State of the House-February

Hmmm...what IS the state of things around here??

Well, basketball season has ended. Both girls had good coaches and their teams showed improvement from beginning to end. Its great to see them being active and involved in a team. Now we get a little break before Spring soccer begins for the girls. Aiden will be doing baseball (and he's really excited about it not being T-ball), H will play baseball for the town and Shaun and R will be on the softball team. We'll see how five different team schedules work out. ;)

H started high school here in town! It was a whole big mess but he's got seven days now under his belt and seems to be enjoying it. There are some challenges to work through but H is a smart kid and once he decides to settle into it, I think he'll be fine.

We are still doing the hard work of transitioning and I'm so thankful for God's grace and power! Even though its tough, H already has my heart and we see so much potential in him. Starting with a new kid allows me to look back and see how far God has grown and refined me. The dying of self is painful but I can see there is less of me and more of HIM, and that's a very, very good thing.

Speaking of transitions, R found his own apartment and is officially moved out. As a follow up to many heartfelt conversations over the last many months, it was decided it was time for him to be on his own. His school and rent are covered and he's working part-time so the financial piece is taken care of. The biggest difference is that the entire household goes to bed early and gets up early...no more shushing the kids until noon and Shaun can lock the house up tight at night. After living here for 2.5 years, he'll always be a part of our family and we pray God's very best for him.

Shaun had his first day off on Sunday, after working a month straight at his tax preparer/financial advisor desk. For fun, in his spare time when he gets home at 8 pm, he goes to an rental building and fixes the heat, or the plumbing or the electrical. He's such a competent, faithful provider and I'm thankful for him. I also miss him like crazy!

Much of my news is medical (can't wait for the day when that's not the case!). The deplorable (one of H's vocab words ;) vacuum was taken off...a good thing to not have to deal with it anymore, a bad thing that it didn't help at all, even after a month. Last week Amy and I spent the day in the city...I did scans and met with the surgeon.

The scans were clear, no sign of trouble from my chest down. Good news!

I was ready with my speech for the surgeon but I didn't need to pull it out because she was in complete agreement. We've tried everything from A-Z...all manner of lotions and potions and vacuums in the last almost eight months since surgery...and nothing has proven effective. And so, we've reached the point where another surgery is necessary. There is not a definite date set, but it looks like it will be in the next few weeks, sometime in March. Its less than ideal timing, but is there ever a convenient time to pull a mom out of a busy household for a month?

Not a day goes by without God's unfolding grace, which I use more as a means of life support than a nice little side-benefit to following Christ. And so, we do not lose heart (well actually I do, and I did this week...that's where the daily renewal comes in)....

Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. 17 For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! 18 So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.

His mercies....new every. single. morning.