Bad news from the summer that just keeps on giving

You wouldn’t believe the news I got today. Or if you are military,maybe you would.

It’s easy to feel happy and hopeful when life is going pretty well. Sure, life is hectic always with little boys to take care of, but at least you can find some sort of ‘normal’ in that. We are all healthy. Things have been okay. Isn’t it funny how easy it is to shake your head at the whiners when your life looks pretty good? I think it’s pretty common to become annoyed with people who are going through a hard time and are constantly whining about it.

Proverbs 14:20:

“The poor is hated even of his own neighbor:  but the rich hath many friends.”

There are many Bible verses that echo that sentiment.

No, we are not poor, not even a little bit. However, hard times do come to all of us. I have been without a place of my own since June 13th. Alan has his little hotel room in California, but the boys and I have gone between my parents’ and Alan’s parents’ houses in Alabama. We’ve been sleeping in their living rooms, invading their beds and kitchens, and in general totally disrupting their way of life.

THANKFULLY, both sets of them seem to be happy to have us. My parents were terribly sad to see us leave last week. (Sorry, ya’ll!! We do miss you!)

The thing is it’s been 40 days now, and we are ready to have our own place to call home, you know?

No problem, right? My house is mine in only one more week. We pick up our keys on August 1st. Hurray! Plane tickets are purchased, and movers are booked…..

WAIT! Not so fast. The current tenants have decided to delay a week. Oh, now, isn’t that cute?

grrrr

Do I get angry? Do I cry into my pillow and pound my fists on the floor? *Sigh* Why bother? That’s just life. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, “Life is just a series of problems to be solved.” Ha! It’s true, and you know it! But as Alan’s dad recently said, “It really is just a series of problems to be solved, but thankfully there are enough good moments sprinkled in there to make it worth it.”

🙂 Sprinkle. Sprinkle.

chubby baby cheekies and Daniel quotes: At least I still have those!

Watching Joshua study animals and checking out Caleb’s latest fort–that he has constructed–in the hallway, blocking all hallway traffic…..how I love it.

children on slip-n-slides, mint Klondike bars, hearing from someone who says that they enjoy reading my blog, and big giant hugs from my handsome and amazing husband (I MISS that right now!) These things DO make it worth it.

Plus, we’ve had bonus grandparent quality time, so at least we haven’t been living in a hotel all this time!

So what now? Will we rearrange Nonna’s plane ticket for later? Will that work? She was going to help us unpack, but there will be nothing to unpack until at least August 11th. I actually will have to live in a hotel for 11 days…..yikes! Is that even possible with four children???

Ya’ll! How is this four kids/hotel thing going to work? Anyone have any advice!?

The thing about problems is that they DO happen to everybody. Do you think I’m excited about spending two months (when it’s all said and done) of this year, basically homeless? Do you think I’m not worried about how this anxiety is affecting my children? Let me tell you. They are greatly affected.

We all have hard things to deal with sometimes, right? The important thing is HOW we handle our problems. You probably think I’ve handled this well, but that’s only because you haven’t had to live with me. Ha!!  Not kidding. I have been impatient with my children and probably also a slightly ungracious house guest. I do want to do better. It reminds me of that country song, “Heaven knows she’s not an angel, but she’d really like to be….”

Thank you so much, Mom and Dad, DaddyO and Nonna, for helping us through this time. Thank you to my brother for driving Alan’s truck across the country!

I hope to do better than my best through the rest of this stressful moving process. I hope to tackle the difficulties while still managing to share God’s love with others and decrease the amount of sighing and complaining.

Thank you all so much for reading my blog. It has been the perfect outlet during these years of figuring out the whole parenting/military life thing! I know it bothered a few of you when I made the blog public last year, but thank you for sticking by me anyway.

Now let’s just pray the tenants don’t push this back any more, or we will have to find another house. I really have my heart set on living on the military base. I like the efficiency of the move-in/move-out system. I also like the whole “no security deposit” thing. Pretty awesome, huh?

“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.”        Psalm 34:19

“though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.” Psalm 37:24