God sightings (part 1 of 3)

God is everywhere.
Everywhere.
A concept that is a little bit challenging for Mommy to explain - and for kids to grasp.
"I can't see Him!""

Well, it's not that, is it?
We don't have to see the physical presence of God to know He is there, do we?
Of course you know, when you are looking for God, you "see" him everywhere.

Tim and I see Him in the shining, chubby faces of our children and are so grateful for their health.
We see him in the blessing of our family and friends, our functioning cars, and the fact that both of us have full-time jobs we truly love!

There are times I'll have to admit that those things are somewhat under-appreciated.
Unfortunately, it's not until the technically "unnecessary" happens that I begin to open my mouth in awe.
And I am stunned into praising Him until everyone knows about it!


This past spring our church held a Stewardship Campaign.
((You know - where people give EXTRA money to the church for stuff?))
As soon as those words rolled off the tongue of our pastor I thought, oh boy...how are we gonna get out of giving away too much.....

Not a good initial thought.  Not good at all. 
But, I'll admit I squirmed when Tim directly asked me about it - and what I thought would be a good amount for us to give.
 Um...enough to not make us look bad, but not enough that we will be hurting our regular lifestyles. -We're already a pastor's family on a smaller-sized income, with cutbacks on things that other people have.  We live within our means and I don't complain about it.  I shop at thrift stores, yard sales and clearance racks...I welcome hand-me-downs and pass-alongs.  How much more could we cut? 

I shrugged: "I don't know, what do you think......"

We didn't make our decision that day, so I was able to put away my thoughts and guilty feelings for awhile.
But not for long - each challenge given from our pastors and my own convictions got the best of me.  Well, God got the best of me. 
It's all His anyway....  I mean, he's given me a husband and children that love me - the two things I thought I could never live without, so everything else was technically bonus, right?  


When we moved to this house, I considered it such a great answer to prayer.  Having moved 7 times in 7 years, we lived in all sorts of situations.  Too small, kinda stinky, bad landlords, bad neighbors, bad rent..........
So, like dating in high school, I made the list of things I didn't want, and things I did want (but in a house):

Virtually everything that was on my "check-list."
*4 bedrooms all on the same level! 
*A kitchen with enough cabinet space to hold all my stuff.
*Walls we could paint.
*A size-able backyard where we could lock them outside encourage our children to go out and play!
*A designated "play-room."
*Within our family budget.

I'm sure you can see where this is going right?  Well, we got all those things.
Not only are there 4 bedrooms, they are quite big!!  Even Thad's room, which is the smallest - is still significantly larger than the 2 small kids room we had at our last place.
There are so many cabinets in the kitchen that I actually do not have enough stuff to fill them all!!   We were able to paint the house, provided we re-paint white when we move out (which I hope is NO TIME SOON!).   
And we did not only get a backyard, but a front-yard, and 2 side-yards!  There are trees to climb, and critters to be discovered.  A truly excellent place for little boys.
Our basement is one large open play area.  I'd love to redo the flooring, but even in its ugliness, the  tile allows our boys to ride their trikes and scooters round and round.  It's a kid's palace.
The laundry room is excellent too because it doubles as a storage room.  Right off the playroom where I can work and keep an eye on the munchkins, it's HUGE.  Able to house all our storage junk without breaking our backs digging through a crawl space, or stacking rubbermaid tubs of clothes in the boys closets!
Most importantly of all - this "casa" came at a price we can do.  I was able to talk down the price $200 a month for a 2-year-lease.  They pay for the oil heat and well water and THEY (the church - this is a parsonage) cut the many acres of grass. :)  
I'd say we are more than happy here.

This prayer answered opened my eyes to the realization that God is taking care of us. 
When we moved in, we were without cable/internet for several weeks.  Initially I had so much unpacking to do, it wasn't a bother....I didn't seem to miss watching any of the shows I had regularly recorded.  Tim was able to bring a very-slow-going internet router thing (technical, no?) so I could at least check my email, the weather...update Facebook (you know, the important things. :)...and that, honestly, was fine.
I think I actually brought up the thought.  "Why don't we just cut cable and save that money?"
We knew Comcast would eventually have to succumb to our pleas for connection and come out to help, but I didn't think it would be worth close to $100/month to have that cable back.  We were doing fine without it.  "Let's pledge that money to the church for the stewardship campaign."

I patted myself on the back for the idea. :)

My husband agreed, but felt that perhaps that wasn't enough.
He went on to remind me that the Apostle Paul said we should "give til it hurts."
I wasn't much interested in that....
But I didn't disagree.
You see, (gulp) I don't do any of our bills....  I know.  What kind of wife am I?!  ;)
But, I trust Tim to do them all.  We agreed he would be the best one to keep us out of bankruptcy.  I believe that ultimately he knows what we can afford to give, and I wasn't going to fight him on it.  He was being challenged too.  So I told him I trusted him to make another wise decision.
Stretching of our faith could be fun, right? :)
Well - it has been!!
I didn't know the exact dollar amount until it was already pledged.  I didn't want to try and talk him down....
When I saw it, I was a little apprehensive, but we are both trusting God.
Honestly, it's been nothing but a blessing.
And wouldn't you know? - that was our church's slogan- "Blessed to be a blessing."


I'm gonna stop here, but I want you to stay with me til the end of these 3 posts, because the ultimate blessing we've been given will blow. your. minds! 
Why not tell you now?  
Well, I haven't gone fishing in awhile...but I do remember how to dangle bait.
Stay tuned! :)