Worms

Yesterday I was having a major pity party.  The "no one likes me, everybody hates me, I think I'll eat a can of worms" kind-of party.  I'm not sure exactly why, but it just kind-of consumed me for the day.  I knew what I had to do, but I kept putting it off until laying in bed last night.  I know that when I get into those funks, the best medicine is to make a "Thankful" list to remind myself how much God has blessed me.  So here's the list I came up with.

Things I'm thankful for:
1. My 3 healthy boys. Luke's heart defect corrected itself in the womb, Jonah wasn't hit by that car, and Gideon didn't crack his skull when he fell off the playground.  I mean, really, I could probably just stop right here.
2. A husband that loves me. And doesn't beat me. Doesn't take advantage of or lie to me. Doesn't grow tired of playing "monster" with the boys. Doesn't schedule anything on our date night.  And doesn't complain too much when he has to attend my pity parties.
3. My Tennessee life. This includes my family that loves me dearly, my soul sisters that I can call at a moments notice, southern nature (thunder, lightening bugs, cardinals, etc.) & Chick-fil-a (that I know is secretly dying to open up a store just down from my house).  I will probably never have that life again, but it's safely stored in my heart forever.
4. Food. I have yet to miss a meal because I had to. Even if it's leftovers of leftovers, I always have something to eat.
5. Hot water. Anyone that has done any kind of mission work knows what a luxary this is.
6. Sight. Even if I go blind tomorrow, think of all the wonderful things I have seen in my lifetime! Babies, rainbows, mountains, faces, flowers, oceans, unicorns, well, you get the picture.
7. Technology. Not sure which is my favorite, but I would be lost without my washing machine, dishwasher, indoor plumbing, wi-fi & minivan!

Wow! I'm feeling better already. I was shooting for 10, but I don't think I need to go a bit further. I AM SO RICH! I think I might be the richest girl on earth.

Thank you, God, for reminding me that all good things come from you.

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows"  .James 1:17

Taken this spring at the Washington Arboretum

# 4

No, I'm not announcing that we are expecting our fourth child (don't lie, I know you were thinking that!)  I'm referring to the fourth commandment, as in Charlton Heston with the stone tablets commandments.  Do you remember which one that is?  Murder?  Nope.  Stealing?  Nope.  It's the one about the Sabbath.

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.  On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner (alien) who is within your gates.  For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day.  Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."  Exodus 20:8-11

Wow!  Did you remember it was that long?  I didn't.  In fact, that commandment gets more words dedicated to it that any of the other commandments do.  I'm not at all saying the fourth commandment is more important than any of the others, but if God dedicated that much space to it, then He must want me to take notice.

Unfortunately, I never really have.  Don't get me wrong, I pitch a fit if I have to miss my Sunday afternoon nap for any reason, but I don't think naps are exactly what God had in mind.  For whatever reason, I started thinking about my response to this commandment.  I decided I wanted to change what my response was to  Sunday.  (Which is a whole other discussion; so if you don't know why Christians celebrate the Sabbath on Sunday, I think this link gives a pretty accurate description:  http://christianity.about.com/od/whatdoesthebiblesay/f/sundayworship.htm)

About a month ago, I actively started trying to make changes.  After about week two, I shared this with my friend Jennie.  She asked "What does that exactly mean?"  Since I was still fleshing out the logistics of it, I didn't give a very good answer, but it made me think harder about what & why I was doing this.  For me, I decided observing the Sabbath meant that I would take a break from the things that I do most.  What I needed to "rest" from.  I have added a thing or to each week, but this is my list so far:
1.  No laundry.
2.  No dishes.
3.  No e-mail.
4.  No craigslist or e-bay.
5.  No checking to see what Kate Middleton wore or what crazy celebrity baby name came out this week.
6.  No Facebook.

Those last three are the hardest!  I have decided that I'm not going to be legalistic about this, though.  I got on FB today to wish a "Happy Anniversary" to 2 dear friends (and to post this blog!), but I did struggle to resist clicking on my messages or scrolling through the newsfeed.  (Ahh, unchecked messages!)  On the other hand, I have thoroughly enjoyed divorcing the dishes & leaving the laundry for a day.  I have to bust my tail until late on Saturday night to get all my chores done, but isn't God worth it.  I mean, I always do that when dinner guests come over, so why can't I do that for my God?

Now be warned, that if you, too, decide to try to make a change to your Sabbath, that doesn't mean that the world is going to rest, too.  The baby will still throw up, the car will still get a flat tire, the neighbor's dog will still poop by your front door, or whatever else Satan can think to throw at you.  But I'm determined to not give up that easily!  I want to learn to "guard" my Lord's day and somehow figure out how to "keep it holy".  Philippians 4:13!!

Probably NOTHING at all what Moses looked like, but, eh,  you get the picture.

One Year

It's hard for me to believe, but yes, we have now lived in Seattle for one year.  Has it flown by? Yes.  Does it seem like we've been here forever?  Yes.  Am I still homesick?  Yes.  Do I still cry?  Yes..but not as often.

Those first few hours & days here are, quite honestly, a blur.  Much of it was so raw that I think I've just chosen to forget details.  It's good, though, to reflect on the past and remember some of those hard-to-live-through details.

After a last meal at, you guessed it, Chick-fil-A, we flew out of Nashville on our non-stop flight to Sea-Tac.  Five long hours (plus a two hour time difference) with 3 small boys is enough to make anyone crazy!  But the big boys enjoyed most of the plane ride and were excited as we started to land.
I, on the other hand, was nowhere near as cute or excited.  As the pilot said, "We are now approaching Seattle.  Please return to your seats & prepare for landing", I was very close to having a panic attack.  I wanted to scream, "TURN AROUND!!  Don't land this plane. TURN AROUND NOW!!"  Thankfully, to Jason, I didn't and managed to exit the plane that had been a hell hole for the past five hours (non-stop flight with a 15 month old, need I say more?).

As we emerged from the airport, the boys got to see Seattle in all it's glory for the first time.  It was 50°ish & drizzling.  Since the raindrops were so light & large , Luke said "Is it snowing?"  Tears in check, I got into the van that was to be our vehicle for the next few weeks.  A church member had sweetly let us borrow his 1980s carpeted van.  It was fully functional and was big enough for all of us, but you can imagine it only added to my emotional state.

We had arranged to stay with 2 church members until we could find a place to live (that's right, we DID move across the country without knowing where we were going to live).  Mike & Nicolle, whom are now some of our dearest friends/almost family, were the ones that took us in during those first few weeks in June.  Luke later referred to their house as "our first house" here, which delighted Nicolle.

Nicolle had dinner ready for us when we arrived to their house from the airport.  We just sat down at the table when Luke said, "When are we going home?"  Yep.  You guessed it.  That's.When. I. LOST. it.  I ran to the bathroom and sobbed my eyes out for the next 10 minutes or so.  Jason later said that Luke wasn't confused, he just knew that Mike & Nicolle's house wasn't going to be our new home and wanted to know when were we going there.

The cake that was made for us at our "Meet Martha Lake" party.  When Jonah saw it, he said "Is it my birthday?!"

The next days and weeks were about the same as that night.  It didn't take much to set off the waterworks.  Our first Sunday at Martha Lake, I sat in the ladies Sunday School class.  About half way through the class, I looked around and thought, "This isn't MY class.  These aren't MY friends.  I'm supposed to be in Tennessee.  What am I doing here?!"  My now dear friend, Jennie, followed me out of the class and walked around the church with me, while I tried to get it together before Jason's first sermon.

Whew!  I'm certainly thankful to past all that drama.  Am I sure that this was the right move for our family?  Yes.  Do I know without a shadow of a doubt that this is where God wants us to be?  Absolutely.  Do I still cry?  Yes...just not as often.

Lakeview

Home. Haven. Nest. Refuge.

Today my maternal grandparents moved from their home of 40+ years.  Since Christmas, they have been looking for an assisted living facility that meets their needs & makes them happy.  They finally found a place a couple of months ago.  The wheels were then set in motion for them to put their house on the market & pack up to move.

While I was in TN earlier this month, I got to spend alot of time at their house with them.  I got to help my Murr go through dishes, sort through the attic & decide what to take to their new home.  About 2 days into the process, I realized how blessed I was.  I know most people had to do all the sorting, cleaning & selling after their grandmother passed away.  Not me.  Murr was right there beside the whole time.  I got to hear about the time that she & Grandpa picked out the same platter from an antique shop...on separate visits!  Or the time she went all the way to Japan looking for a new set of dishes, but ended up buying the set she had her eye on at home.

May 15.  I almost feel like someone has died.  Their house means more to me than my childhood home ever could.  Not that I didn't have a wonderful house or love growing up there, but there was something magical about 5042 Lakeview Drive.  Easter egg hunts.  Snacks under the arbor.  Picnics on the patio.  Eating chocolate bars out of Murr's "secret" hiding place.  Being sprayed from head to toe so the "chiggers" wouldn't bite us.  Popcicles melting down my arm on a hot summer night.  Sitting in my grandpa's lap on his riding lawnmower.  Hours & hours under the "Fun Fountain" water toy.  I could go on and on.

Thank you Josh and Millie
for sharing Lakeview with us, and
giving my mind a place I can always run home to.




5042 Lakeview Drive

 

The back patio (notice they are both eating popsicles!)

Murr & Gideon having one last snack

"Super Duper" grandpa sorting through an old cheese box from his shed

Snow

I'll take snow over rain any day, but SIX days?!  Yep.  We are on day # 6 of off and on snow.  And between the power going out & my three hoodlums blessings from above, I can't seem to get a decent blog written.  So I've decided to start this morning & just type what I can, when I can.  So if the following sentences sound like the ramblings of a half-insane person, rest assured, that's exactly what they are.

My boys climbing a tree in the field across from our church

I love snow.  Really.  I like to play in it, look at it, take pictures in it and of it, and listen to songs about it.  But when you add kids into the mix, it's a whole different ball game.  There is a "Family Circus" comic strip of the kids in the family running inside & screaming "It's snowing!".  All the children are shown having these visions of all the fun that snow will bring (sledding, snowmen, snowballs, etc.)  The mom?  Her vision is of putting on snow bibs, pulling off wet snow boots & doing extra loads of laundry.  That's how I feel right about now.  As much as I need to get out of the house at least once a day this week, I inevitibly know that's what the outing will bring.

Our church (notice how snow covered Larch Way in front of the church is!)

I know that this snow is unusual for Seattle, which does make it alot like TN.  "Big snows" are few and far between both here and there.  The main difference, that I can tell, is the temperature.  In Tennessee, it could snow on Monday and be totally melted by Wednesday.  The temperature fluxuates in such a short time period there (hence all the tornados).  In Seattle, it's 32° today, 33° tomorrow & 40° the next.  Drivers in Seattle & Tennessee (myself included, right Ang?) are the same, though.  They can't handle the snowy roads!!  Everybody that didn't go get their bread/milk/eggs HAS to get out in the snow & will, mostly definitely, end up in the ditch.



The view from our living room

It's 3:15 and still snowing.  The weathermen reported that it was supposed to stop snowing YESTERDAY at noon.  I guess they forgot who's still really in charge of it all. The God of Wonders who created the weather.



Same field as from above.  I ♥ snow pictures!!!



Stamps

One of the joys (ha-ha) of the flood (http://serving-in-seattle.blogspot.com/2011/12/hot-mess.html) is getting to move into our apartment.  Again.  There are boxes everywhere, my Hope Chest is still sitting in front of the fireplace, and I'm hoping that Jason doesn't leave me before it's all back into place (it's hard for a neat freak to marry a pack rat). 

Our move from a 1790 sq. ft. house (with full attic:  http://serving-in-seattle.blogspot.com/2011_04_01_archive.html -click on the first picture to see what I mean) to a 1250 sq. ft. apartment was a challenge.  We had a huge yard sale before we moved, got rid of stuff after we got here, and we still had so much that we had to store some at our friends' house (thanks M & N!).  All that to say, I feel like God used the flood to tell me that we I still had too much stuff.

So while I'm putting it all back into it's rightful home, I'm, yet again, getting rid of more junk.  One of my favorite finds of the week was my old stamp album.  Remember those?  I'm not sure how many years I collected stamps, but I know it helped me through those awkward preteen years.  In the process, I found over $25 in uncirculated stamps.  Woo-hoo!  I had forgotten what an art form stamps were and enjoyed looking at over the 200+ years of American and world history.  Those self-stick fakes they have now seem so tacky compared to the masterpieces of years past.

Tonight, I've been knee-deep in one of my "letter boxes."  These are large rubbermaid boxes that contain every tangible memory I've ever come in contact with.  That means letters, concert tickets, name tags, IDs, birthday cards...you get the picture.  I don't really know why I needed to keep them all, but here they still sit.  I couldn't bear to go through them before or after the move, so they just got shoved in the closet. 

Going through all these letters (and yes, I have to re-read each one before I put it in the "keep" or "toss" pile) has reminded me of how blessed I am.  Right now I'm in the Summer of 1997, a.k.a. "My Disney Summer."  So many of you wrote me letters, sent me packages, and kept in touch with me while I worked at DisneyWorld.  Thank you.  Seriously.  For taking the time to invest in me and love on me.  I am so blessed.

One of 3 (maybe more!) boxes of memorabilia I'm going through



My work ID for the summer I worked at Disney.  Miss that hair!





A hot mess

Happy New Year!  Here are the long & wet details of the past week in the life of the Smith family...

We had a VERY quiet Christmas here.  It was the first one that we didn't see family, but we still had a great day with our church family & our boys.  The next morning I woke up before seven.  "Wow!", I thought.  "Everybody slept through the night & I feel so rested.  I think I'll get up & read my Bible."  As soon as I stepped out of bed, I heard a noise I didn't recognize.  I made it all the way down our hallway before I realized I was walking in water.  "JASON!", I screamed (which he later told me made him literally fall out of bed).  We quickly realized the water was coming from the boys' bathroom.  Apparently in the night (i.e., the second after we feel asleep), a cheap valve broke off of the shut-off valve under the sink.  Our apartment was flooded with at least 200 gallons of water (enough to fill up this fish tank: http://allmypetsupplies.com/popup.aspx?src=http://allmypetsupplies.s3.amazonaws.com/images/Product/large/200-Gallon-Deep-Super-System-with-HQI-lights.jpg ).

As I scrabbled around like an idiot, Jason managed to call the apartment emergency number & figure out how to shut off the water.  I called and woke up our dear friends, Nicolle & Mike.  Nicolle came and got the boys (who were very upset that they couldn't stay & splash in all the water).  Mike came over and helped Jason start figuring it all out.  I stayed for a couple of hours, but finally left when I couldn't take anymore.

Over half of our furniture & stuff had to be moved to an empty apartment to let the carpets dry.  The rest of it was stacked & pushed to the edges.  We spent the next 4 nights with Mike & Nicolle (and because of God's perfect planning, they had BOTH taken vacation this week, so they really could take care of us all week).  We started moving back in yesterday morning with the help of some of the men from our church.  As you can imagine, the apartment looks like a "hot mess."  It really is liked we just moved in all over again.  We are in the process of going through all the boxes & make sure stuff isn't still wet & try to get everything sorted and back where it belongs.  I'm convinced it will take at LEAST two weeks to get things back to "normal."

Lows from the week:

• the apartment complex won't replace our carpet
• there's a nice, funky smell now.  Yipee!
• not sure yet if they will pro-rate our rent for the days we weren't here & all the extra utilites
• see above mentioned "hot mess"

Highs from the week:

• we're not dead.  Seriously.  So, the boys' have a small space heater pointed into their bedroom.  It was plugged in and running all night.  When Jason unplugged it from the wall, it had sitting water in it.  I try not to think about it too much, but I'm not sure who should have died first; me stepping into the water first, Jason unplugging the heater or the boys sleeping in their metal bunkbed.  Did I mention we're not dead?!?
• we had relatively little damage to our stuff.  We have renter's insurance, but there is that nasty $500 deductible.  Most all our our "stuff" and the boys' toys are in plastic rubbermaids.  Whew!
• we live in the bottom corner unit, so no other families were affected
• we're not dead

Thanks to my prayer warriors for getting us through this week!!!!!