For Sale!

Well, today I posted our house on http://www.forsalebyowner.com/ and http://www.riverhomesusa.com/ ...and I must say it has created a tidal wave of emotion for me. This house is the first home Charles and I purchased and we have been here for 12 out of our 13 years of marriage. This home brings great security to me for so many reasons....not to mention it is just plain gorgeous!

But, this is a very prayerful decision and we are trusting God for the results. If He sends someone, then great. But if He doesn't, that will be okay too. We recognize that He wants the best for us. We have spent much time in prayer and feel this is what God would have us to do. We are simply "preparing the fields for rain."

If we do move to Prattville, it will be nice to save on gas... as of yesterday I noticed it was $3.15/gallon !!! The conveniences of friends, church, Publix, and Wal-Mart will be much appreciated. So will a smaller house to clean and a smaller house payment to pay.

On the flip side, I will miss this beauty that sits just outside my doors so very much and my next door parents so much more. It is so quiet and peaceful here. Sometimes I ask myself if we must be crazy.

So now, we wait and see. I pray that if God does send a buyer, that they will be great people to take great care of our home and be great friends and neighbors to my wonderful parents. I wonder what the future holds.....

Hmmmmm........

Well, here's a little update on life...We had a realtor come out on Saturday. Prior to his arrival, we prayed that God would either throw the doors wide open or place many stumbling blocks and barriers in our way. The realtor's first words to us through the door were that he had some bad news. A house in our neighborhood had just gone into foreclosure five days prior. He seems to think this will affect what we get for our house by close to $100,000! Really??? One of the main reasons for selling would be to get equity out of this house to put a substantial down payment on another thus having a small mortgage and allowing me to work only a few days a month, or not at all! Well, that was blown right out of the water. And, I must say, I was a bit shocked. I felt as if I had prayed and heard clearly from the Lord....He even comforted me with Scripture.

So, we began to research a little ourselves on the internet, and we discovered that one foreclosure in your neighborhood should affect your home by only 1-2% (approx $2500-$5000). Also, that most appraisers try NOT to use the foreclosure but if they have to that that home will not carry much weight. It was also evident that he was not very interested in river property and did not ask the questions we would have expected for this area. So, they questions we have asked ourselves now is...

• We asked God for many stumbling blocks...is this just one and we should try a different route or is this one so big we should just take it as a Ray Charles sign?


• Should we try ourselves as for sale by owner and just see what God does and how things turn out?


• Should we just hang tight and wait a little while, keep praying (which we will do regardless), and wait to see what happens "on its own"? {we did have neighbors once who did NOT have their house for sale and someone approached them and wanted to buy it anyway}

My coming home is only one of the reasons to move. We long for greater convenience to town (grocery store, etc)...not to mention gas is not getting any cheaper. Also, Charles has a bad back and with the house being so high off the ground and the challenges this large house brings, we would like a home on the ground that offers easier maintenance. Another reason is to be closer to our church home and friends and able to participate more in ministry. We would like to be involved in the Life Groups our church has started. Not to mention, the girls never have little friends come over to play unless it happens to be a birthday party or some other well-planned event.

Admittedly, there are a couple of down sides to moving....the biggest is my parents. We live next door to my parents and they are such a blessing to us. My step-dad watches my girls when I work and both girls just love MawMaw and Papa. I grew up next to my grandparents and it was great! I do have to wonder if Charles and I have not accomplished what it is that God has for us here. We could reach out better where we are and start a "Life Group" that is not affiliated with our church but it an outreach to our neighborhood.

I am reminded that "A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps" Proverbs 16:9. My quiet time this morning was on looking to God alone for direction. I KNOW that I have been seeking Him with all my heart and asking for direction. I also know Ephesians 3:20 says that God is able to do far abundantly above all that we ask or think or imagine.

My prayer is that beyond even knowing God's will for our family, that we will know God....His patience, His provision, His loving-kindness, His peace, His protection, His majesty....that we experience His character and WHO HE IS more than anything else. I pray this time of wondering what to do pushes us to the very heart of God and that we develop a closeness with Him that we couldn't otherwise know. I am currently doing a Bible study by Priscilla Shirer called Discerning the Voice of God. It is so appropriate right now. And one of the things she touches on is how that if we seek Him first and just long for Him, we don't have to worry about being in His will.

Thank you to those of you who are praying for us and the direction we should take.

We love you!

American Girl

This is Ella's 6th birthday cake. The theme for her party was American Girl. We went for pink and silver as the colors. There are stars on the doll boxes and throughout the magazine so these were the main decorations for the party. The cake is vanilla with a pudding filling. It is covered with pink buttercream and has silver fondant accents. I painted the fondant stars with pearl dust to make them sparkle and used edible silver star sprinkles around the writing. The cake did not turn out exactly as I had envisioned it in my head, but Ella was pleased and that is really all that mattered!

Discouraged

Wow, this has been a difficult morning. Doubt has crept in. I know I have only recently begun posting about my personal life and my desire to come home full-time, but it has been my prayer for at least two years now. A couple of years ago, my cousin Cantina told me she felt like the Lord was urging her to speak to me about homeschooling. She asked if I would "just pray about it." Quite honestly, I had never thought about it before. I just assumed we would send our kids to "regular" school. But, I said I would and so I did. And the more I prayed the more I felt like this is in fact what God would have me to do. So then, I began to pray for a way for God to bring me home full-time so that I could homeschool my children. I am currently homeschooling Ella in kindergarten and she will begin first grade this fall. God has opened up doors at work that allow me to work part-time doing a job I love. But I feel this ever increasing burden to be home full-time.

So, I have sensed God's telling me this is going to happen and I just need to wait on him. I see other people's prayers getting answered, but what about me? Others I know haven't been praying for this as long as I have yet their prayers have already been answered. Have I misunderstood God? I have prayed for wisdom. I felt as if God had confirmed His plan over and over. Doubt. An ugly word. What does God have to say about that? Well, in James 1:6-8 He says, "But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does."

So, this morning I got on my face and cried out to Him to either confirm (yet again) what He has been telling me or change my heart. Well, ask and you shall receive.
According to James 1:3-4, "...the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."
Psalm 27:13-14 "I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.
Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight."
Isaiah 33:6 "He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure."
Zephaniah 3:17 "The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing."
To top it off, In Touch with Charles Stanley this morning subject: waiting on God.

What a truly amazing God! So patient with His children. Me? Wouldn't I have told mine by now "How many times do I have to tell you?" But not God. He just opens up His word to me and speaks to me and encourages me over and over. How I wish I were so patient and encouraging to my own children. He is the perfect example. And the perfect, loving Father. Thank you, God, for loving me more than I can even fathom. Thank you for encouraging me day after day. Thank you for your living Word. Thank you for your Holy Spirit that lives in me and speaks to my own spirit. Thank you for quieting me with your love.

I don't know if anyone really reads this blog or not, but it's good for me to get this out. I want it to serve as a testimony to God's work in my life. That when all of this comes to pass, it will be clear that only He deserves the glory. I hope that it will serve as an encouragement to others that only God and your relationship with Him is all that really matters.

Now, time to go decorate my oldest blessing's 6th birthday cake! Post to come tomorrow!

God is so good!

I am so full of expectation. God is soooo good. He is so actively at work all around me and it is so exciting! Let's see if I can even put this all into words and make it flow right.....

As most of you know, God has laid a huge burden on my heart to be at home full-time. I have been praying and figuring out a way to help God make that happen. I am an immediate results, instant gratification type of gal....hence why I love the emergency department ;) Nonetheless, God has been dealing with my patience (or lack thereof) for quite some time. I finally realized that God does not need my help...imagine that! So there was a revelation and peace. Since then, I've been waiting and waiting and waiting and guess what....I'm becoming impatient.

I believe that God is laying the foundation and opening up doors. Last night our pastor talked about having small Bible study groups in the home. This made Charles and I very excited. We have been interested in this since last year when we went to a marriage conference by Family Life Today and they have a Homebuilders series that we were very interested in. God has grown us individually and as a couple during the last year and the thought of ministering to others is so exciting. But, no one from Prattville is going to drive to Lowndesboro for it I'm sure.

I've been doing a Bible study by Priscilla Shirer called Discerning the Voice of God. Wow is it good!!! She is amazingly gifted and I am learning so much. The first week talked about praying expectantly. So often we pray but don't really expect God to answer. Then she talked about waiting patiently...there it is again! It went on to teach about taking the time to listen to God and stop talking so much, planning to be obedient when He does speak, and having faith that He will speak. And that's just week one!

Then, I got this email devotion by James McDonald at Walk in the Word about the benefits of waiting. He uses the process of waiting to mold us into the person that He wants us to be...to advance His purposes for His kingdom. Then he quotes many Scriptures to support these claims. (This is already becoming quite lengthy, but you can check out the posts on http://www.walkintheword.com/).

So as you can see, this waiting is becoming a persistant theme in my life right now. But aren't the best things in life worth waiting for? I may have an end result, but God has the plan...and His plan is best. He is teaching and molding me so I can be of better use to Him. Again, the expectation is building...I am so excited to see what He is going to do. And it will be worth the wait and He will get the glory. Isn't it amazing that with all of the big, major events that are happening in this big world that He still cares about little me and my little piece of the the world? I get overwhelmed with just my little piece of the world....THANK GOODNESS I SERVE A GREAT BIG GOD WHO IS STRONG, MIGHTY, ABLE, LOVING, PATIENT, FORGIVING, AND WORTHY!!!!

So, until His perfect timing is brought to light...I will continue to wait...patiently....

Wedding Cakes

These are wedding cakes I did for my best friend and her new husband, Bryan and Shelia Easley.

The brides cake is vanilla with vanilla pudding filling and buttercream icing. It is four tiers with the top and third having a ribbon border and the second and bottom with a diamond impression and edible pearls at each corner of the diamond pattern. These tiers have fondant pearl borders. There is a fondant 'E' on the top tier for Easley. The flowers, though, is what I think make the cake.

The grooms cake is chocolate with chocolate chips. It is iced with chocolate buttercream and then impressed with the diamond pattern. It is topped with chocolate ganache and accented with chocolate dipped strawberries and grapes. The top has Ephesians 3:20 written on the top.

This was definitely a labor of love. If I ever doubted what God revealed to me about the baking business not being His plan for me, it was confirmed through this cake. It was very time consuming and very stressful. I placed all of the stress on myself because I wanted it to be perfect...which it wasn't. Don't get me wrong, I was happy to do this for my dear friends that I love so much and I have talked to Shelia about doing her wedding cake one day for years. But, I couldn't do this all of the time for people who really do expect perfection. Thankfully, Shelia loves me and did not expect perfection...she was so gracious (and brave) to give me this chance and be my guinea pig. I've always wanted to do a wedding cake and now I can say I have. But I know that on a daily basis my focus, time, and attention is meant to be given to my family. So, thank you Shelia and Bryan for believing in me, but I think I'll stick to birthday and special occasion cakes that I can do in a couple of days :)

PS...I had to include a picture of me and the beautiful bride :)

Fire Truck to the Rescue

These are cakes I did for my friend Dana's little boy. He is really into fire trucks so needless to say he got a fire truck birthday cake. We were concerned there would not be enough cake with just the fire truck so we came up with a plan to have a house on fire. (For all of you who are as much of a perfectionist as I am, yes it bothers me that the house and fire truck are not proportionate to one another.) Hope they enjoy!