I am moving my blog back to Blogger. I hope you will come visit me there.
Scraps of Life will become Scrappin' Under the Big Sky and you can find it at http://scrappinunderthebigsky.blogspot.com/
A Year in the Life (my photo blog) will become Pieces of Big Sky and can be found at http://piecesofbigsky.blogspot.com/
Happy Independence Day! I am so glad and proud to be an American and so grateful for all those who have sacrificed to allow us to celebrate freedom! God Bless America!
Our church puts on a big celebration this afternoon including fireworks after dark...I think we are going to go for at least some portion of time this evening and to see the fireworks. Gayle and her family are going to be there too so hopefully we'll get to meet them and be with them :) That will be fun!
On a slightly different note...
I like to think I am a pretty tough gal...I am strong in a crisis, I keep my head, I don't fall apart easily. Steel Magnolia. Positive, can-do attitude.
This whole housing situation though totally overwhelms me.
I guess part of the reason is because I am so discouraged about the whole situation. I knew this move was going to be a challenging situation for our family, but I never expected it to be as difficult as it has been. I thought by now things would be more settled for us. In every way but especially financially. That is NOT the case. Then, we go to talk to the bank about a mortgage loan and they will not consider my income at all because I have no job history for the last two years and as a sub the income I have now is not stable :/ This comes just after I decided NOT to seek a permanent position at the school in favor of continuing as a sub, so I have sabotaged myself and my family two ways :( That is a hard one for me. I can't even think about it without getting upset so now I am sitting here in tears once again.
*ok* under control
Anyway, I digress. What I was going to tell you about was the fact that we went to look at some houses yesterday.
Holy Cow :((( I am even more depressed and discouraged now that I was before.
They were all small...but that wasn't the problem. Small does not bother me. Filthy to the point that I felt like I needed a shower after touring the property? Houses that were NOT what they were billed to be (two bedrooms or less instead of three bedrooms). Several needed LOTS of work. Most were in questionable neighborhoods. That scares me. Definitely not the exciting, hopeful experience I had expected my first time house hunting to be.
We went after that and looked at some mobile homes that are for rent here in the area where we are living now. While I am not excited about the idea of renting, I am leaning more toward this option since it will buy us some time to pay off debts and build my job history so my income will be considered for a mortgage. After having prayed about it last night and today I can say I certainly have more peace about that option than any other, however even that peace is small. My world is very shaky and very uncertain in many ways, and there just isn't a lot of peace or guidance on a spiritual level to bolster and encourage me right now.
In so many ways I know I am home...despite everything, I do have peace about being here, about living here. This was and continues to be the right decision for us. However, I feel very out of place in many ways, even around Don's family. It is a different culture here and I don't understand it or fit into it very well. I feel very out of the loop a lot of the time, like I don't really know what's going on. If Don felt this way when we moved to Florida, I never understood and I am certainly sorry :( I hardly understand it now when I am going through it myself. I can't find the words to express just how I feel most of the time...when I try it doesn't come out right.
Anyway, at this point I am not sure which way it will go...whether we'll end up renting or buying something...but please keep us in your prayers as we make the decision. And pray for me - for that peace and for clear guidance to help me find my way here.
One of my projects for the summer is to learn how to crochet. I completed my first crochet project tonight - a dishcloth done in single crochet :) My Mom checked my work and she says I am doing well with the tension and gauge. HOORAY! I will not get to use it as a dishcloth though...E confiscated it to use as a Barbie afghan LOL Now C wants one for GI Joe so I am making him one (a little bigger though since GI Joe is bigger) out of a remnant ball of camo varigated yarn Mom had left over after making C a hat and scarf last winter.
After that I try something with double crochet LOL Getting wild and crazy here - WATCH OUT!
My little boy is no longer a little boy! He is 9 today! He reminds me constantly that he isn't a little kid anymore! YIKES! We have given him a new bike and will work on learning to ride it tomorrow - no more training wheels! Don't tell me how close I am to having a teenager - I am having a hard enough time with this LOL
The picture above was taken on our recent trip to Yellowstone National Park. My parents have come up to visit for the summer and we spent 6 days in Gardiner (North Entrance) seeing the wonders of the park. C was treated to many wildlife sightings, including bison, elk, deer, coyote, grizzly bear and black bear. If you are on Facebook, you can see my album of photos :) If you are not my Facebook friend, email me and I will tell you how to find me LOL I try to make it hard on purpose since I post pics of my kids there and whatnot. I weill also be posting a few pics on my photo blog - you can find that link to the right here but give me some time to post!
Life is good here in Big Sky Country but we returned from the cool mountains and vistas of YNP to temps in the mid 90s (well that's the official- was showing over 100 out where my parents are camped last night) and I am SWEATING LOL! I want to go back to Gardiner or even down to Red Lodge LOL
The big news here is that we are house hunting. *sigh* I wish I was more happy about it but for a variety of reasons (a big one being that I have not worked for 10 years) they will only count Don's income and we don't qualify for much there right now. So I don't know what we will end up doing. I feel very strongly that we should be here in Lockwood, but not too much in our price range to buy here. We may end up renting for a couple of years, which would be okay. OR we have looked into buying another mobile home but I don't know that I want to go that way again after having such a hard time unloading the one we owned in Tampa. Anyway, there's a lot to consider and it is all very overwhelming. Just keep praying for us to make wise decisions and to be united about them.
The kids are doing two summer reading programs, one through the library here and the other through the Christian bookstore. They are having fun with those. They seem to be enjoying their time off. Next week they will start two weeks of swimming lessons. That will be fun I hope but also challenging for them.
I am trying to learn to crochet - right now I am working on a single crochet dishcloth and I am having a hard time...hopefully it will get easier as I practice :) Then I will try knitting. I'd like to be able to make some things for gifts so I have a strong incentive to learn and learn well.
Hmmmmm...not sure what else I can tell about...life is rolling merrily along. Hopefully I can tell you more about the house situation soon.
Since I made that post, I have had two words of encouragement - one in the form of an email devotional that "just happened" to be on Ecclesiastes 3:11 (He makes all things beautiful in HIS time - not MY time, HIS time!) and another from Shelia Walsh's blog, on, would you believe it, WORRY (Philippians 4:6-7 "Do not be anxious about anything...). Do I know what the next step is? No. Have I received that divine direction I would LOVE to have? No. But I got the dose of peace I needed, and feel the joy bubbling in my soul I have even had a booster shot of faith :) God and I had a nice little talk where I thanked HIm for being in control and for taking care of me and apologised for not trusting Him. Just gotta keep on taking one step at a time and letting Him take care of the details.
Don't stop praying :) I still need it! But I am getting better every day...just going through a low patch.
