Hopeful Thoughts


Present Whirlwind

What a week it’s been!

Sunday was out last team meeting before our departure date for Argentina.

Monday night we got the keys to our new rental house and began the process of moving in. This meant LOTS of cleaning, as the house has been inhabited by college students for the last few years. We cleaned until 2:30 in the morning!

Tuesday was official moving day. With lots of help from these guys and some dear friends, we were able to get nearly everything out of the apartment by midnight!

Wednesday I returned to the apartment to finish cleaning and get the last little bit of stuff. I had to tutor part of the afternoon, but spent the rest of my day lining the kitchen cabinets with contact paper.

Thursday was supposed to be designated to catch up on details for Argentina. I had to attend a Substitute teacher orientation for 4 hours in the middle of my afternoon. It is now nearly 2:00 in the morning and I’m at least packed for the trip. There are still a few plans that need to be fleshed out. Please pray that my lessons come together in time.

We depart Friday evening for Buenos Aires. We will be leading four Sunday school classes to train the teachers and parents, doing child evangelism around town at local churches and hopefully the orphanage, and anywhere else the Lord leads us. We will also do a little bit of Bible Training, Titus II, and some “home improvement” type projects.

Please continue to pray that God would be glorified in many ways. Please pray for the team members and the members of the churches we will be working with. Please pray for personal things for team - physical, financial, and emotional needs. Pray that we would be flexible and would wholly depend on God for making sure everything happens as it should, and be quick to give Him the glory.

Making God Laugh

I’ve always been a big planner. I like to know what’s going to happen, when it’s going to happen, who’s going to be a part of it, and how it’s going to be paid for. It’s actually a bit of a struggle for me to be patient in the midst of certain situations. In fact, it’s probably one of my biggest areas of weakness.

I know all the truths from God’s word, as I posted days ago, but I still find the urge to make plans. I know it just makes God laugh.

Here’s a update on some of my recent “plans” not turning out like I intended.

maddyThis is Madeleine. I was supposed to be on a plane TODAY to meet this sweet little baby in Argentina. She is the daughter of my precious friends who are serving as full time missionaries in Argentina. However, due to the Swine Flu, I’ve spent the last three weeks wondering if we were even going to go. The elders at the sending church spent a great deal of time debating back and forth over whether to send, postpone, or even cancel the trip altogether. Finally, on July 29 we received confirmation that the trip would be postponed. We are now considering September 4-15 as the new dates. Of course, this is still subject to change depending on how much the situation in Argentina improves.

Then there is that whole plan I had to quit teaching. While I still have no intention to go back to work when the 2009-2010 school year begins late this month, I currently find myself in a paid teaching position. On Thursday of last week, I was hanging out by the pool with my pastor’s kids when I received a phone call. There was no name, but I recognized the three digits from the high school. It was one of my former Assistant Principals. I knew when he identified himself that I was going to be asked to come back for something. Just didn’t know what.

HopeAllyPool

Long story short, they were running out of options and I was asked to come teach math for a Jump Start program targeting rising 9th graders who failed their Math TAKS. On Monday, I began this experience. It’s from 8:00-12:00 for three weeks. It’s a paying gig,and I wouldn’t have been able to do it if we traveled to Argentina as scheduled, so maybe we’ll be able to buy our new couch after all!! (30 days until we move!!!!!)

So, today I’m sitting on my couch with a notebook, a laptop, a pen, and a pad of paper and I’m planning my day, my week, my month, and my life.

And God is laughing.

One More Furniture Find

After lots of discussion and debate, Ryan and I decided that we DID need the chair I mentioned in my last post. We went back today and bought it. Doesn’t it go so well with the pillow Ryan bought me for Christmas?

worldmarketchair

Furniture Bargains lead to Impulsive Buying. No regrets.

I overheard some friends last night talking about the great deal they had gotten on a dining table and chairs recently. I was only half listening to the conversation, but as we are planning on buying new furniture when we move, I had to ask where they were talking about. They had gone to World Market.

Today, as Ryan and I were having lunch, I suggested that we go by and check them out. After about five minutes in the store, we found a table marked down 75% from about $450. Even though we don’t need furniture until later this summer, we decided this was too good of an offer to pass up. By the time we paid for it, they had taken another $10 off, and we ended up paying $110.95 for a good quality, beautiful, sturdy table that will last us a long time.

We spent the rest of the day driving to other furniture stores and two other World Markets to try to find chairs to go with it, as the first store was out of the matching chairs. When we found the matching ones, they weren’t quite what we wanted. I think we’ve decided to go with some leather chairs from Ikea that we found a few weeks ago. However, we did find this this tweed accent chair that we might have to go back and get tomorrow…It’s marked down $100 from regular price!!! We’ve broken into the furniture buying thing, and I hope we can control the temptation to jump on every good deal we see. Oh well.

(Oh, and another comical note … It turns out we bought the same table as our friends who gave me the idea to go there in the first place!! Turns out they are the ones who bought the last of the chairs!)

Here’s our new table:

newtable

Here’s our new table next to the old one:

newoldtable

Home things we want

As many of you know, Ryan and I are planning to move into a rental house at the end of the summer. We’ll hit our six year anniversary in June, and we’ve spent our entire marriage living with hand-me-down furniture from our parents, other family, and friends. We’ve only purchased one new piece of furniture, and that’s the TV stand we bought this passed year (thanks Darren and Lindsey for helping haul it!). We’ve decided that, after 6 years, we’re going to actually commit to a STYLE when we move.

Our decision to find a style has resulted in three weekends spent window shopping all over the place. We’ve been to Ikea in Round Rock and Frisco, three different room stores, two different Crate & Barrels, and plenty of other places in search of our perfect style. After looking at high end, middle of the road, and cheap stuff, we seem to have decided on our favorite store. What’s out favorite? Why, it’s Crate&Barrell, the same place we got our TV stand from!! They are not the cheapest place, but we think they will give us style, comfort, and quality for a pretty reasonable price.

Here’s are pictures of some of the things we’ve fallen in love with.

troysofadiplomatchocf7

A sleeper sofa.

tracychairtopazs9

A cool, comfy chair that reclines.

convertiblecompactdeskav1f8

A table that converts to a desk.

essexexttable3qs9

An extension table that will serve lots of guests and well as potential tutoring students.

essexbarcabinets9

A cabinet to store party stuff, dishes, etc., that folds out on top to create a larger surface for a buffet.

essexsideboards9

More cool storage for dishes.

I'm in love with a rental house

I’ve been told that it’s OK to tell people that we are most likely moving. Well, at least we are if nothing crazy happens between now and the end of the summer when our current lease runs out. We’re not going far, just across town.

A couple of months ago we found out from some friends of ours (the ones of made the CHEESECAKE in my earlier post) that the other side of their duplex is slated to come available this summer, just at the same time our lease will expire. Until today, all we knew was it has 2 bed 2 bath, great neighbors, cool location, garage space, yard, and only about $50 more than what we currently pay for a 2 bed 1 bath apartment. Already with that information my mind was spinning with all the ideas of how great it would be. The neighbors are friends of ours, and we have chatted long about the parties we could have and the dinners we could cook together. Sweet, right?

Well, we finally saw the place today, and it was EVEN BETTER than we could have hoped! It’s an older house, so we had fears about the condition of the place, lack of closet space, maybe a small kitchen. Turns out that the place is HUGE. It has beautiful hard wood floors, lots of counter space, several built-in bookshelves, lots of closets, a fireplace, a dishwasher, gas stove top, … I could go on and on about all the great things! It’s even got enough space for me to set up a tutoring area. One of the best things is the open, circular floor plan. The best homes, in my opinion, have a circular path through the main living areas, and this house does not disappoint. You can make one complete circle by going though the living room, into the hallway, down into the kitchen, through the dining room, and right back into the living room. It’s perfect!!

So, start making plans now, because we will have a big moving in party this fall when we get settled. With our circular floor plan and big back yard, we will finally have room to hang out with all our friends at OUR PLACE!!!