No one ever told me...

No one ever told me
That holding my sweet baby boy
Would end much, much too soon.

No one ever told me
That giving you freedom to grow
Would give you wings to fly.

No one ever told me
That watching you become a man
Would be so bittersweet.

No one ever told me
That being at home without you
Would feel so incomplete.

No one ever told me
That leaving you in the Lord's hands
Would leave my hands feeling empty.

No one ever told me
That answering God's call on your life
Would lead you far, far away.

No one ever told me
That following God's plan for my life
Would produce such a Godly harvest in yours.

No one ever told me
That releasing what I wasn't meant to keep
Would return that which can never be lost.

I love you, Son, go with God...

~Patrice McCarty, 2008

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"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.'" Jeremiah 29:11

Big changes ahead

We found out a few days ago that we'll be going through a big change in a couple of weeks. Late Wednesday Jared came into the house and sat down at my computer...I noticed that he was looking at Central Bible College's website, and when I stepped over to my desk to get something (no, I wasn't prying...lol), Jared told me that during youth group, the Lord touched his heart, and while he was talking to our pastor about his future after youth group, he finally broke down in tears. As they prayed, the Lord showed him that instead of working and taking the correspondence course, He wants Him he to go to college, which starts in a little over a week. Jared had been fasting and praying over the last several weeks, seeking the Lord for clear direction for his future, and the Lord was faithful to reveal His plan for Jared's life.

I think the Lord had been preparing me for Jared's news all day long...you know how when you know something important is about to happen, your adrenalin gets pumping, giving you a feeling of anticipation? I literally felt like that all day Wednesday, but couldn't put my finger on why, 'cause as far as I knew, nothing important was "in the works". Well now I know why. lol

I'm sure we will miss Jared desperately, but I have a "knowing" in my heart that this is from the Lord. I haven't shared this with Jared yet, but I had much the same experience between my junior & senior years in college...I was living with my brother in OK and wasn't planning on going back to college, due to no money. I had decided to work for a year and then transfer to a Christian college in the Oklahoma City area to complete a degree in social work, which my previous college didn't offer.

The weekend right before school started I drove back to school to hear a beginning-of-the-school-year concert given by their traveling worship team. The Lord touched my heart during the concert, and while talking to my music professors after the concert I broke down in tears. At that point I *knew* the Lord wanted me to stay and complete my music degree.

I drove back to OK and fought against it for a few days, because I couldn't figure out HOW I would pay for it, but He wouldn't give me any peace until I called my professor and asked him if I could resume my studies in the music dept. He not only promised me a job as his secretary in the music dept, he promised me a spot on the traveling worship team as well, which had always been my dream.

I still couldn't see how I would be able to afford tuition, but as I stepped out in faith, the Lord worked out all the details, and the rest is history. And while I have no earthly idea how Jared will pay for college (nearly $20,000/yr), I am confident that as he steps out in faith, the Lord will once again work out all the details.

Happy Birthday, Jared!

Our firstborn turned 19 today. WoW! Just saying that makes me feel reaaaalllly old! LOL The details of his birth are so vivid in my mind, it seems like just yesterday that he was born. But in other ways, it seems like it happened a whole other lifetime ago, know what I mean?

Jared recently told us he wants to take correspondence courses toward becoming a pastor/missionary, instead of going to a 4-yr college. The cost for each of the three different levels of the program will be less than a thousand dollars, instead of over $20,000/yr for Bible college. The levels of the program are the equivilent of associates, bachelors, and masters degrees. He would have to read a series of books and take a test after each book, and each level will take approx. 1.5 to 2 yrs to complete. He can work full-time while he's taking the courses, and complete the work at his own pace. He can complete all three levels, or just one or two. After finishing the first level he would be "certified", after the second level he would be "registered", and after the third level he would be "ordained". Our pastor to the seniors is only "certified", and he told Jared he is able to do everything an ordained pastor can do (baptize, marry, bury, etc) except vote at our denomination's pastoral leadership conferences.

We haven't told Jared yet, but as soon as I receive the next disbursement from my mother's estate (sometime this month), we are going to pay for his first level as a belated graduation gift. Besides our seniors' pastor, who completed the program decades ago, two other men from our church are enrolled in the program right now, so Jared will have several mentors who can help him if need be.

Happy Birthday, Son! I know we don't say it enough, but we love you and are so proud of the godly man you have become, and that you are determined to follow the Lord wherever He leads. May the Lord bless your obedience and devotion to Him!

How do *I* spell relief? P-O-T-T-Y !!!!!

This week we made a lot of progress on the bathroom remodel....since Sunday, we wired the ceiling light/vent fan, prepared and laid the tile floor, and put up the beadboard walls. I started painting and installing some of the trim this morning, but it got so stinkin' hot this afternoon, I had to take a break and do something indoors before I gave myself a heat-stroke. The kids had their VBS program & luau (pig roast) at 6pm, so Paul wasn't able to get anything done on the bathroom until after we got back home at 8pm. But less than 2 hours later, 10 weeks to the day after we started demo on our bathroom, we **finally** have a POTTY! YEAH!!!!! I was given the honors of its first use, but in my excitement, I forgot to bring in a roll of tp. Oops! Ü

Here are a few pictures of our remodeling process....unfortunately, most of the time I was too busy working to bother taking pictures. lol

For a few weeks we had to give Jaden and Luke their baths in a storage tub on the kitchen floor. Not exactly what pioneer families had to endure in the name of cleanliness, but pretty darn close. lol Jaden screamed bloody murder the whole time....he must have been wondering if we were trying to murder him. LOL

Luke wasn't too sure about the storage tub either, but at least he didn't get the kitchen floor and Daddy as wet as Jaden did.

Here are a few shots of Jaden and Luke enjoying their very first bath in our new tub.

We had to bring the hot water in with buckets, and the room still had bare stud walls, plywood flooring, and no door, which made it a bit drafty, but the boys still thought it was much better than a storage tub on the kitchen floor!

Paul is mudding and taping the sheetrock around the tub/shower.

Here are a few shots of what it looks like now. As you can see, we still have a few things left to do....plumb the sink, finish painting and installing the trim, hang the medicine cabinet, wire the over-the-sink light fixture, and strip & repaint the door. But barring anything unforeseen, by this time next week we should be totally finished!

I never would have guessed that it would take us 2.5 months to finish....When Paul told me right after we started demo that one of his co-workers mentioned that *his* bathroom remodel had taken 3 months, I told Paul that it had better not take us that long, or he'd have a very unhappy wife on his hands. Maybe that's why he really poured it on this week. lol

Earlier this evening (right before we got the toilet set), Jason took two of his friends into the bathroom to show it off, and they were all ooo-ing and ahh-ing their approval. hahaha I think Jason is just relieved that we're almost finished, because we told him we'd start on his room next. We're going to put up paneling that looks like bricks on half of the room, then install (not ourselves) new navy blue shag carpet. Janae's room will also receive new pale lavender shag carpet at the same time.

We also still waiting on the cement guy to come back to fix our foundation problem and pour the new patio so we won't get any more water damage in the basement. He promised we'd be next on the list over a month ago, but he hasn't come back yet. Thankfully, the sand bags around the back door have kept rainwater at bay so far (not that we've had much rain over the past month). Once the concrete underlayment for the patio is poured, then we can set the patio tiles and have a cookout, hopefully by Labor Day weekend.

Is it too much to ask that we'll be finished with all of our projects in time to snuggle up for a long winter's nap? lol