What matters the most

God has a way of putting everything in perspective. It is very easy for me to obsess about all things house-related and forget about the really important events of life, whether trivial or monumental. The list of small things includes:

• Little T's almost constant smiles- he's such a happy baby
• teachable moments that come when I am reading to or playing with the other two
• the beautiful view of the mountains I can see from my bed- what a way to greet the day!
  
• the snow that fell throughout the day on Monday
  
• the joys of being near sisters-in-law and cousins
  
• watching my amaryllis grow each day
  

The monumental includes:

• my friend, Lauren, who is having a baby soon AND will be moving to another state immediately after
• A friend from our last church who just found out her cancer has returned and is looking to prepare her family for a future without her
• trying to get to know a whole new church body and learn how to serve them
• learning to hold all things loosely and be content with whatever God has given today

So even though I would love to go on and on about how desperately I would like to live in the farmhouse we saw yesterday (the house with the blackberries growing along the fence, the one that could house my entire family when they come to visit) it is really insignificant when seen with the whole of life in view. And even more insignificant with eternity in view. That said, I'll be sure to post a picture of wherever we end up.

And speaking of getting to know our new church family better, here's a great post on 20 Qualities of a Good Listener. Making new friends is never easy but this should help. I guess it would help you keep the friends you have as well.

My sister-in-law has agreed to let me plan a few meals and make dinner a couple of times during the upcoming weeks. Even though I have loved being pampered and served (and she is a great cook who makes it look SO easy to feed the 12 of us) I am eager to get back to cooking, which is an outlet for me. My family used to say I cooked when I was mad...or sad...or excited...you get the point. Bon Appetit!

Who'd have thought?

Questions you never thought to ask when house-hunting:

• Do the bedrooms have doors?
• Is the washer/dryer in the kitchen next to the stove, or is there a laundry closet?
• Does the house have more than three rooms?
• Does the one bathroom have a tub?
• Do the gun racks above every door come with the house?
• Are the clothes rods in the closet longer than 15" (did they really only own three hang-up outfits)?
• Are you using the word "quaint" to describe a mobile home?
• When you say "place" instead of "house" or "apartment" what does that mean?

All I can say is that a lot of people in this country live in less-than-adequate housing, or my standards are way too high. One man was so emotionally attached to his shack of a house that I had to take courtesy pictures just so I wouldn't offend him. He said he cried when he had to move out (to his big, beautiful, new house a little closer to the road). I'd have cried if I had to move in.

So the house hunt continues. We looked at a great little bungalow on an acre today, and we put in an application for another house on a very small lot, but everything inside is immaculate and the lady who owns the house had pretty good tastes when it comes to paint colors, fixtures, etc. The bungalow was charming but needs a lot of work and they want to do a rent-to-own deal so that's probably out. There is one more house that I haven't seen, but it's in the perfect location- in the country on land, close-ish to family, close to work- and here's what the listing says:

Very roomy two story farmhouse with an open, modern look. Nine rooms plus two full baths. Wonderful sun room looking out onto open fields. Hardwood floors; open living room, dining room, kitchen. Laundry room with washer and dryer included. Full, dry basement. Three or four bedrooms. Two acres with nice outbuilding and barn. Plenty of garden spaces.

This sounds absolutely perfect, and one of my main regrets about the smaller house we were hoping to get was that it doesn't have as much of a yard and not enough yard for a garden. Anyway, I am praying that the Lord would save this house for us. We somehow overlooked it on Craigslist, so the listing is a week old. It's a long-shot, but obviously nothing is too difficult for the Lord. I'm more encouraged after a week of looking than I was before because new things are popping up every day and our options don't seem so limited. House hunting gets old quickly though, and I will be delighted to be cooking in my own kitchen again, sleeping in my own bed, and able to find most of my belongings.

I'm off to find my black boots for church tomorrow...they've been missing for a week. Maybe next Sunday they'll be in my own closet.

P.S. My husband says that the numbers system can easily be abused and does not in any way take the place of a good heart-to-heart. I should have put some sort of disclaimer on that post!

A husband's guide to understanding his wife's feelings

No, this is not our new house. I've seen some things that make this look desirable, though.
House-hunting is such a subjective process. I will love one aspect of a place and hate 5 other things. I saw an okay townhouse yesterday and a great house (this one was actually in our price range- I decided not to go see the one we can't afford). So in an effort to truly understand my feelings on various houses my clever husband made an Excel spreadsheet rating each house. Proximity to family has a 1-10 scale since that is one of the more important factors. All the other things (neighborhood, cost, spaciousness, layout, yard, etc.) get a rating of 1-5. So we put in all the numbers and **battabing** (sp?): the townhouse scored a 23 out of 45. The house scored a 22, even though everything about the house was great (except there was no yard) because it was so far away. We tried the "Your Feelings in Numbers" system for other places and it was suprisingly accurate!

I'm thinking he needs to market this...what man wouldn't love to have it all explained in such an objective way? He could come up with a spreadsheet/rating system for my days. I can see it now: I exercised and had a good quiet time so those were both 5's, but I was impatient with the kids, only read them 2 books all day, and ate way too much chocolate. So overall the day was a "19." Then he would wrap his arms around me and say, "That's okay, honey, tomorrow will be better." I wouldn't even have to explain it all, he would just know what a "19" day meant. I think we're on to something...