Countdown for Earrings

This Sunday it will finally be the end of our first six weeks of new earrings. You can't change the earring for the first six weeks and now finally on Sunday Emma will be able to change them. My daughter and her friend got their ears pierced together for Christmas gifts. They were very brave and have been very responsible cleaning them. She got a cute set of earrings from Nan for Christmas so she has had them sitting on the bathroom counter as she has counted down the days.

His Heart is Good

This was the daily reading that came today from Ransomed Heart:


If You Knew His Heart Was Good 01/30/2008
Everyone has been betrayed by someone, some more profoundly than others. Betrayal is a violation that strikes at the core of our being; to make ourselves vulnerable and entrust our well-being to another, only to be harmed by those on whom our hopes were set, is among the worst pain of human experience. Sometimes the way God treats us feels like betrayal.

We find ourselves in a dangerous world, unable to arrange for the water our thirsty souls so desperately need. Our rope won’t take the bucket to the bottom of the well. We know God has the ability to draw water for us, but oftentimes he won’t. We feel wronged. After all, doesn’t Scripture say that if we have the power to do someone good, we should do it (Prov. 3:27)? So why doesn’t God?

As I spoke with a friend about her painful life, how reckless and unpredictable God seems, she turned and with pleading eyes asked the question we are all asking somewhere deep within: “How can I trust a lover who is so wild?” Indeed, how do we not only trust him, but love him in return? There’s only one possible answer: You could love him if you knew his heart was good. (The Sacred Romance , 70)

This is a big concept to get our minds around. God does have a good heart - even when circumstances are horrible in our lives. When kids are growing up in dump, or a boy has to go through chemo, or your wife dies unexpectedly, or you lose everything, etc. Trusting in God is a daily battle that takes a lot of work. Choosing to trust even when our hearts don't feel like it - trusting that our feelings will come along later.

A friend shared a great verse with us today:

"I called on your name, O Lord,
from the lowest pit.
You have heard my voice:
Do not hide your ear
from my sighing, from my cry for help.
You drew near on the day I called on You,
and said, "Do not fear!"
Lamentations 3:55-57

Fun Morning in the Snow!

Now that we have a hill to sled on, we tested out the run. Tucker decided it was pretty fun to chase the kids down the hill. Luckily, everyone escaped the teeth.

The kids both had fun getting air at the bottom. It was a nice dry snow, perfect for sledding.

Tucker had enough energy for all of us. Every thing is a celebration when you are a puppy!

I decided since Tucker wanted to chase us, that he needed to test out the sled run. We made it successfully to the bottom.

Their are several cows in the field next to us. Daily the cows and tucker have a stare down. Even though he wants them to come to the fence, he is terrified if they get too close. He talks big, but really is a chicken around big animals.

The men made an odd snowman. His hair is grass and he looks a little mean! Obviously, us girls had already gone in for hot cocoa by this point.

We love snow days!!

Life during a remodel

So this is where we began 8 months ago. We sold our house and are remodeling a fixer-upper. It is hard to imagine this will ever be a place we love to call home. Each week it has been moving along and is starting to become a pretty great house.

Above the garage we built a 700 sq foot apartment that we hope to someday rent out after we have finished and moved downstairs. We have been living in this apartment since June. We ended up putting a ladder on this wall for a great play loft for our kids. They really like it. It is a one bedroom apartment. Our kids are sleeping in a hallway and actually they enjoy it. For us parents, it has been fun to sit outside their door at night listening to them talk forever. These will be good memories for them.

Since we are living along a busy road and we now have a puppy, our fence had to go up in the middle of this project. (I know, this doesn't seem like a good time to get a puppy, but why not add to the chaos!) Curtis, the kids, My dad and I all worked on the fence for many hours. We now have a great little courtyard on one side of the house, that is going to be fun in the summer. My dad has done all of the electrical in both the apartment and downstairs, which has really blessed us. Even my brother got in the act when he visited over the holidays.

Today we got our spiral stair case delivered. We cut a hole in the upstairs floor of the bonus room, which is currently attached to the apartment. The stairs lead down to the main kitchen/family room of the house. The stairs aren't quite finished, but they are pretty cool already. Mark helped Curtis and Pete install them. Then they put in a lot of the trim downstairs. It is coming along.


Here is my children nailing down the dining room floor today. We will be putting wood down on it next week, so we are prepping it. All of our parents helped us paint this last weekend and lots of cleaning was done by Curtis' family this weekend.
We are so thankful for all of our friends and family that have been helping us. You guys have given us a ton of support through this challenging time.

I will send more pictures along the way, to keep you updated.

Decisions as a mom

My daughter doing her Christmas tap production
This was the first week my daughter didn't go to piano lessons. She has been playing almost two years and is very good. She really has wanted to quit for six months and we finally decided to after the Christmas recital. The trouble with her is that she is good at everything she does. She has been dancing since she was three and is great. She loves horses and is great at her riding lessons. So as her parent, what do you do? Do you squash her enthusiasm for these things, and how do you keep her focused on a few talents. It was a hard decision to allow her to step away from playing the piano because she is so great and it is something she can use as an adult.
I guess we just do our best and pray for guidance. I figure both these kids will need counseling no matter what we do and most their problems we be our fault.

What have I done?????

Tucker is the newest addition to the Miller household. He is pretty cute, right? What I should actually have a picture of is him eating food off the table or eating our socks or shoes. For the most part, he is amazing. But...there are a few problems we need to deal with. Fortunately, he starts puppy kindergarten in the morning. Puppies are a joy, right?!?!?

Starting Out

Well....I figured I had better catch up with all my hip friends who have been bloggers for quite some time. I don't want to be the uncool mom. This may be pretty boring reading at first, until I can figure all this out. It has been fun occasionally checking out all of my friend's blog sites - I don't know if my life will be that interesting. My first complaint about this process...it really needs spellcheck.