Everywhere except the Sanctuary

So, I was reading in the Word this morning, [and by Word, I mean Bible-the B I B L E, yes that's the book for me, I stand upon the Word of God, the B I B L E...ha, sorry, had that running through my head] and I realized that David was so human. I mean, duh, but I he is so down to earth and relatable.

In Psalms 73, David is talking about how all the people around him are rich and sinful-that is doesn't make sense why they prosper while they curse God. He even goes to say, "When I thought how to understand this, it was too painful for me--"...but then he has a turn around and realizes how to get his perspective right. And it's so true and I needed to hear it:

Until I went into the sanctuary of God; Then I understood their end. Psalms 73:17

I realized, why do I go everywhere BUT into the presence, the sanctuary of God, to find out answers? As humans, or at least as the person that I am, I try to scheme and figure out and fix things myself. But really, if I just give it to God, get in His presence, and seek Him, I will find understanding. Not just understanding, but wisdom for my situation. And the grace to live it out and work out the things God is putting before me. When I put all my trust in myself-to try and figure things out on my own- it makes for so much more stress...but when I just give it to God and trust Him--What a relief! It's like that song, "What Joy, What Joy for those whose Confidence is in the Lord, What Peace, What Peace for those Whose Confidence is Him Alone."

So, I will end with this verse, because it's the end of Psalms 73, and it pretty much sums up my thoughts for this post:

But it is good for me to draw near to God;

I have put my trust in the Lord God,

That I may declare all your works.

Psalms 73:28

All Moved In

So, I've been neglecting the blog a bit due to all the extra work with moving and settling into our place, but it's coming along and looking GREAT! I'm so excited to have a yard for Malachi to play in. We haven't had to deal with any slamming doors or late night music. We've been able to paint and decorate to make this place our own. There are still some things we want to do, but for only being in the house for 12 days(3 of which were at a hotel-more to come on that) I think the place looks great!

We moved in on the 19th, and that same day discovered a mysterious wet spot in the middle of the hallway carpet. It was small, so I just figure that Malachi had spilled some juice or something...but oh boy, was I wrong! The carpet kept getting more and more wet until we discovered that our AC unit wasn't draining into a drain, and instead draining onto the floor and coming up under the carpet!!! Ugh. It was wet and starting to smell. Then we found out that the hot water heater was broken. It worked for the first about 24 hours we moved in, then it wouldn't stay lit. So, no hot water with two babies and two sweaty parents-NOT ideal! All at the same time, we discovered that our kitchen drain wasn't draining(unless you waited like an hour after running the water for a minute). Plumber came to look at the drain and discovered that our pipes had a TON of roots going through them. He was almost like, get out of the lease now, because this could be a major complication. So, we went to a hotel. They dug through the concrete slab, fixed the pipes, the AC unit, the water heater. They even replaced the carpet and nasty linoleum floor with some nice ceramic tiles...and all was well.

Or so we thought.

The next day, I go to do laundry. Anyone who has kids knows you have to do laundry like almost every day, if not every day. [I'm sure I could scrounge up a load a day]. So, I put a load in, I've got all the other laundry sorted and ready to go for a days' worth of laundry washing, drying and folding. Bet you can guess what happened....the laundry drained...INTO THE TUB! yucky dirty laundry water drained into our tub and our toilet spilling over onto the bathroom floor and soaking our new bathrug. Thankfully I got in there fast enough to get the rug up and drying...called the property manager asap and had another plumber out here in about and hour or so. They were here almost all day, but got everything fixed up. So, now we have new pipes, new washer, new stove, new tile floors, new carpet, new house. [just hoping for NO MORE disasters!]

So, Mark and I are putting in a patio. It's our first time doing it, and it's truly back-breaking labor, but looks so great! Our good friend Sam is also helping Mark out today to get it finished so it's all ready for our July 4th cookout! It's the debut of our new home, and it's going to be a blast! Can't wait to have friends over to see our place.

So much work accomplished, yet so much more to be done. On the list next is:

1.) put tomato plants in the planter boxes out back

2.) give some identity to the front living room/dining room

3.)get another red chair for the den

4.)continue to clean up what Mark calls the "board walk" in the back yard

5.)prune front bushes and define the flower bed

6.)get dead tree in back yard removed

We are loving life being in a house!