Nooooo!!!!!!

 

Things don't always go as we think they should.  I am reminded of one of my favorite holiday movies, "A Christmas Story". You know..."You'll shoot your eye out, kid!"  Yeah, that one. There is a line in the movie that keeps playing over in my head when I think of this newly revised picture. The Parker family has torn through all of the Christmas presents. Ralphie has opened his new Red Ryder Carbine Action 200 Shot Range Model Air Rifle (aka, the beloved BB gun), "shot his eye out" and lived to tell about it. The dad is sitting in his recliner reading the newspaper. Randy, the little brother, is asleep amongst all the yet-to-be-thrown away wrapping paper. Mom is somewhere upstairs, probably recomposing herself after her fear of her 8 year old boy shooting his eye out just practically came true. And the narrator, Ralphie as an adult, says, 

"Oh, life is like that. Sometimes, at the height of our revelries, when our joy is at its zenith, when all is most right with the world, the most unthinkable disasters descend upon us."

I wouldn't consider this the most unthinkable disaster that has descended upon us, but it is a pretty big bummer. (Oh, by the way, for those of you on the edge of the cliff regarding what happens next in the movie, the neighbor's dogs break into their house and destroy the beautiful turkey that is about to be served for Christmas dinner. The family has to go out to the only restaurant open on Christmas night, which is a Chinese restaurant. They get serenaded with some amazing Christmas carols, and then watch a duck get its head chopped off and declared to be Chinese Turkey. Great movie.) But, in terms of us thinking things were going so swell and then feeling like the rug was pulled out from under us, yes...we kind of relate to this quotable quote. 

In this post  I shared about how wonderful it felt to have our house under contract, to come home to notice our agent put the "Sold" sign up, to be able to make real plans to move forward and relocate to Charlotte, to get to a place where we could settle in and not have to keep so super spotless (a daunting task for a preggo with a 2 and a 3 year old to say the least). 

We found a house that would work with our needs and our budget close by the area where we are going to be planting the church. We got ready to sign a contract to rent that house for 1 year. We got word that the contract on our home in Greenville had come up against some bumps in the road. We talked to our leaders, expressing our concerns about moving before things were sealed up. We were encouraged to go ahead and get on the ground. Things started smoothing out for the sale of our G'ville home. We packed. We moved. We began unpacking. We realized the A/C was broken on the hottest day of the year in our new place. 

And then we got the call.

Our agent said somethings I didn't really understand, but then after asking her to talk to me plain, she spelled it out for me. A week before closing, the buyers lost their financing. We were NOT sold. We were now responsible for a rent payment AND a mortgage. Phew. That's heavy stuff. 

But that's not the end of the story. I don't actually have an ending for you, beloved reader, but I do have a couple thoughts that God has placed on our hearts as we have walked through this:

1. We cannot look at this situation with our natural eyes. We must ask the Holy Spirit to give us eyes to see what He is doing, how He is working on our behalf to bring about something even better. 2 Kings 6:17
2. We cannot fear. This battle is the Lord's, not ours to fight! We have done everything we can in the natural to get out of that house, and we just have to leave the rest up to the Lord. We can't fear the future, our financial outlook or anything else! We have to just trust, trust, trust. (But, it's not always easy to do that!) 2 Chronicles 20:17

 The good thing is, these truths are not just for our situation!  Whether you're facing an army of thousands circling the city like Elisha's attendant did, or you just found out your home's sale fell through at the last minute, or you're facing any other issue that, on the surface, doesn't seem to possibly be able to work out for good, you can apply these truths and watch how God takes care of everything. It may not be the way you would have scripted it, but God is glorified through our testimonies! We are excited to have a testimony one day of how God worked all things together for us who love him and are called (to Charlotte, in this situation) according to his Name!

 

Yesssss!!!!!

 

God's an on-time God...just not on MY time! 

It's funny that when you least expect it, things happen. I remember when I was 25 years old and finally gave God my singleness, content with whatever He had for my life whether it be alone on the backside of Africa or in a suburban home with a family as a stay at home mom. I stopped "looking" for "the one". And a few months later, "the one" found me! 

That is kind of what happened with this house. We had been looking for "the one" by putting our house up on the market FSBO for six months. Like many of my pre-Brandon dates, that didn't work. Lots of looks, no commitments. Then we hired an agent, and thought things would move quickly from then because she had a go-getter plan. Unfortunately, we saw LESS people coming to see the house than we had before, but instead of getting frustrated, we kind of left it up to God and took our hands off the thing. Our hearts weren't pounding as we cleaned before each showing. Maybe that was because we had been cleaning like madmen for almost 8 months and we were straight up TIRED!

We went on a mini-vacay. Well, just me and Brandon. It's not really a vacay with a two year old and a three year old. If you've never had a two year old and three year old at the same time, you don't know, so don't judge. We just got away for 24 hours and left the girls with a capable sitter. We came home on a Sunday and scooped the girls up to take them to church because we had to observe children's ministry that day (oh, did I mention we are starting a church in T-minus 5 weeks? Crazy amounts of work to be done, people.) By the time that service was over, we were donesky. Exhausted. All we could think about was taking a Sunday nap as soon as we got home.

Wouldn't you know that as soon as we put the girls in the car to get on the way home, the phone rang and it was the showing service from the real estate agency. They wanted to show the house that afternoon. How inconvenient! Our bodies were screaming to us, "say NO this time! Take a nap!" We hadn't even really seen the house since we'd been home...how dirty was it? What would it require tons of work to get it show-ready? That would definitely be cutting into our much needed naps. Well, needless to say, we worked it out, cleaned it up a little (thankfully, our sitter kept it pretty dang clean!), and still got a quick nap in before they showed up. 

The showing was at 4:30pm. The offer came at 5:15pm! Hallelujah! The inspections, appraisals and other hoops have been jumped through. Lord willing, we close August 10.

Next step was to find a place to live. And, we just got word that even though we've had a tough time finding an adequate rental in the area of Charlotte we want to live in up until now (houses are getting rented within hours of going on the market! We literally looked at multitudes of homes and had even considered moving into an apartment for a while so we wouldn't be homeless in August!), we did just get a lease on a nice three bedroom + bonus just five minutes from where the church will be. 

Just in time. 

Thanks, God.  

I need to be on a TLC or HGTV show...

...Called, "UGH, Sell My Freakin' House!"

That being said, here are some thoughts about the home selling process.

First of all, we don't even really want to move. Don't get me wrong. We want to follow the call God's placed on our lives to move to Charlotte and start RWOC Charlotte. But that is easier said than done. We love our home. We love the new floors and upgrades we've done. We love our neighbors (more on that later). We love our friends who live here. We love Greenville. AND...we don't love having to pack our stuff, find a new home, move our stuff, unpack our stuff, and reorganize our stuff. It's a lot of work. We're certainly not opposed to work, but dang...what a hassle! We don't love trying to sell in this economy and the prospect of losing money on this investment. Who does, right?

Re: neighbors...we live in a great neighborhood. People are friendly. There are tons of little kids to play with (about 18 with two more on the way) on our cul-de-sac. We've got a great mix of young and old, married and single, working and stay-at-home...it's just fun. We have block parties and borrow each others' lawn machines and watch each others' kids. Brandon and I have been blessed to have this be the first neighborhood we bought a house in. And we realize that it's taken 4 years to get to this point in our relationships with our neighbors, and that it's going to take probably just as long to build that up in a new neighborhood. Again, work. Again, not opposed to work.

Secondly, have you ever tried to keep your house "show ready"? This means, clean, clean, clean. It means all the windows clean and the floors sparkling, and the toothpaste spots on the mirrors and faucets wiped away. It means keeping the carpet stainless, keeping the curb appeal up, and keeping up with minor repairs. It means making your beds right after you get out of them just in case a showing gets scheduled for that day. It means packing half your stuff away and "staging" your home, which therefore means bye-bye to things that make it homey like family pictures and special knick-knacks. I don't miss the knick-knacks, but I do miss seeing my pictures around.

Now try to imagine keeping the house show ready with a 2 year old and a 3 year old in the house. And a kitten. And a husband. And me, too...I guess. It's tough. So tough, I'm surprised I'm not in a mental institution after doing it for 6 months. At first I was neurotic about it. Running behind my family members with a rag and a broom. And that was not sustainable. For me or my marriage. So we've had to decide on a happy balance because it's just plain impossible. Usually, the house is pretty well picked up and somewhat clean. But it still takes a good 2 hours to do a top-to-bottom-pre-showing cleaning. And that's a lot of work.

Then you get things like this:

That's crayon on the carpet. Yes. It. Is. In the shape of a cross. As in, someone's about to get crucified in the Berry household. Can I get an amen from all the folk who believe in spanking your children? Cause that wasn't from my 2 year old. It was from my 3, almost 4 year old who knows better. And tried to blame it on her sister at first. This blog is my sanity break from cleaning it up all morning.

So we've cleaned and staged and marketed and showed this house plenty of times. We've had some real characters come through here. People who have knocked on our door during our morning jammies/coffee time (that's too early, people!) and been super aggressive trying to get us to allow them to lease-purchase the home (only to find that when we actually asked them to get a CREDIT CHECK, they mysteriously backed out. hmmmmm....). We've had people who were ...this close...to putting an offer in and then something came up that made them back out. It's been truly hysterical. I can't tell you how many times I've heard from agents, "my client loved, loved, loved your house...if they could just pick it up and move it (to the country, to Simpsonville, downtown, etc...) they'd be all about it. If I had $10k for every time I heard that, I could...well, I could buy this house again.

And finally we figured that maybe the Lord has had us stay here for this time for a reason. Yes, we need to get to Charlotte eventually. But we definitely didn't have to get there as soon as we originally thought we did.

As far as the natural side of things, we've done everything we can do to get this house sold. And so we wait on the the Lord. LORD, I wait for you; you will answer, Lord my God (Ps 38:15).

So if you're the TLC/HGTV watching type and they announce a new show, sign me up, please!

Book Review: Lioness Arising

Unstoppable.


Like a slow-moving train that eventually gains power and speed, making it a dangerous force to be reckoned with, Lioness Arising begins in an almost innocuous fashion. In fact, it took me almost a week to really get into it! Maybe it was the 1st trimester of pregnancy playing tricks on me, but every time I tried to get through a few pages, I began to feel like a lioness after a large meal in the heat of the day. *Yawn* Thankfully, I decided to plug through, and boy am I glad I did!

Bevere has done her homework on the mighty lioness and compares her well to Christian women today who have the Lion of the Tribe of Judah living inside them. She challenges us to wake up, recognize who we are, come together in unity for the purpose of bringing the Kingdom to our earthly realm, and keep our eyes fixed on the Light of the world. As a stay at home mom, I needed to hear that because it’s easy for me to get bogged down in dirty diapers and dishes and forget that God desires to raise me up and use me for His good purposes.

As for her use of The Message, I thought that in this case it was helpful because it opened up the biblical concepts to more people who may not have a clear grasp on Scripture. She even says that she is not “replacing the Bible with a paraphrase” (pg. 29), but bringing in relevant language and additional research with the use of The Message.

I felt my heart stirred by many of her stories, particularly regarding her time working overseas with women who are caught in the sex-trade industry. Perhaps God was using this book to bring to light some way I can pray, give, help in that area. I believe that her inspiring details would probably do that for many people, for how can one read about some of the things she experienced and not be moved in the least?

Overall, I believe that this book is one that is a keeper. Even better, read it and then share it with a girlfriend! If we all get the heart of this book within us, we can be unstoppable!

I received Lisa Bevere's "Lioness Arising" for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Organic Church Growth

As most of you know, Brandon and I are in the process of planting a satellite campus of Redemption World Outreach Center in Charlotte, NC. There is a lot, I mean, A LOT of work that goes into birthing one of these things (who knew, right? ha!)

And, as most of you know, we are also in the process of moving, and there is a lot, I mean, A LOT of work that goes into moving a family of four across state lines. As seen in this post, we are trying to sell our home in the Greenville area before we head over to look for homes in Charlotte. I would hate to find something I simply cannot live without only to realize I'll have to live without it because we don't have the funds available as they are tied into our house in SC. That would be bad.

During this time of transition, we have been spending a lot of time researching best practices (there are already a lot of churches doing this satellite campus thing well. Why reinvent the wheel, huh?), building launch teams, negotiating deals with possible sites in Charlotte, and trying to figure out the best way to market this awesome, life-giving church to the people of our new city. A lot of questions have arisen concerning how to grow a church.

And I think we have an answer. or at least an idea as to how RWOC Charlotte will be growing:

Yes, that is what you think it is. And yes, it is ours. And yes, we realize what craziness having a baby, moving, and starting a church all within a few months of each other can wreak on a family who already has a 2 year old and a 3 year old.

We are about 12 weeks in (that pic was taken about a month ago) and almost done with the yucky, nausea-filled, ultra-exhausted, all-I-wanna-do-is-lock-the-kids-in-their-room-and-take-an-uninterrupted-nap first trimester. Actually, the exhaustion has been doubled from what I remember from the last two babies, but the nausea hasn't been nearly as bad. In fact, not once (yet) have I had to quickly find a trash can, commode, or remote patch of grass (I learned the hard way never to throw up or pee on concrete--it always comes back to haunt you).  So happiness is on its way. I can feel it.

So, by Christmas, RWOC Charlotte will have at least one new member. And we couldn't be more tickled about it! Actually, on our awesome launch team (which I can't wait to tell you more about, they are awesome!), there are a few other families who are also expecting in 2011, so that is practically exponential growth! Charlotte, get ready!

Roller Coaster Mother's Day

The roller coaster ride has begun this May. At one point, I knew that I would probably take this ride, but somehow I must have forgot...until I found myself buckled in, holding the bar in front of me and holding my breath. Ready for the ups and downs of impending Mother's Day.

The ups are obvious. I have been ridiculously blessed to be Ella and Allie's mommy. I have found that this year, especially, has brought me incredible joy as Allie has become more independent and communicative. Life is just a little easier when your baby can tell you what she needs or wants. And now that she has that ability, she's definitely not shy. At all. Her favorite requests are "Mommy, I wanna go Chick-A-Lay", and "My daddy, my daddy, my daddy!!!!" The burden of constant need for a protective eye on her has been lessened by her sweet, sweet spirit and tender touch, the depth of those dark brown eyes calling me in to get lost in love with my daughter.

Ella's preciousness is immeasurable. Her predictability, priceless. I love my creature of habit. I love her need for snuggles, hugs, and kisses from her family. I love her elephant-rivaling memory...how she'll recall something I have totally forgotten, a rare and precious memory that brings a smile to my face.

Yes, being a Mommy on Mother's Day is a nice thing. It's great to get hugs and kisses and homemade cards and gifts from my little artists, and thank you's that are really not even needed because I would gladly do this job a thousands times over without any repayment.

So the roller coaster ride is cresting the top, and life is good. God's there. Cheering me on. Reassuring me that my efforts are not in vain, that He's proud of me, that my girls are in His hands.

And as I find myself at the climax of life, giving God praise and honor for the view up here, the cars suddenly obey gravity and come shooting down the track.

In all my 32 years past, I've always enjoyed honoring my own mom with love, hugs, kisses, and gifts. Homemade crafts that are still stashed away in special memory boxes she kept. Cards and letters that I had thoughtfully written over the years to express my thankfulness, my love, my respect for who she was and what she did for me.


And this year, she's not here to smile that big smile as I present her with those things. It's been 8 months since I've seen that smile, or heard her voice or felt her motherly loving touch. I've missed the advice that only a maternal grandmother can give a new mommy who doesn't know what to do with a two year old and a three year old. Who needs a safe place to share her insecurities about being a pastor's wife and journeying on new adventures like I am during this season of my life.

The roller coaster car is plummeting down, down, down, and yet...God is there. Comforting me, collecting my tears, and cheering me on. Reassuring me that my efforts as a daughter were not in vain. Telling me He's proud of me at how I've pressed into Him during this time of grieving and that my mommy is in His hands.

The thing about a roller coaster is that usually there's one big up and one big down, then lots of twists and turns...things that don't make your stomach drop quite as much and leave you with an overall pleasant experience (if you like roller coasters, that is).

The rest of the small ups and downs include:

Rejoicing with my sister-in-law as she celebrates her first Mother's Day with an actual baby in her arms. After years of battling infertility and many Mother's Days spent sitting in church with hot tears probably rolling down her cheeks as the pastor asked mothers to stand and be honored, wondering if she would ever get a chance to have that wonderful experience, my nephew, Channing, is an Ephesians 3:20 kind of blessing (more that she could ask or think of!) He's charming and adorable and chunky-licious and has a twinkle in his bright blue eyes that tells of the brilliance going on in his brain. God's got such great plans for that little boy, and I know that He's using Pepper mightily to form Channing's worldview in a radically different way than she was taught growing up.

A little climb...

Missing my grandmother who lives far away and wishing that life were not so crazy right now so I could spend time by her side enjoying her company and watching her as she basks in the glory of her great grands...

A slight descent...

Thoughts of miscarried babies who are now in the arms of Jesus, their Grammy by their side...

Twists and turns...

Excitement at the thought of the future baby Berrys God will one day add to our family, in His perfect timing...

With each hill and valley, twist and turn, God reaches out, steadying me and reminding me that I'm securely fastened in His love. He is here this Mother's Day, riding this roller coaster right next to me. And eventually, Mother's Day will have come and gone. I will have exited this roller coaster for this season, and more than likely, will have a fond overview of my experience.

You're Go....

The other night we put the girls down for bed, and lo and behold...neither of us were completely and utterly exhausted. Miracle of all miracles, right? Usually we are ready to crawl into bed right after we say, "and chances are, if you give him some milk, he's gonna want a cookie to go with it...." (that's the last line from one of the girls' favorite bedtime books). In fact, there are many times when we have fallen asleep while doing the bedtime routine...sad, but true. Don't judge.  ;)

So, here we are...coffee brewed, it's 9pm and we're awake and wanting to have some, ahem....platonic hang time. Good, clean fun, you know?  We didn't want to pop in a movie because we had just endured a rainy weekend and the DVD player is just plain tired. Instead we opted for a game and conversation. Sequence is usually our go-to game. It's fun and challenging, and we both know it well enough that there's not a "you're a newbie so I'm gonna dominate you" vibe going on. But tonight, as I was pulling out the Sequence game, the marbles from another game, Abalone, fell out of the box. I picked them up and suggested we play since it's already out anyway.

I had played this game about a gazillion times when my parents took me to Argentina to visit my grandfather and cousins for a month when I was 15. My cousins, Nicolas, Carolla, and Mercedes (yes, car names) were all very fun and welcoming, and while we had plenty of great conversation getting to know each other, this game served as both a "we don't have to think about how to translate what we want to say" break for all of us and a fun opportunity to compete with each other. My parents went out and bought it as soon as we returned stateside.

Brandon didn't know how to play, so the first game was a learning curve for him. And yes, I dominated him. Complete domination. The game is pretty simple. You have to move your marbles to be able to push the other guys' marbles off. First one to 6 wins. There's more rules than that, but if you want to know, you're on your own to Google it. Just take my word for it. Loads. of. fun.

But here's the thing. Brandon isn't like any other opponent I've ever had. He never has been, and when I say that I mean that he is super annoyingly slow when taking his turn. When my aforementioned Argentine grandfather who pretty much plays cards 24/7 with a bunch of old retired guys came for a visit to the States and visited our home, my entire family played a lot of cards. A lot. We didn't have kids yet, so really...hundreds of card games. And my poor grandfather...when it would get to be Brandon's turn, he would hold his tongue after a few minutes passed. We all would. Brandon would sit, and internally examine every possible outcome for every possible move he could make. And it would take forever.

After a couple games, Brandon started winning. A lot. And that was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. My grandfather would stand no more for allowing Brandon so much time to strategize. He started saying comments in all seven languages he knows to try to get Brandon to go faster. My mom chimed in. I gave him the, 'you better move or we may be out of the inheritance' look. My dad just laid his cards down and went to bed, his statement sure. But it didn't work. Brandon knew that it was getting to everyone and started using that as his strategy to beat us all.

Needless to say, Brandon's tactics of stalling are still in full force. By the end of the second game, this gal was so frustrated that I pretty much threw it so we could stop playing.

Pathetic, I know.

Do any of you know someone like Brandon who takes forever to take his/her turn at a game? Maybe you do it yourself?

Low Country Boil: Noun or Verb?

 

Before I married Brandon, I spent a few years living in Mt. Pleasant, SC...right outside Charleston. There are too many great things that I can say about Low Country living to list here, but one of my favorites was the cuisine. Oh, food...glorious food. There are some wonderful restaurants in the Upstate, but every time we make it back to the Low Country for a vacay, I'm almost as excited about what we will eat as to who we will see or what we will do (or not do as we just relax on the beach, hallelujah!)

 The other day the weather was beautiful, the kids were playing in the yard, and we had some friends coming over for dinner. I thought to myself, "Self, how can you make something easy and delicious to impress your friends and fill your bellies for not a big wad of cash?" And then I answered, "Self, you need to do a Low Country Boil!"

What's a Low Country Boil, you ask? 

There are two different ways to answer that question.

1) Low Country Boil (n): a region-specific dish that starts with a stock made from vegetables and perhaps shrimp shells, invariably with heaps of the chef’s favorite seafood season blend (like Old Bay). Subject to the usual variations, the gist of the boil will include crabs, shrimp or both, some kind of sausage, a good deal of corn, and aromatic vegetables, herbs and spices. 

2) Low Country Boil (v):  a fun way to feed a crowd in a no-fuss manner! This dish is great for an outdoor party where you can line a picnic table with newspapers, throw the boil on the table, and tell everyone to dig in!

I know your mouth is watering right now cause mine is, too. So to help you alleviate that ailment, here is the recipe. It's for 4 people, but making a bigger batch is super easy.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 lbs new potatoes
• 1 16 oz. package turkey sausage (andouille or kielbasa works too)
• 3 ears fresh corn, husked removed and cut into smaller, hand-held portions
• 2 lbs medium to large shrimp, deveined and peeled
• A buncha (that's a technical term) Old Bay Seasoning or crab boil seasoning
• 4 lemons, quartered
• Melted Butter, Texas Pete, more Old Bay, and crusty bread (for sopping up the good stuff).

Directions:
Bring the potatoes, sausage, corn, lemons, and Old Bay Crab Boil packet to a boil and keep on a rolling boil for 25-30 minutes or until the potatoes and corn are tender (longer the larger the batch). Bring the boil to a very low simmer and add the shrimp and cook for the last 5 minutes or until they are pink. Once the shrimp are pink, remove from heat and drain the water.

I usually drain most of the water (saving a bowlful for sopping), line a table with newspapers, throw the pot out on the table and tell everyone to dig in while I go back for a roll of paper towels and the sweet tea pitcher.  So good, so easy, and relatively cheap when using in season ingredients.

So, noun or verb? It doesn't matter. I like to mix the two definitions for my own personal dinner planning with friends! I may not live in the Low Country anymore, but I sure like to cook like I do!

What about you? Are you a big fan of the Low Country Boil? Or maybe you've never even tried it (you're missing out if you fit in that category). Would you consider using it for a big group gathering, or would you rather save it for an smaller, more casual family setting? What other Low Country cuisine dishes can you not go without?