For Good

Here's a couple of pictures on what we've been doing lately:

Basement is now empty and bare. Framing has begun!

Stairs rebuilt. Much better. Let's hope I don't fall down them again.

The fireplace will stay-gas logs. 

The floor underneath the carpet was red tile! Asbestos and all that.

Laundry room, for now.

Landscaping! We will seed the grass in the fall

Much better. Much much better.

We also added some house numbers and my plant in the Jack Daniels barrel
that I got from Jack on mothers day is doing great!

Kitchen cabinets in, so we have a lot of cabinets right now. I'm thinking of doing a
catering business. No I'm not.

We also had a yard sale last weekend, our first adoption fundraiser, and we raised half of our home study fee! We are thankful and it reminds me that if this is what God wants, he will provide. We met with our adoption counselor last week and received a load of papers. Currently we are trying to fill out all 7 questionnaires and all the appropriate medical paperwork. It's like they want to make sure we are responsible or something.

D money.

Yard Sale items. The woman that bought this was very excited.

Our yard sale bouncer

It's also been a strange and sad week with the shootings in Colorado and a close family friend taking his life. Last night I attended the funeral, which was beautiful. In the moment it brought me comfort, but soon after I was sad again. It just made me remember I have to put everything into Christ or I'll completely fail. There's no other hope. I heard the most amazing version of How Great Thou Art that I've ever heard that made me cry like a little baby. I was sad that my friend's wife would have to experience this heartache. That his one year old grandson would never know him and how could he do this to them. But in the funeral the singer sang a song called "For Good" based on Romans 8:28 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Everything horrible and bad, God can turn to good. I trust that. I am constantly trusting him to do that in my friends life and my own. It's so hard to see your friends hurting and I have lots of them doing that now, but I trust God will be faithful to turn it to growth and beauty.
Another thing that caused me to stop was one friend's description of success, it's not money or business, but finding that people love you. You touch other's lives in positive ways and they feel loved. You are loved by others. Friends. Lives. Investing in personal relationship. This made me stop and think about those I love and refocus what I spend my time on. Life is so short and I want to make sure my friends know I love them. I hope you know that I do love you.