Broken Things...

We have less than two weeks until we move into our new house, and all I can think about are the things that have been broken lately. Seems to be a theme in our life right now. I am trying to see how God can be glorified in all this. It is so hard to trust that he will work all things out for our good. We have had moments of doubt, assurance, joy, confusion, frustration, anticipation, peace… so many thoughts to go along with what we’ve experienced the past few weeks. Here are just some of the broken things in our path. 

#1- Our first plate chipped from our dish set from our wedding (we’ve been married a year, which is really good considering our clumsiness! Still really sad… I like things to be perfect but am getting used to imperfections owning a house that’s almost a hundred years old.)

#2- Our basement window (the house was broken into a few weeks ago during the night and all of Andrew’s power tools were taken, along with some things we had borrowed from other people. We felt violated, among other things, and are still figuring out how to react to this situation.)

#3- Our front window screens (from the burglary, for no reason whatsoever)

#4- My camera (fell off of a table at a friend’s wedding- but, praise the Lord, we still have a warranty on it so it’s being fixed and we won’t have to pay anything!)

#5- Floor sander (we hired a company to refinish our hardwood floors on the first floor of the house, and the glue that was on the kitchen floor gunked up their sander and broke it, causing the floor to be delayed a few very crucial days…more to come on the floor story later)

#6- My car (the alternator and belt broke, and the next day, my battery died, costing us a lot of money that we really needed to be spending on the house)

#7- Our spirits (we have had plans on the house changed and delayed again and again, countless obstacles, frustrations, expenses, disagreements, physical exhaustion, mental overload, and emotional turmoil, to say the least. Our souls have found little time to rest. We are very much looking forward to our vacation in July and the intentional time we will have to spend with each other and with the Lord.)

So that’s the list of broken things for the past few weeks, but here’s a few praises!

*The ice cream store three blocks down from our house re-opened! We are super excited- we love ice cream!!!

*Our apartment neighbors gave us a window air conditioning unit! We have been roasting on the 3^rd floor, and I’m getting bigger and more uncomfortable each day with our growing baby. We had our first night of sleep in the cold last night J

*Having the floors refinished at the house has given us a much-needed break from working for a week. We have been able to rest, visit with friends and family, attend a wedding and graduation party, and get energized for the final push to get into the house. We are thankful we were able to hire out this job and take a few days off.

*We have all the appliances for our home (fridge, oven, dishwasher, washer, dryer) and all we purchased was the fridge! We are so thankful to those who have been so generous and helped us out in this way by giving their used appliances.

Prayer Requests:

-Pray that we will see Christ glorified through these broken things and begin to focus on what is being restored rather than what is being/has been destroyed.

-Pray that we will pass our inspection for temporary occupancy of our house and can move in as planned on June 24th.

-Pray that Andrew and I would continue to love and serve one another well in the midst of stress with the house and baby on the way

-Pray that our baby would continue to grow and stay healthy and that God would prepare us to be parents to His beloved child.

-Pray for Christ-honoring relationships to be built with our new neighbors

-Pray that our home would be safe and protected, but also that we would trust the Lord to work everything out for good.

(Week 26- May 28th)