Mary, the boys and myself have been in this crazy tornado called the buying and selling a house. On Monday, we signed the papers to our new home. After discovering a few problems with the kitchen flooring, our Small Group from Summit North Raleigh came over, deep cleaned our house, installed blinds, ripped up all the flooring in the first floor and helped lay down the first set of backer board in the kitchen.
Since then, help has poured in and we have had to hire some professionals to do some of the work we could not do ourselves well. All of these things are good and fun, however there are some learning points that I have discovered while doing this work:
1. Patience and steadfast love that comes from abiding in Christ is necessary every minute of everyday.
2. Grace needs to be put into practice every minute of everyday for yourself and others.
3. Relationships are more important than the work, but work is essential.
4. Tiredness comes and tiredness goes, but how you finish the race is all that matters.
5. When someone is "pouring coals over your head", repent, bow and move forward in love, kindness and gentleness.
There is much more to be learned...
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Friday, September 10, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
Where are they going to live?
Mary and I spent the next couple days in a "comatose/walking/jabbering in incoherent sentences" state. It was a great feeling. I actually saw the same type of reaction by a 3 month old a couple days earlier while he was drinking from a bottle. His little eyes were slowly rolling in the back of his head in amazing state of delight.
And wouldn't you know it only 4 days later, freak out time hit us right between the eyes. "Where are they going to live?" Mary asked me. For some of you who have never seen our home, our house has exactly 1000 square feet in two stories. For some major city dwellers, this is a killer condo! But for normal people here are some questions:
Where will our guests sleep?
Are the steps really safe to walk down?
If Boo has to live inside, does that mean one of children might sleep in her cage at night?
What is that smell?
Are the fake wood floors a good idea for infants?
The final question was, "How much room do they* really need?"
*Still in amazement that the word is "they", not "he/she"
Instead of asking the question to people who have more wisdom than us, we did the next logical thing: immediately search for a home. We found a couple homes that were bigger and were within our price range and we decided to sit down and talk with a realtor to find out if this was something we wanted to pursue.
After calculating all of the numbers for selling our home and buying our home, then calculating our monthly budget, sweat and tears start coming from our pores. (Make your best guess at who was doing what!) These conversations were not easy ones, actually we had more arguments than conversations because our communication was way off.
We figured out that our sin was causing our arguments. We were happy that God showed us our sin, praise we can confess it and thankful for Christ that consumed all of it. We were not trusting God to provide for us. He has made promises to us (Matt.6). And we were not believing them. After we recognized this, we started examining this decision with freedom and grace, rather than fear. Our communication got a lot better and we focused on the important questions:
Do we know how much space these little two would need? We didn't.
Would we want to spend the next 5 months keeping the house clean all the time?-not Mike's favorite.
Do we want to take down pictures of our family?-not Mary's favorite
Do we want to take down the sconces and drapes off the wall in the bedroom that Mary designed for us?-Mary was close to picking a fight with the realtor on this one, seriously
Do we want to devote our weekends finding a house we may not 100% like?-Talk about sleepless nights if we couldn't find a place with a patio
Painting a new house?-I hate painters tape and the evil behind straight lines
Moving all our stuff?-Packing boxes give me the sniffles
Finally worse of all, not really treasuring this time of being parents without children and preparing for an awesome blessing?
So we made a decision, we stayed. Why? Well plain and simple, we don't know what children need and when we do, we will move. God has big plans for our family, and we want to enjoy all the details in those plans.
And wouldn't you know it only 4 days later, freak out time hit us right between the eyes. "Where are they going to live?" Mary asked me. For some of you who have never seen our home, our house has exactly 1000 square feet in two stories. For some major city dwellers, this is a killer condo! But for normal people here are some questions:
Where will our guests sleep?
Are the steps really safe to walk down?
If Boo has to live inside, does that mean one of children might sleep in her cage at night?
What is that smell?
Are the fake wood floors a good idea for infants?
The final question was, "How much room do they* really need?"
*Still in amazement that the word is "they", not "he/she"
Instead of asking the question to people who have more wisdom than us, we did the next logical thing: immediately search for a home. We found a couple homes that were bigger and were within our price range and we decided to sit down and talk with a realtor to find out if this was something we wanted to pursue.
After calculating all of the numbers for selling our home and buying our home, then calculating our monthly budget, sweat and tears start coming from our pores. (Make your best guess at who was doing what!) These conversations were not easy ones, actually we had more arguments than conversations because our communication was way off.
We figured out that our sin was causing our arguments. We were happy that God showed us our sin, praise we can confess it and thankful for Christ that consumed all of it. We were not trusting God to provide for us. He has made promises to us (Matt.6). And we were not believing them. After we recognized this, we started examining this decision with freedom and grace, rather than fear. Our communication got a lot better and we focused on the important questions:
Do we know how much space these little two would need? We didn't.
Would we want to spend the next 5 months keeping the house clean all the time?-not Mike's favorite.
Do we want to take down pictures of our family?-not Mary's favorite
Do we want to take down the sconces and drapes off the wall in the bedroom that Mary designed for us?-Mary was close to picking a fight with the realtor on this one, seriously
Do we want to devote our weekends finding a house we may not 100% like?-Talk about sleepless nights if we couldn't find a place with a patio
Painting a new house?-I hate painters tape and the evil behind straight lines
Moving all our stuff?-Packing boxes give me the sniffles
Finally worse of all, not really treasuring this time of being parents without children and preparing for an awesome blessing?
So we made a decision, we stayed. Why? Well plain and simple, we don't know what children need and when we do, we will move. God has big plans for our family, and we want to enjoy all the details in those plans.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Twins-The slight hand approach
Following only a couple weeks after this great suprise of pregnancy, our first thought was, "we need go to the doctor and get a real test." Because anything this big and exciting can't come from just peeing on a stick, right? Mary called her doctor the next morning and asked if she can get an appointment to see if she was truly pregnant. The conversation went a little like this:
"Hi, I would like to schedule an appointment with my doctor to see if I am pregnant."-Mary
"Well Honey, did you take a pregnacy test?"-Receptionist
"Yes, I did."
"Well, what did it say?"
"It said I was pregnant."
"How many tests did you take?"
"Three."
"You took three? And all three said you were pregnant?"
"Yes."
"Well congratulations, you are pregant!"
"Don't I have to come in and get an official test? Those pregnancy tests aren't really 100% accurate, right?"
"They are pretty darn accurate and again, congratulations you are pregnant."
Mary thought after she hung up with the phone that she just got bamboozeled.
bamboozeled-v.- to get the shaft, to get taken advantage of, having the feeling of someone is playing a joke on you.
So we made our first appointment with the doctor in order to check Mary and the baby's health. At this time Mary was only 7 or 8 weeks pregnant and we were not sure if we could even see anything. While sitting down in the waiting room, the nerves of anticipation and anxiousness were flowing through our pores. Finally, we were called back. Mary was asked to do some of the normal Dr. stuff and then they took us into the room for an ultrasound.
The Dr. came in and started getting right to work to discover the baby! We saw the image on the screen and we saw the fastest heartbeat ever! It was beating at over 200 times a minute! This was truly amazing even at 7 weeks! The heart is formed and pumping blood. From here the conversation went like this:
"Well this little one is healthy, and everything is looks great!"-Doctor
"Awww...look at the heartbeart"-Mary and I glance at one another with joy. Its as if there was soft music in the background, daisies were popping up from the ground and little forest animals were joining us for lunch.
"And here is the other one"-Doctor
"What?!"-Mary
"Holy Spirit*"-Mike (*We all know that I didn't say Spirit. You can probably figure out what I said)
"Did you know there were two in there the whole time"-Mike
"I can't believe this is happening"-Mary
Mary stares at the cieling and thinks:
Where are they going to sleep?
How am I going to feed them?
Our house is too small.
Boo is going to eat one of them.
Holy crap.
What if one has a bad skin and can't moisturize itself?
As I stood back in amazement and I could only think that the Dr. knew about this before we even looked at the first little heart beat. She intended on suprising us and devilishly enjoyed watching our train wrecked faces seep atleast 100 different emotions.
I finally asked, you knew that there were two in there, didn't you?
She responded with a sheepish nod in affirmation as she left our room. She explained later that she saw the second amniotic sac, but didn't want to focus on it because it would ruin the suprise.
After we mourned and celebrated in the room together, Mary needed to get some more blood work done and received a flu shot. As we waited in line to pay, Mary whispered in my ear:
"I think we just got bamboozeled"
bamboozeled-v.- to get the shaft, to get taken advantage of, having the feeling that someone is playing a joke on you.
"Hi, I would like to schedule an appointment with my doctor to see if I am pregnant."-Mary
"Well Honey, did you take a pregnacy test?"-Receptionist
"Yes, I did."
"Well, what did it say?"
"It said I was pregnant."
"How many tests did you take?"
"Three."
"You took three? And all three said you were pregnant?"
"Yes."
"Well congratulations, you are pregant!"
"Don't I have to come in and get an official test? Those pregnancy tests aren't really 100% accurate, right?"
"They are pretty darn accurate and again, congratulations you are pregnant."
Mary thought after she hung up with the phone that she just got bamboozeled.
bamboozeled-v.- to get the shaft, to get taken advantage of, having the feeling of someone is playing a joke on you.
So we made our first appointment with the doctor in order to check Mary and the baby's health. At this time Mary was only 7 or 8 weeks pregnant and we were not sure if we could even see anything. While sitting down in the waiting room, the nerves of anticipation and anxiousness were flowing through our pores. Finally, we were called back. Mary was asked to do some of the normal Dr. stuff and then they took us into the room for an ultrasound.
The Dr. came in and started getting right to work to discover the baby! We saw the image on the screen and we saw the fastest heartbeat ever! It was beating at over 200 times a minute! This was truly amazing even at 7 weeks! The heart is formed and pumping blood. From here the conversation went like this:
"Well this little one is healthy, and everything is looks great!"-Doctor
"Awww...look at the heartbeart"-Mary and I glance at one another with joy. Its as if there was soft music in the background, daisies were popping up from the ground and little forest animals were joining us for lunch.
"And here is the other one"-Doctor
"What?!"-Mary
"Holy Spirit*"-Mike (*We all know that I didn't say Spirit. You can probably figure out what I said)
"Did you know there were two in there the whole time"-Mike
"I can't believe this is happening"-Mary
Mary stares at the cieling and thinks:
Where are they going to sleep?
How am I going to feed them?
Our house is too small.
Boo is going to eat one of them.
Holy crap.
What if one has a bad skin and can't moisturize itself?
As I stood back in amazement and I could only think that the Dr. knew about this before we even looked at the first little heart beat. She intended on suprising us and devilishly enjoyed watching our train wrecked faces seep atleast 100 different emotions.
I finally asked, you knew that there were two in there, didn't you?
She responded with a sheepish nod in affirmation as she left our room. She explained later that she saw the second amniotic sac, but didn't want to focus on it because it would ruin the suprise.
After we mourned and celebrated in the room together, Mary needed to get some more blood work done and received a flu shot. As we waited in line to pay, Mary whispered in my ear:
"I think we just got bamboozeled"
bamboozeled-v.- to get the shaft, to get taken advantage of, having the feeling that someone is playing a joke on you.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Pregnant-Nah...wait how many tests?
After a great Christmas vacation in Philadelphia and a wonderful, relaxing New Year's Day, Mary and I decided that we were going to read God's word and spend majority of our morning in prayer. Mary came into the spare bedroom where I do most of my studying and said, "One of my prayers is that we get pregnant this year." I was excited because that was on my mind too, I just wasn't bold enough to say it out of my mouth.
That was January 2nd and then on the following day Mary told me that she felt "weird." This word "weird" is a flexible word, which means, "there is something going on, I don't know what it is and I don't like it." We went to church that morning and Mary begged me that we needed to stop by the nearest drug store on the way home to pick up a Pregnacy Test. Like a good and rational husband, I wanted to go to the one near our house, but Mary was insistent that this little device which holds the fate of the world, should be bought immediately because she wanted it to fastened securely in her precious safe hands.
Fearing that the fate of the world rested in this test, we went to the closest drug store. While in the store we had a hard time finding the aisle. This is especially hard because they never put, "Pregnancy Tests" on the aisle labels. After going through 2 wrong aisles, one of them encouraging couples to get pregnant and the other for sinus relief, we finally reached our destination. The next couple minutes felt like an eternity. What do we get? Single or combo pack? Name brand or off brand? So many options, so little time. Because of my experience in bulk shopping and all the great choices I have made over the years, I convinced Mary to get the 3 pack. Why? Because there is no way these tests expire or go bad, right?
We rushed home and I started folding the laundry and Mary went upstairs. My stomach was moving so fast, I tried to remain cool and calm. Then I hear, "Mike, come up here please." I finished folding one of Mary's five valor suits and walk calmly up the steps. She says to me, "Look at this!" I looked that the test, then I looked at the box. I looked at the test, then the box, and then at Mary. "HOLY CRAP! Are you sure!" I said loudly. This probably wasn't what she wanted to hear, but we were both frightened so it was okay. I hugged her and said, "We are pregnant!" I prayed for her and the babies, but then something hit me. We have two other pregancy tests. How reliable are these tests? What if it doesn't show up that she is pregnant in the other three? What if my genius bulk shopping behavior has paid off and we receive not one, but three confirmations?
I asked Mary if she didn't mind trying out the other two. One by one I was called back into the bathroom where I found all three pregnancy tests proving positive. I also found a "not so happy bride" who was forced to do all that work. The emotion was intense and the thoughts in both our minds were fear. Fear that we would be bad parents, fear that our comfortable freeing lives will be bound by the chains of parenthood, fear that our Sunday naps would go away, fear that we would never sleep, eat or do anything fun ever again.
A few days later after this all settled in, we abided in God's word and commands and allowed God to change our hearts from fear to faith and trust. We prayed that He would do immeasurablely more than we could imagine with this child. And that prayer was answered when we found that we were expecting not one but two little children in Mary's little belly. And that story will be for next week. Thank you Lord for your Grace, your attention to detail, you artistic work in our lives and Freedom in Christ.
That was January 2nd and then on the following day Mary told me that she felt "weird." This word "weird" is a flexible word, which means, "there is something going on, I don't know what it is and I don't like it." We went to church that morning and Mary begged me that we needed to stop by the nearest drug store on the way home to pick up a Pregnacy Test. Like a good and rational husband, I wanted to go to the one near our house, but Mary was insistent that this little device which holds the fate of the world, should be bought immediately because she wanted it to fastened securely in her precious safe hands.
Fearing that the fate of the world rested in this test, we went to the closest drug store. While in the store we had a hard time finding the aisle. This is especially hard because they never put, "Pregnancy Tests" on the aisle labels. After going through 2 wrong aisles, one of them encouraging couples to get pregnant and the other for sinus relief, we finally reached our destination. The next couple minutes felt like an eternity. What do we get? Single or combo pack? Name brand or off brand? So many options, so little time. Because of my experience in bulk shopping and all the great choices I have made over the years, I convinced Mary to get the 3 pack. Why? Because there is no way these tests expire or go bad, right?
We rushed home and I started folding the laundry and Mary went upstairs. My stomach was moving so fast, I tried to remain cool and calm. Then I hear, "Mike, come up here please." I finished folding one of Mary's five valor suits and walk calmly up the steps. She says to me, "Look at this!" I looked that the test, then I looked at the box. I looked at the test, then the box, and then at Mary. "HOLY CRAP! Are you sure!" I said loudly. This probably wasn't what she wanted to hear, but we were both frightened so it was okay. I hugged her and said, "We are pregnant!" I prayed for her and the babies, but then something hit me. We have two other pregancy tests. How reliable are these tests? What if it doesn't show up that she is pregnant in the other three? What if my genius bulk shopping behavior has paid off and we receive not one, but three confirmations?
I asked Mary if she didn't mind trying out the other two. One by one I was called back into the bathroom where I found all three pregnancy tests proving positive. I also found a "not so happy bride" who was forced to do all that work. The emotion was intense and the thoughts in both our minds were fear. Fear that we would be bad parents, fear that our comfortable freeing lives will be bound by the chains of parenthood, fear that our Sunday naps would go away, fear that we would never sleep, eat or do anything fun ever again.
A few days later after this all settled in, we abided in God's word and commands and allowed God to change our hearts from fear to faith and trust. We prayed that He would do immeasurablely more than we could imagine with this child. And that prayer was answered when we found that we were expecting not one but two little children in Mary's little belly. And that story will be for next week. Thank you Lord for your Grace, your attention to detail, you artistic work in our lives and Freedom in Christ.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Welcome Back
Good afternoon,
Since Mary and I have not been blogging or journaling in over a little more than 9 months its time to get back on the train. So over the next couple months I will be blogging twice a week to talk about what God has been doing to our family, the changes in which we have seen, and the excitement that has been coming our way. Here is a list of topics that I will be writing for atleast the next 6 months. This is a short term experiment to see if I can stay consistent:
Pregnant-Nah...Wait how many tests did you try?
Twins-The slight of hand approach
Where are they going to live?
Health Insurance-no need for comment
"But you are a teacher!"-love, mom
Valentines Day upgrade!
Where am I going to put the grill? Bill Miller got it for us!
Why did God create hormones?
Peaches and Water Aerobics
Who is going to buy that stuff?
Raleigh Plant
I hope that these topics may have some interest to you because they interest us alot! Join Mary and I over the next couple weeks explain what we have been learning and how we been loved by grace from our Father.
Stay tuned....
Since Mary and I have not been blogging or journaling in over a little more than 9 months its time to get back on the train. So over the next couple months I will be blogging twice a week to talk about what God has been doing to our family, the changes in which we have seen, and the excitement that has been coming our way. Here is a list of topics that I will be writing for atleast the next 6 months. This is a short term experiment to see if I can stay consistent:
Pregnant-Nah...Wait how many tests did you try?
Twins-The slight of hand approach
Where are they going to live?
Health Insurance-no need for comment
"But you are a teacher!"-love, mom
Valentines Day upgrade!
Where am I going to put the grill? Bill Miller got it for us!
Why did God create hormones?
Peaches and Water Aerobics
Who is going to buy that stuff?
Raleigh Plant
I hope that these topics may have some interest to you because they interest us alot! Join Mary and I over the next couple weeks explain what we have been learning and how we been loved by grace from our Father.
Stay tuned....
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Why do they call them Wisdom Teeth?
Well, I haven't had a chance to moderate our blog as much as I would like to, but that is because we have had some serious stuff going on lately. We have had two more mission trip opportunities come up since the last time that I have blogged! Both of them to Central Asia! One was to give some great encouragement to our local team and the other was to watch a bunch of MK's (Missionary Kids). We were excited for both and wanted to have the opportunity to minister to our fellow brothers and sisters in JC, but we knew those trips aren't what God wanted for us!
Mary has had some not so easy days at her job, but they are getting better, because a new boss came in and the new boss has jumped in and has done a great job! Mary is relieved because she now do the job that she is responsible for and do it well!
I have been able to update this blog for one main reason, my wisdom teeth came out and before I show you the pictures of the after effects, I wanted to show you what this lovely couple used to look like and what has happened recently!
Pretty hilarious eh? Well I was able to find some information on why they call them wisdom teeth. Did you know that the average mouth can really only hold 28 teeth? And did you know that we have 32? I know have a new question I will ask God when I see him face to face while basking in His Glory. Maybe it won't come up!
I want you to meet my oral surgeon! What a great guy! He did a great job on my wisdom teeth and calmed down Mary to reassure her that everything was going to be okay. He also gave me a call at 8:00 pm last night to see how I was doing? Can you believe that?
I would also like you to meet my amazing, gorgeous and super hot caretaker. That's right, nobody else but my wife!
I am not trying to create jealousy, but the question I ask everyday is why did God think to put the most angelic face to serve me with obvious removal of teeth, that contained all the wisdom I have ever attained?
We have been doing a lot of mental shifting over the past couple months, thinking about buying a new house, can we go overseas, where do we make our vacations, who has the better looking family members, who would be cooler to take on Family Feud, and most importantly how did that fungus grow on Mary's finger? But the real question should have been, "I think your husband is cheap, did he get you real platinum?"
On a more serious note we need you to pray for us in a few things:
1. That God would send us to Central or East Asia in the next two years.
2. We would be submissive and open to what God wants Mike to do as he grows professionally as a contractor or as a principal.
3. For God to put in our paths some that have physical needs and spirtual needs that we can reach them with Gospel.
Please pray for our church body and lift them up. In addition, our friends Shane and Ashley are heading Southeast Asia this summer and they need some help in prayer and monetarily. We plan to support them and if you can too let us know by commenting or sending us an email. And by the way send click on "follow this blog" because I will do a better job at keeping up with this!
In His Love, Knowing His Hope, and Living in His substitution,
Mike And Mary
Mary has had some not so easy days at her job, but they are getting better, because a new boss came in and the new boss has jumped in and has done a great job! Mary is relieved because she now do the job that she is responsible for and do it well!
I have been able to update this blog for one main reason, my wisdom teeth came out and before I show you the pictures of the after effects, I wanted to show you what this lovely couple used to look like and what has happened recently!
Pretty hilarious eh? Well I was able to find some information on why they call them wisdom teeth. Did you know that the average mouth can really only hold 28 teeth? And did you know that we have 32? I know have a new question I will ask God when I see him face to face while basking in His Glory. Maybe it won't come up!
I want you to meet my oral surgeon! What a great guy! He did a great job on my wisdom teeth and calmed down Mary to reassure her that everything was going to be okay. He also gave me a call at 8:00 pm last night to see how I was doing? Can you believe that?
I would also like you to meet my amazing, gorgeous and super hot caretaker. That's right, nobody else but my wife!
I am not trying to create jealousy, but the question I ask everyday is why did God think to put the most angelic face to serve me with obvious removal of teeth, that contained all the wisdom I have ever attained?We have been doing a lot of mental shifting over the past couple months, thinking about buying a new house, can we go overseas, where do we make our vacations, who has the better looking family members, who would be cooler to take on Family Feud, and most importantly how did that fungus grow on Mary's finger? But the real question should have been, "I think your husband is cheap, did he get you real platinum?"
On a more serious note we need you to pray for us in a few things:
1. That God would send us to Central or East Asia in the next two years.
2. We would be submissive and open to what God wants Mike to do as he grows professionally as a contractor or as a principal.
3. For God to put in our paths some that have physical needs and spirtual needs that we can reach them with Gospel.
Please pray for our church body and lift them up. In addition, our friends Shane and Ashley are heading Southeast Asia this summer and they need some help in prayer and monetarily. We plan to support them and if you can too let us know by commenting or sending us an email. And by the way send click on "follow this blog" because I will do a better job at keeping up with this!
In His Love, Knowing His Hope, and Living in His substitution,
Mike And Mary
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