God's Abundant Love

Meet Marti. She is my bestest girlfriend. (Sometimes I call her Marthalomew behind her back, but don't tell her.) There was a time in my life when I needed a friend. You know that time after college when the people you are used to spending time with are suddenly gone - grown up, married, moved away... I prayed regularly for a friend, hoping for someone I could hang out with now and then. And God gave me Marti.

I was 36 weeks pregnant with Carter when we met. Our first "date" was a trip to Corey's boss's lake near Corydon, IA. We spent a couple hours squished into the backseat of a truck, and then spent the day hanging out on the beach. She was my answer to prayer. But the thing I didn't realize until years later was that God had big plans for us, and he knew we needed each other. I believe the subjects of following photo are the primary reason God squished us in the back of that red truck.

Six boys. Yep. He knew we would each need a girlfriend. Carter was born a few weeks after we met, followed by Caleb 9 months later, followed by Owen 9 months later, followed by Aiden 18 months later, followed by Ethan 22 months later, followed by Lewis 9 months later. God knew we would be up to our ears in dirt, bugs, Superheros, footballs, baseballs, basketballs, dumptrucks, light sabers, supersoakers and frogs. And He knew no woman was meant to go through that alone. We have kept each other's sanity in tact more than once. We have laughed a million times. And we have cried on occassion. But mostly, we have just walked our life paths together, being the best mommys we can be and trying to direct our children toward the Light. (John 8:12).

If giving us all boys wasn't enough, God gave so many more points to connect on. Both of our husbands work in the construction industry. Both of our husbands are worship leaders within our churches. We both have a love for writing. We are very similar in the discipline of our children. We don't mind hanging out in each other's messy houses. We both let our kids stuff their faces with Mcnuggets and greasy french fries. Some days we don't wash our hair (or even shower, but shhh...don't tell anybody.) We let our kids play with "weapons." We generally just "get" each other. And I think that is a pretty incredible gift.

I asked God for a friend. He gave me so much more.

(The photos above were taken at Ledges earlier this week, where we watched our boys slide down dirt hills, climb up steep paths, catch frogs, wade through a creek, build a dam and dig holes in the sand with someone's old shoes that were floating down the stream. They all received minor injuries and went home very wet and very dirty. In the life of a boy, it was the perfect day.)

Rediscovering Reading

One of the benefits of living in an apartment is the extra time I have to read. Less space and no yard mean less upkeep. Plus, when I lived on a cul-de-sac and knew all my neighbors, I was able to give Lewis a little more freedom outside. Nowadays, if you stop by the apartment, chances are you will find me sitting in my red chair outside while I supervise Lewis playing by the dumpster. :) Yeah, my kid plays by the trash now. Do you have a problem with that? ;)

So here's a list of the books I've read since we moved here.

1. The Birth Order Book - Dr. Kevin Leman. That book has me trying to figure out people's birth orders by their actions. I learned a lot from that book.

2. Hometown Legends - Jerry B. Jenkins. This is a heartwarming small town football novel. Good stuff.

3. Soul Surfer - Bethany Hamilton. I bought this book because two of my children started fighting at Borders bookstore and crumpled the cover (I made them work off the purchase when they got home.) It was a good read. Now we're reading it with the boys at night, and will watch the movie with them when we are done. One of the fun things about it is that Corey and I have been to many of the places she describes in the book. My claim to fame is that we saw Bethany in the Princeville shopping area when we were on Kauai.

4. Wild at Heart - John Eldridge. My second go around with this book. This is the book that helped me figure out my husband. I think all wives should read it at least once.

5. I Survived the Shark Attacks of 1916 - Lauren Tarshis. This is a chapter book that Carter brought home from school. It was really well-written. We're going to get some more books from the series.

6. One Perfect Day - Lauraine Snelling. A novel about the joy and grief that comes with organ transplants. I liked it so much that I picked up another one of her books to read.

7. On Becoming Preteen Wise - Gary Ezzo and Robert Bucknam. Corey and I are going through this one together. Our kids are getting older. Parenting is changing a bit.

8. Saturday Morning - Lauraine Snelling. Getting ready to start this one.

So there you go. I've read more books in the past 7 weeks than I read all of last year. And I am remembering how much I love to read.

Basement Framing

Yay! The framing has started. This is what the house looks like from the back right now. The concrete on the left is where the garage will be. Right side is a bedroom. Carter is standing in front of the opening for the window in the "big" room.

The boys and a friend playing in the dirt in the backyard.


Looking into the basement from a bedroom window opening on the west side.

Drawn to Mud

Proof that you don't have to live in a house with a yard to find mud.

Apartment Life

For those of you who are curious about where we are living, these two photos will give you a glimpse. Above is our living room/dining room. Below is our kitchen.

I have been trying hard to concentrate on the good things about being in an apartment, and there are good things, but today I'm kind of being a baby and I'm really missing my house, so I'm going to release all my pent-up apartment frustrations.

1. There are a zillion flies here. I don't like flies.

2. I'm tired of my neighbor's dog, who actually seems to behave pretty well, but randomly decides to bark at 5 in the morning sometimes.

3. I'm tired of my neighbor's alarm clock going off in the middle of the night when she is not home. Nothing like listening to the droning beep beep beep of an alarm clock for a couple hours to start your day off right.

4. I don't like to sit anywhere on our floor. The carpet is, let's just say, well used.

5. My closet still smells like a stranger's b.o. Gross Gross Gross.

6. There is a guy upstairs who kind of creeps me out.

7. There is an older kid who keeps bossing my boys around.

8. Lewis keeps finding what he likes to call "smokers" (cigarette butts) on the ground outside.

When I look at the whole picture, apartment life is not bad. And most of the people in this building seem to be very nice. And most of the time I don't feel cramped. And I really do enjoy getting the vaccuuming done in 5 minutes. But, like I said, today I'm being a whiner. This apartment is far from perfect, and so am I.

Writing

Some of you know I went to a writer's conference in Chicago this summer with my friend, Tori. (You should check out her blog, www.clotheslineconvos.blogspot.com.) My goal in going to the conference was to learn, to make connections and to figure out the next step in the process of publishing a book of devotions for boys that I have been working on. It was well worth the whirlwind trip to the big city - and when I say whirlwind - I mean it. We left at 3:30 a.m. and returned home at around 11 p.m. the same day. Crazy, I know. I felt as if I was in a bit of a fog for much of the day.

I did make some connections with people in the publishing world, and I brought home a game-plan for my book, but the most exciting thing that has come from the conference is that when I returned home I began submitting my writing various places and my first devotion was published on at www.devokids.com/category/devotions this morning. CBH Ministries also purchased first publishing rights to two devotions that will be published in the Keys for Kids devotional, and I most recently found out that a short article I wrote will be published in Focus on the Family's Thriving Family in December.

I am so thankful that God is allowing me opportunities to write with a purpose and make a little money doing it. And I'm excited to see what the future holds!

Basement

It's not a house yet, but it is a basement. Below the skidloader is the corner of the basement that will be the theatre room. Carter is standing in either a bedroom or bathroom, and the majority of the rest of the basement will be a storage room and family room.
Here are the boys playing in the dirt in the garage. Where they are standing has now been all filled in and the garage slab will probably be poured this weekend. If all goes well, framing should start next week.