Over a Month Already??

WOW! I can't believe it has been over one month since I last posted. To say things have been busy here would be an understatement! I am happy to say, however, that it has been a good kind of busy. Since it has been so long since I posted, I will refrain from writing a novel here, and I will go back later and do more specific posts.

I don't know if you remember, but when we moved, we realized that we had a major problem with "stuff". We already had too much at our other house, but because of the space we had, we didn't really realize just how much stuff we had. Over the years, I have had many precious friends come over and help me sort through all of that junk, but to be honest, I think it was just too overwhelming and I am not that easy to work with when it comes to that. I get overwhelmed, and before you know it, I am sitting off to the side wrapped up in the cape I wore to be Cinderella in my high school musical, donning the veil from my wedding, and looking at my high school yearbook. If you looked really closely, I was probably drooling on myself a little bit, too, and twitching from the nervous breakdown I was close to experiencing from being so overwhelmed. Who in the world would want to help someone like that? I will tell you that they helped...a lot...and were much more patient with me than I deserved. :-)

So when it came time to move, not only did we fill up the 32 foot semi trailer to be moved across the country for us, but we also had to rent a U-Haul (with money we really didn't have to spend) to fit all of our stuff. To make matters even more complicated, we moved into a house exactly half the size of our Georgia house.

"Where did we put all of that stuff?", you ask.

In the basement, of course. And the garage... and the bedrooms... and the closet under the stairs in the living room.

Talk about oppressive.

And talk about excessive....isn't there anything I do that isn't excessive? Take this blog post, for example....

I digress.

So back in July, we joined with one of our favorite families here and had a HUGE yard sale. When all was said and done, I donated the stuff to a sweet friend I have made here that either donates the stuff to her church or to a local homeless shelter. In the process of getting all that stuff to her, I told her about my basement. I will not give all the details of that story just yet, but I will tell you that she and I spent around 70+ hours getting, not just my basement, but my entire house organized! I will post more about that later, complete with pictures. :-)

Needless to say, that has consumed most of my life. However, there have been some other neat things that have happened in the midst.

We had a Thirst Conference at our church, and God did miraculous things in my life!

Megan got her first real haircut. (sniff, sniff...) As hard as it is to accept that she is growing up, her new haircut really is so cute!

We hosted a low country boil with some wonderful friends.

Jeff took the girls camping and I got to spend almost two entire days at home....alone!

My parents came to visit for a week. Bliss! They got the Grand Tour, including the South Bend Chocolate Factory, Silver Beach, The Apple Festival, a shopping trip to Mishawaka (or as my Mom would say, "Misha-na-qua")...:-) , and the list goes on.

 

My little brother enlisted in the Air Force and is at Basic Training as we speak. Go Drew!

Emilie got to meet someone she looks up to in a huge way....I mean, like, she was as excited as those women on the old Elvis Presley concert videos. Really!

We went grape and apple picking for the first time in our lives.

We found out last night that we will get the opportunity to go to Fall Family Camp at the Life Action Retreat and Conference Center this week. We are so excited! That is something we have wanted to do since we first heard of it, but we were never able to make it happen.

Once we are home, I will post more details about these other things and lots of great pictures! I will have new pictures then, too, of our fun week at camp!

Things have been very busy for Jeff at the Ministry Center. The teams have gotten off to a great start as they have begun their year of ministry on the road, and the Road Team Services Department, where Jeff works, works hard to make sure they are taken care of!

Lastly, to answer the question I am asked most often... "How is Clara?".

I am happy to say that Clara is doing great! As of her last visit to the endocrinologist at the U of M, her bones are still not healing at all, so we continue to pray for her in that area. However, she remains very healthy and is having her longest stretch ever without being hospitalized! Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow! She has had some fairly significant leg pain in the last few weeks, so I am hoping that is a sign of healing. If it's not, don't tell me. Sometimes ignorance is bliss and it makes this Mama's heart rest a little easier when I watch her suffer and she crawls into bed with me crying that her legs hurt. At least it feels like the suffering has a purpose.

From a non-medical perspective, I have one big concern right now. (Just keepin' it honest). I have always known there would come a day when Clara was "different". Up to this point, she was so little, and everyone she played with was so little, that I don't think she ever realized there was something wrong with her. I knew it was just a matter of time, but I was enjoying that window of time while I had it. This past week, all four girls were playing hide-and-go-seek in the back yard and for the first time, Clara's limitations were painfully obvious. Everyone, and I mean everyone can outrun her. Alyssa, of course, is gracious, and lets herself be caught from time to time. The other two, however, are not that gracious. Megan is the most competitive little thing I have ever encountered, and the kid can flat-out run....and loves to do it! I watched the whole thing play out for a while, and then finally, I could take it no longer. Don't get me wrong. I do not think we should treat Clara any differently or cater to her unnecessarily. I do think, however, that "home" needs to be a safe place for her. I didn't make a big deal about it. I just called them to supper a few minutes early, and all was forgotten.

I will try to do a better job keeping you updated...I have missed blogging! Don't expect too much in the next few days, though, because we will be at camp.

Thank you for your prayers and concern!

Much love!
Jeannie