preK-4 and house update

Hello friends! Annabelle officially started preK-4 today! Andrew was a little sick so he had to stay home with Mommy. She had a great first day! Andrew was so sad he didn't get to go to school today, but hopefully he will get to go Thursday. They are letting us all adjust. This week they go Tues/Thurs and next week they will go Mon/Wed/Fri. Then the week after that they will go Mon-Fri!!! I can not believe it! Please pray for them as the start at a new school and please pray for me because I haven't been without my kiddos like this EVER!! We will be fine, it will be an adjustment (more for me than them) :) God is gracious! This is the best elementary school in the county!

More on God is gracious....we have rented our house in Dickson. We were praying for it to sell, but apparently God had other ideas in mind :) One of our friends from the Dickson church needed somewhere to rent and called us up! The deal should be finalized on Friday!! God helped her out and us out!! Double blessings!!!

Jeff goes back to school the 1st of September! He is excited about his classes, especially the Hebrew one. I would think that I would be apprehensive about that one, but he is all for it! Good for him! He still has about 3 years left at MTS if he takes 25 hours a year, but he is enjoying it and making new friends and reuniting with a couple of old ones :)

Church is going pretty good! We had a great revival a week ago! It was so powerful! For the first time since we came, we were able to partake of the Lord's supper as a church family!! Our church family here continues to amaze us with the way that they care for us! They are amazing and we are very blessed to have such wonderful friends and family!

home sweet home

We just took an amazing vacation to the mountains. We were able to go to the WonderWorks, Dixie Stampede, Aquarium, and Cade's Cove. We had a wonderful time. We stayed at a chalet that's owned by one of our friends. It was awesome. Views from the back porch....amazing!!! We didn't really get any rest, but we had a lot of fun and even saw some bears at Cade's Cove.

House hasn't sold yet, but we did put a for rent sign up. So now there is a For Sale and a For Rent sign up at the house. We are still praying that God's will will be done.

Jeff did really well in school in the Spring and Summer classes. He has a 3.7 GPA. He is also preaching his first funeral service tomorrow, so please pray for the family and for him.

I am still planning on substituting this fall, just to make a little extra money. The kids are starting Pre-K in a couple of weeks. They are so excited! I was too until I realized that they will not be with me for 5 days!!!!! I am excited, I just don't know how I am going to be without my babies. They have only been to the two day mother day outs. It's definitely going to be a change.

Right now, our current prayers are that we could find some great friends that we could just hang out with. So please keep us in your prayers. Please pray that we would do God's will for our lives. He is in control!! That thought just gives me total peace!!!

House/Substitute

I have been been a slacker when it has come to updates. Tonight is probably not the best night to write. I am discouraged about our house selling, or rather not selling. I am trusting in God, because I know when it sells it will be Him alone. Psalm 130 really hit home tonight. It says..."out of the depths I have cried to you, Lord hear my voice, let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications...I wait for the Lord, my soul waits and in His word I do hope". Well Lord, all I have is Yours. I will wait on you because because 1)you are God 2)You love me 3)Your ways are so much better than mine. I will wait on you Lord!!!

In other news...I have become an official substitute, which also was a gift from God. I was with pre-k inclusion class that ranged from 3-6 years olds, that was fun. Then received a call the very next day and was with 4th and 5th graders for a half day. Both were extremely good experiences. I feel like this is what the Lord is wanting me to do at this moment. I still get to stay home most of the time, but am able to make a little extra money. God is good! All the time!!! Even in the midst of a disappointment, even in the midst of celebrating. Our God is a wonderful, compassionate God!!!!

I Have An Interview

Yay!!! The McNairy Co Board of Education just called and would like to interview me for a substitute teacher position on March 31!! I am so excited!! Thank you God!!! We were just praying and talking about this exact thing last night. We had decided that since it had already been over a month, maybe I should just check out a couple of other options. I am very hopeful! We were trying to figure out if we could make it on Jeff's income alone and we figured out that we could, we just would be scraping by at times. Please pray with us that if God wants me to be a substitute that I would do very well in the interview. Since God has opened this door a little I am hopeful that it will work out. The only interviews that I have done were for the jobs that I had in college. So...it has been been awhile folks:) Please pray for my nerves and everything else. This is so exciting!!!!

Settled...well almost :)

We are pretty much settled in our new home. We have finished unpacking all boxes. We just have to put the pictures on the wall as well as put some curtains up in 3 rooms. We went to our first church outing. The church goes out to lunch every 1st Wednesday of the month. We went to Ryan's today! Yum!! It was fun!! We had a chance to sit, eat and talk to some of the church members. I am already feeling a great deal of love for our new church family.

I have been struggling the past week. I have absolutely no clue on how to be a pastor's wife. I feel so discouraged at times. I am praying that God will show me the new role he has lined out for me. I am looking forward to learning!

I have been lonesome for my family and Jeff's also. I have never been this far away from my parents. Even when we lived in Dickson, Jeff's family was always near so I always had someone close to talk to. I am praying that God would show me the plans that He has for us here...step by step. I know that He is faithful and is always near. That thought alone has brought a smile to me face as well as gives me such a peace that only He can give me.

We are in the process of planning several events for the church. A few ideas that have been thrown out are...Easter celebration, VBS, a revival, showing FireProof. I am looking forward to each of these.

The kids are enjoying preschool. They go two days a week from 8:30-12:30. They seem to really enjoy it. I have applied to be a substitute. I am just waiting for the call to be fingerprinted as well as interviewed. I hope that they call soon!

Everything else is going okay. The kids are healthy at the moment, as are me and Jeff. That is always a good thing. We are looking forward to the next couple of days when it is sunny and warm outside so we can play outside. We are also excited about Chris, Wendy and the girls coming up on Saturday!! Hurry up :)

Hi/Lo Thursday

This post is part of "Hi/Lo Thursday" on the Riggs Family Blog. Check out their blog to read everyone else's "Hi/Lo" posts and for a chance to win $100.

This is part of the Rigg's family blog. It's also a chance to read others highs and lows for today or the week.

Well...our high moment for this week is when we moved into our new house and all the help that was offered to us. By the time they left Sun. we had under 10 boxes left to unpack. Also...the new church that my husband is now the pastor of us gave us a "pounding" with food! Just wonderful!! Our low moment was just a moment ago when I had to write the checks for our house that we are trying to sell. I am trying to be patient and wait on God's timing, but could use some prayers on this please.

Happy Valentine's Day!

We are gearing up for a wonderful Valentine's Day!!! We are moving!!! Yay!!! Everything is pretty much packed, the bed is taken down....I am so ready to finally be able to move. We are excited about what the Lord is doing in our lives.

Today, amidst packing and other things, Jeff, Annabelle, Andrew and I all made Valentine cookies and decorated them with strawberry icing. We also painted Christmas ornaments (my mom gave them to me at Christmas) for Grammy and Pap. They love helping me and Jeff cook, clean, whatever we are doing they want in on it too. I am so blessed to have my family. Annabelle is such a sweet girl. She loves dress up dresses and having tea parties. She also loves to play on her Dora computer that Santa gave her at Christmas. Andrew is such a little man. He loves to climb all over Jeff no matter where we are. He loves to play with tools. He helped Daddy take down our bed today. Jeff helped him use some of his tools to take care of the job. It was cute. I wish that I would have taken a picture.

It's been hard on me lately to spend quality time with the kids. I have either been packing or cleaning or just trying to get the house ready here lately. It seems I am always cleaning just in case someone wants to come and view our house. God has really been convicting me that cleaning and other things are not as important as spending time with my children and playing with them. I am missing out on them growing because of cleaning. How ridiculous is that. My prayer and hope is that starting this weekend, I will cut out a huge block in my schedule just to play with my kids. I want to love them like God loves me. I want to show them that Mommy loves them and likes to play with them and be with them. I want to be a better Mommy.

On a side note, a church member just dropped off my very first sewing machine. I am hoping to make the kids some curtains for their new room and playroom. I am so excited!!!

I hope that each one of you have a wonderful Valentine's day. I hope that it is a day filled with love from family and friends!

excited

I am so stinkin excited about the move even though I am procrastinating a little bit on packing. However, it will be done by next Friday night. The plan right now is to start loading at 8 am so that we can be down in Ramer around 12 or 1 pm. I hope that I am calculating everything right :) We have had such wonderful support from the Dickson CP church family! I love you all so much!! Thank you so much for all of your prayers and words of encouragement. I am so excited that God is leading us down this path. I know that our house will also sell in His timing. I just have to be patient and trust Him.

I have already found a preschool that I would like to enroll Annabelle and Andrew in. It's a parents day out at a Baptist Church down in Selmer. They are so excited to be going back to school. I hope that they like it as much as they liked the First United Methodist Preschool here in Dickson. I hope that when I see the school I will be just as impressed as I was over the phone.

Jeff has dropped a class. He has 4 classes on Tuesday for a total of 8 hours. He dropped his 1 Thursday class just so that he would have extra time to do stuff around the house and for the church. We are looking forward to seeing what our new adventure is going to be like.

Exciting News!!!

We are moving Feb. 14, 2009. Happy Valentine's Day!!! We went down to Ramer this weekend so that Jeff could preach again and this time he met with the elders of the Mt. Vernon church. They told him that they had unyoked with the New Bethel church because the New Bethel church wanted to stay with the interim at this time and Mt. Vernon wanted a full time pastor (Jeff). The pay is not enough to support our family totally, so I will have to get a part time job somewhere. However, Jeff is only going to school Tuesdays and Thursdays so hopefully we can find a place where the kids can go for a little bit but one of us can still be with them most hours of the day. Please pray for me getting the right job! I haven't worked a full time job in a lot of years outside the home. I also need a job that is flexible in case the kids are sick and other stuff. We are looking so forward to this move. We really feel that this is were God is calling us right now. The church family at Mt. Vernon are so welcoming and caring.

They also showed us the manse were we would be staying. It's huge (compared to our house). We live in a 1000 sq ft house and this house is at least 1 and 1/2 times to 2 times our house size. They said "I hope that you have a lot of furniture". I thought, not really I live in a small house :) Oh, well, we are going to have to buy a few things (lots of curtains, microwave, and some other small stuff). I would like to sew the curtains for the kids room and play room.

God has really been with us. I was pretty discouraged on Friday night/Saturday morning just because of the churches not really telling us anything and also from no one coming to see our house. God has really taught me patience thru this and also waiting on His timing as well as trusting Him completely. It's something that I wouldn't trade. Knowing that God is in complete control is so comforting and amazing.

I believe that God always answers prayers, even if it is not what you want. He answers in three ways....yes, no, wait for awhile. I am excited that He is leading us down this path. Please pray that we will do God's will and that this church would glorify God's name.

no news yet!

We have returned from another trip to Mt. Vernon/New Bethel Cumberland Presbyterian. It was another great trip! We stayed at a church member's house this time, she was amazing. We had a comfortable bed and then she made us an awesome breakfast this morning. Jeff met with the elders from both churches today. We still have no news, however I feel that we are closer to having it. The elders now need to meet with a moderator and then vote to see if they want us at their church. God has taught us much patience in this and selling our house. I am looking forward to what God has planned for us. I am learning that my timing is not God's timing. I am trusting Him for his perfect timing. He knows best. I am hopeful that we may know something this time next week. If not, then we will continue to wait. We really like the congregations, especially Mt. Vernon has been so welcoming. We didn't go to New Bethel this morning. The Mt. Vernon church has a Sunday School class for Annabelle and Andrew. Jeff and I feel that it is important for the kids to still get to go to Sunday school. So if we get this position, the kids and I would only go to Mt. Vernon. We are going to lower the price of our home in hopes that it will cause more people to look and one person to buy. We would really like the house to be sold and hand over the keys by the end of February, but again God's timing is perfect so we are waiting on him. This has been an exciting experience so far and we are looking forward to the rest. Jeff received his class schedule and he will be going Tuesdays from 8-8:30 and Thursday from 8-4:30. So please pray for safety for him and that he stays awake. He is going to have a hairy day especially on Tuesdays. That's what's going on right now. I hope that each of you have a wonderful day!!

Happy Anniversary!

Tomorrow is my 5th year anniversary of being married to my wonderful husband! God has blessed me immensely with bringing Jeff into my life. Happy Anniversary Honey!! I love you!!

Still nothing yet...

We went to Ramer this weekend and Jeff was able to preach again. The elders at New Bethel couldn't meet with Jeff today so they have asked us to come again next week so Jeff can preach again. They want us back so I am going to take that as a good sign. Please continue to pray for the elders at Mt. Vernon/New Bethel that they would heed to God's will. Please also pray for us regarding this decision as well. Well, we had an open house today and no one showed up. :( Anyway, we are still praying that God will either sale the house or continue to give us the money (since neither Jeff or I are working currently) to keep up the mortgage and other expenses.

oops, forgot something

If you know of anyone looking for a house, please let them know about ours! We would really appreciate it.

Open House

We are having an open house this coming Sunday for, well, our house :) Please pray that this open house is successful and that some good will come from it. I am trying to clean out my kitchen drawers and closets so that everything looks perfect. I have never found so much junk in my life! I didn't even remember having some of these things. Of course, I like things in order and Jeff is a packrat. Usually his packrattyness wins out, but I am determined to get this house in order. We will see where that goes :)

More prayers please!

I just wanted to update you from this morning. Jeff preached at both churches this morning. Everything went well. We met with the elders at the Mt. Vernon church and they said that they are going to pray this week over this decision. We are also going to be praying over the next week for God's will to be done. They have asked Jeff back to preach next Sunday at the Mt. Vernon church. The New Bethel church already has a speaker lined up. Please pray for wisdom for us and the elders of the Mt. Vernon/New Bethel congregations. Please pray that we would all follow God's will for our lives/churches. Thank you for your prayers for this morning.

I have also changed my prayer for our house to sale. I keep putting dates in my prayers on things that I think are my dates and not God's dates. My new prayer for the house is that God would take care of it. Since Jeff's last day at EnSafe was on Friday, my prayer is that God will either sale the house or that he will provide the money needed for our mortgage and utilities. I want God's timing. I am fully trusting Him to take care of our house the way that He sees fit. I am tired of feeling anxious and stressed about the house. It's time that I put Phil. 4:6-8 into action and just bask in the peace that only God can provide.

Thank you in advance for keeping us in your prayers.

Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!

We are in the process of relocating. My husband is fixing to go back to school for his Masters of Divinity. So...what that means is he is quiting his job this Friday and looking for an opportunity to serve a church somewhere closer to Memphis than we currently are. Our house is for sale and we are praying for an offer by the 22nd of January. Jeff has an "interview" with a two churches on Sunday, which means he is going to do a trial sermon. Please pray that God's will is done. If God wants us there, we hope to have an answer pretty quickly. If He doesn't want us there, then we also would like to know pretty quickly so that we can start looking elsewhere. I am trying not to worry about all the little details. God has confirmed that we are doing the right thing several different ways. I keep think of Phil. 4: 6-8 Do not be anxious for anything, but with prayer and supplication make your requests known to the Lord and the peace of God will guard your hearts (my paraphrase). That relieves so much stress. God is in total control. He will take care of all the details because that is who He is. Thank you Jesus!!!

My First Blog

I have been thinking about blogging for a while now. My sister-in-law has one and I just love going to her page to see what is going on with her and her family. This blog will most likely be about my faith, my family, and whatever else is going on in my life.