Update..Again

This is going to be a quick update. I am at Panera using there free wi-fi (I did buy a coffee because I feel bad for not ordering something, but don't you just hate their coffee?..It really is gross). We won't have Internet access at the new house until Wednesday.

Thank you all for your prayers for my sanity; and at least I have been able to humor you as I am gasping for air while I tread water to keep from drowning in this crazy moving chaos....BUT..... drum roll, please...WE ARE SETTLED IN THE NEW HOUSE, and I even have a few pictures on the walls. WOO HOO!! Actually, it looks pretty good inside, except for a few random boxes. Now the garage is another story. Every time Chris has to go out to the garage, he says,"Pray for me; I'm going in."

I don't know if it has been the move or what, but my boys are sooo clumsy (if they were girls, I would tell you it must be that time of month for them...but they're not, so I just have to chalk it up to pure clumsiness!) They have broken so many things in the past week. I have to keep telling myself, "They're just things."

Here's the top 8 things we have broken in the last 8 days:

1. My camera
2. Chris 6-disc CD player in his car...(I know this isn't a big deal to some people...but we are not techies, so when the only tech things you have in your house are a 10-year old TV with a VHS, a $19.99 CD player, and a $16 Walmart black friday special DVD player, your 6 disc CD player in your car is like your state of the art Bose speakers (just kidding...I have no clue if those are expensive or cool, but you get my point...it hurt Chris)
3. Jack's new CARS scooter
4. My over sized black vase with hand painted wooden Hawaiian flowers (OK...this was the one that hurt me the most. Chris is giving me a hard time for whining about it, because I bought it at a yard sale. But that is no reason for it not to hurt...the lady swore to me that it was straight from Hawaii and hand painted and she paid mega-bucks for it. Chris swears he's seen it at Wal-mart.
5. The only other vase I owned---this one was pretty too.
6. The door to my armoire that holds our 10-year old TV with the VHS player. Now there is no hiding that we are completely old school...Well it had 2 doors in the front and only one broke, so we I guess we can half hide it. I take that back, Chris says we can't hide it because nobody else has an armoire anymore. He says you all have flatscreens that hang on the wall. I just can't figure how you would put bunny ears on top of that :)
7. Chris' knee. I don't know if it is necessarily broken, but he is limping and whining like it is. The armoire door fell on it....
8. Garbage disposal. This one really hurts me too, but it'll be fixed tomorrow.

OK, Panera is closing so I have no time to do a spell/grammar check...Sorry!!

Seriously, This is Not Happening

Chris and I are in the twilight zone today. I am not kidding. We are in the middle of moving so we have half of our house (kitchen and food) at our new one and the other half (beds and clothes) at the old one. I think I am losing my mind.

Annie has been sick for over a week now, and she WILL NOT sleep. Yesterday, Max joined her on the "out of commission" list. So this morning I had planned to take Max, Annie, and a carload of things to the new house and then run a few errands that we needed done before small groups at church tonight. Well, my car would not start. GREAT. I called Chris and he came home from work to jump my car. The only problem was, that while his car was jumping mine, his ran out of gas. We now have two cars sitting in our driveway not working, and my husband is jogging to the gas station. Right before Chris left for his jog, he runs in the room and says, "I am going to take my book with me so I can prepare to lead my small group." He is going to take his book jogging to the gas station?? I think that goes beyond great time management to desperation.

Oh well, like Chris says, "We get 365 days a year, we can't expect them all to be smooth." That's for sure!! :)

It sure is a battle today with the enemy, but he is not taking this day. "Today is the day the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it"...no matter how many things go wrong at the Brown house :).

Friday's Midnight Madness

How come my sister can take her kids and my kids (7 total...7 and under!) to Super Target BY HERSELF, do her week's worth of grocery shopping, buy all the kids an Icee, buy herself a Starbucks, and everyone comes home in a good mood; while I, on the other hand, have been brushing my teeth for two days with Sparkle Fun Kid's Crest toothpaste because I am too scared to run into CVS by myself with 3 kids? Seriously, she could do that with her eyes closed, and I am getting anxious because I only have enough Sparkle Fun left for the morning brushes tomorrow.

Tomorrow is the day. I have done this enough times to know that there will not be one dry eye(including mine) when we are finished. Here's what I am anticipating:

I will be carrying the carrier (because the carts are too small to set one on and Annie can't sit in a cart yet), and the boys will be walking and holding hands (because I can't push them in a cart while carrying Annie's carrier). The boys will stay holding hands for all of 10 seconds when one of them spots the Valentine candy and darts off. I will struggle a bit to keep everyone corralled with me while I quickly grab the toothpaste, but I'll manage it. The trouble always comes at the checkout, where the man in front of me will be asking the cashier a 101 questions and then will check his receipt and realize the cashier forgot to give him his 1% cash back. The cashier will explain to him that he forgot to use his CVS Extra Care card. At this point, I will begin praying for patience as the man asks the cashier to void everything and start over so he can use his Extra Care card and get his 1% cash back. I am now contemplating whether we can just brush with baking soda until the boys are back in preschool on Tuesday and I can come back then...all the while I am still holding Annie's carrier and giving the boys the quit touching the candy and get by me NOW look. The boys will come to me for about 15 seconds while the cashier is waiting on the manager to do an override so she can ring up the man in front of me again, and then Jack will run off and Max will quickly say, "I'll get him" and chase after him. I will wait for approximately 15 more seconds, start getting very anxious, and then begin debating whether I take the carrier with me to go chase after the boys and lose my place in line, or do I leave Annie and the carrier in line to save my spot in hopes the boys are just around the corner? As the next 5 seconds tick by with surmounting panic and anxiety, I will quickly ditch the toothpaste on the candy display, grab the carrier, run after the boys, give them the You are in BIG TROUBLE look, and usher everyone to the car. NO DRY EYES.

I think we'll just go with the baking soda........

Home Update

We found a house!!

WooHOO! Those of you who commented and said you would take the "wrecking crew" in can breathe a sigh of relief. We are not going to be homeless. Actually, the landlord is letting us move our stuff in slowly over the next 2 weeks, so I am even going to escape that frantic pack everything just to move a mile and unpack in 2 days feeling. I think I may just tell Chris he can cancel the reservation he made for me at the mental institution......well, it may be too soon to tell for that!

Seriously, God is so good.....the location is perfect for us, I like the house and neighborhood better than where we are at currently, AND it is cheaper! It was a scramble for sure, but the Lord was all over it and we are set to go.

I would post pictures but my "wrecking crew" has been busy at work this week. They managed to break my camera and the CD player in Chris' car.....oops!! I will post pics of our new place just as soon as I get my camera fixed (which, to be honest, our lease will probably end before that happens!! But I'll try, I promise! :)

Name Calling

Now, I know the title is a little cheesy, but Numbers 13 records one of the best name calling sessions I have ever read about.

OK...so you know how Joshua was one of the only two spies who came back after scoping out the enemy's land and reported that he was ready to take them on in war and fight for the land God had promised the Israelites? He was confident that God would do what He promised His people. Even though the enemy was bigger and stronger and only one other warrior was going to stand up with him against the other 10 cowards, Joshua still courageously said "Let's fight 'em and watch God deliver the enemy into our hands."

Here's what the Lord showed me....Did you know that Moses changed Joshua's name from Hoshea to Joshua before he was sent to scope out the Promised Land? The name Joshua comes from the Hebrew root which means, "to deliver", "to be victorious."

Now hold on to that thought for a minute and consider this: Do you know how many times I found either Moses or the Lord directly telling Joshua to"Be strong and courageous" before he led the Israelites in battle? SIX times! (And this was just at a glance into the end of Deuteronomy and the first chapter of Joshua...it may have been more than that!)

Now this is only my thoughts...so take it for what it's worth. I cannot help but to think that maybe Joshua was not naturally such a courageous, faith-filled risk-taker after all. Could it be that Moses called out in him his potential? That Moses knew the plan God had for him before Joshua did and that "Calling Out" by His most respected leader...the one who's face had shone because he met with God on the mountain; the one who among his own people, there was no question that he heard directly from God... gave Joshua the courage and fire inside him to live up to his potential? That finally his "Calling" was made as clear to him as his name? Could it be that when his name was changed to his purpose: "Victorious One"...he was inspired to risk it all to allow God to prove his name? And it is by that courage that Joshua reached his God potential in this life.

Dear Father, give me a new name...a name that defines my purpose. May my purpose be as clear to me as my first name. Give me the courage and fire inside me to follow where you lead believing with everything in me that You will make my life prove my name.

random questions

Please comment...I want to hear from you:

1. Do you twitter?
2. Do you do both (blog and twitter)?
3. If you're married, would your spouse ever hire you as his/her secretary (assuming he was in a job where he needed one)?
4. Would you ever take in a homeless family (particularly one with 3 kids under 4)?

Just a little curious tonight.

I'll answer first to be fair:
1. No
2. No
3. NEVER :) Chris loves me till death do us part...but that would be the death of me.
4. Definitely!! For sure...without thinking twice!! FYI: Did you know that we have to be out of our house in less than 3 weeks and we have yet to find another place?

Sunshine State

I took the boys to the park today....we lasted about 45min because the boys were complaining of being "too hot." It's January, and it is too hot to play outside. Man, I love it here. I am all about the warmth.

I realized that this is the longest I have ever stuck to my New Year's resolutions (I know...It has been a sad story in years past). I am convinced that the weather is to blame for my past failures with sticking to my resolutions. It is mush easier to clean out garages, jog, load the kids in and out of the car, and wash the car when you can actually feel your fingers! January is pretty miserable (at least to me) in Charlotte. You rarely get snow, but you always get freezing rain, black ice, and many gray, dreary days. That first early morning, let me jump start my resolutions jog in below freezing weather and I already felt defeated. Most years I just stopped there and never even began the rest of my list! Not this year...I am sticking to the easy things and thanking God for the Sunshine State!!

random thoughts

I'm just about to climb into bed after an exhausting but wonderful Sunday.

A few random thoughts tonight:

1. I love my church...I love the people, the worship, the teachings, the pastor, the energy, the breakfast bar...all of it. The best thing though, is that people show up expecting (not hoping or wishing) God to show up in a huge way..and He does...EVERY WEEK.
2. I will never go to Super Walmart again on a Sunday afternoon. Actually, I don't think I will ever go there again any day. It was a futile attempt to save money so I can stick to our new budget :). I'd rather not eat. I hate that place..Super Target it is from now on.
3. Our worship Pastor and his wife came over for dinner and discussion tonight...I honestly think our kids ate a dozen cookies each, and then they washed 'em down with some hidden candy they found. I seriously need to get better at multi-tasking (talking, thinking, and watching the kids would be a good place to start!)
4. We did have a great conversation though...I think we solved the world's problems...or at least Hallandale's. Do you think our kids' teeth is too big of a price to pay for that?
5. I am so thankful for my gym membership...it guarantees me a shower everyday :). Should I feel guilty when the childcare worker asks me what part of the gym I'll be in in case they need to get me and I respond, "The shower"? :)
6. My man rocks...he hits husband, dad, and pastor out of the park....I love him....

Easy '09 Resolutions

My prayer for 09 is that I do the things that are easy to do, but unfortunately are even easier not to do. The easy things in my life....the things I know will make a difference in the long run. I won't see the difference each day, but I know they will pay off. It's not hard each day to get up early and spend time in prayer and Bible study, but it's easier to just snuggle in (especially if you're freezing in NC!). It's not hard to go to the gym or play football with the boys, but most days it's just easier not to do those things. This year, with the Holy Spirit's help, I am going to make the choice daily to do the "little things" that are easy to do but even easier not to do.

Here's just a few of the easy to do, but even easier not to do things I am committing to daily for 09:

• spending quality time in prayer and Bible study
• praying with my kids
• spending uninterrupted time with the kids
• one on one conversation and prayer with Chris (or almost daily...with 3 little ones we have to plan for this or it never happens!)
• reading 10 pages of a good book
• sticking to our new budget (OK...this one will not be easy!)
• exercising

What are a few of your goals for '09?