The Lord sends the neatest encouragements!   The children and I have been working nearly non-stop on cleaning and packing to get this house ready to sell.   Today, it became evident that the Rug Doctor rental machine thing was great for exercise, but just wasn't giving the results we'd hoped for, so I reluctantly began calling professional carpet cleaners....one more thing to spend money on, i kept thinking.

Finally, there was a company willing to come out today - he kindly squeezed us into his busy day.   At the end of the cleaning (my, the carpets look great!) came the usual  "Do you accept a check?" etc. conversation.   However, to my astonishment, he handed me a business card and said,  "I also own a restaurant here in town.  What I want you to do is this:  take the children and go have a nice dinner at my restaurant, and we'll call it even for the carpets."

What was that again?

I must have looked dumbfounded, because he added, "I just think you all could use a break, and, well, I'm not going to miss any meals by not charging you for the carpets.  You just take the kids, and have a nice evening."  I thanked him through my tears..... and remained astonished.

What he didn't  know, is that he was an answer to prayer.  You see, this morning my eldest son and I were talking about things being tight financially, and i said, "John, it's all God's - we just need to ask Him how He wants His money spent, and trust that He'll take care of things."  We stopped together and prayed about finances.  Obeying what He has put before us (getting this house ready to sell) included the carpet cleaning.  We never would have thought in 100 years of this blessing!!  It strengthened my son's faith; what a precious gift.

So, we are all excited about our family date night -- especially fun after all the work the children have done.  This afternoon, we had another fun memory:  polishing the floors with our feet!  I cleaned the floors by hand (thanks, Geanine, for the wonderful homemade polish recipe!), and then the children helped me buff them out!

Sibling Skiing was next...!!

What a great day! :)  I love being a mom....

About the lady who called...

Well, there was a lady who had called on the house, then she and her young son were feeling a bit under the weather.  She was to call yesterday and hasn't.  Hmmm.  Perhaps the Lord used her to motivate us to get everything done?!  :)   We'll see.  It is sooo comforting to know EVERYthing is in His hands, and we can, well, go have a wonderful dinner together and celebrate His faithfulness!

Blessings,,

kim

Ok, this is a cry for help! 

Please, tell me there's hope for a reforming clutter bug, pack-rat, call-it-what-cute-name-you-like.   AURGH!!   Here's the update:   The children and I are trying to pack up and clean this house so it can be put "on the market."   Well, that sounds great, doesn't it?!   AAHHHHH!   You see, I've dragged "stuff" across the country (from AZ to TN a year ago), and it's as though i'm so used to looking at it, the thought of getting RID of "it" never crosses my mind!

Not Long Ago...

A couple weeks back, dear Geanine (mom2fourtreasures) and her precious children, sacrificed a day of their busy life to lend help and encouragement.   Her word for me is:  SIMPLIFY.    Can I tell you something?   We are moving from a 4000 sqft home to a single wide mobile.   Four children, Dad & Mom, the three birds, two lizards and two dogs...and my parents who are in their 80's are moving from AZ to come live with us (they'll have their own little home on the property!).

So, picture this:

a clutter-nut going through 15 years of "stuff."   This is where Geanine's words keep coming back to me.   "Kim, if you can't organize it, it doesn't need to live here."   But...i found a great deal on acrylic paints, and we were going to paint pet rocks.   And books...don't get me going.   How on earth do you get rid of books??   We LOVE them!   In this house now, we have a home school room (filled with books).   In the mobile, we will have bedrooms, a family room and kitchen.   Where do the books and crafts go?   Must I part with them?!?   It was a mile stone for me this morning to sit down with the children and go thru the cookie cutters...i mean, who needs 150 of them? (yes, i'm serious...my mother in law is so precious, she knows we like to bake, and she likes to shop, and well, need i say more?!)

What's Next?

Our intention is to begin building our home, but it is very realistic that it will take us a year (or two, or three) before that is a completed reality.   I'm sooo tired of tripping over "things" that don't have a home.   And that happens in this big house - how much more in the mobile!!!   Fellow homeschoolers who know this struggle: PLEASE SEND ME ADVICE.   I am to the point where my emotional connection is to the children, not the 150,000 little things that they've made over the years.   Therefore, I can let go of (some) of those things.   And movies, clothes, and other "stuff" - i can let it go.   It just feels like i'm never going to get thru everything!   I need a process, and how to implement it (you highly organized, compassionate moms out there knows what I mean.  I know you're out there...!).   :)

My dear children

are working their little hearts out cleaning and amazingly, they have de-cluttered better than i.   Just tell me that it will work; that I can get rid of the glass bread dish that was my Mom's, but i've never used, and maybe even that neat glass turkey platter that we use twice a year, but store ALL year long....  *sigh*    Tell me the joys of clutter-free living!

Thanks for listening, i think i just needed to get this all out on "paper" before i delve back into the battle!   Angie & Maria, thank you for the encouragement!!   Geanine, I don't know how we could have made it this far without you!!   Thank you, thank you, thank you!   Hope your vacation was all you hoped it would be.   Oh, it rained a bit last night: thought of your happy garden drinking in the evening drops.

Oh, and did i mention, there was a couple that have called and want to see the house!   It almost makes me laugh out loud!!   "You'll love this home...but please watch your step - the breadmaker is being boxed up there on the floor, and don't mind those pile of books (they're going to McKay's, you know).   And - pardon?  Did you say something?   Can't quite hear you too well over the big industrial fan  running in the hallway - you see, we just finished staining the trim last night.  Would you care for a cup of tea?"

As I've been writing just now they called AGAIN!   I have invited them over to see the home on Thursday (yes, THIS Thursday!).   So if we come to your mind, or as you're reading this, please just ask the Lord to give us direction and inspiration, and to not lose heart in doing good.

 T-48 hours...and counting.

Proverbs 6:9 "The mind of man plans his way,

but the Lord directs his steps."

 The next series of miracles, and I continually wonder,  "Why does He love us so much?"  There is certainly nothing inherently love-able within my heart aside from Him.  And, the mystery, not only does He love, but He seems to delight in giving to His children. 

 The development of the Hearthstone Farm dream...

In our excitement that the property was once again available, we overlooked an insurmountable obstacle: financing.   The property has a mobile home on it, where we had intended to live while we build our someday-home ... the hope being to built it as close to debt free as possible.  However, our lender (a personal friend) explained that it was very difficult (for us, impossible) to finance a mobile home, and the only possibility would be to wrap the construction cost into the cost of the property ... completely defeating the "debt-free" concept!   

We were stunned.  Had the Lord brought us to this property (again) to tell us no now?

There is a couple, David & Janet, whom the Lord has used to disciple Matthew and me for over 10 years.  David has taught again and again the concept of having an open hand before the Lord.  "If the Lord gives you something, and you hold tightly to it, when He says, 'Let go,' and you continue to hold on to it, He will begin 'break' [so to speak] one finger at a time until you let go.  However, if you have your hands always open to Him, He can give freely and take freely.  When your eyes are on Him, it is much easier to keep the open hand."

And so, with open hands, we prayed, trying not to be discouraged.  We called the owners, and tossed out the idea of an owner carry...something that had been mentioned (and rejected) once before.  They invited us to their home, where we sat around their dining room table.

We handed them the numbers we had worked out...the downpayment, interest rate, etc., etc.   They glanced at the numbers we had written out, smiled and set it aside.  "That's fine.  How have you kids been today - did you go out to the farm this afternoon?" ...and then they showed us pictures of their grandchildren, talked of raising goats, and so we chatted for about an hour.

At the end of that time, I...almost sheepishly [pardon the farm pun]...referred back to the numbers.  "Then...this will work for you?"   "Sure, dear," came the reply.

 My husband and I sat in what must have been some level of disbelief, because as we walked out to the truck, I asked him,  "Matthew, did we just buy the farm?!"  He smiled, nodded and said,  "I think so!"  :)

Why is He so good to us!?   He has given Himself, and moved Heaven and earth to do so.   And yet, He cares about a handful of His people, wanting to live on His green hills.   Amazing.

And here, the end of the week, we have a signed contract, and four extremely elated children!!  So now, the last step is to sell our existing home....well, for the Lord to put thru the sale, that is.  We are industrously cleaning, decluttering and packing to ready the house for the market. Which leads me to mention a wonderful opportunity called ATIC - All Things in Common - taken from the Acts passage regarding the early Church coming together to meet each others' needs.   Several families will gather this Monday to bring what they would like to share, and be able to take what they may need - what a concept!  This is through the wonderful Sevier Cty Homeschooling group (which we are just beginning to become acquainted with).  Our family is SO excited to participate this Monday - instead of the children thinking, "Wow, I can sell this at a garage sale for $1," [not that there's ANYthing wrong with garage sales, of course!!], I heard one of them say, "I can share this with someone at ATIC!"  That's the Lord working in their little hearts! Look at His love!!

Proverbs 19:21, "Many plans are in a man's heart, but the counsel of the Lord will stand."    Blessings to you as you seek His counsel.

Open handedly,    -kim

You may think it odd, to write about someplace that

only exists in one's mind, in a dream.   

But, such it is with Hearthstone Farm.

For years, my husband and I dreamt of such a place - land to harvest a garden, to house a family cow, horse and, undoubtedly, a handful of chickens. From our fast-paced life in Phoenix, it seemed such hopes would remain merely dreams, but God....

There is a precious lady in our church who says her favorite phrase in the Bible is "But God...." 

Think about it.

The earth had been destroyed, "But God remembered Noah," (Gen. 8:1); Joseph, having been sold into slavery says to his brothers, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good," (Gen. 50:20); our precious Lord was crucified, "but God raised him from the dead on the third day" (Acts 10:40).

It is as though the Lord keeps our dependence on Him clear - the impossible confronts us, but God....   We will not delve into the "impossibilities" the Lord has brought our family through, though it will suffice to say we have found true "the testing of your faith produces endurance."  We would, however, very much like to chronicle the next "impossibility" the Lord has set before us: Hearthstone Farm.

Two "city-bred" parents, four excited children: lots of ideas and plans, little to nil on the experience chart! 

Soooo...it begins with finding a place - a perfect place - to settle in and to christen "Hearthstone Farm."  Perfect, of course, meaning several rolling Tennessee acres, with not-so-several dollars!  Amazingly, we happened upon such a place, beautiful beyond description. It even had a cantilever barn (can someone explain to us why they're build angling inwards? Thanks!).  The owners agreed to our price, but before we were able to come to them with a contract, another (more attractive!) offer came to them.  I cried.  The elder two children were sorely dissappointed.  The dream was delayed.  We sat down as a family to continue praying, knowing that the Lord must have something even better in store. 

To our collective surprise, just this past week, we received a call from the owners of this wonderful property, explaining that the "deal had not gone through" and they expressed a desire for our family to purchase their property! 

My husband and I could hardly believe what we were hearing! In our excitement, I suggested we not tell the children yet, until perhaps the property were under contract, so as not to disappoint them (potentially) again.  However, my husband in great wisdom, reminded me that "as we've involved the children in this process, it's important that they pray with us through these steps" - even if it is emotional.  The children's faith, as ours, is strengthened in the struggle.

It was with GREAT joy the news was received by the four children, and this very day, the 19th of May, 2007, we walked the property - chatting about dreams for the old barn, how the barn cat (whom Karis named Puff!) was a good "mouser," admiring the beautiful trees and rolling hills, and expressing thanks to God for this possibility.  And so, perhaps we are actually here at the threshold of what we had only dared to dream.  Years of hoping for the impossible.

But God....