always to be continued...

OK, so i can't sleep a wink..i think it is 1:30a now...not sure though because the clock says 1:34 and the computer says 12:47am..so i will just trust that it is late.

this house stuff is definitely all consuming...i am constantly, like every second, having to repent of idolatry and forgetting what/who is the Goal of my existence.  even laying in bed i try to pray and i keep finding myself sidetracked..if you were in my head, it would sound something like this:
Lord, you are my rock..you are sturdy..you are the reason for my existence...what will i do with that bonus room, where can i put that big piece of furniture that i use in the kitchen to keep the spices and pots and pans, now that i won't need it to store things in the new kitchen since the new cabinets give plenty of room for such things..IF we get the house, what if we don't get the house, what if it doesn't go through, oh Lord I so hope it doesn't go through if you have somewhere else for us..Lord, i want what you want..please block this if it isn't where you want us to live, minister, play, pray and nest...

see how noisy it is?  so much flying around..and thank you God that taking every thought captive is Your job, not mine...and you keep bringing it all back to You.

2 Corinthians 10:4-6 (New American Standard Bible)

4for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 5We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, 6and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete.

here is a "quick" timeline of events:

put house on the market in feb. plan to sell then buy new
in june hear clark howard talk about trading houses in this recession
call ceci with crazy idea in july
ceci puts out feeler to Realtors about idea
in august builder wants to consider trading with us
we go look at the trade house and fall in love
he makes offer that we need to counter offer
ceci goes on a well deserved vacay
we wait a week to counter, all the while getting excited about moving to a new house
while waiting we go look at another house to compare prices and get a number in mind to counter offer
builder calls to say he is renting out, nothing we can do to convince him otherwise
we are ubber (sp?)upset, but had prayed that the Lord would block anything that is not of Him, so we know that He did so and we are thankful for that
in my sadness and disappointment i contact a friend who had mentioned renting our house as a last ditch effort to feel better and maybe get to still buy something and finally move
renter friend is still wanting to rent
jack and i start looking at houses..this time we have many houses to choose from..
i look through 50 mls listings and narrow it down to 20 houses, we drive around and look at all of them and get the list down to 15 houses
we have now (presently) looked at half of those and i love two, jack still not in love
we go to church and talk to a dear fried who mentions above highlighted house as being a great steal of a deal
jack and i get home and both start going on and on about how great that house really was compared to the 8 houses we have seen and 50+ houses we have looked at online..
look online and see the price has been reduced to under our price max AND under any of the houses that we liked so far in all of our searching.
i text ceci to tell her the VERY FIRST house we saw, that we are going to look at it again today (sunday sept 12) and we both really like it..so she can commiserate about the irony
she has someone about to make an offer on it..maybe monday, tells us to hurry if we really want it
we go look at it again, and fall in love on second look..now that we had a much more informed mindset.
jack and i love it..settle on an offer..make an offer (sept 12)...will know something soon, hopefully.  (anyone who knows how this house thing has been going knows that this in itself is a miracle of God!)

the journey continues..folks. and even if this isn't the house that we will end with, do you see how the Lord is working. He is using these two "completely dumb to His plan" children..and He is working despite our wanderings..He is even using our wanderings for His glory, all the while we second by second repent of our trappings and fall into His perfectly mastered plan.

 Col 2: 6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, 7rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

Pray that for us..that we will continue to live, root and be strengthened to the point of overflow.



oh, and now it is 233a or 145a..still not sure.