Trick of Treat

Let me introduce you to the cutest Power Rangers of all time. I'm still catching up. 

We trick or treated with Ruby and John this Halloween, and managed to get plenty of candy (most of which I sent with John to fill the NATCA room at work. (for all you non air traffic controllers, that's the union room.)

But I digress. We walked around, we collected candy. Ya'll know the drill. 

 

 

 

Pow Wow

Jack celebrated Thanksgiving with his class on Friday. Each child had to pick a Native American name last week, and he settled on "Sliding Tiger." I grabbed a few pics of the day, before it was destroyed. 

Skating, Lesson One

The NHL lockout lingers on, much to the dismay of some of Memphis' biggest Nashville Predators fans. We're taking it in stride, though, with ice skating lessons. The boys call them hockey lessons. and there's plenty of hockey around. First, we have to learn how to skate, though. 

Ya'll just go ahead and pray for these boys -- that their mom can find helmets sooner than later and that she doesn't have a heart attack worrying about concussions.

Happy 70th Birthday, Grammy

We celebrated Grammy's 70th birthday in September (again, I'm still catching up here). It was a surprise party, though I almost ruined with in classic Nellann fashion. She thought the family was coming over for dinner. We were, along with another 15 people she didn't know about. Thankfully, she didn't catch my slip.

The boys had the best time helping her celebrate (can you tell it was a UT football Saturday night?) 

  

Fall Soccer

We just wrapped up fall soccer season. Jack moved up to the 6-7 year old league, and John took on coaching duties with his friend, Nate. We won our first (and last) game on Saturday, which we choose to look at as progress. Our goal is to keep as much of the team together as possible for the spring. 

 I caught most of these mid-season -- Jack on and off the field, John with his coaching duties and Ben ... well, I just chase him a lot.

 

Moved!

This was a lesson in patience and control. God needed to teach me both.

In late September, John and I moved into a new house after finally selling this one. I'm almost embarrassed to write about how hard this was for us. Because in almost every way you look at it, it wasn't a real problem. I wanted to sell my nice house and get another nice house.

I'm writing about it because I want to remember what I learned from it.

John and I decided to put our house on the market more than two years ago. It went off and on the market throughout that time -- and I had every sort of emotion you can imagine. Disapppointed and hopeful. Stressed and frustrated. Mad. Really mad.

"Learn this lesson, whatever it is," I told myself.

And then, I found this verse in Philippians.

"I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I’m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty." Phil 4:14 (The Message)

Paul was writing to the Philipians -- from a jail cell. Definitely not from a safe warm house where all of his family lived. Still, it was the nudge I needed and  the beginning of understanding part of the lesson God was teaching me.

I planted the verse on my desk at work. Read it a dozen times a day. Memorized it. Thought on it. Prayed about it.

"Learn this lesson, whatever it is."

Staying put gave me time for things I didn't know I needed: first and foremost, time with John. Real, dedicated time where we weren't looking for houses, talking to inspectors or filling out loan applications. We weren't packing or registering Jack for new schools. We were sitting on our back porch and talking about nothing and everything.

"Learn this lesson, whatever it is," I told myself.

However cliche it sounds, I was reminded that "not yet" really is an answer. It's one I've got to be OK with, because I've never ever been let down with it. The plan He has is always far more wonderful than the one I have. I won't pretend that I was so Zen about it all in the midst of the waiting. But I know it's always true.

I do know this, though: after five weeks in our new house, I feel more at home than I ever have. Settled and thankful that I waited for what God had prepared for us.

We moved in late September, which is why I haven't blogged in weeks. My friend Amanda scolded me last week, wanting Halloween pics of my kiddos. I'm getting there. But thought I'd catch up first. (that, and I wrote this post weeks ago and just left it in my que).

Now, let's just hope this lesson sticks. On to my next.