What's Your Anchor?

Whew! We are in the midst of a whirlwind of activity. I've had several blog worthy moments but I haven't managed to post them. In addition to moving sooner than I had expected, I am working through two Bible studies. One is "No Other Gods" by Kelly Minter and the other is "To Live is Christ"' by Beth Moore. I'm doing the Kelly Minter study with my bloggy friend Kristy. We post our comments for each other to read every week. I'm doing the Beth Moore study with my friend Becky. Becky is a Navy wife I met while we were living in Great Lakes. When her husband got orders to Washington we decided to do a Bible study by phone each week. Some weeks have been busier than others and we've had to postpone our phone date, but most weeks we get to talk and work through our study. This past week we decided to email each other our comments since I would be caught in moving chaos. Ideally I should have had these done around Monday, but didn't get them posted until yesterday (Saturday). The Minter study is subtitled "Confronting Our Modern-Day Idols." It deals with things in our lives that we make into idols and allow to come before our relationship with God. We don't plan to make them idols, it just happens. With that in mind, I felt like I should post my Bible study comments before I took time to post on my blog. Of course, tomorrow is Monday again and am I ready? No. Sorry girls!

To catch everyone up, we did find a great house in the new area. It is has four bedrooms and a full finished basement. The kids will each have their own rooms this time around. We have four bedrooms here, but we use the fourth as an office. Having the finished basement will give us the extra space for that. We took some pictures but the owners are in the middle of cleaning up after the last tenants (four college students) who left the house in less than desirable condition so the pictures don't really do it justice. I will however share this one of the foyer from the top of the stairs. I think it is beautiful. (I may not once I have to clean it.)

We will arrive at the new house on Thursday and the movers will deliver all of our stuff on Friday. I'll get some better pictures and post them then. When we were moving to our present house from Great Lakes, a friend of mine was praying for me. I remember her praying that God would bless me with a house that made my heart sing. I thought that was such a sweet prayer and the words have stuck with me. We have made some wonderful memories in our current house and it has been our home. The house itself has given my heart more of a hum, but the house we are moving to has my heart singing. I can hardly wait to make it our home and build some new memories.

As I was packing up our kitchen, I took down some verses I had written out and put on the refrigerator. Moving here had it ups and downs. At times it seemed like there were many more downs than ups. I know the Lord has used our time here to teach me some valuable lessons. One being what it truly means to lay everything at His feet and trust Him to work it out. A couple of my friends have pointed out that I am a bit of a control freak (I'm not sure where they get that idea) so if you agree with that perspective you can understand how hard this lesson has been. Trusting God doesn't mean you let Him handle the things you don't want to handle on your own, it means total surrender.

One of the verses is from John 14:27. It says, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." One day I was listening to Moody Radio and the speaker asked the question, "How do you know you are in the will of God." The answer he gave was that as long as we are walking with God we will be in His will. This past week in the Beth Moore study she said "a sense of peace will virtually always accompany His will and direction. Christ is the Prince of Peace." As I move on from this season of my life, I have peace.

One of the other verses is from Hebrews 6:18b-19. It says, "We who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. " The Lord is my firm and secure anchor. Wow!

In the same Beth Moore study she was talking about a season in the life of Paul where things were good but it was time to move on. There are countless good things about our life here, but it is time for us to move on. As I removed these scriptures from the refrigerator where they have hung for almost two years, I wanted to pack them away to hang up at my new home. Then I felt like God was telling me that this season is coming to an end and He will continue to be my anchor, but I could let those scraps of paper go.

I can't go to sleep tonight until we are totally packed so that will be enough rambling from me. I have a few more travel/moving tips so watch for those in the next couple of days.

We Have Arrived

It has been a long day. By the time we loaded everyone and got fuel it was about 5:00 when we headed out of town. Mapquest gave us about a 10 hour travel time. I had already planned the route I wanted to take, but I wanted to see what Mapquest had to offer. I have found errors in the directions given by Mapquest before. Specifically directions to my house. They leave out an important turn. Anyway...I figured with potty stops it would take us about 12 hours. Yep, I figured in two hours of potty stops. Let's face it. Public bathrooms are disgusting. Luckily, we had a Cracker Barrel about every 10 miles on our journey. Their bathrooms are usually pretty decent. Twenty to thirty minute potty stops are part of my travel tip for the day. When anyone in your traveling party calls for a potty break, everyone traveling has to try to go. Adults included. My family is use to this rule and everyone cooperates. This does take extra time at the actual stop, but you don't have to stop again 10 minutes down the road. Besides Cracker Barrel having clean bathrooms, there is a bit of room to stretch for a few minutes. Don't rush the potty/stretch breaks. It will make for a more enjoyable ride.

So our 12 hour trip turned out to be a 15 1/2 hour trip. Traffic in general wasn't bad. There was a bit of congestion in one major city, but it was flowing. The problem was two accidents. We crawled for an hour while the first one was cleaned up. The second one blocked both lanes and involved 3 vehicles. We came upon that one right after it happened and as emergency crews were arriving. I have a picture, but my camera got left in the car and I am not going to go get it at this hour. It was pretty messy, but thankfully everyone involved in the crash was walking afterwards. We sat for an hour and a half. P.K. and I were entertained by all the people who couldn't stay in their vehicles. They were walking right up to the accident sight and asking how much longer it was going to take to clear the accident. Each time the police and other officials would tell them to return to their vehicles. I'm sure the officials wanted to say, "Oh. We didn't realize you were tired of waiting. Please feel free to fly right over the pile of mangled vehicles!" It was a good lesson in patience. We were very thankful that we weren't directly involved.

After all the potty/stretch breaks at Cracker Barrel, it seemed only fair to everyone to have lunch there. That took an hour, but it was yummy. Something we have done in the past which didn't really work with Cracker Barrel is to let the kids run around while we eat and then let them eat in the car. It works really well if you come across a McDonald's or similar restaurant with a play area. We have also done this at rest areas. Rest areas are perfect because they usually have large grassy areas. You can give the kids a bottle of bubbles (which don't take up much packing space) and let them chase after them while you eat. Eating in the car will entertain them for 15 minutes. Can you tell I am about every entertained, whine free minute I can get in the car.

Move Update

I really should not be posting right now. My list of things to do is about 3 pages long. At the top of that list is to finish packing so we can be on the road at O'Dark Thirty in the morning. We are off to check out our new stomping grounds and hopefully find a new place to live.

I'm not sure if I have mentioned it on the blog before, but I love family road trips. If there is a road side attraction or oddity to see, I will stop. (One of these days I'll have to post about the "live" buffalo we stopped to see after seeing signs for them for seriously 100 miles before. Yes, the signs said "live" buffalo.) I prefer to leave early instead of driving late. I'm not a chipper morning person but I function better in the morning.

My kids are great little travelers. I have learned a few tricks over the years. Since some of you who regularly check the blog have young kids, I thought I would pass along some of my traveling tips I have learned and used with the kiddos over the years. As I post our adventures this week, I will add a new tip. Some of you have traveled more miles than our clan. Please feel free to add your tips in the comments. I would love any helpful ideas. Here is my tip for today with a picture to explain what I am talking about. First the pic...

Other than showing you that the kids need some lotion on their knees, I would like you to notice their comfy clothes. On trips where we plan to leave extremely early, I have them shower and sleep in the the clothes they are going to wear the next day. Now before you all think I am an awful mom, I only do this when we are going to be in the car all day. They go straight from the shower to bed. Once we have the car totally loaded, the last thing we do is wake the kids. All they have to do is go potty and get in the car. When we take our first rest stop, I fix the girls hair and they are set. We usually visit some good friends in Virginia each year. Since I know they don't mind if I do laundry there, I wash the kids traveling clothes. The night before we leave to come home, they sleep in their comfy travel clothes. That can be considered a second tip because it makes less to pack. This trip we will be staying in a hotel so I packed comfy clothes for the return trip.

Please keep us in prayer for safety as we travel, ease at finding a new home and ease at getting the kids enrolled in school. I'll be posting updates. Now I really should get to bed since we are scheduled to pull out of the drive-way in less than six hours.

Kumbaya Follow Up

My friend Kari and I were at the park the other day. She mentioned that she kept watching for an answer to the Kumbaya post regarding whether or not Rachel sang Kumbaya at camp. I wouldn't want to leave anyone in suspense, so I thought I would let you know.

When Rachel came home from camp she was very excited and gave me a complete rundown of her camp adventures. Her favorite part was the zip line. She had to make it to the top of a climbing wall to go on the zip line. She said it was hard, but she was determined to make it to the top.

I actually have a mental picture of the moment I asked her about singing Kumbaya. We were driving down the street right before we turned on our street. I said, "Did you all sing Kumbaya." To which she replied, "Huuuuhhh?" When Kari and I were at the park, Kari asked the same question and got the same response. This leads me to believe that Kumbaya is no longer a camp favorite. Bummer...

One Down...A Gazillion To Go

I have successfully packed the first box of "stuff."

Getting Down To Business

I think everyone who reads my blog (all 3 or 4 of you) are in the know. However, once in a while I will talk to a friend on the phone who will let me know she is checking the blog, but doesn't comment. So here is the information.

P.K. has accepted a chaplain position with the Bureau of Prisons. This decision was not made lightly. We and several of our friends have prayed and prayed over this. We will be sending out a mass email (so those who don't check the blog...shame on them...will be filled in)which will contain the new location. For safety reasons, I try to leave our exact location a bit vague.

P.K. will begin his new position on August 31. For those of you who are counting, that is one month from today. We have a laundry list of things to do between now and then, but I am amazingly at peace. I received an email from my dear friend Becizzle this morning that said, "The Spirit of the Most High God is all around you today, making you capable of getting all those tasks done in such a short amount of time." God has provided this opportunity for us and I know He will provide all our needs.

Here are a couple prayer requests. We will be house hunting August 5 and 6. We have chosen a specific area where we would like to rent. Our location has been chosen based on great schools. We are planning to rent for a year to make sure this is the area for us and then would like to buy. In order to keep the kids from having to switch schools again, we are hoping to love the area and buy in the same school district in which we rent. Pray that God would lead us to a neighborhood and school that we love, Christian friends for each of us and that the kids will adjust easily to their new home and everything that comes with that. I'm praying that saying good-bye to their friends here won't be too hard on the kids. Naturally I expect us all to be a bit sad, but I hope we can focus on what is ahead. Also, pray that we will be able to find a home that is available when we need it...August 15 is our scheduled delivery date. That date can be adjusted, but we would like to have some time on the flip side for P.K. to get unpacked and adjusted to our new surroundings before jumping into the new job. Finally, pray that we continue to be surrounded by God's peace as we do everything that needs to be done. Stay tuned to this channel for the most recent updates.

Just a funny...Today I went to purchase some moving boxes so I can start packing. The lady was writing up my order and she looks at the kids. Who were behaving very nicely. She says, "Are these your kids?" I said, "Yes." She says, "Wow. All of them?" Hello! There are only three. Then she looks at them and smiles and says, "You all sure are tan." They just looked at her. If you haven't seen their dad and don't see why this was funny, check out a couple posts before this one.

Back to the Beach

Thanks to all of you who expressed your concern regarding my last post. Rest assured, I am fine.

The kids and I spent some more time at the beach yesterday. I laughed out loud watching them play in the waves. Thanks to over a year of swimming lessons, not one of them cried or ran for a towel when they got knocked down.


Rachel played so nicely with Hannah. She was even giving her piggyback rides.

I know their eyes are closed in this picture, but check out those smiles. They were all just sitting on the edge of the water and I asked them to flip over on their bellies for a picture. Then the waves started coming up from behind. My camera has such a delay that I was never able to get a great shot, but they thought it was fun. We will have to try this again when P.K. is home with his camera.

I am always amazed by how much time they will spend digging.