BLESSINGS FROM ABOVE

Where do I begin. Some of you may know my story and some well, never would have imagined, but here we go........
I was married in 2002 to a wonderful man. He worked as a hydrologist (WATER) and was not the happiest at his job. I was teaching at a local middle school in special education and hated some of the people I worked with greatly. I was a new wife, new mom to a 7 year old who didn't like me much nor I him, and in a depressed state because of people that influenced my job. My husband was stuck in the middle. After much prayer and a change in a department still within special education we became very happy and very involved in the youth group where we attended church. We surrounded ourselves with good christian people and our lives began to change for the better. All was well or so I thought.

Lance had a dream to start up a woodworking and leather company. I was scared but he said that god had told him to do this. After much fear and complaining was resolved for the most part, I gave Lance my blessing to start his company. He named the company HE and I Creations because he said the Lord gave him that name. He worked until his 2 weeks notice and we found a place for him to use as a shop. It was out of a widows home where her husband had done the same thing. The tools and the building were all included in our rent. We got a small business loan, had cards made and I began to find shows for us to attend. We were going full ahead. Lance loved working with his hands and he was so talented and good at what he had done. I was so proud of his work, but we were not selling things and we did not have the money for marketing as we should have. We were slowly going into debt. The woman's nature in me allowed fear to return because we like stability, right? This was by far the most unstable job. I was still teaching but hardly making ends meet. Literally, after paying rent and some other bills we did not have money for food. We still had faith that god would provide because after all he told Lance to start this business. During this time my sister and brother-in-law worked at a food bank and we would get a lot of food from them. Dry milk anyone? We only ate deer meat because we had killed it and processed it ourselves. We were broke. Very broke!! We lived on credit cards and my small paycheck at this time was only 1000 a month because I had not finished the masters program that I had started. I was kicking myself and I began to get very resentful of Lance for putting me through the "poor house." We fell behind on EVERYTHING. One thing was that we never stopped tithing and God always seemed to get us food, pay our rent and all utilities. The major things it takes to live were paid and we seriously didn't know how. GOD IS GOOD!!!!

One morning on my way to work, Lance was sitting at our kitchen table and I just plainly said, please call that man that you had contact with months ago for a job. Just see if he has anything for you. I then walked out the door. I cried a lot during this time, but our marriage was actually good believe it or not. I was just unhappy with the situation and I know now that I did resent him for starting that business. When I got home that afternoon he told me he was meeting David for lunch and an interview. I was so excited, but just listen to just how good god is. When Lance called him David said, Lance I was in the shower this morning and God told me to call you but you beat me to it. He offered Lance a job and it was a miracle and a HUGE answer to our prayers!

We were still in debt and owed lots of money back, but we knew we would make it. Our credit was shot but GOD always seemed to provide for us. Oh our cars would brake down and we seemed to always get the money to have them fixed! It was amazing. Lance joined the Givler Engineering team and worked there for 3 years. During that time he received huge raises and we got prego with Zane. More debt came with Zane because of his long stay in the hospital. God still provided.

With much faith we followed God's command again and I started staying at home when Zane turned a year old. We didn't know how we would make it on Lance's income with a baby and I held our insurance for the family. All I can say is that God knows everything. Two months after I started staying home Lance gets a call from another company for him to work there. He was offered the same pay with benefits and it was only 13 miles away from our CONDO instead of 35 miles. He decided to take it and has thrived at M&S Engineering. He is so smart and I am so proud for what he has accomplished there.

During this time I learned how to fix our credit and all the tricks that you can do to fix it, put ourselves on more of a budget. I started fixing our credit in April of 2005. Let's just say it was really really really bad. I brought it up over 200 points within 2 years. We were still living in the same condo that I moved into when I got out of college and began teaching. We lived there for 7 years. There was no upkeep ever done on the place unless we complained enough. The pipes growled at us, the mold was horrible, the faucets continuously dripped, the deck was unstable, the carpet was shot, nothing ever looked clean but it was a roof over our heads. We decided to take a leap of faith and try to buy a home in a neighborhood where a lot of our friends live, closer to Lance's work (7 miles), closer to our church, and Zane's school. We knew we were supposed to be in this one neighborhood, not sure why. We found a home that we loved that was in our price range and with long waiting and the help from the Lord we were able to buy our first custom home. Everything that we prayed for for years is in this home. It is amazing to look back and think of all the things that we prayed for and see them in this area and in this home. This is not our home, but the Lords for he is just letting us live here. He gave it to us to use for his kingdom to offer our home in times of need. I thank him for providing for us during the hard times, but we now know he brought us through those times so that we may appreciate more and all the little things in life that people take for granted...like clean clothes and dishes and a garage and a nice yard and no screaming pipes, toilets that work, food on the table and a safe place to be!!!!!

We never would have imagined that we would ever be able to buy a home after what we had been through, but with the help of our Savior and him putting the right people in our path, we were able to buy our first home!

Praise you Father for our new home! Praise you for the life lessons you taught us that got us here!

OUR Rights and OUR Choices

Sitting today and watching the oh so lovely news that I get to rarely see because I usually am subjected to Mickey Mouse or Handy Manny, I noticed that it had been the year anniversary of the Virginia Tech shootings. It just doesn't seem that it happened a year ago. I was surprised that a whole year has gone by since that horrible day. It saddened me all over again. As I continued to watch, I noticed how universities around my area were "remembering" that day and "honoring" VT students and their families. One university was holding a moment of silence for 3 minutes to take their stand against guns. What was their statement? It was for gun control. The 3 minutes symbolized the 3 days it takes to wait for your handgun. I thought interesting but ignorant.

I grew up in a home where I new of guns being in our home but I sure didn't know where. I know my dad used them for hunting but I never saw them unless he was leaving for a hunting trip. While in college a dated a guy where guns were all over his home and were a huge part of his life. He shot handguns and opened a gun store after college. Now that I am married to Lance, guns are in our home and are a big part of our lives as well. They never come into our home loaded and bullets are kept in a complete different area than the guns. We are big hunters! Our whole family! Zane started going this year to sit with Lance and Lawton is 12 and has killed lots of things already. Let's just say we eat lots of deer and turkey. So, that leads me to the whole gun control issue. Let's just say that we were not allowed to have a weapon anymore. Would we follow the law? Probably. Are drugs against the law? Yes. Do people still use? Yes. If people want something bad enough they will find the ways and means to get what they want. Not all guns are used for evil doing. If you want to kill bad enough, people are going to find a way to get that gun to kill. Now lets think back to the old west. Everyone had guns and there was a lot of killing going on. People got drunk and would shoot in the streets. Crazy? I think so. So laws changed and changed and changed. We have the right to carry and own a gun for protection, pleasure or hunting. We also have the choice on how to be responsible with that gun. Is everyone going to be? NO. Are we all responsible drivers? No. Car accidents kill too.

Don't get me wrong, it saddens me to think of how this evil man took the lives of so many. It was not the gun that had the problem, but the man behind the trigger. Should the government punish ALL people because a few have messed up minds!

If you are just wandering, yes we mainly live on deer. At one time in our life, if we wouldn't have had this free meat we wouldn't have eaten. SERIOUSLY! Whole different blog.