Reality Strikes

Wow what a week.  If this is any indication of what is too come I need to  get a better seatbelt.  Sunday was a normal day.  We went to church in the morning, maple syrup Sunday in the afternoon and then in the evening we had our normal Nacho's and worship night.   More of our friends, past and present, were able to join us and it was such a sweet time for us as we are getting more used to our new home.  Curtis read Psalm 70 and we had worship, and as usual the kids ran around crazy.  This week and I use that term loosely seeing as it is only Wednesday, we have fed people, I have been dealing with 2 very crazed littles, meetings, migraine, company, someone stole our "mud covering" from our backyard (plywood that we walked on so as not to track too much mud in the house)- Believe it or not that was most upsetting.  I also didn't get my recyclables picked up for the 3rd time.  My trash has only been removed once.  Over the last few months I've called 5 times about trash. My car sounds like it's playing the flute - not sure what that means.....We lost power last night when an apartment building caught fire a block away.  6 families were displaced last night and lost all their stuff.  So sad.

This table has fed an additional 13 people this week and it's only Wednesday.  Tonight I received a call from a friend that is in human services.  She had another friend that was a caseworker of a family that just moved here and didn't have any food.  I didn't have any food or any money to give them but I did have dinner and Praise God they actually came over and ate it.  They had the most beautiful baby girl. So precious. I told the caseworker that we don't have much but we are always willing to share a meal or help in any way we can.  I think she kept my number.  Very exciting.  We've only been here 2 weeks.  
We had a very normal Saturday last weekend.  What a breath of fresh air to be a family.  I went grocery shopping and the kids did yard work and got muddy.  It was awesome. Later that night  Curtis, Justin and I saw Phil Keaggy, He has got to be the my all time favorite.

On a more personal note we were able to get away 2 weekends ago to Bar Harbor.  I have never actually stayed there and it is beautiful.  This was our first beach day of 2011.   We drove around the cove the long way and came across this pretty little beach.  The kids had been in the car for a while so they were happy to get out and run. There was this funny dog that wanted to play fetch but didn't want you to touch him. Curtis was being goofy and it was so nice to play as family.  I would encourage you all to think the next time you see a family going through a hard time what that could mean and how that plays out in just the ordinary parts of life.  I try to stop and think about this now when I see people.  Today I say an elderly man ask me for a cigarette from across the street through hand motions.  I was in my car driving.  Kinda funny but what a life that man must have.

Kiana is so funny and such a cutie.

LHS jazz band. Justin is 3rd from the left sporting a ponytail. He played 3 solos, and is really liking the improv.

Well the whole reason for our visit to Bar Harbor was the  Lewiston High School jazz band was in a competition at the local high school.  We decided to go because we hadn't been able to be apart of the things he is involved in this year.  It was the same weekend he was to get an award for his oil self portrait but he choice to go to the jazz competition.  He has come so far with his clarinet. I'm proud of his progess,  he really enjoys jazz.  He has even purchased a record player and listens to Benny Goodman.   So, thank-you Justin for a fun filled weekend,  and thank-you LHS jazz for giving us the excuse to take a little weekend away.

So As By Fire

 Look how the wood is being overtaken with the flames.  It submits to the fire and becomes part of the whole picture.  In the midst of it's destruction it causes joy for the people around it.

 

Psalm 66

 ¹Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands:
 ²Sing forth the honour of his name: make his praise glorious.
 ³Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works! through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee.
 ⁴All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee; they shall sing to thy name. Selah.
 ⁵Come and see the works of God: he is terrible in his doing toward the children of men.
 ⁶He turned the sea into dry land: they went through the flood on foot: there did we rejoice in him.
 ⁷He ruleth by his power for ever; his eyes behold the nations: let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah.
 ⁸O bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of his praise to be heard:
 ⁹Which holdeth our soul in life, and suffereth not our feet to be moved.
 ¹⁰For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is tried.
 ¹¹Thou broughtest us into the net; thou laidst affliction upon our loins.

 ¹²Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place.
 ¹³I will go into thy house with burnt offerings: I will pay thee my vows,
 ¹⁴Which my lips have uttered, and my mouth hath spoken, when I was in trouble.
 ¹⁵I will offer unto thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings, with the incense of rams; I will offer bullocks with goats. Selah.
 ¹⁶Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul.
 ¹⁷I cried unto him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue.
 ¹⁸If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:
 ¹⁹But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer.
 ²⁰Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me.

I have been thinking about fire lately.  My brother was messing around with my camera over the summer and took these amazing pictures of our campfire.  I have found myself super intriqued  with the beauty of what he was able to capture.

I did a bible search of "so as by fire"  because that is what I've felt like lately.  I know most schools of thought would be that passage is for our works at the judgment seat, but I think application can be made in the present.  It is through the testing of fire that we can come out purified.  I feel as though I am stronger and more passionate about the mission God is calling us to here on earth.  But fire is hot and not pleasant when you stand too close, or burn yourself.  The last 9 months and even still now have been very hot.   We are still going through the fire in our finances, family, ministry etc...  But just like the beauty in the picture, there is beauty in the trial and we cannot lose sight of the beauty when our emotions seem to take over.

Before and After

Before - the windows were all broken out,
the roof was caving into the bathroom, the porch was falling down, the sills were rotting out,  and
I'm sure I'm forgetting somethings.






                    After......                  

Before - center stairs directly in front of the front door.

what is now the living area,  there is a pellet stove in the corner now.

 this would be the area through the door to the left of the stairs that no longer exist.

after - no stairs

And here we have the before and after of the kitchen.  Keith Cochran was gracious to build me one before he left to go home a week ago Saturday.

dining area

girls room before

not a very good pic but you can kinda get the idea.  The stairs were located where I took the pic from

 The last month has been a whirlwind.  We left one house and moved in with another family for almost a month.  Curtis worked crazy crazy hours.  The stress of the last few months has caught up with us and we are just plain worn out and tired.  I go to bed tired, wake up tired and desire naps everyday. 

Curtis is working now and it looks as though he has work through the summer.  Hopefully we'll be able to save and budget now that we are in our house and not spending every penny of ours plus all those other pennies that God blessed us with during the course of the last several months.  

I can't even explain to you all the emotional roller coaster we have been riding.  Just today I dropped Barbara off for strings rehearsal and quickly realized this wasn't the fall but the spring.  I have lost a year. It makes my heart so sad to realize the kids have been going through this for 9 whole months. The crazy up and downs of this transition is something that you just can't explain you would need to experience it.  Going from a decent home in a decent neighborhood to a condemned house in a rough neighborhood in and of itself presents lots of internal conflict.  I think it was much easier to talk about living downtown and ministering to the poor all those years than actually doing it and becoming poor.  I am learning lots about the church in relationship to the poor neighborhood.  I am experiencing conflicts that I never would have needed to experience before.   I used to use the "us and them" language.  Well, guess what,  I am now the them.  I am having to check my heart continually with that type of thinking as I still have the same mentality but it is unfortunately reversed.  

I want to be a person that can bridge the gap between rich and poor. 
I want to always empathize even when I have correction to give.  I can't think of a time when an empathetic ear has not been welcomed. 
I want to be able to feed,  laugh, pray, and worship with people.  

There is much joy in being in my own space again, but I can also say there has been a little heartache.  I wish you were all here to share in our excitement  and to minister here with us.  Thank-you all so much for making this week a reality for us.   We are far from done, there is still much to do but for now the 2nd floor electrical , the stairs, the 3rd floor, window trim, and all the other things that take time and work are going to have to wait

Things that have happened in the 3 days we've been here:

• due to the Androscoggin Bank Colisee and people not wanting to pay for parking (even though they had enough to pay for their night out) they graciously chosen our little dead end street to park in, apparently they see no need to allow us that live here the oppurtunity to park on our own street or even be able to turn around....Very frustrating. (this has happened twice)  

• The police have shown up to our neighbors - I was wishing it was my drug dealing neighbors but that was a no go
• I was able to talk to some neighbors that we used to visit with in the ice cream shoppe
• Someone put bread in my car this morning.....

Floor done - minimal injuries

This picture was taken last night after we sanded the floor some more.  It took Jonathan sanding at least half the day on Saturday and Curtis sanding most the day on Sunday to get the floor read to finish.

Today I finished the floor while Curtis ran around town with the "Littles".  It took me about 4 hours.  We decided to oil the floor instead of varnish it.  Oiling is nice because you get an old looking appearance to the floor and the oil protects it.  It doesn't wear as well but you can quickly go over and rough spots with just a little sandpaper and oil to refinish it.

I only hurt myself twice today, once with a splinter.  That one really hurt.... When I got home I realized that I had a large blister on my knee.  Apparently, I needed to wear knee pads today.

This picture didn't come out so well but you can get the idea.

Tomorrow while Curtis is working I'm planning on getting the girls toys downstairs and letting them run around and play while I do some work.  It looks like we will be able to move in this weekend.   I am starting to get very excited about being on my own.

We are looking forward to the things that we'll be doing.  I am looking forward to the possibility of feeding homeless youth in the evening, worship and my kids friends in the house again. 

Weekend work!

today we sanded the floor.  Jonathan, Keith, and Curtis worked hard over the weekend.   Some of the things that were accomplished: power in the kitchen,  fish tanks moved,  gas stove removed, pellet stove moved, plywood kitchen constructed, hot and cold water in the bathroom, pedestal sink installed,  crack in the tub repaired,  power tools moved to 3rd floor, some holes in the floor patched, refrigerator moved, motion light installed, bathroom light installed, power to the bathroom, sheetrock under the 2nd floor stairwell, many runs to home depot, living room floor sanded and sanded and sanded (thanks Jonathan) and we sanded some more today.  Tomorrow it will get oiled.

Thanks again to you guys for giving up your time this weekend to help us out.  Amazing all the things that were accomplished.

They're tearing it up at Shawmut St

 Curtis is patching the floor getting
ready to sand tomorrow.  You can see the fish tanks were moved into the kitchen.  We actually ate at the table. The refrigerator is around the corner in the kitchen where you can't see in the pic.   I think Jonathan has cleaned and swept this room about 10 million times in two days.

 We have outlet covers in the kitchen and more importantly, the outlets work!  Thanks Keith!

 Our new bathroom. Well mostly new.  Sorry the picture is so dark.  It didn't occur to me to turn the light on, I'm not sure I know where the switch is but I've been told the light does work.  We were able to reuse that light fixture. The tub is old and the toilet is used, but it looks new.  We had to patch the tub.  At some point in the renovations a sawzall went through the tub.  I was actually going to use the old vanity that was there previously but when I looked at it today I just couldn't.  It had been water damaged and the wood like paper on the outside was peeling off.  If I was restraining myself from peeling it how much more would I not be able to restrain to little girls.

 Motion light in the hallway. Very cool.  Another reused item that was with the house.
















Notice the blue flame coming from my stove!

Refrigerator is plugged into the wall, not an extension cord.