Update on home: house up for auction.....

So for those of you following our house saga we haven't gotten very far with things today.  For those of you who haven't been following you can catch up by reading about it here: God's Provision and Here: Update on our house

Today we spent over eight hours making phone calls and doing research on how to stop this!  We called the SCC, the Attorney General, other Attorneys and it just felt like we were getting nowhere!  Finally our realtor found a link that took me to a docket that listed our house for AUCTION set in two days!!  We found the name of the mortgage company's attorney and Nathan gave them a call.  Our closing attorney is supposed to send them paperwork in the morning showing that we had a contract to buy this home, so we are praying that they stop the auction and realize that it would be better for them to just honor our contract!

We've contacted other Attorneys in which we would have to spend thousands of dollars to even pursue this.  We were told most people just walk away from something like this because it is like a hammer squashing a fly.

I'm just in shock I think.  I know God has a plan whether we stay here or have to leave I just wish I knew what that was because not having a home for your six children is a great way to make you feel like a complete failure in every way!  My stomach is in knots all day long, I cannot think straight!  It's hard to function normally and go on like things are going to be okay!  Our kids want to put up the Christmas tree but how do we do that when we don't know if we will be taking it down the next day!  How do I just go on the next few days and keep things normal for my kids so that they do not worry!  How did any of this even happen!  I'm in desperate need of your prayers, and any contacts anyone has in the media, or with attorneys would also be so helpful!

Update on our house.....

In the words of my 7 year old, Ay yi yi!!  We got more news on our house situation this morning and it was not promising.  After living here for two months we've made this house a home!  I strive to keep it clean all the time (although it does get away from me often during the week when we homeschool) because it is God's house that was given to us and we need to make sure we treat it with respect and take care of it.  I've made sure I sweep the floors daily and mop once a week because I do not want to ever take for granted that we have this home.  We have gotten our family on a schedule, and gotten things back to normal around here the last three weeks and even began our search for a new home church last week.  Nathan and I even talked about our desire to start a church and use the play room here to meet in for now, after all our desire for this home was to use it for God whether it be filling up all the bedrooms with our children, adopted children, foster children or just maybe His desire would be to fill the house with the church family we've been seeking!  Those desires haven't changed in our hearts and only makes that desire grow!  

After waiting for our short sale on the home to be approved for the third time, we got news this morning that the new mortgage company (and I may  not be explaining this quite right) #1 does not do short sales, #2 feels they can get 40k more out of the house if they put it into foreclosure.  They have scheduled the house to be put into foreclosure on  Wed, day before Thanksgiving!  From what I have been told our attorney is continuing to work on this and we will hopefully know more Monday.  

My first reaction to this was that I'm not worried, God is in Control, it will work out.  But as time went on today I began to feel sick about it, I mean, weds. does not give us much time to get things ironed out! After talking to Nathan we gathered the girls in the foyer and explained to them (in kid terms) what was happening.  There was many tears but we also explained to them that we were trusting God.  As we encouraged our children that God was in control, and reminded them of all the prayers he has answered for us: I prayed and asked God to allow me to have children, We prayed and asked God to heal our 4th child after having a positive DS test while pregnant, We prayed for this house and we are LIVING in it, We prayed he would normalize our 6th child's heart rate during birth; I was encouraged and realized that I have nothing to fear!  A week before we got the first short sale approval on this home we came over to the house and prayed over the property and claimed it for our family in Jesus Name and a week later they approved it so why can't God do that now!?  We all held hands and prayed as a family and cried and asked God to give us favor!  We (as a family) took anointing oil and prayed over every window, every door, all around the property line, every room, and every porch- asking God to not allow anyone to take it from us and to bless us with this home in Jesus Name!  

Tonight as we settle down and get ready for dinner and get ready to put the kids to bed we are still feeling broken, and lost.  I've continued to pray continually, seeking out wisdom from the Lord and asking for peace, yet I still feel so unsettled in my spirit.  I know that I just need to come to the place where I can say "even if we have to leave we want your will to be done."   "Even if we have to leave we know you have a better plan."  I've been listening to the song "we won't be shaken" by Building 429.  The lyrics to that song are like my life's motto, and yet it's exactly what I needed to hear:  This world has nothing for me

This life is not my own
I know you go before me
And I am not alone
This mountain rises higher
This way seems so unclear
But I know that you go with me
I will trust in you

       

You know my every longing
You've heard my every prayer
You've held me in my weakness
Cause you are always there
So I'll stand in full surrender
It's your way and not my own
My mind is set on nothing less
Than you and you alone
I will not be moved oh

Whatever will come my way
Through fire or pouring rain
We won't be shaken
No we won't be shaken
Whatever tomorrow brings
Together we'll rise and sing
That we won't be shaken

This is my prayer, and the song in my heart this week as we move forward and strive to do God's will for our family.  I never know the outcome of any situation we find ourselves in but I do know that there has always been a light at the end of the tunnel and there has never been any situation we've gone through where I haven't been able to look back and say, "wow look what God did!"   I'm looking forward to that day with our home!  Please continue to pray for us this week!!  Love you all!  

 

Finding a new normal...

Don't ask me how I had time to sit down and write this blog post because I have no idea!  In fact I will probably forget that I even wrote it today and have to sit down and re-read it tomorrow because that is just what my mind has been doing recently!  Nathan asked me the other day a question about something and I replied, "I don't remember!" He was shocked and said, "what has happened to my wife, you usually remember EVERYTHING!" This is true, I have the worlds best memory-until I had my sixth baby that is.  Matter of fact it was until I was pregnant for my sixth baby, yes, that was when my short term memory took a huge hit.  I went to take Baby Dumplin' to her six week check up and our pediatrician, whom we've gone to since Pumpkin was born, asked me what her name meant because she knew we picked names by their meanings, I had to shamefully admit to her "I don't remember!"  I couldn't believe it!  But I guess that is what happens when you have so many children.  First it's your figure, then it's your mind! lol

This week was our first week of homeschooling for this year.  We are doing 2nd Grade, 1st Grade and Preschool.  Usually the first week or two is super exhausting, chaotic, and crazy with trying to get on a schedule, and everyone learning what they are supposed to do with each subject.  This year seems even more chaotic than last year since I now have more of the younger kids dominating than I do older kids.  They have been taking over the house!!  At the end of the school day there are clothes pulled out and strung from one end of the house to the other, dishes piled to the ceiling from all the cups they keep taking out of the dishwasher and filling with water, toys thrown around the floor, and there is always that one REALLY bad thing that they do that just sets you over the edge.  Yesterday it was my two year old.  She somehow got a hold of an ink pen and poked holes in their little tinkerbell table and chair set.  but not only did she poke holes, she also had to pull out the stuffing and rip the largest hole she could in the chair so that it could no longer be used.  I've been keeping them occupied with Play dough for most of our school day but if I don't really watch them they will run through the house and take it with them, dropping pieces all over the place.

On top of the little kids being disobedient and destructive, every one of them (baby included) have been whinny, tired, and have been crying constantly!  Since we moved into the new house, for some reason, we have been having a hard time getting everyone to bed at the normal 7:00pm bedtime.  We've had so many extra things to be done around here, it seems we start a project and by the time we look up it is after 9:00!!  So everyone has been tired and cranky, whinny and fussy all week!  It's not like they will sleep in or anything, I could put them to bed at 2am and they would still be at the end of my bed at 6:45am on the dot yelling "daddy, hungry!!!"  So getting them to bed on time is extremely important if I want them to be their chipper selves the next day!  So this week we have been striving to get our schedule back and in the process of doing that we have had to make time for lots of correction, and training!

We are in a season right now where ALL our kids are learning new things, not just in school but here in our new home.  There are many new rules and chores that are being learned and implemented at the new house that were similar yet different at the old house.  Hobble-Bobble (4) has chores now for the first time.  While it is going to be very helpful once she learns how to do her chores the correct way it is taking some time to teach her how to do these things correctly.  Pumpkin, and Little-Bear also have new chores here they didn't have at the other house that they have had to learn how to do- and still learning.  Rules here are similar but there are more of them because there is more space and it's a different environment.  Our school room, which we love by the way, is now more of a classroom environment than it was at the old house when we did school at the table.  Now we have to learn how to sit in our seats correctly, and how to wait our turn for mommy's help with our work.  Pumpkin is having a little bit of a time adjusting to the fact that she is now in 2nd grade and has to do school till almost 2:00 now, while Little-Bear is finished by lunch time and Hobble-Bobble is finished after only an hour.  They see the little kids playing with play-dough and they want to be in on the fun!  I can understand that but they will also get to have plenty of fun once we get further into our school year!  We are just trying to create a new normal for everyone right now and that has to take precedence over unpacking and even laundry at the moment.  At the end of the day if I let the chores of the house come before the discipline/correction, and education of our children I have failed them as a mother.

This has been so hard for me to finally give into!  It seems that in the last few years I have become somewhat OCD when it comes to having the house cleaned up.  I'm not talking about scrubbing the floor with a toothbrush clean but mostly I need everything in it's place!  I'm sure if any of my family are reading this they are going, "WHAT?! YOU!!" Yes me!  LOL  Nathan has finally rubbed off on me after all these years!  My philosophy on cleaning has changed drastically over the years!  When we first got married I didn't feel that cleaning was important, spending time together was most important!!  Then I realized that I needed to keep things cleaned so I can spend time with my family and not worry about the house, now...well now you will find me up cleaning all day long from morning till night trying to keep things cleaned up and decluttered!  It seems the more children we've had the more I have felt the need to keep things cleaned up and keep the house cleaned so we can breathe!  HOWEVER, the more kids we've had the WORSE the house has looked and the MORE I have found myself cleaning!  Since being in the new house it has been a little easier to keep things straight but also harder in other areas.  In the old house I felt like I had to constantly move things around, organize things, clean things in order to make the house not so suffocating.  Here it's not suffocating but I'm so used to doing that at the old house that if something gets messy here I start to panic until I get it together!  I've always panicked as well when people come over.  I used to rush and clean everything spotless top to bottom but I'm starting to realize that there is no purpose to doing that for other people!  I need people in my life who understand that I have to put my kids first, their needs first and that is more important than keeping a home to where you can eat off the floor at all times.  I've come to the conclusion that if people want to judge me by the fact that there are dishes in my sink and laundry that needs folded on my couch then they probably shouldn't be a part of my life.  It is okay to put aside the daily chores of the home in order to take time to teach your children how to act properly, how to have compassion for someone, how to treat their sisters with respect, how to react to certain situations correctly that is what parenting and being a mom is all about.

With that said, I have three baskets of clothes waiting on me and a pile of dishes I need to get too!