Long time, no blog

Well, I realized today that the last post I had posted was like 2-3 weeks ago, and quite "down" in nature. I don't really have anything particularly exciting to post today ... we are going to look at a house for the 2nd time on Thursday (which, by the way, I love this house ... it has an adorable kitchen, three bedrooms upstairs, and unfinished basement with a 2nd bath downstairs ... a great backyard ... a little shed/possible playhouse in the backyard ... a great garage with built in storage cabinets ... two-wide driveway ... and lots of charm ... did I mention I really fell for the place?). When we looked the first time, we were very interested, but our realtor friend, Ron, told us there had been an offer placed on the house a few days later, and the contract was pending. I called to check the status of that house, and Ron told me that it was still pending, but he'd let me know if anything changed. The next day, he called to tell me that 5 minutes after walking into his office, the listing agent of that house called to tell him that the buyer was getting "flaky" and might back out on the contract. This is why we are going to take a second look ... if we like it and the buyer does "flake", then we can be ready to put in a back up offer. I don't really know much about this whole process, but we're learning!

Avery is growing in size and ability lately ... she can sit up by herself from an almost flat position (just needs a tad of an incline to sit right up -- abs of steel!), she's trying to talk, and her smiles are more precious than ever.

Erin is growing too, and is often mistaken for a 5 or 6 year old. Her vocab is also growing. The latest "big" word is perservere. The other day she came up to me all excited and said, "Mom, I just finished cleaning up my closet. It was hard and I wanted to quit, but I kept working at it and I perservered! It's pretty clean now!" Yep, that's our Erin!

We've had some really neat relationship growing time within our "congregation" lately. It excites me to see that growth happening! We have also started working with the homeless/transient community in Lawrence, which has been a blessing to me. I feel like, in general, God is asking/putting opportunities in front of me that are way beyond my comfort zone/ability/skill set and giving me blind courage and ability in those situations that are blowing me away ... for example, building relationships with several of the transient/homeless individuals (I look forward to going under the bridge to check for Mark or Kevin, and I strain to hear Kimberly's morracas when we take sandwiches and coffee out on Saturday nights ... walking up to the door of near strangers to invite them to dinner at the ministry center ... hanging out with some people who are not who I would typically seek as friends ...). In words, it doesn't seem like much, but in real life, it has been a stretch, but one that I don't see until after it has happened, if that makes any sense. Maybe I am just learning to follow the leading of His Spirit without so much question, and letting Him be my strength in my weakness.

Well, that's about it. Avery spit up on me after eating a wee bit too much and I would really like to take a shower. This afternoon, I think we will go over to Erin's friend James' house, so the kids can play and the mommies can visit for a while. Enjoy this cold, blustery day!