A test of character

To say the least, last year and so far this year have been very interesting for Johnny and I. Things keep happening to us in which we try to find the good in...if you know what I mean. It has been rough for us, but I know that God has good things to come for us. It just happens in God's timing and not ours. Sometimes it is VERY hard to see past all the bad stuff, but that is what we have to do. For one, finances have been very hard on us. We have struggled with it since we got married, but it has stayed a struggle till now and has gotten worse as we have grown as a family and as we have encountered other things such as major medical bills.

During our time spent with God the other morning, we were reminded of God using good and bad situations to test our character. That was a good reminder for us to know that life in general is a test of our character. It definitely gave us a better perspective on life. So, whatever we have gone through and are about to go through, we want to stay confident in our Lord and know that He is good and that He has a reason for everything! We can learn and grown in any situations that we may be in. Here are a couple of things that we are looking forward to right now:

1) I have been looking for a job that I can do mostly from home. After LOTS of prayer and a phone call from a friend, I am confident that I have found just that. I have applied to be a local representative for foreign exchange students. My job will be to find homes and schools for foreign exchange students locally while they stay here in the Oklahoma. I cannot begin to explain how excited I am about this job! This is a perfect fit for me and I am sure that this is God's will. This is a huge answer to our prayers. This is not only an answer for our financial situation, but also for my longing to get involved with a ministry. This will be a ministry in so many ways! I can't wait for the opportunities that God has in store for us.

2) We are looking into buying a house, one that is larger and has tons of potential. We both LOVE older houses and we BOTH see the potential in fixer upper houses. I am so thankful we share that passion. We happened to find this house in an area that we have both thought that it would be nice to live in. The neighborhood is quiet and peaceful. All of the houses are older and bigger. They all have tons of character and are just absolutely beautiful to look at. This house that we are "in love with" is HUGE. Not only can this house be great for growing our family, but we plan on using it for ministry. There are five bedrooms, which means one bedroom for each of the kids, one for us, one for our art, and one for GUESTS. I LOVE hosting, but never have felt that I could with our house. This is perfect (Guests could only stay in our living room in our current house). There is also a garage apartment in which we will plan on fixing up first in order to rent out so that we can make money for fixing up the rest of the house. This house has three bathrooms and three fireplaces. Amazing! It has windows everywhere. There is also a fence around the 2 1/4 lots of land. There is even a basement. Amazing! We love this house so much and we haven't even gotten a tour yet. Is that sad or what? We have an appointment for Wednesday evening to walk through this house and get as many details about it as we can. So, now we have to sell our house and figure out if we can get a construction loan (which is required) for this new house. This is huge decision, but if we are able to get the construction loan (Lord willing) than we will do everything that we can to buy this house. If not, then we will be bummed at first, but know that God has other plans for us!

So, these are my thoughts tonight. Here is a sweet picture of Maya to end this posting with. I will post some more pictures soon of the things that have been happening lately in our little family! Enjoy!