Check it out!!

I had a post started and then chris came home from work and we worked on the house and ran to town and worked on the house again til late. Came back to look at that post i had started and thot this picture was much more exciting than what i was gonna talk about! :) here's what we got done today and yes! I am e.x.c.i.t.e.d!!! If i stood in the kitchen area and took a pic the other direction it wouldnt look nearly as exciting, but thats beside the point, right? :) it's coming! Little by little!!

Track and field day!

Yesterday was a big day day at school!! Coming home with pink eye the day before didnt keep isaac from competing valiantly! :) he was in his element! We all came home a tired, red faced bunch. Bedtime came early and we slept hard! :) fun times...

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Chapter 1. In Which Mr Know-It-All Meets Miss Stuck Up

It was January 1998. I, Bethany Gingerich, attended Calvary Bible School for the first term. Having enjoyed my time immensely, and being persuaded by 2 friends who were staying all 12 weeks to return, I put in an application to go back for the 4th term since it wasn't full and I lived only an hour from the school. Meanwhile, a certain Christopher Eicher arrived at CBS for 3rd and 4th terms. And so, the two of us spent three weeks on the same campus. We never spoke a word to each other as far as we can recall but made some hard and fast impressions: I didn't have to talk to HIM to know that HE was one of those cocky know-it-alls. And it didn't take much observation for him to see that SHE was snobby and self righteous. In our wildest dreams we never once believed that it was possible we had met our future life long companion! (This is the first chapter in a series of Thursdays where I will be sharing the story of how Chris and I met. Comments and questions are welcome!)

Go here for Chapter 2

The Struggle Is a Gift

Why is it that in retrospect life often looks so comfy? The good things shine back in our memory, all warm and glowing. If only we could go back.... Not always. There are times in my life that I want no part of going back and re-living! Still, it's so easy to only see the "glow" and wonder why? Why?? I suppose part of that is just the normal result of uprooting everything I've ever known and moving to a new place. I read this recently, "If only good can come from a good God's hand, then this strange place we reside is better than the one-year-from-now place I imagined on my own." I know that is true. Some days I believe it and rest. Some days I believe it and struggle. Longing desperately for the "glow" of the past, fighting doggedly against the hardness and unknown of the now. The good news is, the struggle is evidence that I do Believe! Satan would have me think it's not even worth the struggle. So I accept the struggle as a gift, and throw myself on His ability to take the ugly and make it beautiful.

Introducing: the "In Which" Series

I'm tired. I probly shouldn't be deciding something like this right now, but I've been rolling different ideas around. Something to change up this space. Everytime I think, yeah! I'm gonna do it! Then I think, nah. I'll probably wish halfway in that I'd never started. Well, tonight is the night. I'm tired and I never posted anything today and I'm in the mood to just do it! So, now that I've got you thinking this is all something really great :) To start with, I'm planning to use Thursdays to tell you the story of how Chris and I met. Awhile back a friend of ours (someone we only know via email) asked how we met and Chris and I put together a joint effort of writing our story for her in little "chapters". We had so much fun and have shared the story w/ several others. That version might be a bit extensive for my blog but I'm gonna tweak it a bit and give you all a little view into our story. It's a pretty great little tale, so invite your friends, neighbors, dogs... And don't miss next Thursday! :)

Go here for Chapter 1

A Shack by the Road

We were sitting there, singing along, when suddenly I caught his twinkly eyed grin. "Really?" he whispered, and I grinned back. The words just out of our mouths? "I'd rather be a beggar, live in a little shack by the road..." Did anybody, among the 100s lustily lifting their voices, really mean that? Sure, if any of them were asked to choose between the shack or missing Heaven, they would waste no time with their choice. But really RATHER live in a shack then the brand new house with all it's finery? I have a feeling most of us there would have been more truthful singing Chris' revised version- "O yes I do know that these treasures will rust, and sometimes thieves break through and steal. The heart is what matters not all of my stuff, my riches aren't that big a deal!" That has been one of God's lessons for me the past 8 months. It's so easy to be consumed by the things we are "supposed" to acquire. But who makes the rules anyway? Somehow Mt 8:19-20 makes me wonder if we're following the right rule book!

Progress

The first 2 sheets of drywall got put up yesterday in our "shop house"! So fun to go out and see something happening and feel excitement surging up! Recently I had the frustrating experience of struggling with some areas in my life I really thot I had learned something about. Know what I mean? I really thot I had "gotten" some things. Was different. Turns out I'm not so "arrived" as I thot! I know this stuff, why don't I change?? I realized I'm a little like that shop building. I want it to be turned into a house with all my heart. Wish it would be done yesterday! But nothing's gonna happen out there unless we spend time on it. Chris is gonna have to take some time off work, we're gonna have to decide on the next step and DO it. My life is alot the same way. Getting truth is only the first step. The only way to change is by intentionally deciding on the next step and doing it. I might even have to "take some time off work" before real change happens! The spirit is willing but the flesh is Oh so weak......