So each year I like to write a little blog post, kinda like a New Years Letter to not only let our friends and family know about what we did last year but also to reflect on the things that God taught us in our lives this year. No year is ever complete without having a learning experience from the Lord and for our family 2013 was JUST that!
Pumpkin (7), will be having her 8th birthday in almost 30 days! She has shown a more grown up side this past year and I cannot believe she is no longer my little baby! This year I have witnessed all our labor and hard work molding her into a child who LOVES the Lord, pay off! She is very strong about telling people that she isn't allowed to do something that she knows mom and dad wouldn't approve of, she has become very honest to where I know I can believe whatever she tells me and I know she wouldn't tell a lie. She is so helpful around the house and always completes her chores happily without complaint! She is in 2nd grade this year and is doing so well with her work! She is definitely better at spelling and math than I ever was!
Little Bear (6), is in first grade this year, she is doing really well in math and does all her work very well. She is my little fashionista and is always designing new outfits and hairstyles for the other kids. She has stepped up this year as my "little mommy." She LOVES the babies and has a sweet way about her where they all just love her! She loves to hold the baby and rock her, and speaks so sweetly to Goobies and helps with changing diapers without me asking her at all. I've made a point to not ask them to change diapers or take care of the babies because I just feel that it is my job to do those things, but she loves to help with the babies. She has also started to blossom as such an encourager. She loves to make Nathan and I little notes here and there to tell us how much she loves us and cares about us.
Hobble-bobble (4) is starting to hear her conscience. Used to be, when the little ones would start getting into things they shouldn't, she was right there next to them doing the same thing. But now she come to us and tells us that they are doing wrong instead of joining in. This year she is too young to do school with us so she does learning websites online. She has actually learned to read this way! She has started reading easy stuff and really enjoys learning. She has been begging me to start Kindergarten this year but I'm determined to wait till she is 5 so that I can group her with Sweet-Pea and do K with both of them next year like I did with Pumpkin and Little Bear.
Sweet-pea (3) has had a blast playing in our new house! She is OBSESSED with Twilight-sparkle on My Little Pony, and the color purple. This kid would watch My Little Pony 24/7 if I let her! She has started trying to be "mommy's little helper" especially when I'm in the kitchen. She loves to feel like a big girl and loves to help make dinner and treats for the whole family!
Goobies (2) still has a love affair with her passy. This child is the ONLY child I've had who was A. attached to a passy, and B. had one past 1 year. When she turned 1, she picked up a passy that she found one day and I haven't been able to get it away from her since. This coming year we will be starting to phase out her passy! She is also in the temper tantrum stage. She HATES to be told no and it begins with a soft whine and ends with full out spread eagle on the floor! LOL Gotta love the two's!
Baby Dumplin' (4mo) is doing great! She is still nursing and growing. She has taken a love to a new bear lovey we bought her for Christmas and will sleep well as long as it is touching her cheek. She is sleeping through the night now and has recently put herself on a every three hour schedule with her feedings. She is itching to sit up and look around so she also got a bumbo seat for Christmas as well to help her with that longing.
Nathan & I are doing great, our marriage is wonderful and our love for each other grows with each passing day. His back pain is off and on now- some days it seems under control but others he is in a lot of pain. We've been researching other natural remedies to help him with it and are still in the process of that. I will be starting classes back through LU Online in a few weeks and looking forward to continuing my degree.
Our family has gone through a ton to ups and downs this year with trying to purchase our new house, but we've also seen God do so many miracles in the process. We put the initial contract on it in October of 2012, and had to have that contract re-approved three times. It was even put on the auction block and we were only notified 24 hours before hand. We were on Channel 6 news twice and Senator Tim Kain stepped in to help us save the house! Only God could have made all that happen for us! Our girls were able to watch God's hand at work this year as we prayed as a family daily, asking God to give us this home and one by one he answered each and every one of them! We still have yet to close on the house, but we've been living here for 4 months now! We have complete faith that God will make this happen for us in 2014! If there is anything we've learned this year about the Lord it is that he is FAITHFUL! God WILL supply all of our needs! HIS plan is the best plan, not our own. But most importantly we've had to learn to let go of our own plans and realize that God is always in control...good, or bad, we are always right where he wants us to be right when we need to be there!! After three years of heart ache, and even at times (for me) questioning if God was even hearing me, He has shown his face to us this year! Any doubts I ever had about God before have all been blown away this year. Through everything we've gone through we just kept holding on and saying and believing that "God is in Control!" And thank GOD that he was!
We are looking forward to 2014- we KNOW that God has HUGE plans in store for us again this year, and even though those plans may not be our plans, or what we would like to happen in our lives, we know that His way, is the BEST way!!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
"While I realize most people keep these things to themselves I believe my life is not a normal life. I believe that my life belongs to God and that every single thing that I go through He wants to use to help someone else, and He wants to use it for his glory." I am a Wife, Homeschooling Mom to Five , College Student, Daughter, Sister, Friend, and most Importantly Follower of Christ.
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
God's way is the best way.....
One of the things I love most about my husband is that since he came into my life he has challenged me intellectually! Nathan is the most intelligent person I've ever met in my life! It was very attractive when we first met; however, when we got married and he would easily win our 32 hour arguments over biblical theology, (when I knew if I had the smarts to get across what I knew the correct way, I would win) his intelligence became completely frustrating! I loved that he was smart and knew so many things but I hated that I didn't have a fair fight! After several years I began to love reading! I started reading everything in sight! Pretty soon, before I knew it I was pulling out Nathan's old College level books and reading everything I could on the bible. Before I knew it, we had a fair fight, (and I started to win quite a bit more)! Of course I didn't completely, ONLY, decide I needed to do this to win a fight, it was more because I realized that there were a lot of people out there like Nathan that I had been running into over the years who would listen to someone who had proper training and intellect and can tell you WHY they believe something over someone who tells you something like "I just know it!" Yeah, big difference!
My journey to becoming a life-long learner started when I enrolled as a first time student at Liberty University Online in December of 2011. My intentions in going to college is that when I graduate with my four year degree I will be able to walk up to someone like Nathan and tell them WHY the bible is the truth, not just because God said so but also because there is real physical evidence, and I will know exactly what that is! In the meantime this journey has put me on the path to other projects.
When I had my miscarriage last year I went into one of the health food stores in the area. I talked to the woman there about Nathan's back condition and how we've been trying EVERY form of therapy and medication we could to keep his pain at bay so that we didn't have to go through surgery. She mentioned that there may be some essential oils that could help his back I might want to look into. I did a few searches on the internet but let it go because I wasn't able to find much. I hate that he has to take the medication he is on because while it may be prolonging his ability to go without surgery and pain, it is internally deteriorating his organs and health and shaving years off his life. I need my husband he is my best friend, my other half, and I don't know how I EVER functioned in life without him! I need him to be around for our six girls!
After learning this past year that Nathan has high cholesterol it forced me to take a look at our diet and the things we've been allowing in our bodies! I started reading a book called "Real Food, What we eat and Why!" It was amazing!! It opened my eyes to so many things about our eating habits that I never knew before! While I knew it would be a challenge for me, I knew I had to change the things I fed my family! The junk going into our bodies from fast food and processed foods was killing us just as fast as Nathan's medications would! While I knew that going completely organic right away for our family would not be effective because of cost, I knew that making small changes one by one would make a huge difference. So we started with Raw milk. Then we went on to eliminating canned foods, and boxed foods and we only buy fresh or occasionally frozen veggies. I buy a lot of whole chickens, bake them and make my own chicken stock. I've basically learned the basics of a good diet this year.
This road lead me down several other roads! I saw a woman post in an online forum about being a Young Living Essential Oil distributor. I immediately was interested because I knew that there was oils out there that could help Nathan and potentially get him off his medications. I signed up and completed all the training courses for the first step within a day in a half! I wanted to lean as much as I could about how these would work for my family! If I had learned anything from learning about eating healthier it was that God has created all things to work for us naturally and everything just gets messed up when Man interferes! God has supplied all our needs to help us with aches and pains, diseases and ailments and when we take certain medications that are man made we are trading one pain for another, or one discomfort for a more long-term discomfort. This lead me to researching and learning all the combinations possible to treat my family! So far we've been able to treat eczema, ear infections, exhaustion, temper tantrums, back pain, insomnia, and more, ourselves! Every dose of tylenol, or advil that we take may help to relieve our symptoms for the short-term, but the long term effects it will have on us will end up being significant!
And again this lead me down another road. I have a fb friend who has been posting a lot about vaccines and what is actually in them. I have six children who up to now has all had their vaccinations on time and without question. In the seven years I've been taking my children to the pediatrician I never ONCE thought "hmm....maybe they don't know exactly what they are doing." Until now! I've spent my entire night (between refilling milk cups, nursing a baby, and sharing my bed with two toddlers), trying to research the vaccines that I allowed our pediatrician (without question) to inject into my children. I am walking away from that research completely shocked and sick about what I've discovered! There is SO many different things I could say about what I've learned but let me just make a few points about it so this isn't a complete novel.
#1 According to NBC News in an article written 12/15/2010 Traditional cribs that have a drop-side have been recalled and outlawed after more than 30 infant deaths within the last DECADE.
So, because of just 3 infant deaths per year for 10 years, they outlawed these cribs.
#2 Most hospitals require or even automatically administer the Hepatitis B vaccination to newborns that are 12 hours old. Hepatitis B can only be contracted A. From IV Drug abuse, B. Sexual Activity with an infected partner, C. Blood transfusion, or D. from the mother. (information received from articles.mercola.com) Between 1992-2005 there were 36,788 adverse reactions to the Hep B vaccine, and of these 14,800 were severe, life threatning or debilitating, and 781 people were reported to have died. This is thought to also be an under estimate of deaths because most babies deaths were reported as SIDS and not as a reaction to the Hep B vaccine.
So you are telling me that after only 3 deaths per year for 10 years they OUTLAWED a crib; yet, after 36,788 adverse reactions within 13 years along with 14,800 life threatening and debilitating reactions, OH and PLUS 781 deaths- We are still REQUIRED to pump this into our newborn children three times over the first three months of their lives! Does this seem outrageous to anyone else? Not to mention my newborn will not be abusing drugs, or having sex. If they ever need a blood transfusion all donated blood is completely tested for any sign of Hep B. AND mothers can be tested for the HEP B virus to make sure their babies will not contract it. So with all that in place is it worth risking the life of a newborn to get these vaccines?
Let me just give you one more little fact here I came across before I sign off...
#3 Pertussis: a highly contagious respiratory infection. It is recommended that your child receive 4 doses of this shot between the ages of 2 months and 15 months. According to the nvic.org website one of the main ingredients in this vaccination is formaldehyde!
When you look up formaldehyde on wikipedia.org, it states "Formaldehyde is highly toxic in all animals, regardless of method of intake" they also state, "In June of 2011 the NTP report on carcinogens changed the listing status of formaldehyde from "reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen to KNOWN to be a human carcinogen!!!" SO, they knowing put carcinogens in our vaccines that we are REQUIRED to give to our children?! So we are as parents have to decide if we want to trade an immediate solution to a disease that our children may or may not get for a long term problem later in life with cancer?
My purpose of this blog post is to just put it out there that as parents we owe it to our children to make an informed decision on their health. I regret that it took me THIS long to check it out myself but now that I did I know that we will be re-evaluating our choices from this point on. Every decision we make will effect our children for the rest of their lives! I've totally learned my lesson on the importance of research and knowing what we put into our childrens mouths as well as their bodies. God had a perfect plan of how to combat our diseases naturally with the way we eat and the herbs he provided for us, why not trust his ways since they have been proven over and over again! God's way is the best way!
After learning this past year that Nathan has high cholesterol it forced me to take a look at our diet and the things we've been allowing in our bodies! I started reading a book called "Real Food, What we eat and Why!" It was amazing!! It opened my eyes to so many things about our eating habits that I never knew before! While I knew it would be a challenge for me, I knew I had to change the things I fed my family! The junk going into our bodies from fast food and processed foods was killing us just as fast as Nathan's medications would! While I knew that going completely organic right away for our family would not be effective because of cost, I knew that making small changes one by one would make a huge difference. So we started with Raw milk. Then we went on to eliminating canned foods, and boxed foods and we only buy fresh or occasionally frozen veggies. I buy a lot of whole chickens, bake them and make my own chicken stock. I've basically learned the basics of a good diet this year.
This road lead me down several other roads! I saw a woman post in an online forum about being a Young Living Essential Oil distributor. I immediately was interested because I knew that there was oils out there that could help Nathan and potentially get him off his medications. I signed up and completed all the training courses for the first step within a day in a half! I wanted to lean as much as I could about how these would work for my family! If I had learned anything from learning about eating healthier it was that God has created all things to work for us naturally and everything just gets messed up when Man interferes! God has supplied all our needs to help us with aches and pains, diseases and ailments and when we take certain medications that are man made we are trading one pain for another, or one discomfort for a more long-term discomfort. This lead me to researching and learning all the combinations possible to treat my family! So far we've been able to treat eczema, ear infections, exhaustion, temper tantrums, back pain, insomnia, and more, ourselves! Every dose of tylenol, or advil that we take may help to relieve our symptoms for the short-term, but the long term effects it will have on us will end up being significant!
And again this lead me down another road. I have a fb friend who has been posting a lot about vaccines and what is actually in them. I have six children who up to now has all had their vaccinations on time and without question. In the seven years I've been taking my children to the pediatrician I never ONCE thought "hmm....maybe they don't know exactly what they are doing." Until now! I've spent my entire night (between refilling milk cups, nursing a baby, and sharing my bed with two toddlers), trying to research the vaccines that I allowed our pediatrician (without question) to inject into my children. I am walking away from that research completely shocked and sick about what I've discovered! There is SO many different things I could say about what I've learned but let me just make a few points about it so this isn't a complete novel.
#1 According to NBC News in an article written 12/15/2010 Traditional cribs that have a drop-side have been recalled and outlawed after more than 30 infant deaths within the last DECADE.
So, because of just 3 infant deaths per year for 10 years, they outlawed these cribs.
#2 Most hospitals require or even automatically administer the Hepatitis B vaccination to newborns that are 12 hours old. Hepatitis B can only be contracted A. From IV Drug abuse, B. Sexual Activity with an infected partner, C. Blood transfusion, or D. from the mother. (information received from articles.mercola.com) Between 1992-2005 there were 36,788 adverse reactions to the Hep B vaccine, and of these 14,800 were severe, life threatning or debilitating, and 781 people were reported to have died. This is thought to also be an under estimate of deaths because most babies deaths were reported as SIDS and not as a reaction to the Hep B vaccine.
So you are telling me that after only 3 deaths per year for 10 years they OUTLAWED a crib; yet, after 36,788 adverse reactions within 13 years along with 14,800 life threatening and debilitating reactions, OH and PLUS 781 deaths- We are still REQUIRED to pump this into our newborn children three times over the first three months of their lives! Does this seem outrageous to anyone else? Not to mention my newborn will not be abusing drugs, or having sex. If they ever need a blood transfusion all donated blood is completely tested for any sign of Hep B. AND mothers can be tested for the HEP B virus to make sure their babies will not contract it. So with all that in place is it worth risking the life of a newborn to get these vaccines?
Let me just give you one more little fact here I came across before I sign off...
#3 Pertussis: a highly contagious respiratory infection. It is recommended that your child receive 4 doses of this shot between the ages of 2 months and 15 months. According to the nvic.org website one of the main ingredients in this vaccination is formaldehyde!
When you look up formaldehyde on wikipedia.org, it states "Formaldehyde is highly toxic in all animals, regardless of method of intake" they also state, "In June of 2011 the NTP report on carcinogens changed the listing status of formaldehyde from "reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen to KNOWN to be a human carcinogen!!!" SO, they knowing put carcinogens in our vaccines that we are REQUIRED to give to our children?! So we are as parents have to decide if we want to trade an immediate solution to a disease that our children may or may not get for a long term problem later in life with cancer?
My purpose of this blog post is to just put it out there that as parents we owe it to our children to make an informed decision on their health. I regret that it took me THIS long to check it out myself but now that I did I know that we will be re-evaluating our choices from this point on. Every decision we make will effect our children for the rest of their lives! I've totally learned my lesson on the importance of research and knowing what we put into our childrens mouths as well as their bodies. God had a perfect plan of how to combat our diseases naturally with the way we eat and the herbs he provided for us, why not trust his ways since they have been proven over and over again! God's way is the best way!
Sunday, December 8, 2013
Do not be anxious........
Phil. 4:16 says, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God"
This has been the verse I've been clinging to this weekend! Friday we received word that our attorney has been in contact with the mortgage company's attorney and that we should receive word "early next week" on their decision with the short sale agreement!
My stomach has been in knots and my sleep has been lacking, but my faith and prayer life have never been better! The nights have been long and the days have been short, and those long nights have been spent praying and petitioning the Lord to give us favor! During the day I feel shaky and distracted and completely panicked unless I can continue to be in prayer! Prayer is the only thing that keeps me calm and focused the last few days. When I lay down to sleep I begin praying until I fall to sleep, but that never happens...I just keep praying! During the day I have to stop and have everyone come together and pray together at random times. I can't even imagine God not answering our prayer after we've gone through all this so far. Through the whole process God has constantly showed up and taken the impossible and made it possible! Throughout all this, I've been able to say "I'm not horribly worried I feel like it will work out" and through it all it has worked out even when it has been bad news! This time- I feel it's a final decision, this is the end, this is what we've been praying for, for SO long! It's a bit scary to be honest!
If it's bad news, we will again fight for the house as long as we can until we have to legally pack up and head to the streets, but if it's good news this house will be used for God's glory! This house will be used for Him to do his work! My life is not my own, but His to do with it what he will- and I know he has plans to prosper us, and not harm us! His will for us is better than my own! Keeping these things in my head and remembering that "we are right where we are supposed to be, right when we are supposed to be there" and that this is all part of His plan for us is all that keeps me going some days!
Thank God that we are able to flood God's news feed with our prayer petitions and he doesn't "De-friend" us but adds us as a "close friend," subscribes to our life and is able to "like" each prayer letting us know he hears us! What an amazing God we have! No wonder he tells us "Do not be Anxious" He has it all under control!
This has been the verse I've been clinging to this weekend! Friday we received word that our attorney has been in contact with the mortgage company's attorney and that we should receive word "early next week" on their decision with the short sale agreement!
My stomach has been in knots and my sleep has been lacking, but my faith and prayer life have never been better! The nights have been long and the days have been short, and those long nights have been spent praying and petitioning the Lord to give us favor! During the day I feel shaky and distracted and completely panicked unless I can continue to be in prayer! Prayer is the only thing that keeps me calm and focused the last few days. When I lay down to sleep I begin praying until I fall to sleep, but that never happens...I just keep praying! During the day I have to stop and have everyone come together and pray together at random times. I can't even imagine God not answering our prayer after we've gone through all this so far. Through the whole process God has constantly showed up and taken the impossible and made it possible! Throughout all this, I've been able to say "I'm not horribly worried I feel like it will work out" and through it all it has worked out even when it has been bad news! This time- I feel it's a final decision, this is the end, this is what we've been praying for, for SO long! It's a bit scary to be honest!
If it's bad news, we will again fight for the house as long as we can until we have to legally pack up and head to the streets, but if it's good news this house will be used for God's glory! This house will be used for Him to do his work! My life is not my own, but His to do with it what he will- and I know he has plans to prosper us, and not harm us! His will for us is better than my own! Keeping these things in my head and remembering that "we are right where we are supposed to be, right when we are supposed to be there" and that this is all part of His plan for us is all that keeps me going some days!
Thank God that we are able to flood God's news feed with our prayer petitions and he doesn't "De-friend" us but adds us as a "close friend," subscribes to our life and is able to "like" each prayer letting us know he hears us! What an amazing God we have! No wonder he tells us "Do not be Anxious" He has it all under control!
Sunday, December 1, 2013
Our long week, and the continuance of the house saga......
Well this week has been a complete whirl wind for our family! Emotions have been everywhere, but our worship, and prayer life has never been better! My last post I filled you in on the fact that we found out that our home was put into foreclosure and was now up for auction in just 24 hours! I'm happy to report that the auction was stopped!!! Within 24 hours our family lived out a real life story of Jericho!
Monday Nathan and I were both on the phone to lawyers, SCC, Attorney General's office and finally at the end of the day we found out the name of the Law firm that the mortgage company was using and we were able to contact them! Monday evening Nathan and I spend our night on the couch, him playing his guitar and both of us singing praise to God. That brought back so many memories from when we were dating- that is how we spent our date nights! We did a lot of praying that night, asking God to intervene. We both feel like God has given us this house and I'm not sure why but we now have to fight for it! For years we've asked God for a larger home, and for years we have waited for this home, and for 15 months now we have been walking and praying our circles around this home, and on November 26, 2013, God said "Time to sound the horns!"
I put our my last blog post on November 25th asking if anyone had any connections to media or lawyers who would help us. I had a friend contact me saying she had a contact to WTVR 6 news. I emailed her contact Tuesday morning asking for help and within 15 minutes I was told I would be contacted by a reporter, and given the name of a organization to call, called H.O.M.E. I immediately called H.O.M.E. but was given a voicemail. In the meantime our attorney was putting together a package to send out to the mortgage holders attorney to see if they would stop the foreclosure.
I received a call from Shelby Brown of Wtvr, she informed me that she had a friend who works in Senator Tim Kaine's office who used to work for H.O.M.E. She called Paula and read her my email and I was told she was SHRIEKING after every line!! I was given her number and told to give her a call in an hour! When I spoke with Paula she had already started to make phone calls on our behalf to the trustees office, attorney's office, and even to the Mortgage company themselves!!
In the meantime Channel 6 new came over for an interview! They were here for two hours yet when the clip aired there were only a few clips from what was actually said in the interview. I guess that is how it works with all the editing. While they were here we received word that the auction on the home had been postponed for 30 days!!! God had done a miracle!!
Here is our first interview:
http://wtvr.com/2013/11/27/family-caught-up-in-short-sale-almost-loses-home/
I felt like they kinda tried to make us look like idiots with the comment from the other realtor, but in reality, people move into their homes early ALL THE TIME!! We have a contract to do so, so it wasn't just a stupid decision that we made lightly! We really prayed about it and felt like God was going to take care of things!
That night after we found out the auction was cancelled, the song from Veggie Tales popped into my head and I sang it the rest of the night:
"The Lord has given this Land to us, no need to fuss, He knows what Hes doing, we know that He will take care of us, if we will follow Him!"
Wednesday morning, I woke up with joy as the girls and I prepped the kitchen to begin making our Thanksgiving feast! I was missing some lemons and sent Nathan to the store to pick some up when I received a phone call from WTVR Shelby Brown, asking for another interview! I called Nathan, got everyone dressed, and took a shower and they were here within an hour! I felt like that interview was a lot better than the first one. I was able to talk about God and how our family had prayed that God would save our home and it was an answer to prayer. Nathan and I talked before the interview that we knew they would edit a lot of it out but that if we did anything in those interviews we wanted to make sure the Name of God was honored! So we both talked about God as much as we could and in each interview they has at least one blurb of me talking about how we prayed for this house, or how God answered our prayers.
After they left I went back to my cooking. (I don't have a link for the second interview yet) I cooked for 29 hours! This would be the first Thanksgiving we ever hosted in our home! But I tell you it was WORTH the 29 hours! Our meal was amazing! I wish I had taken a photo of the finished product but I didn't, here is just a peek at what it looked like though.
The day after Thanksgiving, we laid around the house and today is Sunday and I still don't think I have re-cooperated from my cook-a-thon!
Thursday evening Nathan and I hit a few stores and was home by 1am. I began feeling upset while we were out because the memories from last year came flooding back to me. Last year on black Friday, we left Thursday evening and ended up stopping on the way for a pregnancy test. My test was positive! We were beyond excited!! A few days later I was in the ER because I began to lose the baby. We became pregnant again just 30 days later which was a huge blessing, however I cannot forget! I wonder if it really was a girl, or maybe that was the boy we've been wanting! Wonder what she would have looked like, how she would have interacted with the girls, who would she have been...I didn't realize how badly it still breaks my heart till Thursday evening. I know she is in a better place, I just wish I could have held her in my arms!
So that was our week in a nutshell. Our fight is FAR from over! We have 30 days to convince these banks that they need to honor our contract. Right now we have complaints in with S.C.C, Office of Attorney General, Consumer Financial Protection Buero in Washington D.C, and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. We aren't going out without a fight because like a friend of mine reminded me "What God has given, let no man take away!" Now that we've blown our horns and the walls of Jericho came tumbling down, we have a lot of rubble to sort out! Keep our family in your prayers as we continue through the holidays fighting this fight!
I also cannot even begin to explain to you all how humbling it is to see so many of my friends and even people I have not met so up in arms over our situation! I'm not used to having so many people fighting for me. I'm usually the one on the other end of that, fighting for others so it is such a blessing and so humbling to see how many people really care about us!
Monday Nathan and I were both on the phone to lawyers, SCC, Attorney General's office and finally at the end of the day we found out the name of the Law firm that the mortgage company was using and we were able to contact them! Monday evening Nathan and I spend our night on the couch, him playing his guitar and both of us singing praise to God. That brought back so many memories from when we were dating- that is how we spent our date nights! We did a lot of praying that night, asking God to intervene. We both feel like God has given us this house and I'm not sure why but we now have to fight for it! For years we've asked God for a larger home, and for years we have waited for this home, and for 15 months now we have been walking and praying our circles around this home, and on November 26, 2013, God said "Time to sound the horns!"
I put our my last blog post on November 25th asking if anyone had any connections to media or lawyers who would help us. I had a friend contact me saying she had a contact to WTVR 6 news. I emailed her contact Tuesday morning asking for help and within 15 minutes I was told I would be contacted by a reporter, and given the name of a organization to call, called H.O.M.E. I immediately called H.O.M.E. but was given a voicemail. In the meantime our attorney was putting together a package to send out to the mortgage holders attorney to see if they would stop the foreclosure.
I received a call from Shelby Brown of Wtvr, she informed me that she had a friend who works in Senator Tim Kaine's office who used to work for H.O.M.E. She called Paula and read her my email and I was told she was SHRIEKING after every line!! I was given her number and told to give her a call in an hour! When I spoke with Paula she had already started to make phone calls on our behalf to the trustees office, attorney's office, and even to the Mortgage company themselves!!
In the meantime Channel 6 new came over for an interview! They were here for two hours yet when the clip aired there were only a few clips from what was actually said in the interview. I guess that is how it works with all the editing. While they were here we received word that the auction on the home had been postponed for 30 days!!! God had done a miracle!!
Here is our first interview:
http://wtvr.com/2013/11/27/family-caught-up-in-short-sale-almost-loses-home/
I felt like they kinda tried to make us look like idiots with the comment from the other realtor, but in reality, people move into their homes early ALL THE TIME!! We have a contract to do so, so it wasn't just a stupid decision that we made lightly! We really prayed about it and felt like God was going to take care of things!
That night after we found out the auction was cancelled, the song from Veggie Tales popped into my head and I sang it the rest of the night:
"The Lord has given this Land to us, no need to fuss, He knows what Hes doing, we know that He will take care of us, if we will follow Him!"
Wednesday morning, I woke up with joy as the girls and I prepped the kitchen to begin making our Thanksgiving feast! I was missing some lemons and sent Nathan to the store to pick some up when I received a phone call from WTVR Shelby Brown, asking for another interview! I called Nathan, got everyone dressed, and took a shower and they were here within an hour! I felt like that interview was a lot better than the first one. I was able to talk about God and how our family had prayed that God would save our home and it was an answer to prayer. Nathan and I talked before the interview that we knew they would edit a lot of it out but that if we did anything in those interviews we wanted to make sure the Name of God was honored! So we both talked about God as much as we could and in each interview they has at least one blurb of me talking about how we prayed for this house, or how God answered our prayers.
After they left I went back to my cooking. (I don't have a link for the second interview yet) I cooked for 29 hours! This would be the first Thanksgiving we ever hosted in our home! But I tell you it was WORTH the 29 hours! Our meal was amazing! I wish I had taken a photo of the finished product but I didn't, here is just a peek at what it looked like though.
The day after Thanksgiving, we laid around the house and today is Sunday and I still don't think I have re-cooperated from my cook-a-thon!
Thursday evening Nathan and I hit a few stores and was home by 1am. I began feeling upset while we were out because the memories from last year came flooding back to me. Last year on black Friday, we left Thursday evening and ended up stopping on the way for a pregnancy test. My test was positive! We were beyond excited!! A few days later I was in the ER because I began to lose the baby. We became pregnant again just 30 days later which was a huge blessing, however I cannot forget! I wonder if it really was a girl, or maybe that was the boy we've been wanting! Wonder what she would have looked like, how she would have interacted with the girls, who would she have been...I didn't realize how badly it still breaks my heart till Thursday evening. I know she is in a better place, I just wish I could have held her in my arms!
So that was our week in a nutshell. Our fight is FAR from over! We have 30 days to convince these banks that they need to honor our contract. Right now we have complaints in with S.C.C, Office of Attorney General, Consumer Financial Protection Buero in Washington D.C, and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. We aren't going out without a fight because like a friend of mine reminded me "What God has given, let no man take away!" Now that we've blown our horns and the walls of Jericho came tumbling down, we have a lot of rubble to sort out! Keep our family in your prayers as we continue through the holidays fighting this fight!
I also cannot even begin to explain to you all how humbling it is to see so many of my friends and even people I have not met so up in arms over our situation! I'm not used to having so many people fighting for me. I'm usually the one on the other end of that, fighting for others so it is such a blessing and so humbling to see how many people really care about us!
Monday, November 25, 2013
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!
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!
Saturday, November 23, 2013
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!
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
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 ownI 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
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
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!
Thursday, November 7, 2013
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!
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!
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