up and sin, God’s grace has me covered.  I can rest in it.  It will always be there.  It will always be enough.        

God’s grace is what saves me and by His grace, God keeps me in His hand.  There is grace when I mess up, there is grace to cover my every sin, there is grace to help me change, and there is grace to accept me and love me in the process of it all.  Through grace, He works out His will for my life and makes me who He wants me to be.  By grace, He will bring me home to Him, perfect in Christ.  I am surrounded by grace.  I am caught in grace.