18 When I said, “My foot is slipping,”
your unfailing love, LORD, supported me.
19 When anxiety was great within me,
your consolation brought me joy.
So, bottom line, once again, we are in desperate need of hearing from God. Conventional wisdom is that we should buy a house since they are so cheap right now and settle in. It feels so much like following the herd it is just rubbing me the wrong way. Yet I know being unconventional simply for unconventional's sake is ridiculous and that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about following God... whatever that means. We have our car in the body shop this week getting repaired, so, through our insurance, we have a rental. It is a 2011 Town 'n Country minivan with all the bells and whistles. We went and looked at a 2004 Dodge Caravan with no bells and whistles to buy as our 2nd vehicle and I didn't want it (it was more $ than we wanted to give for it anyway), but after being in the Taj Mahal I didn't want to settle on a shack. I feel that way about getting a house - I could easily go for the house with all the comforts and overextend ourselves forgetting I've been very comfortable for the past 9 months in our camper. I just don't want to get caught up in that whole rat race again! I feel like I've had time to breathe - to even blog - to talk to people - to have deeper relationships. I went back to my journal from a couple of years ago and this is an excerpt:
I forgot to bring the invitation to the ladies tea last night, but worse than that, I forgot to get a gift card & I forgot the yogurt I said I would bring. I forgot to ask the babysitter today if she would babysit Monday morning. I forgot to send in the paperwork for our camping trip at Lakewood Retreat. I forgot to get a rain check from the grocery store on Tuesday and again yesterday. I forgot to have the kids practice their piano this week like I said I would. I’m thinking about later this morning and I feel like I’m going to forget something, too!
And then I went on to list 14 things I had to do that day, and then I wrote:
And honestly, as I look over the list of things I “need” to do today, the kids are NOWHERE involved. I feel like they are getting older right before my eyes and I’m not spending the time with them that I’d like to because of all this stuff I “need” to do.
That is another huge thing - I've so enjoyed this time with the kids! On the memory front, one of my best friends says she was really worried about me the past few years because I hardly ever remembered stuff she told me. Now I'm reminding her of things and she constantly tells me how happy she is to 'have me back' so to speak.
Now I'm reminded of another verse from our life journal this morning:
13 Now all has been heard;
here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the duty of all mankind.
OK - I'm done with the introspection for the day. Please pray that, once again, we hear God's voice.
On a completely fun and happy note, we celebrated Tim's birthday on Tuesday! We had a wonderful day ending with a Carvel Ice Cream cake provided by the Perrella's. We didn't take many pictures that day, but we did get one snapshot of the cake, so I'll include it below. Blessings to all!