Just tell Him your plans, right?

I had it allllll figured out.

With four kids still in boosters and a new baby on the way – I knew our Windstars would be jam packed with all the car seats. I spent some time looking at full-sized vans and was really hoping we’d get to move up from the mini-van. After looking for a few weeks in February/March, I realized that doing that would cost more than we had saved up, and because we are personally convicted not to borrow or lease I prayed, instead, for contentment with the vehicles we had. And it was granted. ☺ I became very excited about the prospect of saving up for another year and making the mini-van fit. [Frankly, I LOVE my Windstar. When we bought it in 2001, it was a 2001 with a number of bells and whistles.] I also got very excited about the prospect of KEEPING the mini-van even AFTER we got the big van, next year. We could then use our mini-van to lend to the youth group, or visiting missionaries, or to friends who may need it. I considered that we could pull out the rear seat and use it as a cargo van. I also thought that maybe God’s plan would include showing us a family to give the van to. [We gave away the last car, as well.]

This seems all good, doesn’t it? We were being good stewards. I wasn’t coveting. I was enjoying contentment. We wanted to share. How could these be bad things?

Well, on 3/17 [the day we went to the zoo] I noticed my mini-van was making a slightly odd sound. I mentioned it to JB. I don’t really have to drive much, and the days went by. On 3/24, on the way to CBS in Canandaigua, it made a BIG, chinking noise and then drove funnier. I got it home, borrowed a friend’s car to go to an appt., and then JB got it to his old friend, [and master mechanic] Greg, on 3/25 to look at.

When Greg called us at 7PM on 3/25 he said to JB, “You’d better sit down.”

I will condense the story to three words – “Not worth repairing.”

I cried. A lot.

Now what is God teaching me? Is contentment really NOT good enough? What is wrong with this plan?

I was really, really upset.

See, for the last 4 years we have been saving some money every month toward the proverbial “next car” and/or car repairs. Since we committed to being debt-free, except the mortgage, we have faithfully put money in there. But, it wasn’t enough. Well, at least it wasn’t enough for the used Ford Econolines at Simmons-Rockwell, or Van Bortel, or everywhere else I looked online. To have made those purchases, we would have had to wipe out our savings and use every cent of our income tax refund. And then live on pasta for the next 12 month, and skip things like swim lessons, SeaBreeze tickets and birthday parties.

These disciples would not have liked living that way.

Or we could get a loan. We considered that for a few minutes only.

We prayed.

I cried.

And I couldn’t sleep.

At 2:30 A.M. on 3/26 I went online and looked on CRAIGSLIST of all things. I RARELY EVER use Craigslist.

I also used the Kelly Blue Book site and Simmons-Rockwell. I found 6 possibilities with lots of price ranges.

In the effort to abbreviate, I will share that GOD’s idea was WAY different than mine.

That Craigslist search yielded a hit to a dealership called, “Uncle Vic’s Auto Outlet.” And the next evening, in a series of highly odd happenings [like the owner’s wife giving the kids t-shirts], JB and his friend Greg decided it was a decent van, I decided it didn’t matter what it looked like, and we bought a van for fully two-thirds less than the next best van available.

I wish I could tell you the whole funny story.
I wish I could tell you how God 100%, unquestionable confirmed
our decision when we picked it up and a family of fellow homeschoolers were there.
I wish I could tell you how funny it smells.
Okay – I can tell you how funny it smells [hopefully getting detailed this week!]

What I CAN tell you, is that I never, ever pictured myself in this van. Ever.
To call it “unpolished” is a bit too gentle.
To call it a “beater” is too harsh.
To call it HUMILITY is probably best.

But I have reminded myself 100 times, HUMILITY is not HUMILIATION.

AND THE KIDS THINK IT ROCKS!

So – if you see us tooling around town, honk and wave!

See how all the photos say January… yeah… that is what happens when your husband puts the battery back in the camera and you have never told him about setting the date.

This was a rough week.  Not so rough that we couldn’t pick up the camera here and there.

Random shots – with explanations.

 
The boys made bread in the shape of lambs at co-op on 3/19.

 

The ate them for days.

 

Angel has been wearing ponies in her hair to pacify Mommy.
This was for church on 3/21.

 

She found the Sit-N-Spin in the basement.  She’ seems to have forgotten that she ever used it before.

 ‘

We got out our Easter decorations on 3/21, as well.

The girls like the box the best.

 

On Monday, 3/22, Angel had a picnic with some of the bunnies that are part of my decorations.
 

She read them stories, as well.

 

Champ and I made cornbread after reading about a girl who made cornbread and served it to George Washington.
It was delicious.

 
Our piano teacher is moving to Florida.
We will miss Janelle, deeply.

 

A squirrel got into Champs’s feeder.  I don’t know why the camer date when backward at that point.

 

Monday evening the boys went to their Pinewood Derby.

On Wednesday, Champ and Beau sang and performed at CBS.
I was too far back to take decent photos.

 

I’m sorry I don’t have anything better to share.

I woke up Sunday 3/21 with excruciating belly pain.  It comes and goes and the pain ranges from 1 out of 10, to 8 out of 10. 
I saw the doctor; we don’t know what it is.  It has been 8 days now.
I hope to talk to him again on Tuesday.

I’ll post some more about our car dilemma, when I have more energy.
It’s been a really difficult week physically and emotionally.
But God is good and faithful.

Hope you are all well, as well.

Love, Stacy

My friend Misty and I both blog.

We both love to share photos.

She and her children spent 3-4 hours at my house visiting Tuesday.

WE DIDN’T TAKE GOOD PHOTOS TO SHARE!

😛

Misty and her family moved to New Hampshire 18 months ago.  We only get to see each other about twice a year.  While we don’t spend hours on the phone giggling, crying, and “bonding,” there is just something very uncanny about how similarly our lives line up.  I think we surprise ourselves whenever we realize another area of our lives is so much alike.  I enjoy our infrequent, but wonderful, visits together. 

She was also VERY good company as we never really left the kitchen!!  First we prepared lunch, and then I prepared a meal for a friend.  She never flinched as I dirtied dish after dish, utensil after utensil, and I never measured an ingredient, once. 

Just as she was leaving, we grabbed our cameras.  [We have blogs to maintain, you know!]  Our sons took the ones of us. 

[BOY do I look bigger than I thought I did!!!!!!!!!!!!]

 

 

We have had an exceptionally warm week here, for March.

This is my favorite time of the year to own land. Not with the snow and sledding. Not with the summer and mowing. But in the spring… before the sun and rain cause all the ground cover to start flourishing. It is THIS time of year you can get into the nooks and crannies and see the property and what the vegetation and snow hide the rest of the year. I won’t say I am PROUD of the property. I am just in AWE of it. I can’t believe God had it in his perfect plan to let us live here. I could still *pinch myself* over it. It isn’t a ton; just 5 acres. But ME? Five acres? I would NEVER have EVER asked God for something like this… I am so glad He doesn’t see fit to listen to ME when deciding how to bless my family.

The kids found BONES in the yard. They thought they were a cat’s bones.
GOOD GRIEF. That is an area of science we clearly have not TOUCHED in our homeschool!!!

Today we went to the zoo. IT was FABULOUS!!!!!

I hope you enjoy these ones, too.
Click on the bottom right corner where it says, “View Full Album,” then select “Slide Show.”

They had SUCH a great day.

I let the kids take most of the photos. They thought THAT was the coolest part, I think.
My camera battery died before I got photos of the girls
going down the slides head first, on their backs.

It has been a WHILE since I had a project.  I seriously think it was about a year ago!  I painted one of the spare rooms last March I believe.  I didn’t realize how much I would be happy to have one until we got started.

A few weekends ago. JB and I dug into the boys room for a good clean.  And I mean a GOOD one.  We purged, cleaned and moved things.  [Beau had 27 pair of pants on his side of the closet!!!  Some fit, some were too small, some were too big.  He had 4 pair of khaki pants.  In our defense, he has not changed sizes too much in the last two years and gifts and hand-me-downs have just kept coming.]

We realized that all the kids might benefit from dressers.  Up until now we have never used them.  I hang all our laundry to dry and we just carry the shirts, on hangers, to the correct closets, where JB has put in closet organizers [the cheap kind] so Champ’s rack is up high and Beau’s is down low.  The shirts hang and the pants are folded on the shelf.  The boys then have those small plastic dressers from Rubbermaid, or what-have-you, with three drawers each.  One for underwear, one for pajamas and one for shorts.  We don’t really store clothes anywhere, as the boys are the same size and they don’t go from one kid to the next.  I don’t really change things out for seasons, either.   The problem is that their clothes don’t really fit in this arrangement anymore.  Their jammies are larger, their shorts are larger, and the plastic dressers are still really small.

The girls’ closet is set up similarly, with hanging shirts and dresses, and pants are folded on the rack in the middle.  But they have been using my old dresser, as opposed to the plastic variety, which had always been the “baby” dresser.  We throw a pad on it to make it a changing table and put the baby clothes and gear inside.  We will need that to be a “baby” dresser again in a few weeks!

So I began hunting for some used dressers on Craigslist.  Let me just say that the first week out I kept missing out!!  I could never get to the seller fast enough.  Then Friday we saw a set that had two dressers and a desk.  I didn’t need a desk, but the three pieces were $100 and available!!  So Sunday, JB went to get them.

They are not 100% wood.  They have a laminated covering.  They are clean and solid, however, as well as the perfect sizes.  They are Bassett, and I am guessing they are between 15 – 25 years old.  The are a bit banged up, but not bad at all.  Truth-be-told, I am a bit glad they are not 100% wood.  While they would LOOK fantastic refinished, I am not exactly in the mood for THAT kind of project.  I don’t have the where-with-all to dig into a stripping-sanding-staining project this month.  I DO have the where-with-all to prime and paint, however.  And I have started to do that.  The boys cleaned them up for me and helped with the first coat of primer.  I did the second coat, and the first coat of paint.  I hope to have the boys’ dresser in their room this weekend.  Champ took some photos for us.  🙂

So I have a project.  🙂  I’ll keep you posted on the progress.  🙂

To be the boys’.

The desk.

 

Mama priming in my paint clothes.  That shirt is almost 20 years old!!

 

To be the girls’.

 

 

Champ is rather creative.  It is a side of him that has been growing in leaps and bounds this last year.  He once was content to draw alongside his brother, but lately he has desired scissors, glue, different materials, beads, you name it.

Friday, after co-op, I began to clean-up one of the spare bedrooms.  I got into cleaning in and around my sewing materials.  Champ found a HUGE piece of black felt and asked if he could make something.  Since I hadn’t sewn in a year and had no real plans for this HUGE piece, I told him to go for it.  He cut out a mustache.  He then wanted to sew it.  “Sew it?” I asked.  He wanted to find some way to attach it to his face.  We dug through my stuff to find some elastic.  Then he needed a needle and thread… hmmmm.  I went for it.  I had to make a point of showing him it was not like yard and lacing projects he’d enjoyed recently.  He claimed he, “Got it,” and I let him go.

Well.  The next day while I was at work, he got Daddy to help him, again, and made a matching beard.  I don’t know why I didn’t snap a photo of the whole ensemble.  But I did get a photo Friday night.  Daddy helped him with the embellishments.

I love seven-year-olds!

 

One of the classes offered at our Friday Co-Op

[for homeschool] is face painting. 

Every week the class looks for models and

my girls have done it the last two weeks.

Angel had one of the students apply her artwork. 

She chose a cross and balloons.

 

Skeezix went for the butterfly. 

Hers was applied by the instructor. 

I was very impressed… so was Skeezix. 

 

I may use this one on her birthday invitations!

   

While I don’t make a habit of storing up treasures on earth,
“where moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal,” I do enjoy special treats.

We were able to scoot up to Canada last weekend for a VERY brief visit. 
My cousin, Cathy, was visiting from Cold Lake, Alberta
[how’d you like to live THERE?] to her home in Kingston, Ontario. 
It had been almost a year since we saw her and it was great to have a visit. 

We also enjoyed catching up with other family members.

We received some treats while we were there, too. 

Aunt Betty had picked out a few things for Scooter!  Angel was tickled as can be.

  

Aunt Jackie had left a box full of homemade treats for Scooter. 

[She headed back to British Columbia a few weeks back.  But we got to see her at Thanksgiving.]

The other kids all had some precious, homemade, things from Aunt Jackie. 

But in the last few years, I have passed them along to some other little children. 

I was so tickled to see these treasures.  Angel Ooooh’d and Aaaaaah’d.

And finally… these were VERY dear blessings.

February 21st, MY great aunt, Hazel, died.  It was such a shock. 

Although she was 83, she was someone you had to work to keep up with. 

Foolishly, somewhere inside, I think I thought she would live forever.  I am so sorry that she is gone. 

We last saw her in October.

Recently, she had left these two ear-warmers at Aunt Betty’s house, for Skeezix and Angel.

I was NOT expecting these.  I am so touched to think she’d been thinking of my girls!!

 

 

This is truly cool.  Absolutely fascinating.  LOVE IT!

The longer you watch, the cooler it gets!