I feel like so many things have been so overwhelming lately, I don't even know what to blog about. So, instead, here's a song by Sara Groves that is just where I am at now. Sometimes His Faithfulness is all the security we have. And then we realize its all the security we really need.

"He's Always Been Faithful to Me"

Morning by morning, I wake up to find the power and comfort of God's hand in mine.
Season by season, I watch Him amazed, in awe of the mystery of His perfect ways.
All I have need of, His hand will provide. He's always been faithful to me.

I can't remember a trial or a pain He did not recycle to bring me gain.
I can't remember one single regret in serving God only, and trusting His hand.
All I have need of, His hand will provide. He's always been faithful to me.

This is my anthem, this is my song. The theme of the stories I've heard for so long.
God has been faithful, He will be again. His loving compassion it knows no end.
All I have need of, His hand will provide. He's always been faithful to me.

Keep praying for us!

Welcome to our virtual open house!!

We listed our house with a realtor this morning. We are proud of all of the work we put into our little house in the 20 months we have lived here, so I thought (since most of you won't make it here to visit us before we move!) I would give you a virtual tour of all of the changes we have made! It sure will be sad to leave our cozy little home, especially not knowing when we will have a home to make our own again. We were going to move anyway, but it sure is different selling your house to move because you WANT to versus selling it because you HAVE to. Anyway, our realtor thinks we should sell it fairly quickly. Now begins our whirlwind people-through-your-house-at-a-moment's-notice phase. It is going to be a challenge keeping it clean all of the time with two little ones.
We are hanging in there. It seems like everyday reveals a new feeling, a new revelation from God, a new fear or new information about our situation. I long for the days of the daily grind when things were predictable. We sure appreciate all of your prayers more than you know. If its possible to "feel" prayed for, I have...there have been days when I have peace that passes all of my understanding and I just know its because of the prayers of those that love us.

So many times in our Christian walk we can feel the Holy Spirit speaking to us but we second guess it. We explain it away or somehow think it was something we came up with on our own. A couple of months ago, I felt these questions tugging at my heart, "How would you REALLY respond if something bad, really bad, happened? Would you resort to blaming God, or would you trust Him? Where would your faith be?" Fast forward a few weeks and I end up, sort of by "accident" in a Bible Study that talks about how to discern the voice of God. There were so many things that I learned about the Holy Spirit's voice and how to discern when he speaks to us. All of these things, and so many other things God has taught me in the past two years were, I believe, preparation for what faced us yesterday.
Dave went to work yesterday morning and about an hour later came downstairs and told me that this was probably it...he was probably going to lose his job today (we had heard rumors several times before because of the sub-prime mortgage mess and the state of Citibank). The confirmation came after a meeting a couple of hours later- Citibank had decided to entirely shut down the home equity departments all across the country (hundreds of employees heard the same news Dave did yesterday). I think both of us thought that this probably wasn't going to happen as business had really picked up and it seemed as though Citibank was back on its feet again.
So, Dave will keep working until May 30th and at that point, he will be done. This lands all kinds of unanswered questions in our laps that are far too numerous to even list. I don't think either one of us have ever quite felt so unsure about the future before. I know God is in control. I know he has a plan for our lives. But at this point, I am very overwhelmed with all of the unanswered questions and work to be done. I keep thinking of a quote by Elisabeth Elliot-when asked what that best piece of advice she'd ever gotten was, she replied, "do the next thing." If I think about all that has to be done, I think I would lose my mind. All I can focus on is today and what needs to be done next.
We are still planning on moving back to ND. Our house will probably be on the market this week sometime. I pray that God will prepare whoever is to buy our little house we have put so much of ourselves into even now...that He would hand-pick them and guide them here.
And now I come back to the voice of God and his preparation for this day. I pray that now, more than ever, I will remain faithful because HE is faithful. I pray that we will have what we need to get through everything we will need to get through this and to hear his voice. Yesterday, in the midst of it all, I came across the 23rd Psalm and I got this picture of David writing it and how this was the work of his life. And I thought of all he had to go through to have what it took to write that Psalm. And when I opened my devotional today, this is what it said, "What was the preparation for Jesse's son, David, to compose songs unlike any others ever heard before on earth? It was the sinful persecution he endured at the hands of the wicked that brought forth his cries for God's help. Then David's faint hope in God's goodness blossomed into full songs of rejoicing, declaring the Lord's mighty deliverances and multiplied mercies. Every sorrow was yet another note from his harp and every deliverance another theme of praise. One stinging sorrow spared would have been one blessing missed and unclaimed. One difficulty or danger escaped-how great would have been our loss! The thrilling Psalms where God's people today find expression for their grief or praise might never have been known." (Anna Shipton)

"The Lord is my Shepard, I have everything that I need..." Psalm 23:1

We would appreciate your prayers...

Papa's Boy

Here are some pictures of Graham with my dad from last week. I love taking pictures of my dad with the boys. Some of my all time favorite pictures of the boys are the ones with their papa. I love trying to capture their relationship somehow. Right now is really my dad's time with Graham. In a couple of years, if he's anything like his big brother, Graham will probably make the switch from being "papa's boy" to being grammy's.

Well, after so many months of trying to make our old computer work, we now have a brand spanking new computer. It was sort of an accident really. Dave was installing new ram into our old computer and put it in upside down and fried our hard drive! We didn't mourn too long...the next day we hopped in the car and bought a new computer!! I am tremendously enjoying super-fast processing speeds, the capacity to put 158,000 photos on my hard drive (does ANYONE take that many photos in an entire lifetime??) and a beautiful HUGE new monitor. Who says material things can't buy happiness!!??
Well, I can feel my husband cringing as I type this for the world to see, but we have received word from his manager that it is OK for us to move home!! Being the realist/borderline pessimist he is, Dave fears telling people for fear that it actually won't happen. I do not have these same hangups. If something happens to change these plans, we will deal with it. But, for now I am going to marinate in the happiness of our plans to come home!! I am going to enjoy it right now, because I know how horrible moving is, and that it will be tremendously stressful. Plus, there are all kinds of thing we will leave behind here that pain me to think about. Here is my top list of things I will miss:

*Our wonderful church
*Our neighbors Ken and Marcia
*My great girlfriends I have made here (Jamie, Marie, Jessica, Ann, Hillary...)
*Our house (especially the GREAT kitchen)
*Memory Bound scrapbooking store in Ankeny

That being said, can I tell you again how excited I am to be going HOME?? This certainly has been a learning experience for me. One of these days I am going to blog about all of the things I have learned over the past almost two years.
Anyway, mom and dad were here for a week and left this morning. We had so much fun. It was sad, as usual, but the news of our move home helped ease the pain a bit.

Graham FINALLY has a tooth. It has been just below the surface since November and just popped through a couple of days ago--dad was actually the first to notice. Graham LOVES my dad...I think he will be going through withdrawals this week and will wonder where he is (dad will probably be doing the same!).