Finally. But not that finally of a Finally.

Finally. After what seems like an eternity (though in reality only about 3.5 months) Sonja and I moved into our house in Ashley Oaks. It is beautiful. Sonja has done a fantastic job of picking out paints, hardwood floors and carpets, as well as light fixtures, sinks, door handles and about a million other decisions requiring someone with both a tasteful classic vision and a grasp of tight budgeting. She’s done both very well.

Glen and Helen Sarratt have spent every spare moment working with us (or without us) for the last two weeks, helping us install toilets, dryer vents, tile our laundry room, and along with the rest of the church family here in Greenville who have served in the last 4 months of cleaning, renovation, and encouragement, teaching Sonja and I the meaning of love, perseverance, and the concrete nature of a servant’s heart. We have both caught a vision for love that is expressed in action.

This past thursday, following a Saturday workday at our house where 20+ people from church came to get our house into a “move-in-able” condition, Sonja and I stayed our first night in our newly renovated (but incomplete) house! It is wonderful. It is beautiful. It is home. It is a mess!

We’ll put up some more pictures soon, as its worth seeing.

Another Finally, though one not so happy: our joy at moving into our house was tamed by our arbitration hearing, which finally happened yesterday. It went Ok, but we won’t get a ruling until the first full week in January. It was one of the longest days of my life. We spent 9 hours in a room with an arbitrator, a lawyer for us, a lawyer against us, and multiple witnesses on both sides who testified about all sorts of things.

It was very frustrating. We felt like it didn’t go as bad as it could have gone, but it also didn’t go as good as we had hope it would go. God was good though, I can honestly say we didn’t lie. And we didn’t conveniently “forget” many things like the other side did. So please keep us in your prayers. The arbitrator, who i am convinced will rule honestly, has a lot on his plate, and a lot that he must consider in order determine as to who is legally correct.

All in all, the moral of the story though is this:

1) Don't believe anything anyone tells you verbally. Get it all in writing. Clear writing. Don't just modify the contract in your own words with the basic but clear meaning you intend. Have a lawyer write it, because otherwise they can dispute basic meaning of words like "all acceptable inspections".
2) "I don't remember" is a very convenient line when you are on the witness stand. Keystone's agent said it over and over with regards to any verbal promises they made us about the condition of the house.  Remember, "I don't remember" is always the right thing to say. Remember, you don't remember.
3) Don't sign anything a lawyer hasn't gone over. A licensed real estate agent isn't enough. Get a lawyer every time. Despite the fact that both you and your real estate agent (who was wonderful, thank you Pat!) are clear about what something means, you're clearly wrong. You don't understand. Only a lawyer does. So don't sign anything. 

4) Just don't sign anything. Ever. No, not even then. Just don't. You really don't know what your are signing.
5) (and this one is serious) We are not in control. Things happen, over which we have no control. God teaches us stuff we couldn’t learn in any other way. Knowing and believing that he loves us, that his purposes are higher than our present happiness is true theology which is far easier to mentally agree with than it is to believe in your heart. Regardless of whether you believe it though, it is true. 

Though going through this legal proceeding was a big Finally, we still await the Finally of the arbiter’s judgment which will tell us whether we owe a lot of money, whether we are going to be purchasing a second house :), or whether we will be free of any further obligations to the court.  What incredible power. 

Its reminded me that we all live awaiting a Final judgment when like us in that court case, we will all be called to account for what we’ve done, said, and even the attitude in which we did these things. It was a sobering and scary thing to have to swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God. If it was scary to do it here where the final judgment only concerns a monetary amount (though large by our standards), how much more frightening will the day of judgment be, when we will stand before God and his Judge, Jesus Christ, as to how we have made use of our time, resources, thoughts, words, actions, even our feelings.

You can’t help but plead for mercy.
Please pray for us. Also please pray for the lady who was the primary Keystone representative (who was suing us). Despite the fact that she was out to get us, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her, as she has three young children, she was recently divorced, and i wouldn’t trade my life for hers (even if we get nailed with a judgment which drives us to bankruptcy) for anything in the whole world. Sonja and i have been so blessed. We love each other. We have been saved by grace. We are being transformed. And we are promised that we will be brought safely into Christ’s kingdom.

Anyway, its been emotionally draining, so i don’t really want to write any more now. We’ll put up more in a few days along with some pics of the newly inhabited house. Praise God for bringing us this far. 

Our Floors Are Lookin Good

It's Amazing What Paint Can Do

It has been a busy and exciting couple of days. For weeks I have been looking at paint swatches and going to fabric stores and tearing out pages in magazines trying to figure out what my style is and what colors I wanted to paint my walls. This is my first house so I had never done anything like this before. Paul would say 'no pressure, just pick out colors you like and if we don't like them we can change them later.' But we were hiring people to come and paint all the rooms in the house, so I wanted to make sure I picked good colors out the first time so that I wouldn't have to re-paint the rooms that I just paid people to do. I had decided on most of my colors when Paul called me at 3:30pm on Tuesday and said 'Pedro is coming at 4pm so we can tell him what colors we want in each room. They are starting tomorrow at 8am.' I ran to the store and bought the paint I knew I wanted figuring, at least that will give them a head start. I was thinking it would take a couple of days...but these guys are so fast!

Wednesday morning I went to the house to see if they had started painting and they were still sanding the walls and ceilings. I figured I had at least another day to decide the rest of the paint colors. Two hours later a lady from our church called me. She had helped me pick out colors and had even arranged a visit to her neighbors house to see her paint choices so I could get some ideas. When she called, she said she had stopped by my house to see what they had done and she loved the colors I had picked. I couldn't believe that they had any rooms done in just two hours. I raced over to the house to see and sure enough they were done three rooms already and were asking me where the rest of the paint was for the rest of the rooms. So Paul and I went to Ace Hardware which is right down the road, to buy the rest of the paint. Because of my indecision on paint colors we were there for sometime. I apologized to the guy helping us and somehow we got into a conversation about how he was doing. Turns out his girlfriend had just broken up with him and he was pretty bummed about it. Paul asked him if he had talked to God about it and launched us into this great conversation. He asked us how he could talk to God and how to hear God. I was so excited. Ministry opportunities are everywhere. God used my inability to choose paint colors quickly to build a relationship with the paint guy and now he wants to hang out with us and 'get right with God'. His name is Kenneth and you can pray for him. Paul and I plan to visit him on Saturday at Ace Hardware and get his number so we can hang out.

By the end of Wednesday they had painted the entire house perfectly! It was done so well and I am so excited. They even repainted a room for me after they had completed the whole thing because I hated the color once it was on the wall. Pedro and his crew did a great job and I couldn't be happier.

Today the flooring guy is working on putting the hardwood floors in the upstairs and then next week will do the downstairs. We haven't picked out carpet yet for the bedrooms but we are quickly on our way to being able to move in. It's amazing how quickly it went from being a nasty house to a beautiful house that I am excited to live in. It's amazing what paint can do.

The End is Near!

 After what seems like an eternity (though in reality its only been a little over 2 months), it looks like moving in to our freshly renovated house in Ashley Oaks could be a near reality. Though have been slow to chronicle our progress, we have gotten quite a lot done over the last few weeks. 

 We have finished putting in new sub-flooring throughout the dining room, living room, and den, then removed the particle board from most of upstairs, and finally replaced a few weak spots on the second floor which could have made for a rapid decent through the first floor ceiling. We have removed the fixtures from the downstairs bathroom. We tore out some cabinets in the kitchen. We had recessed lighting installed in the kitchen (as well as two recessed lights in the den for the built-in bookshelves).  Sonja removed all the linoleum from the kitchen (three nasty layers of toilsome labor). Paul removed the appliances (refrigerator, dishwasher, and range) from the kitchen to the garage. Sonja taped all the windows up with plastic in order to prepare for priming the trim. Camille, as well as some other church youth groupers came over and helped do various small but crucial prep items to help us get the house ready for painting. Sonja and I also purchased a washer and dryer in great condition for $225.

  Last week, we had someone sand down all the ceilings, mud and sand all the walls, spray a coat of primer over all the molding, cabinets, and trim, and paint all our newly smoothed ceilings a beautiful coat of white. The house is beginning to look and smell amazing. Its no longer reeks of cat, dog, and smoke, but of paint and drywall dust, which is quite wonderful. Sonja has been working hard, coordinating colors, and trying to decide what fabrics and paint colors will be used to decorate the windows and walls of our home-to-be. 

Today, Sonja worked in nailing down paint colors for all the rooms, and I unloaded 1.5 tons (3000 lbs) of hardwood flooring into our house! Woohoo! Glad that is done. 

If all goes well, in about two weeks, our house will be ready to move in. We are so ready and so excited. Thanks to all who have helped, encouraged, and prayed. The end is near. A new beginning is hopefully right around the corner. We'll have more pictures up soon. 

Wow

Well, its official, the Phillies just won the World Series. Despite starting out with another up and down season, they proved themselves in the post-season by not only getting to the world series, but eliminating the Tampa Bay Rays in 5 games. Though I don't watch a ton of baseball, it has been really good to be able to watch the Phillies in SC. Thanks for going all the way Phillies. 

What is the world coming to?

The Phillies are in the world series. Nothing more need be said. Except that that is incredibly good!

Dog Walking, Dump Runs and Other Assorted Things

The days have finally cooled off here in South Carolina. Typically we have had sunny days in the 80's or high 70's. I have been enjoying my days by walking around the neighborhood with my new friend Lady Bug (the Reader's dog). Lady Bug and I have enjoyed many days walking and sniffing the scenery.

Paul and I have also taken up the sport tennis. My work in PA had given me a gift card as a good bye gift, so a couple of weeks ago we went and bought some rackets and tennis balls. We are not that good, but we are having a lot of fun learning together. Paul even managed to give himself a black eye. I have to say I had never seen a tennis move quite like it. We have not had any more injuries since then and we are getting so we can hit it over a couple of times back and forth.

Today we made our 5th and 6th dump run. This has been our regular weekend "date" activity for the last month. Although this does not sound very romantic, we believe everything is what you make it, and we have had a lot of fun. Today we invited Paul's sister Camille (who is turning 13 next Friday and is counting down the days until she is an official teenager) to go with us to the dump. She came along reluctantly but by the end she was begging us to let her come with us next time saying she had no idea going to the dump could be so much fun. We had lots of fun throwing things into tractor trailer size dumpsters and yelling out our frustrations we had about life and middle school and acting really tough. It was a successful day and I think we might be done with the dump runs! YEA!

Continue to pray for us about the lawsuit. Paul and I are meeting with our lawyer again this Monday to discuss the case and are planning on going to Arbitration in either November or December. We believe God is good regardless of the outcome but we are praying that there will be justice done. We would appreciate your continued prayers in this matter.

Moving Forward!

Its been quite a while since I have blogged, not because I haven't wanted to, but because life has been busy. In fact, stuff has actually been quite blog-worthy and exciting lately. We've seen God answer some big prayers, bring some big encouragements, and at the same time, teach us that we need to be seeking his kingdom first, as our priority pursuit.  So, here are a couple of the blessings we have seen and experienced. 

About three weeks ago, we began to realize that we were really and truly making progress on the house. Sonja's persistent work on scraping the popcorn ceilings and stripping the 80's wallpaper was finally paying off- the walls and the ceilings were almost completely stripped. It was then that we realized that we had worked so hard on getting that done that we didn't know what we should do next. The next thing that needed to happen was to get our contractor in to take out a few walls (so we could put in floors and begin to make decisions about how the house would look at completion). However, our contractor had told us that he probably wouldn't be free until the end of October. Doh! So, on a Monday night, in the midst of our stressful realization that we were almost out of things we could do, we prayed, asking God to free him up to come and work on our house, so that we

 could move forward with other things. 

Wednesday evening (two days later), after not talking to him for weeks, out of the blue, our contractor called and told us that he had the next two days off to work on our house! Once again, God reminded us that he is our father who answers prayer.  However, lacking faith, we totally weren't at all prepared for the possibility that God would answer our prayers, so we had to quickly decide which walls to knock out. Why is it we are so inclined to ask for big things, and then expect that God won't answer our prayers? It was such a good reminder that he is our Father, not because we deserve it, but because he is merciful. 

So, the next day, (which my bosses at church were gracious in giving me off work), Sonja, me, and the contractor made hasty, but faith-filled decisions about which walls we should take out. We totally destroyed the wall between the small living room/office, & the den, as well as widening the doorway (from 30 inches to 75) between the kitchen and the dining room. It was pretty amazing and quite satisfying to rip and shred drywall with a hammer, as well as to take out the studs with a sledgehammer. We'll post some of those pictures soon.  Our contractor also widened up a nasty closet in our den into a space for some built-in bookshelves, and he installed a new set of french doors between the den and the screened-in porch. Pretty Sweet! The best part was that we discovered that none of the walls we chose to take out were "load-bearing" which meant that they were both easy and cheap to remove. God was so good in providing in that way, as we expected it to cost a lot more and be a lot more difficult to do. 

So, since those two days of hard work, we have made multiple trips to the dump to get rid of destroyed materials, and spent a lot of time looking at hard wood floors. 

A second big way God provided was in leading us to our hardwood providers. One afternoon after work, when Sonja and I were trying to find a local hardwood floor company, my GPS unit took us to the wrong location for the hardwood floor company we were trying to find. Instead, we stumbled upon "Builder's Bargain", a local wholesale builder's store which provides overstocked materials (like windows, sinks, and hard-wood floors) to both private builders and the general public and pretty good prices. So instead of having to pay between 6-7 a square foot to purchase, install, sand, and finish some hardwood floors, we will be paying about $3 a square foot for some beautiful pine floors (actually its "Siberian Larch" which looks like Pine) which will fit perfectly to the look of our house. We love the look it will give our house. 

What's even more amazing is that the location of the store we went to is actually closing down this week, and moving about 45 minutes away, and if we hadn't found it when we did, we never would have gotten the floors we really like at a great deal. Once again, God provided. 

Another amazing thing that God did was to give us good neighbors. Our neighbors are awesome. They have all introduced themselves and befriended us. Though we have owned the house for a month now, we have yet to mow our own lawn. In fact, the same neighbor who has been mowing our lawn recently asked me if he could seed it with some of his spare grass seed, and then he proceeded to cover over the new seed with hay. Unbelievable! 

God also has provided a local guy who is going to go through our whole house, sand all the walls and ceilings, fix all the dry wall problems, and spray everything down with a sealing primer for an incredibly cheap amount of money!

Sonja and I have had constant help from youth groupers, church members, friends, and others in just showing up to help out. Lately, as I have torn out the particle board in the first level of sub-flooring, I've been blessed with an army of help! Nothing beats building friendships with hammers and crowbars in the dust and sweat of working together. It is so encouraging to be served by people who are serving us because they love us. 

There are many more encouraging things I could talk about (we are reaping some of the benefits of other people's work in the church and youth group, we've also been blessed financially) but for now, though things are still hard in some areas (the quarks and frustrations of a new church family, missing old friends, being sued by the jerks at Keystone builders, Sonja's frustrating struggle to find a job), we can both say that despite our struggles, God has been abundantly faithful. 

Please do pray that God would take away this lawsuit. Though we know he's still good and faithful, even if we end up going to court, no matter the outcome, it would be a huge burden off our backs if the whole things supernaturally disappeared. So, please praise God for his provision for us, and continue to ask him to give us hearts to be faith and to trust him in any and all circumstances.  We'll put up some cool pictures of the recent work on the house soon. 

Home Owners, Week One

It has now been a full week of being home owners. I have been working hard to get the house ready to move in and I am enjoying having something to do (nothing new on the job front yet). I have almost finished taking off the popcorn ceiling on the first floor and have taken off the ugly wallpaper in the dinning room and most of the kitchen. Paul's sister Lauren and cousin TJ came over Saturday and ripped up all the carpet in the house (the lady smoked and had let her dogs and cats do their business in the house, so it all smelled and had to go). The house is starting to smell better. It's a long process but it is keeping me busy and I know the house will be great once we fix it up. I also applied to HGTV to have them come and give my masterbath a make-over, so I'll let you know if I get on TV. Here are some pictures of last week.

There Is A Reason

There is a reason why we call this blog "The Adventures of Paul & Sonja"... because our life doesn't always go as planned, it is hard at times, there are many challenges and it is never boring. But we believe that if we look at life like it's an adventure, we can laugh along the trials and unusual circumstances and think about all the great stories we can tell people (and they are all true!).

(We won't even tell you about seeing a black bear up close and personal Monday while hiking at Table Rock!)

Today Paul and I planned to buy our first house. It has been a solid two months of living in his parents house and we were looking forward to getting the keys of our fixer-upper so that we could start making it a home of our own. But that would not make a good story, nor would that be the pattern of our lives.

We got to the house at 10:30am to do our final walk-thru to make sure nothing had been damaged during the moving out process, only to find that the lady hadn't moved out of the house. The smell of smoke and urine took your breath away as you walked into the house to find stuff everywhere. Our Realtor was so upset, but at the same time, none of us were surprised.

We drove to the law office to sign papers. When we got there the lawyer asked if he could speak to Paul and I first. Once in a private room he advised us to not settle on the house until the people were completely out of the house. The lady who owned the house has some sort of mental disability, I don't really know what's wrong with her, but she is not all there and didn't understand that she had to be out of the house. Our Realtor found her a nice trailer where she will be living, but she had no help in moving out. So Paul and I offered to help her. Last week on vacation our speaker talked about loving our neighbor and this was a perfect opportunity to serve a person, who we really don't know, but who is in need.

We quickly ran home and changed into grubby clothes. The lady and her son were ecstatic and couldn't believe we would serve them in this way. Soon after, my pastor's wife, Kathy showed up and we worked together packing the kitchen (nothing had been done). Then more people came from our church. Paul, our pastor Bob and a college guy names John helped load things onto pickup trucks (one being Bob's) while Kathy, Pat (our Realtor) and myself worked on putting things in boxes and bringing them to the truck. Then our associate pastor (Chad) showed up with his son Jackson, and two more church guys (Kyle and Jason) came by to help. We eventually had to tell people to quit coming, because we had so many and we were almost done. We opened all the windows and doors to air the place out. Kathy even cleaned the kitchen sink and the stove which grossed me out so I was so thankful. We all wore plastic gloves because it was so gross! The guys then drove to where they were moving and helped them unload and get settled in their new place while we finished up vacuuming the house and throwing out things.

The lady was so appreciative. She asked what church we went to because she had never been served like this before. She said she and her grown son hadn't been to a church in years. They always thought of Christian's as hypocrites and so never had a desire to go to church. But she said that now she wants to go to church and to our church! I think that is so cool. There is a reason for everything. Paul and I believe that. God gave us an opportunity to serve a lady in need today. Please pray for Viki and her son that they will come to church. She is a cashier at the local grocery store so we will be seeing her around and we hope to continue reaching out to her.

Tomorrow we will go back to the law office to close on the house and we will be proud owners of our first house! Let the adventure (and the craziness that is our life) continue.

Vacation with the Family in NY

Last week Paul and I flew to upstate NY to spend a week at Camp of the Woods with my family. It was nice to get a break from the 100 degree weather (it never got over 65 degrees in the Adirondacks!). We enjoyed wearing jeans and sweatshirts and sleeping with cool nights. It rained a lot while we were there and we even liked that because we didn't feel bad just sitting and relaxing. We stayed in a cabin that overlooked the lake which made it so nice when it rained. We enjoyed sitting on our porch and watching the rain come over the lake and here the loud thunder bounce between the mountains.

We were assigned seats at the dinning hall and were paired up with two older ladies, a mother and daughter. The mom was 86 and the daughter had turned 60 while we were there. At first they were really negative and Paul and I were nervous about how the rest of the week was going to pan out, but we loved these ladies! Both of them were new believers and had a really rough past. Paul and I enjoyed the fellowship we had with these new believers. We talked to them about church, prayer and even how to read and study the Bible. Even while on vacation there are ministry opportunities! Paul and I truly enjoyed getting to know these women.

The speaker for the week spoke on loving our neighbor. It was good to be reminded that we don't have to go far to find 'our neighbor'. We need to love those in our church, in our families, in our work etc. who might be right in front of our faces even if it is hard. Jesus isn't asking us to do anything he wasn't willing to do himself. Being a people of love means you are a people of action because love is something you do.

Grace Baptist Church

Some of you have asked to see pictures of the church down here.
Enjoy!

Life in the SC

Its hard to believe that Sonja and I moved down here to SC over a month and a half ago. It has definitely been the busiest month and a half of my life, and while it has been pretty difficult at times, it has also brought its share of blessings, by the hand of our God, who loves us and has been faithful to us through all the strangeness and craziness involved in our transplant from PA. Sonja and I have struggled with some difficult things since we have been here. But we both realized Sunday that we need to be careful not to complain (or being a “malcontent”- See book of Jude), but to count our blessings.

So, by means of an update, I decided to list some of the blessings we enjoyed since our arrival in SC.

1) The Daily Grind?- I am really enjoying my job. I don’t know if the church here is enjoying me (I know for certain that they, especially the youth groupers, are enjoying Sonja), but I am enjoying the fact that I am not juggling both full-time school as well as church work. The last few weeks I have realized what a blessing it is to be here working with Pastor Bob Selph, Pastor Chad Clint, Chris Marley (Summer Intern), and Penelope Cansler & Lorna Riles (our church secretaries). I really have a ton of respect for these people. And, surprise, I didn’t expect working at Grace to be this busy, but also not this much fun. The RYM trip really was a blast, and its been a lot of fun to teach both HS Sunday School (racing through the book of Jude), as well as begin doing our Wednesday night youth group (talking about passages in which Jesus surprises us). The downside of enjoying this is that it makes me miss my friends at FRBC in Media all the more.

2) Rekindling a Romance- I have also gotten to spend quality time with my wife which has been wonderful. Our anniversary getaway, which though it only lasted 2 days and 2 nights, was such a wonderful vacation for just the two of us. The last couple weeks, as we have shopped for houses together, enjoyed escaping together, sat on the front porch together, gotten threatened with a lawsuit together, and done youth group together, I think we have both realized that while we at times get annoyed with each other, we really do enjoy each other and we really are in this for the long haul. To have a wife, who is as faithful and loyal (and beautiful) as my wife, is a huge blessing. It is when that faithfulness and loyalty is tested by difficult circumstances (inability to find a house, leaving family, friends, and job behind, etc), that it’s true worth is proven. I love my wife. And even better: my wife loves me and has followed me to the ends of the earth (ok, SC as a state isn’t that bad, but its been pretty hot and humid here lately).

3) God’s Gracious Timing- I am so thankful that I got to spend a few weeks with my granddad before he passed away last Tuesday. Right up until the end, Grandpa was himself- a funny, happy man who stubbornly trusted his God, loved his Savior, and longed to depart this world for the next. I loved when I got to read the Psalms to him in his last days. I loved that he prayed for me aloud three weeks ago that I would be a faithful preacher and teacher of God’s word. I loved when a few weeks ago, I walked into his room, thinking he was asleep (his eyes were closed), took him by the hand, and he jumped, opened his eyes, squeezed my hand, and with comic disappointment said, “Aw, I was hoping you were Jesus.” J I loved how my grandma refused to let anyone else take care of grandpa even in the last, most difficult hours, and said, “I’ve taken care of him for over 50 years. Why would anyone think I’d want to quit doing it now?” That is a Christ-like covenant faithfulness we rarely see in our society.

4) Common Taste- One thing Sonja and I have been amazed at as we have house hunted and perused possible places of abode, is that we have such similar tastes. We really do like all the same stuff (with regard to houses, room décor, and fabric for re-upholstering our “Craig’s-list” dining room set). I think that has surprised us both, but it has been very encouraging as I don’t think we’ve had one argument about any of this stuff. (though we have argued about a lot of other stuff J).

5) Zaxby’s Chicken- Yeah, this one seems a little bit trite, but Wow, this chicken is better than Chick-fil-a. Sorry Christy Thawley, you know I love CFA, but I forgot how good Zaxby’s Chicken is. Especially with their Zax’ sauce. Unbeatable.

6) Good Help- Our real estate agent (Pat Smith) has been incredible. Despite the fact that we dragged her through 50 some odd houses, and now both she and us are threatened by lawsuits because of some jerks at Keystone Homes, Pat has been the most faithful, gracious, humorous, and tasteful agent I could possibly imagine. I firmly believe she would go to hell and back for us if she thought it would benefit us. Sonja and I have thoroughly enjoyed and benefited from her knowledge, insight, patience, and simple good taste.

7) God’s Patience- One other huge blessing that Sonja and I have enjoyed is God’s patience in teaching us and patiently enduring our slowness to learn and trust. Both Sonja and I have really been forced to call out to God in a lot of ways for a lot of things since moving down here. And in some big ways, like our housing situation for example, he has yet to answer like we asked.

Surprisingly though, it has been such a blessing for us to struggle with some of these hard things. It has caused both of us to question our own hearts and ask, “why do we love and follow Jesus Christ?” Simply put, “do I love him just because of the nice things he gives me, or do I love him for who he is?” Do I just love the gifts, or do I actually delight even more in the Giver, when the gifts don’t always come out like I want? I know we haven’t been through anything that would qualify as an “excruciating trial.” But it has caused both of us to remember that we love him because he first loved us. Even when he doesn’t give me what I want, will I remain faithful, or will I get bitter and turn away?

I think I am learning about what it means to both trust Jesus for who he says he is, and also to just delight in him. Is my God, Jesus Christ, truly the delight of my heart, or am I just using him to get what I really want? Hopefully, I am being tested and proven faithful. Anyway, its been a good time of re-centering, though not easy.

So, even though we have felt truly stressed and weighed down with quite a few heavy burdens, we are finding some blessings in the midst of the craziness of it all. God will be faithful to us in his timing, which is better than ours.

Going Home Party

This past Thursday night we had the viewing for Paul's Grandpa. I was a bit nervous because I think the last time I went to a viewing was for my great grandma when I was in middle school. But it was a lot of fun. Lots of people came from the church and the family was all there. Even some of the doctors came. Everyone hung out and talked and had a great time. We were all at peace with Grandpa's homecoming. It makes such a difference when a person knows Jesus. It wasn't a sad occasion. It was a celebration. I think Grandpa Ackroyd would have been proud.

The next day we had a service at church. Paul's sister Megan sang the Lord's prayer and her husband Mark played a couple of Grandpa's favorite hymns on the trumpet. We then headed to the grave site where the Navy took over. Paul's Grandpa was in the Navy for over 20 years and it was really neat to see how they honored him and his wife.

We then headed back home where some of the lady's from the church had prepared a huge spread of food. We spent the day hanging out together as a family.

Going to be with our Lord

At 2pm this afternoon Paul's Grandpa, George Ackroyd, went to be with his Lord. George's love for and confidence in his savior Jesus Christ has been an amazing testimony during his last days. We rejoice for him as he is now with Jesus.

Please pray for Jean, Paul's Grandma, and all the rest of the family as they grieve the loss of a very special man of God.

Jesus, I want to be resting, resting

Busy! Thats been the last week for Sonja and I. Though we took Monday and half of Tuesday off, we've been going strong every since. Tuesday night, I attended our elder's meeting, then Wednesday, I had youth group, followed by deacon's meeting, then Thursday we hung out with the college agers, and then I went to see "The Dark Knight" at midnight. Its been crazy. Plus we still are stuck in this frustrating housing situation, waiting to hear from the "blue shutter" builders whether or not they are truly going to sue us, or just keep threatening to do so.

On top of all that, my granddad is still just struggling with life day by day. I know he doesn't have much time left, and all he wants is to go home and be with Jesus in heaven.

In the midst of all of this, Sonja and I are having a hard time just resting and trusting in Jesus. Both of us are wrestling a lot with adjusting to being away from Pennsylvania and the life we knew in Media. You don't realize how comfortable things were, and how much you enjoyed that comfort, until you step outside of it begin realizing how much of life is really outside of your control.

God has been good though in giving Sonja and I good time together to talk and just hang out together. We really enjoyed ourselves at the Biltmore Monday, and then Tuesday going antiques shopping in Landrum, SC. We had a mini date Thursday before the college get-together when we went and shopped for fabrics to re-upholster our recently purchased used dining room set. Then Friday, we spent some more time shopping in fabric stores, and hanging out.
For dinner we went on a date to Simpsonville to eat dinner at a restaurant one of our youth groupers works at (the Pasta House in downtown Simpsonville), which proved to be an excellent date with great food and good times. We then spent the rest of the evening playing a hilariously funny game (similar to apples to apples) with Anna (Angone), and Tj (Anna's brother), and his wife. It was a good day, busy, but fun.

Its not enough though. We both are sensing the need for something more, something deeper, and someone to rest and trust in.

Sonja and I are both realizing how much of an adjustment it is to move from one place to another. Both of us feel busy and rushed all the time. I realized today, that i don't know that i can honestly sing the song, "Jesus, I am resting, resting, in the joy of what thou art," because i have been too busy to remember that he truly is my life. I want to be resting in him, but amidst the chaos of life, its just hard to rest and trust in someone else's goodness and control.

So, i guess we fight to rest, and we rest to fight. We would both appreciate your prayers that we would be able to rest in his goodness, his timing, and his control of our lives. We know that he is stretching us here because we both need to grow. We do look forward to the days ahead, when its not so busy. (or at least the busyness doesn't feel so intense).

Anyway, we are putting our trust in the Lord, for where else shall we go, he alone has the words of life. And he makes big promises:

Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and i will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for i am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

2 Years Down....Many More To Come

We got back from our RYM trip late Saturday night. Sunday morning Phil Taggart, from our church in Media, pleasantly surprised us with a visit. We had a nice lunch with him and the family after church. Paul and I then made reservations for that night at the Red Horse Inn (45min from the house) to get away and celebrate our anniversary. After going to the evening service and talking to many people afterwards, we quickly packed and headed out to the bed & breakfast. Paul’s mom had recommended it and it was so wonderful. The room and the view was beautiful. We had a balcony that looked out to the Blue Ridge Mountains. We slept in the following morning and visited the Biltmore in the afternoon. I had never been to the Biltmore before and it was beautiful! We had such a great time and it was so relaxing. I wish I was still there! Enjoy the pictures.

RYM Conference

Last week we took 33 High School Students from our church to an RYM (Reformed Youth Ministries) conference in Panama City, Florida (right across the street from the beach). Close to 1500 high school kids from around the country came out to the event. It was Paul's second week on the job, so we were jumping right in and I can't think of a better way to do it.

We all met at the church at 4:30am Monday morning to begin the adventure. Paul drove one of the three big vans and I slept in the front seat next to him. We arrived early afternoon and moved into our rooms. I was in a room with 10 high school girls and one college girl named Kristen who was also a chaperon. At first, I have to say, I was pretty overwhelmed. I had never met any of these girls before and I had never been to a RYM conference before. I also knew they were looking to me to be their youth leader. That's pretty intimidating when you feel like a fish out of water.

Paul was in a room with some of the guys across campus. I didn’t get to see him much besides lunch and dinner which didn’t lend itself to much conversation since the kids loved doing loud chants and cheers. It was really hard because he was my only 'safe' person. But being put in this experience was so good for me. It woke me up to how much I really do depend on my husband when things get hard or uncomfortable instead of asking the Lord for help. So I spent a lot of time talking to God. I learned that my hope and comfort and stability and strength and joy and energy has to come from God.

One night, some of the girl chaperons (who are young themselves, one just graduated high school herself) were feeling overwhelmed. So I talked with them, listened to them, and encouraged them until 2am. I had only 4 hours of sleep the night before and I knew I was going to have to get up in 4 hours again. I started to think about how tired I was going to be the next morning while one girl was crying and pouring her heart out. But then I remembered that I was here to minister and serve. I needed to build relationships with these girls and an opportunity had presented itself (God’s timing is not ours). Before I went to bed that night I prayed that God would honor my staying up late to hang out with these girls by giving me lots of energy for the next day. And he answered! The next morning I woke up before my alarm and was feeling great. I never felt tired and had so much fun hanging out with all the kids.

Every day we had two classes in the morning, games in the afternoon, and singing and a speaker in the evening. The theme of the week was The Incarnation. The speaker was excellent and his talks and the morning classes lent themselves to great small group and individual conversations. Paul also led a discussion with our youth group every night after the speaker. These were some of my favorite times because Paul encouraged them to talk and share where they were at spiritually and how they were making sense of what they were learning or what they were struggling with. It was neat to see how open and honest the kids were and how their honesty encouraged others in the group. We were experiencing real fellowship and it was so cool.

This week also encouraged me that I can do this youth ministry stuff and that God has gifted me in this area. It wasn’t hard for me to reach out and connect to the girls. It was very natural. The girls seemed to trust me and enjoy being around me. And I really enjoyed them. I had some great conversations that would just happen, in the room, walking to dinner, or on the beach. By the end of the week Paul and I felt like we had formed real relationships with the kids and can’t wait to continue to hang out with them in the future.

Ups and Downs in the Housing Adventure

Sorry its been so long since the last posting, but things have been crazy.

In a bizarre twist of circumstances, Sonja and I have made a difficult but somewhat forced decision to withdraw our offer on "Blue Shutters." :( Its kind of a long story, but the short of it is that we were getting more and more uncomfortable with the builder of "Blue Shutters." There were many problems which seemed to come up with the builder (like a really shady mortgage deal), as well as multiple things that needed to be fixed on the house (the chief of which was the hardwood floors), and the builder didn't seem very inclined to get some of the more important things fixed.

So, this past Thursday afternoon, Sonja, I, and our wonderful realtor and friend (Pat Smith) did a walk-through on the house to re-inspect all the areas we had previously marked to be fixed. Immediately, upon walking in the house, we were met by the builder, and the regional supervisor for Keystone Builders, and before we had even looked at any of the other issues with the house, the supervisor, in a rude manner, informed us that the hardwood floors (which are really bad- you couldn't slide your shoe over any of it with out your foot catching on the edges) are not going to be improved at all, and that we better just get over it, because the floors are "within industry standards" (which means that the edges of the hardwood floors don't stick up further than a credit card width).

While credit cards are pretty thin items, you would definitely notice one, if it was glued to your hardwood floors, so that every time your foot slid over it, it caught on the edge of the shoe, and you tripped. You would notice it even more, if there were 20 or so such places all over your dining room floor, as well as your entry way, and the main hallway, and the downstairs bathroom. It was pretty absurd to be told that "industry standards" allow such poor flooring.

After days, and even weeks of prayer over this house, it seemed like every time we tried to take a step forward with this house, some other annoying thing would prevent us from moving forward. After 5 or so such times, (as well as many increasingly stressful and sleepless nights for Sonja and I), we decided that we weren't very excited about the house. Then after our "run-in" with the builder and the supervisor (where the builder further justified problems with the house, that "didn't need correction" and were "within the bounds of normal human error"), we decided that it just wasn't worth it. If the builder was already giving us grief about fixing problems with the house (and there were quite a few, for a brand new house), and we hadn't yet paid him for the house, then I would hate to think what he would be like once he had our money.

So being convinced that God would have us look elsewhere, we stumbled upon our new house of interest- "Ashley Oaks" (thats the name of the subdivision where our potential "project" is located). This house is beautiful on the outside, has a great backyard, tons of square footage, and is within biking distance (about .4 miles) from the church. It has a screened in back porch, a swing on the front porch, 3 bedrooms, a giant FROG ("finished room over garage"), and wonderful floorplan.

However, the inside of "Ashley Oaks" is in utter disrepair. It hasn't been updated (or possibly even vacuumed/cleaned) in nearly 20 years. Since its in such bad shape, its price would be lower, and our payments would be lower. It would take a ton of work however, (knocking out a few walls and such), but a friend and church-member who is a full-time home-improvement specialist, gave us an estimate to update and repair the house which puts the house very much within our range.

So, Sonja and I put in an offer on the house today, and we are waiting for a response. :) Keep us in your prayers as our house-hunting adventure continues.

Here are some pictures to whet your appetite. Or to make you queasy because of all the dirt, grime, and bad decorating. Fortunately, we won't share the smell with you.