Progress?

29 Tuesday Dec 2009

Posted by in Renovations

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This is the upstairs bathroom. New plumbing of course. Nothing is ever as easy as it seems.


What was once the living room area. Now mostly the staging area for all the work going on in the other rooms.

Notice the bathroom sink next to the wall?!!
Emma’s room, which is actually purple, not light blue.

We have been working hard on the house everyday. Well, not Christmas. Christmas we watched movies in the basement and opened presents around the palm tree that doubled as our Christmas tree this year:) Every OTHER day we have worked so hard! I’m really proud of the kids, they have pitched in whole heartedly to get it done. The end is in sight:) Carpet in the upstairs bedrooms tomorrow, yippee!!!

"Before" Pictures

22 Tuesday Dec 2009

Posted by in new house, Renovations

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Okay, here are a few of the “before” pictures. The space isn’t pretty, but it has potential! I haven’t put pictures in of the best part which is the back acreage. I will add pictures of that next time, but its not changing anytime soon. The house will keep us busy for the rest of the winter.

I will update in a couple of days with the work we are doing now.


Front living room. I am standing at the front door.

Kitchen. Basement. It’s a walkout. The door is there to the right. The wallpaper you see is a lovely stripe with a howling wolves border.
Master bedroom. Big enough for the bed, which is all we really need I guess!


Main floor bath. What the pictures don’t really show is the ick factor. Dirt and mildew. ICK!

Emma’s room


The boys room. This is actually 15 feet by 9. It just wasn’t a great place to take a picture.

Finally!

16 Wednesday Dec 2009

Posted by in move, remodel

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Almost five weeks past our scheduled closing. We Finally have a house!
This is the only picture I have right now. But I will be taking lots of before pictures today. I think it will turn out to be a great little place for us.
There are almost 4 acres, with lots of room for the dogs and kids:) The kids are already talking about what animals they want to get, and I’m dreaming of my garden!
Stay tuned for lots of before and after pictures!

Ordinary Life

25 Wednesday Nov 2009

Posted by in Uncategorized

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This morning I asked God” Why?” and He said “Die to self”. Pretty loud and clear, no question in my mind that that was God talking
Die to self in a very real way means giving up what I want. It means giving up me. In this day and age I really struggle with that. Would God ask me to give up my dreams? Wouldn’t He want to enable me to accomplish them? Isn’t He there to ensure my happiness and prosperity? He wants me to”be myself” or have goals and dreams, to reach for the stars and grab all of life that I can…..right? The more I think about it the more I realize that God calls me to fill His goals for me. That cannot be a popular thought for most people seeking fulfillment in Christianity. I am a product of my environment which tells me that all God wants is for me to be happy. I know it could stir controversy to say this but I don’t think that is the case. Die to self. To all my hopes and desires. To give them all up in search of something better than I can imagine. I feel like that is what God is saying to me. Give it all up Dianna, so I can do things for you that you can’t even begin to wish for. Things that make your dreams seem puny and watered down. How do I argue with that? How do I tell God that isn’t what I want? That “I’m happy with my little box of dreams God, don’t mess with them, thank you very much, but please just give me the ordinary life I wish for.”
I can’t do that. I can’t tell God I want my very ordinary life instead of His great one. I choose to die to self so that I can have my very best self.

Do I have a right attitude about suffering?

28 Monday Sep 2009

Posted by in faith

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The next few weeks I’m going to post here what I spoke on at the conference in Salina. It will definitely be an abbreviated version! But it will give you the big picture of what God has been working on in me

When we begin to experience painful things in our lives… When bad things start happening and we begin to stumble and fall in our faith… When we start to lose where God is… When we wonder how to put feet to our faith when we can’t find our feet OR our faith… We need to ask ourselves a few questions, remembering that a loss of faith is all about me because God hasn’t changed a thing about Himself.

Do we have a right attitude about suffering?

Hebrews 12:7-8 says “Endure hardship as discipline. God is
treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are
not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate
children and not true sons.” Verses 11-12″No discipline seems pleasant at the time,
but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace
for those who have been trained by it. Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms
and weak knees, make level paths for your feet, so that the lame may not be
disabled, but rather healed.”

Sometimes we go through hard times. Sometimes those hard times have to do with sin in our lives. That is certainly where our minds jump when things go bad. Like Job’s friends we wonder what we have done to deserve all this pain and suffering! We think that if we were living “right ” then God wouldn’t be punishing us this way. (which is a whole separate subject really, and this is going to be a long post so I’ll save that one for later!)

Sometimes however, we go through tough things because we are being disciplined. If you look at Hebrews 11 or what is known as the “Hall of Faith” in the verses just before these, we see people who endured terrible tragedy, but in that tragedy and hardship were drawn closer to God. Ultimately it wasn’t about them, it was about God.

  • I know that if we hadn’t gone through what we have the past few months. I wouldn’t be who I am now. Hardship has changed me, hopefully for the better. I can choose to live mad at God for what has happened, or I can choose to live victorious in the better person he has made me now.
  • Sometimes suffering comes with the territory of being a Christian. I’m not sure where the idea came from that if we are true believers that we won’t have problems. It certainly didn’t come from the Bible! Every person we read about in scripture suffered in their faith. Not one lived a life of perfect bliss after a decision to follow Jesus. Christianity is hard!
  • I don’t understand how all of these things work together for the glory of God. I don’t understand why really painful things happen to people. I know it is not in God’s nature to cause us hurt. But I do know that sometimes I get so wrapped up in my own suffering I don’t see the big picture. The one God sees. There is where the answer is, in the big picture that only God sees.

Blessing

18 Friday Sep 2009

Posted by in Uncategorized

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I can’t even begin to tell you what a blessing the conference last weekend was to me. It’s overwhelming to see God’s hand move in my life, every time he does. I don’t know why it always surprises me.
I’ve mentioned before that God has a tendency to really work in my life in the areas that he calls me to speak. This last weekend I spoke on how to put feet to your faith when you can’t find your feet or your faith. I’ve been struggling to find both in the last few months. With Randy essentially out of work it has been a really hard time financially. Through family, friends and circumstances God has provided, but it has been really hard. We always wondered whether we could hold out until the house sold. About thirty minutes before I walked in to teach the first session I got a call indicating we had an offer coming in on the house. I don’t believe in coincidence. What better way could God use to help me teach that session? It was amazing and overwhelming. This rough season of our life isn’t automatically over just because we sold the house, I know that. But for a girl struggling to find faith, His intervention at exactly the right moment really reminded me that everything happens for a reason.
Because I made myself vulnerable and shared exactly what has been going on in my life and how God has used it. I met many women who are hurting, who’s lives aren’t going the way they imagined it was supposed to. But each of them are being used by God in the lives of others. God uses all things in the lives of His children to bring glory to Himself. That’s the way it should be. I hope my life does that.

Football Season and Ethan

13 Sunday Sep 2009

Posted by in Ethan, fall, football

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Ethan was looking over my shoulder today and was highly insulted that I had not posted anything about him:) He makes me smile. So I am putting a posting up about my wonderful almost 12 year old. He is the one in the green:)

I missed his first football game today because I was at a conference in Salina. It happens every year when I go to this conference. They won today 14 to 0 (I hope that means he lets me come to the next game.) I love this time of year and going to the games. I spend most of my time following the boys up and down the sideline taking pictures. That is what this one is. Of course it’s from last year. But he picked it out, for obvious reasons.

Putting Feet to my Faith

08 Tuesday Sep 2009

Posted by in evangelism, faith, speaking

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It’s kind of crazy that this weekend I am supposed to be speaking on putting feet to my faith in rough times at a conference in Salina. Crazy might be a bad word to use, more like inevitable. That’s the way God seems to work in my life. When He asks me to talk about something He certainly gives me the material with which to work in my own life. It happens every time I’m asked to speak, I’m guessing there is a pattern here I should get used to.
This is certainly a subject that is close to my heart, I’m praying that God can use my experience the last few months as usable and glorifying material. Please pray that He does.

“May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight O LORD my Rock and my Redeemer.”
Psalm 19:14

Emma

27 Thursday Aug 2009

Posted by in Uncategorized

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It’s a red letter day for Miss Em. I am sitting at the orthodontists office right now waiting as she gets her braces off. I’ll post this after I get a chance to get home and take a couple of pictures. We will have to do something to celebrate tonight, though I bet her mouth is going to be too sore for much besides ice cream.She’s been giddy all day kind of bouncing off the walls. I really hadn’t made the connection completely until we left for the doctors office. I thought she was just reacting to her first week of home school. Maybe it was some of that too. She only has Caleb and I to hang around with during the day, and we aren’t as fun as a bunch of 14 year old girls! She was pretty excited to finish yesterday at 12:50pm. I hope she keeps loving it!

Ostrich Days

25 Tuesday Aug 2009

Posted by in ostrich. South Africa

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Have I mentioned that I tend to be an ostrich? (Picture the head in the sand one not the funny looking thing ambling up the road in front of the car in South Africa:) I find it amusing that I actually own a picture of an ostrich that I TOOK IN AFRICA!) Anyway I digress.
I am an Ostrich, I think I’ve mentioned it once or twice before:) When things get bad my tendency is to pretend that if I ignore them they will go away. I guess that has been my reasoning for not posting lately. Things at home are not fabulous, so my desire to talk about anything has been at a very low ebb. I have found more excuses that I thought possible not to post, but I’ve run out.

Randy is still out of work, (I’m honestly tired of saying that.) The house has not sold and we are about at our wit’s end. I know God is doing something. I just have no idea what it is! There have been days when I have simply not felt His presence. I’ve cried and raged, submitted and been humbled. I go as far as I can then I lose it and stick my head back in the sand for a day or so desperately trying not to think about anything, let alone have to put it out there for everyone to see. So sorry for being so ostrich like and avoiding. I promise to try to get back on track.
I know that this time in my family’s life is all about being sifted. I just pray that we are found faithful in the end. I know God wouldn’t allow all this to happen without a reason. I know we will come out of this stronger for having gone through it, but its a hard path to walk right now. Please pray that we are found faithful.