Franklin's Baptism

Franklin (age 8) accepted Jesus into his heart a year or so ago and has previously refused to be baptized, because he was embarassed. We have tried to explain to him that the purpose of baptism is to publicly profess your faith and identify yourself as a Christ-follower. At Vacation Bible School, they talked about baptism again and the conversation came up again. I explained to Franklin that there were going to be lots of kids that were getting baptized at the Friday night event and that the only people watching would be the friends & family of the kids getting baptized. (never mind that those people would number in the hundreds...) We talked everything through again - salvation, baptism, etc. - what it all means - and we were confident that he understands and desired to be baptized. We want this to be a decision HE makes & no one has pressured him into it. Harrison also expressed an interest in being baptized, but after a discussion with him, we really felt that he did not fully understand and was not ready. So, Franklin & I attended the baptism class and on Friday, June 20, 2008 - Franklin got baptized by Pastor Wayne!! Yippee!!

House Update: Day 5

The house has been officially "on the market" for

five

days now and we have had

NINE

showings!!!

Two of those showings were people coming for a second look! Yippee!!

God is good & faithful and I really believe this house will sell fast! Will you continue to pray for a quick sale please?

Wow - what a week!

I'm exhausted!!

We have spent the last week or two (I've lost track of time) getting the house ready for sale. We have taken half and full days off of work to get stuff done, plus hired people to help with the bigger projects - - after 12 trips to Home Depot and 15 trips to Wal-Mart - the house is finally READY! The house officially went on the market Tuesday evening & we had our first showing yesterday!! We still have a few things to clean up (like the pantry and garage), but everything else is good to go. We took the puppies to my aunt & uncle's house last night. I've lined up 3 different puppy sitters, so there is no trace of animal in my house while it's showing. Here are a few other highlights of the past two weeks:

• We had VBS at church last week - over 1,100 kids attended!
• Franklin was baptized during the Friday night event for VBS! (photos & more info coming later on this)
• Franklin & Harrison are at residential camp this week (about 2 1/2 hours away from home).
• Tommie leaves for Indiana in 2 days. We've rented a furnished 2-bedroom apartment for the family to reside in until we find a house.
• The boys & I leave for Indiana in 2 weeks & 1 day.

Please continue to PRAY that our house sells FAST (this weekend would be good...). ha, ha This will allow us to find a house in Indiana and get the boys settled before school starts.

I'll try to post pictures when I get time...

Best Day of Work

Today started out as simply being the 3rd day of Vacation Bible School and it ended up being the best day of work ever. What seemed like a simple request turned into an amazing opportunity. Today, at the closing session of VBS, our children's pastor presented the gospel message. They asked the church staff (me included) and some of the other VBS volunteers to be available to counsel and pray with the children who expressed an interest in accepting Christ. A sweet little 7 year old girl and I were paired up and I was given the opportunity to lead her to Christ. Wow! She was absolutely adorable - she knew exactly what it meant to accept Christ and to be baptized... she was ready to make that decision and was truly excited about it! What an awesome day...

Stumbled upon this today...

Wow... I would love to hear your comments about this video.

To Do Lists...

My To Do list is more important these days than normal. We're trying to squeeze in as many things as we can, before we make this transition. We have a roof being replaced, tile put into 3 bathrooms, I painted 2 rooms last weekend & 2 more are being painted by a contractor this week, Tommie's car will be repaired (in order to make the 15 hour drive), we are cleaning out closets & packing away things, furniture is being delivered on Friday & home staging begins, CCA truck will pick up donations on Friday (I hope), cleaning lady comes next Tuesday and... by next Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning - the house should be READY to be listed!!

Tommie begins work two weeks from today & we're trying to make arrangements for temporary housing and figure out when the rest of us will move. In between everything, the boys are going to residential camp for a week & have swim lessons for two weeks.

Life is crazy, but sometimes crazy is good. Crazy life means that I can continue to focus on the To Do, rather than dealing with how difficult it will be to pull up roots and leave our home in Texas. I had my bunko group tonight & after 3 1/2 years in the same group, it's certainly NOT going to be easy to say goodbye... There is a world that I like to live in and it is called Denial! Welcome to my world...

Good news & bad news...

So... I suppose Tuesday came & went. (Sorry, Jenny!) Well, I have good news & I have bad news...

The good news is that Tommie got a new job!!!

The bad news is that Tommie got a new job... in INDIANA! *pause for hysterically crying friends* Yes, we will be moving to Indiana... which is both good & bad news. Half of me is very excited about the possibilities that are before us & the other half is very upset about leaving our home in Texas. (home = friends, church, life as we know it)

Two weekends ago, we went to Evansville, Indiana for a job interview for Tommie. We loved the area, the job seems wonderful and the relocation package is unbeatable. So... we waited to see if they would offer Tommie the job. And we waited. And we waited. And we waited. And we got word on Thursday that there would be an offer coming. Friday. No, Monday. No, Tuesday. And here we are on Wednesday - FINALLY got the phone call today & accepted the job. Tommie starts work at the end of June (the 30th to be exact) and the boys & I will follow as quickly as possible. School there starts on August 11th, so we've got exactly 2 months to sell our house and get settled. YIKES!

Right now, I'm overwhelmed at what all has to take place. We've been in this area for FIVE years now, so the thought of moving is really uprooting the life we've created. We've lived here since our boys were 2 months, 2 years & 3 years old... pretty much their whole lives! We love our church, we love our small group, we love this area, we love our friends... but we also know that God has a plan for our lives that is bigger and better than we can possibly imagine, so we are along for the ride. We will follow him - no matter where He leads.

Indiana... here we come!

Us, before we left...

The Evansville airport is a wee bit smaller than DFW!

I thought it was nice that they welcomed us home before they even knew we were moving!

Downtown Evansville has a walking/biking trail along the Ohio River.

There is a monument that has all 50 states... we will certainly miss the great state of Texas!!!

Back & Busy

We made it back safely... have been VERY busy... will give update by Tuesday...