Glimpses

It is so neat to watch personalities develop.  Ever since he was little and the most easy-going baby I've known, I thought he was developing an easy-going personality for the long-haul.  But this does not seem to be so!  He is very particular about how things are done (this applies to everybody around him, not just himself), and is quickly upset if we try to change his precedent.  

For example: Lincoln likes clean surfaces (not, unfortunately, including the floor).  

• Since the time when he could pull himself up to stand, he has swept all contents of the coffee table onto the floor.  When we moved, I gave up on the table runner altogether; what's the real point when it spends every day crumpled on the floor?  No reason to continue this battle of wills between my son and my own particular self, right?
• Whenever there's a "mess"--something splashed or spilled or strewn--he's quick to grab a towel and run over to clean it up.  It ends up more or less clean...but I'm thankful he cares enough to do something about it.  It's a big deal to him if a kitchen towel is MIA; how do you clean a mess without one?!
•  Some days, he'd prefer his toy bins and work bench and kiddo table to be pristine.  Which means that their contents become a sea of toys to go wading through across the living room floor.  

For example: His creations are masterpieces to be thoroughly admired.

• If he makes you a birthday cake (a plastic cup full of miscellaneous small toys), he reminds you to "eat" it if you do not begin immediately upon receiving it.
• When he arranges blocks and other objects into "trains" and "teams" and "castles," it needs to stay set up until he decides it's ok to take it down.  He wants to be sure daddy and I (and anyone else who may come to visit) can admire every detail.  Lewis, however, is not welcome to admire.

For example: Lincoln requests to do "a work" at least once a day.

• If this involves cooking, he makes sure we're wearing our aprons before we start. 
• If this involves washing dishes, he makes sure we take his shirt off before we start. 
• If this involves gluing popcorn kernels onto paper plates, I need to rub the glue off his fingertips in between each kernel.
• When I cleaned out the file cabinet last weekend and littered the floor all around me with the vast amount of papers we cleaned out of there, Lincoln's "work" (by choice) was to pick up every piece of paper and stack it--in a VERY tidy stack--on top of the desk.  Which actually was VERY HELPFUL!  And he was not happy when I cleaned up Round 2 by myself because he was napping.  

For example: He's a little bit of a hypochondriac.  

• Last night, he scraped his toe enough to bring a few tears.  After being consoled, he raced me (running, and winning) into the living room to get his blanket before Lewis could.  After that, we put a (n awesome, Muppets!) bandaid on his cut toe--and he "favored" it the rest of the evening by walking on his heel and telling us when asked that it was still cut.  This morning, we asked him if his toe still hurt and he said yes, it was still cut. But a minute later, he asked daddy to take the bandaid off, and immediately said, "My toe's all better!  It's not cut anymore!"  He's dramatic sometimes :0)
• He remembers where every "ouchie" is on mommy and daddy, and remembers the circumstances of how it was gotten, and regularly asks about those ouchies until they are all healed up.  He's compassionate too :0)
• Every time there's a bump or big noise or a yell, he yells from wherever he is, "Are you OK?" We'll respond, "I'm OK!"  
• If he stumbles or slips a little, he'll gasp and say, "Oh! I almost fall down get hurt!"

For example: He calls the shots when we're playing together.

• When Lincoln Lion roars, we are to be "scared."  If we happen to roar back at him (usually this is something I try), he thrusts his hand up to cover my mouth and says, "No mommy! I not like that!"  
• In our "Roll and Play" game, Lincoln delights in every activity except the card that says "Sing a song"--even though he can sing at least two songs...  He's very picky about songs and when they're sung.  Unless it's to sing Jesus Loves Me at bedtime, mommy is not really allowed to sing.  (For his whole life, Lincoln has not liked mommy's singing, which makes me sad.  I often go ahead and sing anyway, because, you know, I love to sing!)

Listen Up

In our new home, the laundry is in the basement.  My household is happy right now, and these are the sounds I heard up above me while changing out loads: 

the slapping of little hands and knees as Lewis scoots around our "racetrack" layout; the buzz of the stand-alone freezer next to me (that doesn't actually freeze food very well); off in the distance, the up and down tones of Diego entertaining my Lincoln for awhile; squeals and rummaging noises from Lewis as he sorts tupperware and makes other such discoveries; the praise music buzzing down from my laptop in the kitchen, setting the tone of our home.  

And then, drowning out the rest of it for a few minutes, the furnace kicks on behind me, roaring to life to keep me and my household warm.  It's a reminder, depending on the state of my heart, of either a) another large bill coming up that won't really be easy to pay, or b) the assurance that my God is watching over all, blessing us with heat and finding yet another little way to take good care of us.   

Proverbs 4:23 says, "Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life."  Our hearts WILL pour forth streams.  Let them be sweet streams, pouring out thanksgiving to Jehovah Jireh, our provider of every good gift!

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:0) / :0(

Estimated closing on Markham Street in a week and a half :0)

I wrote our new address out officially for the first time yesterday at the eye doctor's :0)

I spent way too much time last night browsing on Amazon; dining tables inhabited my dreams, and I've already thought of 2 things I want to add to my Wish List :0(

"You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.  Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock." Isaiah 26:3-4

Stationed at the Watchpost

[Sharing with you my quiet time journaling this morning]

Father, I asked where I should read this morning, and almost instantly I heard "Habakkuk."

I did not remember that it is out of Habakkuk that Mark Virkler found his 4 Keys to hearing Your voice :0) [Andy and I attended this conference at our church last weekend; excellent.]

2:1-2 "I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what He will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint.  And the Lord answered me, 'Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it.'"

This whole book is like a cultural conversation with You about the state of our nation.

Habakkuk's complaint could be boiled down to, "Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? (1:3a)...guilty men, whose own might is their god! (1:11b)"

And the Lord replies to him, in essence, "Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded.  For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told (1:5)...For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end--it will not lie.  If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay (2:3)...For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea (2:14)."  

[And this is what Habakkuk's conversation with God reminds me about my culture:]

H          O          P          E

How'm I Doing With Those Goals?

I did a math-y thing during quiet time this morning.  I mean, I don't think it would stand up to a statistical analysis, but I was proud enough of my method to show it off to my hubby across the kitchen table when I was through :0)  

Since we are substantially into autumn (the feeling of the season, if not according to the calendar), I decided it would be wise to assess my performance in the goals I've set for myself--something to do with Ephesians 5:15-17.  I wrote out 13 goals for myself, ranging from "reestablish a daily quiet time" to "connect with other stay-at-home moms" to "generate content for the library web page."  

And since we bought a house (because, yes, we DID buy that house on Markham Street!) and the majority of my time and thought process for the rest of autumn will be spent on moving our family to a new home, I need to make extra sure that I still give some attention to these goals.  I did, after all, make them intentionally and (still) consider (most of) them important.   

So, in the photo is the math-y part, where I see how my performance stacks up on a scale of 1-10.  The good news is I'm doing really well on the two most important goals [daily quiet time (10) and enriching my prayer life (9)]!  And the other good news is that, having reassessed my goals, I have a clear picture of where I need to focus my energies to move from "goals" to "accomplishments"!  Using time wisely is a good feeling.  So good, in fact, that our God commands it of me--and of you! 

God Talking

Here's a disclaimer to begin my post: the final outcome of anything I'm writing about isn't yet known.  We're still busy waiting on God's just right timing to see how He'll unfold all these possibilities.  But a lot has unfolded lately.  

Two weeks ago, a prospective buyer came to see our house.  My prayer then was, "Father, whatever the outcome, please make this 'yes' or 'no' very clear very quickly, because I don't want to get my hopes up for weeks and have them dashed again."  (That's one of my specialties.)  So we waited 'til the other end of the weekend and got news back from our realtor: they loved everything about the house...except the bedrooms are too small.  Deal breaker.  So I cried a little and then brightened up, because I realized God absolutely answered my prayer.  I had no more than three days to plot out our future.  Thanks for taking care of my heart, Father.  

This week, on Tuesday, a knock on the front door interrupted our dinner.  Out of the blue, out of nowhere, the man on the other side of the door was interested in bringing his girlfriend up the next evening to see the house.  She and her two kids need somewhere to stay for a few months, then he'd plan to rent it out.  So they came, and they liked.  On Wednesday, he made a low-ball offer.  Nope, sorry, I said.  On Thursday he made a higher, but still too-low offer.  Andy messaged him back today with our counter and the offer of moving out in two weeks if we strike an agreeable deal.  The ball is in his court now!

Because of these open negotiations, and because our prospective buyer wants his girlfriend to be able to move in as soon as possible, we decided we ought to go see a house over in Lyons Falls that we've been very interested in seeing but haven't been very hurried about (remember my hopes-up syndrome?).  So, unexpectedly, it worked to go see it last night.  And we love it.  It's a beautiful little colonial that needs a few projects done on it--a very suitable compromise of a house for my fixer-upper loving hubby, and me, who wants to move right in to a house full of good character.  

Also unexpectedly, it has worked out that my father-in-law can come down tomorrow morning to see this house again with us and our also-available realtor. 

But this is actually all back story.  The main point of writing was to describe for you what happened yesterday in between receiving a still-low offer and arranging to see the red house: I heard the voice of God.  This is a big deal to me, because though I have certainly felt God's peace, God's blessing, God's answers to prayer, I have never been the person that can ask God a question and just have Him answer back.  "Conversational" has never described my prayer life.  Now, you might be thinking something along the lines of "Get a grip, Lydia," or "Time for a reality check," or just plain "You are going too far with this whole faith thing."  

But here's the deal.  When I received the second offer, my stomach was all in a dither over what to do.  My heart said that offer was too low and we needed to say 'no,' but my head just tried so hard to find a way to justify accepting it, mostly focusing on what a terrible sellers' climate we're in and that our house is only worth this only, first-ever offer.  And I didn't know how to pray about it, because I've given this situation over to God many times.  And I was not at peace, trying to either settle for a low-ball offer or settle for staying put in our little home for another indefinite amount of time.  And THEN!  Suddenly, not fitting in with my train of thought, came Proverbs 3: 5-6: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and LEAN NOT on your own understanding.  In ALL your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." 

And that, folks, was the voice of God speaking to me in direct answer to my dithering heart.  Because what else is the Word of God but His voice spoken to us by the Spirit in due season, in the perfect moment?  So whatever the outcome--if we strike a deal and I need to pack up this house in two weeks and live in a room with friends for a few more weeks while we finalize the purchase of our new home...if our current negotiations fall through and it feels like we're back to square one...if something entirely different unfolds--I will trust in my Lord with all my heart, because that is what He's told me to do.