So...

Anna's facial expression is hilarious,  I think the sparkler is out.

So...we have had a very uneventful few weeks here, hence the lack of posts.  Our 4th of July activities were cut short by a land hurricane that hit our town on July 1st (our side of town was hardly affected, just the area where the parade goes).  We did go to two different towns fireworks though.  Really the kids and I just hang out around the house during the day, I have been working on mailings for the painting company I work for and the kids just rotate from one electronic thing to the next, with a little reading thrown in.  They have done a remarkable job getting along with each other so far this summer.  We have had a warmer than usual summer, often keeping us all indoors until evening, but they can then rotate from playing in the sprinkler to riding bikes.  We are hoping to go to a friend's cabin this weekend, though Justin was told he might be working overtime (he will know more about the next jobsite, and the amount of work, at the end of August).  And it is just Emily and I venturing to NIH next week.  The summer is both slowly creeping along, and flying by!

So...here are a few reminders that God has placed in our path recently.  Once again, I so enjoy seeing the Bible "come alive" and be really applicable to our life.  We are obviously frustrated about our housing stuff.  I mean really, how hard is it to find a place to live.  And yet everything we have seen is too small, too much money, etc (and we really are trying to keep Denali with us, he has been a part of our family for almost 7 years).  And for whatever reason God had us on a bit of a detour for about two months, with another housing option.  I strongly believe that things happen in our lives for a reason.  I know we have free will, the opportunity to make our own choices, and yet at the same time I believe that God is in control and has a plan for us.  So...why isn't He answering our prayers?  We have been coming to Him with requests for a place to live since December, as least, since we knew when we needed to be out of our rental gift.  I even admitted to my grandma, just the other day, that I am a little tired of praying about it, afterall it doesn't seem that anything is happening.  And then God spoke.  In Luke 18:1-8 Jesus tells a parable about prayer in which a widow continually returns to a judge appealing  for justice.  After some time the judge finally decides that he will give her justice simply because he wants her to stop bothering him.  And the remarks (this is from the One Year New Testament) says this, "Constant prayer means keeping your requests before God as we live for him day by day, always believing he will answer.  When we thus live by faith, we are not to give up.  God may delay answering, but his delays always have good reasons, and we must not confuse them with neglect.  As we persist in prayer we grow in character, faith, and hope."  And that was my next thought, why does God delay?  Romans 5: 3-5 tells us that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance produces character, and character produces hope.  And we should rejoice in this knowledge, suffering is good for us (and yes this really isn't horrible suffering, again, things could be much worse, but it is very tiring to not have a constant place to call home, to not have our own stuff, our own space, our privacy.  And we certainly are very grateful that my parents are letting us stay with them.)!

So...then I worked with Heidi and Anna's Sunday school this past week.  They heard the story of when Paul and Silas were in jail and how it was shaken open by an earthquake.  The prisoners chose not escape, so that the jailer would not get in trouble.  And by the end of the night the jailer and his whole family became Christians.  The curriculum's main point was that not everything is about us, it is about what God is doing in the world around us.  So...I have come to several conclusions.  First. God is still growing us, our character, our faith, and our hope.  And maybe He is doing something bigger, maybe there is another reason why we are living where we are living.  So...we keep waiting, and praying.  I just emailed another potential rental, because you never know when God will answer our prayers.