Paint, Provision and Poor Ol' Job

Well, I just finished my paint project. Now that Richard has employment (!) I splurged on a couple of gallons of paint and began to tackle the dreadfully off-white walls in our kitchen, living room and hallway. They're now more tan-ish. Well, Valspar's "baked scone" in eggshell finish to be exact. I did all that I could without branching over to the vaulted ceiling and stairwell. Something about me up on scaffolding to reach a 15 foot ceiling while currently without health insurance seemed a bit unwise!

While I was finishing up tonight with the painting, I popped in a cd that I received in the mail this week from Aunt Karen. It was of a recent Sunday morning sermon by Pastor Mike Hughes at Riverside Fellowship Church in Florida. It was amazing to me how many points he made that echoed the spiritual lessons that I have been learning this past month. Well, of course it did, that's why she sent it to me! Contentment (being satisfied in whatever state I find myself), humility (ability to accept God's provision through other people), trust (believing that God really does know my situation, that He cares and that He's working on it and in it)!

Looking back over the past several weeks, I can say without question that I felt the hand of God in tangible ways like I never have before. The outpouring of His provision during this time of unemployment was amazing. We had no need that went unmet. We had gifts for groceries, dinner out, babysitting, house payments, doctor visits and medicine (for chicken pox) and more! Richard even scored a random one-day job at the mall that brought in some extra cash. Next time you're in the Battlefield Mall in Springfield, MO, visit Yankee Candle and listen closely to the music. My talented hubby set up the sound system!

One particularly timely provision was that we had previously decided to send Carson to private school next year for Kindergarten. We needed to pay our deposit to confirm his spot. Within three days before it was due, we received cash from more than one source that we were not expecting all totaling the exact amount of the deposit!

I do have to say that this week, we really did begin to feel we were living a tiny slice of Job (from the Bible). Thankfully all of our family is still among the living and we have no livestock to lose in the first place, but we had pretty much been rocked to the core with other losses. We had watched door after door close regarding jobs. One particularly difficult one closed this week....I literally grieved over it. We had put so much hope in this one possibility. When the door closed, we really thought we had no more hope for finding work in Springfield and that we would have to look at moving. That blow hit us just as Richard got the c. pox (a.k.a. Job's scaly boils). It really is kinda funny now because the very next day after this total loss of all hope is when the new job offer came through!

You really should see Richard...he's quite a sight with all these spots! Even the kids are chiming in with Job-wisdom...they've been learning at church about being a good friend. When we made a reference to Daddy being like Job, Avery was quick to point out that we needed to "be nice to Daddy because Job's friends weren't very nice to him!" Thankfully though, unlike Job, Richard is not sitting in a pile of ashes scraping his sores with a broken piece of a pot. Niether is his wife telling him to "curse God and die." We much prefer to adopt Job's chosen posture toward God in the midst of his many, many trials. "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him!" (Job. 13:15).

As I told a friend earlier this week, I'd rather be in the gut-wrenching trials of life with my God than to be anywhere else without Him.

I've got some good news and some bad news...

Okay, so the bad news first. Richard has the chicken pox. Not Baby Richard, but Daddy Richard. I've never seen him as sick as he has been this week. Not only does he feel like he's been hit by a truck, he has the horrible itchy bumps all over. Can't sleep. Doesn't want to eat. Poor guy. I thought about posting a picture, but that would be very cruel and way too unusual....for all of us! Thankfully, I already had the sickeness as a child and Carson and Avery have been vaccinated. I'm watching little Richie like a ticking time bomb....praying some miracle keeps him from catching it.

The GOOD news is that Richard has accepted a job offer! Yeah! It's at a company here in Ozark, just a couple of miles from our house. Praise the Lord! After several setbacks over the last month with other jobs that we thought might open up, we were starting to consider the possibility of moving....again...to another city. But, it looks like we won't have to do that and we are SO grateful.

Chicken and Ranch

Today I was on a special outing with Avery. While in the car, I was explaining to her that Richard and I were going to have dinner out with our friends while our kids and their kids stayed with the babysitter. She wanted to know all about the place where we were going to eat which happened to be Rodizio Brazilian Grill. (It was my friend's birthday and they treated us to a night out to celebrate!) Trying to explain the restaurant to her seemed a bit daunting seeing as how I'd have to explain what Brazil was and how the serving process at the restaurant was different there--sort of like Lamberts where they bring different types of food (particularly meat) to your table for you to sample as the main course. Instead of going in to all of that, I just said that it was a place were adults go to eat. She said, "So they don't have kids' food there?" Nope. She shouted, "WHAT?! No chicken and ranch?!?" In her world, restaurants that don't serve the kid-friendly chicken strips and accompanying tiny tubs of ranch dressing do not and evidently should not exist! If I had a quarter for every "chicken and ranch" meal we've bought in the last 5 years....well....I'd only have a small fraction of the money back that we've spent on chicken and ranch! Oh well.

Just for the record, I give the Rodizio Grill a 5 out of 10 on the yumminess scale. Food seemed a bit bland and repetitive overall to me, but you certainly get your fill of meat and the filet mignon bites wrapped in bacon were dee-lish.

Restless sleepers?

I was just on my normal "rounds" of the night...going in to kiss my angelic sleeping babies before sleeping myself, when I noticed a strange pattern. I first found Richie out of his bed and in the middle of the bedroom floor fast asleep. After moving him back to his rightful place on the bed all nicely tucked in, I went in to find Avery with all the blankets and covers completely removed from her bed sleeping soundly upside down. As I put one of the blankets back over her, she gritted her teeth loudly and thrust one of her fists up into the air. Very odd. I kissed her and then went back to the boys room. As I opened the door Carson rolled over and said in a sleepy little drone, "Chicken Little...."

I'm trying to remember what they ate before going to bed....must have been straight sugar!

The Easter what??

This morning there is an "Easter Express" fun time scheduled at church for the little ones. They have an Easter Egg Hunt planned (mind you, it's currently 24 degrees in Springfield and we are really hoping the festivities are INDOORS!). We've been talking about the hunt for a few days and the kids are really excited. Avery just came up and asked me if we're going to the "Easter HUNK" today! I said, "What?" She said, "The Easter Egg thing." Trying to get her to say "hunk" again, I asked a second time. She said, "Mom, you know where they have all the Easter Eggs and we go looking for them!" Relenting, I said, "Yes." She flashed downstairs and I heard her yell, "CARSON, WE'RE GOING TO THE EASTER HUNK...GET DRESSED!!" :) Gotcha.

Cartoon madness

It just occurred to me this morning that the cartoons my kids have been watching lately are actually pretty violent. I'm normally quite vigilant about what they watch (no Scooby Doo, no Sponge Bob, no Doodlebops (that show totally creeps me out...no real person smiles that big)). But, what about Tom and Jerry which is the resounding FAVORITE among my kids? Every episode is about one of them trying to blow the other up with a stick of dynamite or pummeling each other's bodies with cast iron skillets or shooting each other face with guns!! Not to mention the second favorite around here (Looney Toons) with the likes of Yosemite Sam with his pistols, Elmer Fudd with his hunting rifle or Wylie Coyote running Bugs off a cliff and then slamming a mallet on top of his head! Seriously! Can those of you educated in modern kids cartoons even IMAGINE Dora shooting Swiper in the face?

Or the Little Einsteins drop kicking each other out of the rocket ship? Violent the vintage shows may be, but they are absolutely hilarious. Nothing gets my kids ROLLING with laughter like a good explosion of dynamite under Tom's butt!

Comments on my posts...and update

I just updated my blog so that anyone can make comments to the post, even if you're not a member of blogspot. So, feel free to comment....just make it nice. :)

Just by way of quick update, we are doing very well. No job yet, but God's provision is constant. We were able to get a good washer on Saturday...found it at a fixer-upper store...brand new with just a dent on the side for less than half of retail price! Great, huh? It's been running pretty much non-stop since yesterday!

Also, God is speaking to both Richard and me loud and clear. Today in both services at church it was as if he picked up a megaphone and pointed it right at us. The topics of the messages were "humility" (if you read my blog from a few days ago, you know that was right in line for me) and tonight was about "learning to lean." He used 1 Sam. 19 to show how God "kicked the crutches" out from under David...and how he does the same to us to teach us to rely on HIM and not on other earthly things, even things given to us by Him in his favor. I can't do the message justice here, but we're sure it was straight from God to us.

We also have received so much encouragement from friends and family. Notes in the mail, prayers, hugs, phone calls, visits, emails....we are so blessed to have people in our lives who love us so much!