I'm having a bit of survivor's guilt, lately. After all, there are thousands of people not far from me who've just been misplaced from their homes by the flooding in Colorado. Some of them will never be able to return to life as they once knew it, because everything was literally washed away. Others are left to clean up all of the mess that has damaged their homes. And all I had was a few drips in my sunporch, that I could catch with buckets. For some reason, we were spared of all of the destruction. In fact, while most areas around us had 13-18 inches of rain and utter devastation, we had more like 5 inches and a few homes in the area with some water in the basement. Everyone in our own family, all over Colorado, was spared of the worst. So, I'm very thankful, but almost feel guilty that we fared so much better than so many other folks close-by. And the one day that the sun came out last week, was the day that I had been planning to borrow the church's pickup truck to go pick up a "new-to-us" couch. Ever since we moved in, (a year ago from yesterday), I had been wishing and dreaming of having a couch that all three of us could sit on at once in our living room. And about two weeks ago, when I got an e-mail from a fellow homeschooling family that they were moving and would like to pass on their couch to someone for $25, I jumped at the chance. Doesn't it look nice?
So, while others were reeling from so much loss, here I had gained a special gift at a very small price. I'll just be thankful. For I know that the Lord gives and the Lord takes away. The name of the Lord is blessed. I pray that those who are experiencing loss at this time will not curse the Lord. I pray that they will cry out to the Lord and bless His Holy name to bring glory to Him. And may we all praise Him in our ups and our downs, no matter what.
It's hard to believe that we just moved to Arvada a year ago from yesterday. Finally, our home is starting to feel more like our home. The sun porch no longer is filled with boxes. It has become the favorite spot in the house for our kitty, Jenny. Penny even spent her hard-earned money from watering the neighbor's garden this summer, to buy Jenny her very own cat tower/tree.
And since we bought the used leather couch for our living room, we moved our love seat to the sunporch, where Jenny loves to curl up and soak in the sun's rays.
Notice the bowl in the corner, to catch the water from our recent deluge. With my other hand-me-downs and special bargain finds at thrift stores, our sunporch is becoming a cozy place where hopefully we'll be able to have more friends come and hang out at. I made sure to have lots of games out here next to the love seat with my coffee table I bought for $3.50.
I envision this being a place where cousins or friends can hang out and play games. I've already caught Penny out here relaxing and using the laptop to do her homework in a cheery, sunny spot. And, thankfully, it's no longer 100 degrees. It's hard to believe that we went from record-breaking highs, causing schools to close from the heat, to record-setting floods, causing schools to close. But, here in our little home, the Lord has blessed us with peace. We are so thankful for these blessings. Penny was also blessed that a friend in Japan sent her a special care package. It included a cute Japanese character, named "Sirotan" and some potato chips with seaweed. This really brought a smile to Penny's face.
Lately, she's been smiling a whole lot more, lately. I think we're all beginning to finally adjust to our new lives and home here in Arvada. It was not easy for us to leave Fort Collins. We really didn't know what God was up to by leading us here. And then we really wondered when Jay's teaching contract was not being renewed. But, now here he is at a school that he likes better, only a fifteen minute drive from our house. And I'm loving my part-job, which is also a ministry at our church. And it works so perfectly along with homeschooling Penny. In fact, when I work on Fridays, I'm at the same place where she has her homeschool enrichment classes. How convenient is that?! We never could have imagined or planned all of this, ourselves. We know it is totally God's leading.
Speaking of Penny's homeschooling enrichment classes, she's been back at it for three weeks now. This next week is when we are officially entering the what I consider her junior year. She told me yesterday, "I really like homeschooling, mom." I think she loves the fact that it is so flexible. In fact, whenever she gets sick, no problem! The teacher just changes things in her planner and we work around it. And what fun is it to have a backpack to haul your cat around, rather than heavy books?!
Yes, we are very blessed, indeed! So thankful for God's many blessings! Just praying that we'll share those blessings with others!
So, while others were reeling from so much loss, here I had gained a special gift at a very small price. I'll just be thankful. For I know that the Lord gives and the Lord takes away. The name of the Lord is blessed. I pray that those who are experiencing loss at this time will not curse the Lord. I pray that they will cry out to the Lord and bless His Holy name to bring glory to Him. And may we all praise Him in our ups and our downs, no matter what.
It's hard to believe that we just moved to Arvada a year ago from yesterday. Finally, our home is starting to feel more like our home. The sun porch no longer is filled with boxes. It has become the favorite spot in the house for our kitty, Jenny. Penny even spent her hard-earned money from watering the neighbor's garden this summer, to buy Jenny her very own cat tower/tree. 
And since we bought the used leather couch for our living room, we moved our love seat to the sunporch, where Jenny loves to curl up and soak in the sun's rays.
Notice the bowl in the corner, to catch the water from our recent deluge. With my other hand-me-downs and special bargain finds at thrift stores, our sunporch is becoming a cozy place where hopefully we'll be able to have more friends come and hang out at. I made sure to have lots of games out here next to the love seat with my coffee table I bought for $3.50. 
I envision this being a place where cousins or friends can hang out and play games. I've already caught Penny out here relaxing and using the laptop to do her homework in a cheery, sunny spot. And, thankfully, it's no longer 100 degrees. It's hard to believe that we went from record-breaking highs, causing schools to close from the heat, to record-setting floods, causing schools to close. But, here in our little home, the Lord has blessed us with peace. We are so thankful for these blessings. Penny was also blessed that a friend in Japan sent her a special care package. It included a cute Japanese character, named "Sirotan" and some potato chips with seaweed. This really brought a smile to Penny's face.
Lately, she's been smiling a whole lot more, lately. I think we're all beginning to finally adjust to our new lives and home here in Arvada. It was not easy for us to leave Fort Collins. We really didn't know what God was up to by leading us here. And then we really wondered when Jay's teaching contract was not being renewed. But, now here he is at a school that he likes better, only a fifteen minute drive from our house. And I'm loving my part-job, which is also a ministry at our church. And it works so perfectly along with homeschooling Penny. In fact, when I work on Fridays, I'm at the same place where she has her homeschool enrichment classes. How convenient is that?! We never could have imagined or planned all of this, ourselves. We know it is totally God's leading.
Speaking of Penny's homeschooling enrichment classes, she's been back at it for three weeks now. This next week is when we are officially entering the what I consider her junior year. She told me yesterday, "I really like homeschooling, mom." I think she loves the fact that it is so flexible. In fact, whenever she gets sick, no problem! The teacher just changes things in her planner and we work around it. And what fun is it to have a backpack to haul your cat around, rather than heavy books?! 
Yes, we are very blessed, indeed! So thankful for God's many blessings! Just praying that we'll share those blessings with others!
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