Friday, September 5, 2008

Car blessings

It's time to have our car registered (well actually pats time) and when I took it in for the emissions and inspection they said it didn't pass emissions. I've never actually had that happen before so I asked the guy what we needed to do. He said it was our mass air flow sensor (okay whatever that is?) He showed me where to find it in the engine and said we could try cleaning it and that if we were lucky that might take care of it but that we should start praying, because id that didn't work, it was not a cheap thing to replace. Oh great just what we need when Mike has been looking for work for the last seven months.

So today I went to get the cleaner and Mike spent quite a bit of time trying to clean the part good enough that it would pass. Then I headed back to get the emissions re-done. The car was sputtering something terrible, and I was praying real hard that it would pass.

Our prayers were answered. The car passed and the sputtering stopped and we were able to get it registered. Which was a great relief since our other car won't fit our whole family.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

I'm Thankful For . . .

Harrisen has been so cute with his prayers lately. A few months ago I had to bribe him with bedtime stories to get him to even say his prayers but not anymore.

Every night when he goes to bed he makes sure we don't forget to let him say his prayer. Even when he has fallen sound asleep during family scriptures I go to lay him down and as soon as his head hits the pillow it pops back up and he says " I have to say prayer mom". This makes me so proud, but not half as proud as when I get to listen to what he says in his prayer.

"Thank you for the day, Thank you for the church, Thank you for Jesus, Thank you for my family,( then he names everyone), Thank you for my friends, (naming again), Thank you for me to go on a mission when I get bigger, Thank you for gramma and grampa to go on a mission, Thank you for my home" this goes on for several minutes and not once does he ask for anything. What a sweet little boy.

So following the example of my little boy:
Thank you for my Husband,
Thank you for my kids,
Thank you for my extended family,
Thank you for the comfortable home I have to live in,
Thank you that our family is healthy and happy,
Thank you for my friends,
Thank you for the freedoms which I enjoy,
Thank you for the cars we have to travel in,
Thank you for the trials I get to learn from,
Thank you for my callings, which help me to grow spiritually,
Thank you for good food to eat,
Thank you for the Gospel, and the way it blesses my life,
Thank you for the Temple and how close we live to it,
Thank you for looking out for me and my family
and right now most of all
Thank you for a son who teaches me by his example the way to pray.
"I HAVE BEEN BLESSED"

The back to school bandit

Since Mike has been out of work to snack kinds of food are scarce at our house. which is okay but sometimes missed by the kids. Well not anymore. Some wonderful person dropped off a HUGE bag of all kinds of treats for our kids. They are in heaven 9and Mike is really enjoying it too).

Thank you who ever you are.

Help with home improvement

After Christmas nearly two years ago we bought the supplies to repair and re-tile both of our bathrooms. But after finishing the main one that was damaged from plumbing problems we decided that winter was the wrong season to be cutting tile with a wet saw outside. So we put off doing the downstairs bathroom until spring. Yeah well, that was the plan anyway.

So here we are 20 months after we purchased the tile finally finishing the project that we started. We got everything torn apart and then put back together to the point of actually laying the tile before we realized that we were short 7 bull nose tile (which gives you the finished look on the edge of the tile where it meets up to the sheet rock).

We have spent several frustrating weeks trying to find more of this tile so we could finish what we started only to find that you can't buy that kind anymore, they can't even special order it for us, and we couldn't find anything close enough to not be noticeable. (here is the point where I wanted to cry because we could not afford to put anything into this project right now and with a family our size you need more than one toilet in the house.)

Enter A great Friend at the home depot and voila'. We were able to return all of our tile (that we bought 20 months ago) without a receipt and get enough store credit to buy new, better, prettier tile, the grout we needed to match the new tile, and still have some store credit leftover to put towards a cabinet (which will have to wait until Mike has a job so we can have enough to pay for it).

To me this is a huge blessing! The tile will look great, it won't cost us anything extra, and I'm happier with the new style than I was with what we had. (I did like what we had, I just like this better.)

So THANK YOU John, THANK YOU Home Depot, and most importantly,
THANK YOU Heavenly Father for blessing me this way.

Friday, July 11, 2008

A Miracle Happened in Africa

This is a journal entry that my parents sent us from their Mission in Africa:
Monday June 30th 2008

Today is the day we are to check back with the lady who owns the house in Lilongwe. When we called her she said that she had got back from Tanzania on Wednesday and had already rented the house to someone else. You can imagine how crushed we were. When we had prayed about the house with the branch presidency we had had such a positive witness that that was where the branch should meet. How could it slip away like that? About 20 minutes later Sister Bouwhuis called her back thinking that maybe we were the people that she was thinking about when she said that it was already rented. We told her that we had told her daughter last Monday that we defiantly wanted it and to have her mother call us as soon as she got home. She again said that she was sorry but she hadn’t spoken to her daughter since she returned and that she had taken a deposit and she was to meet with him this afternoon to finalize the deal. We decided to fast that the Lords will would be done. Sister Bouwhuis and I went to our room to have a prayer to start our fast. We asked the Lord that if this was the place for the Branch to meet that we would see a miracle and that peoples hearts would be changed and we would still be able to rent it, but if we were to meet somewhere else that He would give us another miracle and we would be guided to be able to find the right place. Sister Bouwhuis was despondent all day, some times to the point of tears. She felt that we must have not done enough and it had slipped away. I tried to reassure her that we had done all that we could do, at that point, and that now it was in the hands of the Lord. At that point if the Lord wants that house he will work a miracle. If He wants another place he will work a different miracle. It is now up to Him. She finally felt at peace around 2:45, that it was in the Lord’s hands and would be as He wanted it to be though she didn’t know if that meant that we would get the house or not. Just knew that it was O.K. with the Lord.
About 3:30 Sister Bouwhuis called her back to see what the outcome was with her meeting with the other gentleman. Miracles still do happen. She had decided to NOT rent it to the other man even though he had offered her 10,000 more a month. Sister Bouwhuis told her that she was so thrilled and grateful to the Lord as we has been fasting and praying all day and that when she saw her she would give her a great big hug. It is certainly a testimony or a witness to the fact that the Lord takes a personal hand in His work. HE IS IN CONTROL! Godfrey had called in the morning asking how things were progressing with us getting the house in Lilongwe. We had told him what had happened and that we were fasting and praying that we could get it. He called back about 4 and asked if there had been a change. We told him of how the Lord had changed her heart and we would have the place to meet in. He told us to meet with her and pay 90,000 Kwacha for the first months rent and he would be up most likely on Friday to sign the lease agreement. It wasn’t long after that Mrs. Manda called back and said that she had the keys and we could come and get them at any time. We arranged with her that we would meet her at the house at half 10 (that’s how they say 10:30 here) the next day and that we would pay her the first month’s rent and that Godfrey would be up on the Friday or soon after to make the lease agreement as we didn’t have the authority to do that, he did. Sister Bouwhuis had purposely left it questionable as to when he came because he has a habit of not coming when he first says he will come. We were on cloud nine!!! We had the house!!! Now the work will progress in Lilongwe!!! Now we can have missionaries there as they will have a place to stay and we will have a church to meet in!!!

My Parents are currently serving in the Zimbabwe Africa mission and we are so proud of them for the work that they are doing there!

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Bargin buys!!

Things are a little tight right now, and it just so happens to be time to start thinking about school clothes. Scary thought right?

I need to run to Walmart to put the pictures from our Sim card onto a disk because it was too full to take any more pictures. Well Because Alex needed a new tooth brush from her orthodontist, I ended up not going to the Walmart I usually would go to, and went to the one closest to the orthodontist to save gas. so the whole way there I'm thinking to myself that this is ridiculous that I have to waste the gas just to get a special toothbrush. Why didn't they give us a spare so I didn't have to make a special trip? (yeah, I was having a pity party for myself and need to repent now).

Well I'm pretty sure now that the Lord has a hand in even the little things in our life! As I was heading towards the photo lab at Walmart, right there in the middle of the isle there were several racks of clothing on sale for $1, $2, and $3. I can't believe it! I was able to get at least 6 items for each child for school clothes, for under $3 each! Awesome! I love these kind of deals!
I even got some toys for Harrisen's Birthday (that is coming up soon) that were on sale 50% off.
Needless to say I was not complaining any more on the way home.

The Lord really is looking out for me and my little family!(well, we are actually kind of big)

Monday, June 30, 2008

Our Garden

Over the years since we have owned a home we have tried (and failed) many times to grow a successful garden. This year has been different. Our garden is growing more than I ever thought it would.
I believe the reason things are different this year that they have in the past has allot more to do with the fact that Heavenly Father knows we need it this year than to do with the any change in the efforts we have put into the garden. I feel very blessed that Heavenly Father is looking out for me and my little (well we're not really that little) family. The plants are plentiful, and the weeds are few.
We have the beginnings of broccoli,
and even some tiny squash beginning to form (actually we have a lot of tiny squash)
And we have already harvested more lettuce and peas than we ever have before.
We are so blessed. The Lord is looking out for all of our needs.