Friendship

Today in church we talked about friendships. It was perfect timing for me as I am still working very hard in this area. I wrote a blog post about it a couple weeks ago. Today confirmed to me that we do indeed need friendships. They don't need to rule our lives. We don't need to put them before our friendship with God. But we do need them. It was great to see the model friendship between Johnathan and David. It was great to read about this pure, non perverted love between two people with such a strong friendship. So many times in our society when two people have such a friendship the world says it should not be so. When two men or women have this friendship, they are looked at and people may think, "are they just friends?" Or when a man and a woman have this great friendship, people may think, "are they just friends?" I wish this was not so. I wish the world could look at two people hanging out and having a deep conversation or relationship and the first thing that comes to their mind be, "WOW. Those two are showing what friendship should look like!"

So I posted the above post then thought about it some more and I have more to say! We live in a sinful world. That is why the above stereotypes are what they are! of course this is just my thought. There is so much sin happening that when when pure friendship is happening it is questioned. The other day my friend posted on her FB that she was out having lunch with her guy BFF. This is great! This tells me a couple things about her. She and her husband are safe and secure in their marriage. The guy BFF is safe and secure in his marriage, if he is married. And that my friend values her friendships whether they are with a male or female. Growing up I always had more male friends than I did female friends. We always hung out. Went to eat. It was always pure. I still have male friends. But I don't get to spend time with them, because of what I think the world will think. Maybe that is the problem. I am too concerned with what the world will think. God wants us to have friendships; he gave us great examples to live by. ok thats all for now. My brain is on overload.

bbbbzzzzz

That's the sound I hear as I am sitting on my bed reading my book. I looked up and saw a bunch of bees outside my bedroom window. You see, this has been a fear of mine since we replaced the windows in this house last fall. We didn't re trim them. So that means the bees can get up into the walls and make them their home. I called Mark at work and told him what I see and he said he would take a look at it this evening when he gets home... In the mean time I pray the bees don't find a way into the house from the walls or the outside. Scary to me....

Simplicity

God is teaching me less is more and that I need to simplify my life a little more than I already have. Today was another emotionally humbling day, and a move in the direction of simplifying. I'm working on it! HE wants more of me.

Is this what they call a "storm'

You hear people say all the time you are at the top of the hill but wait till you are in the valley. OR

You just wait till the storm hits, this is just a drizzle....
OR

When it rains, it pours...

I could try and think of more analogies like this but I think you get the idea.

Anyways, I think we may be in the middle of a storm, to the world's view. But to God's view, I think this is just a continuation on the Faith lesson he has me on.

Here are the issues we are dealing with that make me feel like I am in a storm:
1. Our renters are moving out of our rental in CA.
2. We found two water leaks in our house here in TX.
3. Had the chimney guy out yesterday, he said the fire place cover thingy is too small and water is coming down, hence the leak #1. Cost $200 to custom make a cover.
4. The other leak is outside the house on the slab where the wall meets it from our master bathroom. Yes that's right, that means we have to demo the bathroom and see where the water is leaking from, repair it, and then redo the bathroom. Yes the WHOLE bathroom is tile, so that means I have a lot of work to do and a lot money to cough up for new tile!
5. Our AC is leaking and soaked the carpet last year. We turned it off, but it needs to be fixed. Call and got a repair guy to come out tomorrow afternoon. BUT church family, Wayne, is coming to see if he can fix it first so we can save some money!!
6. Rental Management company called me a bit ago to tell me the renters say there is a water leak under the dish washer in the house. aaaaahhhhhhh!!
7. Praying nonstop (well almost) for missions trip financial support money to start coming in.

There is the short list for now! Here is the funny thing. I am not stressing over all this. I mean I think about it, and I make the calls to get it all taken care of. But I am at peace with all these issues happening all at the same time. I know that God will take care of the details. I know that he will provide the money to get this all taken care. And I know that he has good plans for me, us, our family. Plans to prosper us, not to harm us. I can rest in knowing this!

Alive from the dead!!!!

About 10 years ago my brother, Shane, bought Mark and I a NICE self propelled lawnmower. It was great! I looked forward to taking care of our yards each weekend. Well when we moved here, it started giving us problems. The gas tank leaked. Then the leaks got worse. It was guzzling the gas. When it would run out of gas and we refilled it, it would not start. A few other things were also going out on it. We pampered it the first year it gave us trouble. Last year it was just too much for me. I would get so frustrated with it cause I would get part of the yard done and then it would quit on me. FRUSTRATING!!!

Off to Home Depot we went. Got a nice used mower and off I went. Towards the end of the summer the self propelled part was now Angie propelled. Again, frustrating. I was so happy when the grass stopped growing for the winter cause I didn't have to deal with having two mowers that I could not use.

It is now spring time and I am longing to get back out in the yard and get to work. Mark went and got a belt for mower #2. Wrong belt, didn't work. Now the mower would not crank. Mark gave up and I took it to the shop!! Finally an end to some mower drama! I got a call today that it would cost $105 to fix it. I was so happy.

Well in the mean time, Mark decides to take apart the gas tank on mower #1 and glue up all the cracks! 1st try was good. He got the tank back on, and mower started and pulled beautifully, but then gas started leaking out again! Darn!! He took the tank back off and did some more gluing. Put it all back together tonight, and mowed the front yard!!! I WAS SO HAPPY!! Now he is speaking my love language!! Mark said there was a couple more little repairs that he needed to do, but it works good in the mean time.

This last weekend, I had 2 mowers and neither of them worked! This weekend, I will have 2 mowers and they BOTH will be working. Music to my ears :-) I'm a happy girl with a wonderful husband!!

Thank you Shane for buying us a great mower that with a little TLC is still working 10 years later! Your money was not wasted and we are so thankful for that gift!

BOY Scouts

It is called that for a reason. It is full of boys, led by boys, to teach and encourage boys.....

So why did I think it would be OK for me to "tag" along today while the boys helped out a fellow scout on his Eagle project? This was our first time to help with an Eagle Project and it happened to be my favorite outside activity, yard work. When the fliers came home I thought, oh this will be a fun thing for our family to do together while helping someone else out. And it was. But I was the only female there till the end. I helped, I cut down little trees, pulled weeds, helped the boys learn to use a drill to screw wood planks to the foot bridge. But when all is said and done, I kinda felt out of place. Moving forward, I will leave this fun family time to Mark and the boys. I will resist the urge to want to go along. I must remember that the boys are getting older and more independent and that I don't need to be with them all the time. This will be great stuff for Mark and the boys to build their relationship on.

I need to adopt a little girl! Or learn to enjoy the free time while the men in my life are out doing "boy" stuff.

Brain Dump #4

All I need is Jesus!!!

This is so true and wow did it go in one ear and TRY to go out the other one but instead it got stuck in the mumbo jumbo of my brain!! and that's a GREAT thing.

There are many days since moving to TX that I am by myself while Mark is at work and the boys are at school. I find myself being sad that I don't seem to have many friends out here. I know a lot of people but they are not "friends." They are not people I would call and ask out to lunch or the movies or for walk at the park or call and bounce thoughts of. I had lots of friends in CA that I would do these things with. I loved it. I really am a people person. But since being here this area of my personal life has been a struggle.

Then I was at a teaching at the CCWR and the speaker said:

"If we have a husband to come home to that loves us, what a blessing! But if not, WE STILL HAVE JESUS!"

"If we have friends that love us, what a blessing! But if not, WE STILL HAVE JESUS!"

Right then IT hit me!! I am looking for love and acceptance from all the wrong people and places. I should not be looking to man/the world to make me feel good or to make me feel accepted. I should be looking to Jesus to fill these needs I have. I have been over committing myself in many areas trying to "feel the love" and it has not happened. Well DUH! Its not going to. I am only stressing myself out and getting my priorities out of whack! This here is a direct result of not seeking out God FIRST!

This last week, I have had a chance to do a lot of thinking and I think my thinking is getting back on track! I need and want to put God first in all I do. When I do that, I will be in prayer more, in His word more, and in return, I will have that close 'friendship" I have been desiring. I have already felt and seen the difference from doing this. I have gotten back to the correct order of priorities God, Mark, Boys, then....... everything else!

It has not bothered me this week that my phone does not ring, that my email does not have messages, that there are no comments on my blog, that I don't have a lunch date. Because I know that Jesus is my friend, He is calling me ALL the time, I have a book full of "emails" written just for me (!) and He always want to have a lunch date with me! I know that if I can work on this friendship, He will send others to me. Perfect friends, in His perfect timing. In the mean time, I will trust Him with the few he has blessed me with, because I am so thankful to have them!