It Happens in a Blink: October 2010

Eight years ago, when Hubs & I were at the alter, exchanging our vows, standing before God, our dear friends and family, our Pastor that married us said, "...for richer or for poorer". It was the strangest and most hilarious thing but Hubs & I and the rest of the church busted out into rounds of laughter. At the time, Hubs was working for a company at a desk job he had been at for 3 years. He was doing just fine. We were doing O.K. It must have been a sign of things to come.
A mere 2 months into our marriage, living in the suburbs of D.C. on his adequate salary and my occasional ~~offerings~~ drops-in-the-can of substitute teaching, we were making it work. What we haven't forgotten and are reminded of often is, WHAT THE HECK WERE WE THINKING?? We could have been saving so much money! We were living the life as a newly married couple, meeting up with friends for dinner, A LOT. A wedding gift here, a movie there, something nice to decorate our teeny apartment with after all the wedding gift cards, returns and exchanges fizzled off into the "We're actually married and our honeymoon is over" ~~doldrums~~ reality. Hubs told me that we needed to think about selling one of our cars. It was getting to be too much to have 2 car payments, rent and our bills. LOVE (insert laughter here) was not enough to get us by.
Now listen, I am not making light of the love that Hubs & I share. What I am saying is the reality of making ends meet is hard. There is always a bill to pay. There are always things to think about for the future. Funny thing is, Hubs had "the Green Hornet". This car had less expensive payments (I wonder if it had anything to do with Hubs purchasing this car without hubcaps??) My car was the 1st car I had purchased "on my own". I had asked my parents to come with me to make sure I didn't make an ~~stupid~~ unwise decision at the dealership. I wanted a black car. I ended up with a light teal color with a sunroof, automatic locks and windows. Cruise-control was an option on my car! Snicker if you will, but that's a big deal to someone who never owned a car:)
After a couple of weeks, going back and forth about whose car would go, we made the decision to drive my car to the "Used Car Outlet". We were driving in our respective vehicles and I bawled...ALL THE WAY THERE. Who would have thought it would have been so hard to let go of a car, for pete's sake? And there we were, a one car couple. The things that followed were all leading up to us letting go and trusting in God's provision for us.
The following month after "the Great Car Debate", we found ourselves sitting on our bathroom floor (c'mon, it's a great conversation place) often, talking about what God had for us and what direction we should go. Hubs had been questioning his career for several months and we started praying about how God had gifted him and where God was calling us. As we prayed for months, Hubs and I had talked about, one day, opening a Bed & Breakfast. I encouraged him to think about Cooking School, a passion we both had was to cook. Hubs even met with a Culinary Institute of America representative in our area. After that meeting, we knew that wasn't it. The ultimate calling for Hubs and our family was ministry.
Hubs put out an email to some ministry friends and through a series of doors opening and an obvious nudge from God, Hubs went through a process with an International Campus Ministry opportunity that put us in a position to start fundraising full salary support. This was ridiculously intimidating to us. We had no idea where this money would come from. Hundreds of letters were sent out and phone calls were made. Every check in an envelope that got sent to us humbled us to tears. This was God's doing, not our own. We were being sent. We packed up our meager belongings and moved to an unknown place with the uncertainty of friends, a church or family.
A month after we moved, we found out I was pregnant. We were excited and flabbergasted at the same time. How on earth were we going to be able to provide for a child? Were we questioning God or ourselves and how we would make it work? Hubs continued to work his desk job at a different location, commuting an hour south. Prego wife would be at home without a way to get anywhere when we were down a car. In the midst of this journey, another couple we knew heard about our situation and, get this, SOLD US one of their cars for $1.00. Did you read that? ONE DOLLAR. Wow LORD, were you really listening? Oh yeah, you sent us here.
Months went by, fundraising continued and Hubs was given the go ahead, almost a year after we moved to start his new job on campus. This was two weeks before we had our first baby, Special K.
Seven years and three children later, continuing to trust God for His provision, we are living proof of God's faithfulness. More times than we can count, we've had envelopes with cash pushed under our door, checks sent in the mail to us specifically for "date nights out" or for "whatever your family needs". We have had numerous sitters for our kids that bless us so we can get time for just the two of us and their payment...a homecooked meal.
The lavishness of His grace and mercy on us brings me to my knees to thank Him and to give Him the glory. God can do this on His own, yet He chooses people like you and me to work in and through us. I am a wretched mess and this love is undeserved.
Remember that car we ~~bought~~ we were blessed with? God gave us an opportunity to sell that car to this High School Kid who had been riding his bike to and from work, which was a very long distance. The price? ONE DOLLAR. Remember Hubs' Green Hornet? We paid that off and then started looking for another larger vehicle to transport the kiddos. Again, the LORD gifted us with an amazing opportunity to make meager payments for two years towards our minivan (which I swore I would never drive in my lifetime...oh how times change!). After that 2 years, we were gifted, outright, with the van. Paid in full.
PAID in FULL. Our lives are paid in full, you all. Why do we worry about a thing? In my lifetime, I have been gifted with more than I could imagine. Extravagant GRACE. Love beyond reason. Completely undeserved. And so I sing, "And I put my hope, and I put my trust and I put myself in you LORD."
My Hope by David Crowder
Here I am again
In this raging sea
On my knees again
Deep calls to deep
I feel I'm drowning
My arms are
Just too tired to swim
I feel like I'm sinking
On my knees again
In the roar of Your waterfall
In the storm of You
May You find me holding on
May You find me true
Chorus:
And I put my hope
And I put my trust
And I put myself in You
In You, Lord
Here I am again
In need of you
Broken, Beaten
Needing You
In the roar of Your waterfall
In the wonderful storm of You
May You find me holding on
May You find me true
(Chorus)
Wash me clean
Set me free
Hold me close
And cover me
(Chorus)
Here I am
Here I am...
Psalm 42:7-8

"Deep calls to deep
       in the roar of your waterfalls;
       all your waves and breakers
       have swept over me.
By day the LORD directs his love,
       at night his song is with me—
       a prayer to the God of my life."

Today, I felt like cooking. It never fails to amaze me that when the temperature dips below 60, my mind starts drifting to: Pumpkin Spice Latte's, Pumpkin Bread, Chili, Homemade Bread, Vegetable Stew, Homemade Bread...see a theme here?? Not to mention, if you go to Costco on a crisp, fall day, you will see the carb-o-holics come out of the woodwork. Check out people's shopping carts. No lie, this is what I saw: pretzels, bread, bagels, crackers, pizza. Yes, I was at Costco but I'm trying to make a brilliant point here.
Of course, I got a late start to making dinner. Why? Because I have to check every recipe book in the house and all of my fave recipe sites to figure out what I'm going to make. The Hubs made a request for the Vegetable Stew that my Mom has made famous in our house. I bust it out every fall and winter. I kept telling Hubs that we need to make bread. Meaning, I wanted him to make the bread because I didn't have time to make both. I landed on the Pioneer Woman's website and found the Bread, in His words by Pastor Ryan.
We made some changes to the bread recipe. Namely, Little G has her dairy allergy, so we substituted Olive Oil for the butter. We used 1 Tablespoon of dried Rosemary. Next time, we would use 1 Tablespoon of chopped, fresh Rosemary. In getting that late start, we didn't have the 1-4 hours for the bread to double in size. We don't have a cast Iron pot so we used our cast iron pan with foil to cover.
Ladies and any brave gentlemen that might read my blog (let me know if you do:), that bread is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. Fresh and piping hot out of the oven to soak up the yummy goodness of the Vegetable Stew on this cool, fall day. You must try it.