predicaments

Art Dog Hunted Hard For This One :-)
Miss Moonbeam got "her own" guitar. Here she is attempting to practice with sis ;-)

We dog sat "Sherlock" for a couple of weeks - Libby loved it!! Here's one of our many walks.....

Our Good Friend "Fiery" with His Miracle Baby

oh goodness where do i begin?!?! Lets start with this morning. I was laying in bed, snuggling next to my nice warm husband when Miss Libby starts whining. I dragged myself out of bed and headed her to the door. The lock was frozen. Dread overtook me. I saw her squat. "oh no" i thought. I picked her up and rushed her to the other door. Too late! Not only did she pee by the living room door, she peed a trail on the way to the basement. Instead of getting back into bed with my warm husband, I was cleaning up pee which had not only splattered all over my floors, but my robe and feet as well :-( As I type she is laying here passing foul gas at my feet. Will somebody please explain to me why I am a dog person?!?!
Well enough of that mess and on to the next one.... So my husband and I viewed that house I wrote about. Mysterious and alluring on the outside, NIGHTMARE of work to be done of the inside. Still, the thing calls to me. Its like its haunting me already and I haven't even bought it yet. Anyhow, we viewed the monstrous structure. It was a maze of room upon room in terrible disarray. The children had a blast climbing up ladders, popping in and out of trap doors, and winding through room upon endless room. There seemed no end to its monstrosity in both forms, for the thing was monstrous in size and a monstrous amount of work awaits its victim. Still, it calls to me....... I have refrained from telling my realitor this small, non essential bit of information. Nice of a guy though he is, I am betting most of his clients do not hear houses talking to them ;-) That next morning, my husband nonchalantly agreed to make an offer.......

I barely had made lunch when some friends came over to get mechanical help from my husband. Another neighbor came to borrow a tool. Suddenly The Archer came busting in yelling that he'd found an elk herd. Mad chaos erupted and all the eldest children and my husband shuffled out the door in a hurricane like manner. Oh the dramas in my home ;-)
Our good friends middle son lost part of his trigger finger in a tragic accident a few weeks back. Imagine how proud we were to hear that despite the lean hunting going on, he managed to shoot a nice buck. Still in bandages, the kid, by himself, nailed the thing using his middle finger. He tells me "I prayed". We are proud of him!! That alone, should inspire us all.
At times sleep eludes me, at other times I turn on my marvelous heated blanket and snore like an old man ;-) But, alas, it is a restless one. One night I dreamed about the whole entire house dripping in blood. Another time I woke up and saw a heated battle of angels and principalities around its property borders. Still, I have these crazy day dreams about getting swept down that river in my kayak, attempting to swim in the nearby slough and entertaining hand to hand combat along with exchanges of gunfire with angry neighbors who do not want us there. Yes, my mind is a tumultuous sea of imaginations about what might transpire in the future. Bank managers, resembling the one in "Despicable Me" argue over whether to let us have the place or turn it into a high society apartment complex all the while, still conspiring about stealing the moon. It just never ends and could probably entertain you better than a good movie ;-)

Above The Clouds....

My Daughter Took This While Flying With Her Dad "Above The Clouds".....

Its funny how things seem to stay the same forever and then in an instant... they change!! Take for example my day. Last night I posted something similar to this as my status update on face book:

"a series of unfortunate events has befallen me A.) A dog puked up elk brains on my carpet. B.) My glasses frames were found mangled on the floor, some kind passerby placed the lenses on my dresser C.) My husband is looking at a non house looking structure today. D.) I started my diet. Sympathy is in order......"

Within minutes all kinds of people were commenting.... some offered sympathy (which embarrassed me) Why did I ask for sympathy anyway?!? I was just trying to vent and be funny at the same time. Somebody else was blaming the devil and praying for me. Another person questioned my intelligence that I would feed elk brains to a dog - lol!! I did not feed any dog elk brains. They just got into my sons mess as he was making a European mount of his trophy elk head. He said "mom it wasn't brains", but that didn't help matters. Dog puke is dog puke. Anyhoo, as I was saying, I was so embarrassed of my ridiculous status update that I went in and deleted it within the hour, mortified.

That night I dreamed that I was living in the non house looking structure. I walked through it. I looked into the wood chute and there was only a tiny space that was level. The rest was slanted for wood. I laughed wondering what The Archer would think of having that be his new room, though I knew he wouldn't complain. Next I walked through the falling apart kitchen and smiled. It felt peaceful. Onto my girls, asleep together in a big bed, in a dilapidated room that seemed to be rotting everywhere. Still it was peaceful to see them sleep. The boys room was worse yet, but they were peaceful. All our nice stuff was stuffed around this place that was rotting everywhere, but Gods presence was there. I woke up peaceful and almost laughed out loud. What a bizarre dream..... I remembered again that God promised to take care of me and that He wants to give me something nice and perfect for us. Again and again He whispers "LET ME DO THIS FOR YOU" softly as I wonder.

On to today. So I hurried through the day getting ready to leave for work so I could view another "super cheap" home. I stopped to take time to go for a walk with the kids. We headed over to the lake. We are dog sitting a friends Border Collie mix, so he and Miss Libby happily ran along with us. It was pure bliss to be out enjoying the day. I took time to read "Good and Evil" with Super Catman and help him with his school work. It was so fulfilling. Everything important got done.....

Then there I was trying to follow map quest directions to this house. I parked in the drive and jumped out. It had a big yard with lots of trees around it for privacy. Thick deer were in the field across it. I snapped a picture. As I walked through the yard a group of wild turkeys wandered off. Another picture. The house was old looking, but captured me with its uniqueness. A big monstrous structure, mysterious, alluring..... The more I walked the property the more I started to fall in love with it. This is dangerous, considering what my husband and I think about buying properties can be a vast difference in opinion. My heart sank.... I saw the river through the trees. I can't live without water. It somehow brings me home to peace. There it was. I looked back at the house. Oh this is bad, I shouldn't be falling so hard. Okay, I love this property. Its perfect, but what I want and what God wants are not always the same. I decide to sit and pray a while. Then my husband calls "come fly with me before dark".

Its a mad rush to the airport and in minutes we are circling this small city where it seems God is calling us for the time being. I am loudly praying because this is not my cup of tea. My husband and The Archer tell me that I am making them nervous - whoops! My husband decides to circle the property that I found. The plane jolts sideways and I feel like I'm gonna hurl. They are discussing what they are seeing. They circle again - barf-o-rama. I wish i could take a picture but I have all I can do to hold myself together from loudly praying ;-)

My husband notes my displeasure and circles back to the airport. The sunset is ahead of me - brilliant. The moon is just starting to rise from behind the far mountains. Suddenly the world is an amazing place and I don't want to land. I want to go back to see the property again..... but its too late. We're going to land and I can see the lighted runway. The nausea seems to be subsiding and I wonder why I was so distraught.

In days, weeks, hours I go from the idea of living in a "non house looking structure" to an amazing, mysterious, captivating estate that is just a "possibility" in a sea of many. Oh the ups and downs of house hunting. Better to remain fixed in Gods Presence than to yoyo with the possibilities of what "might be". What will happen to Yaak Adventures and the life I've known these 11 years? Best not to wonder, best to just buckle up and enjoy the ride "above the clouds"......

Things I Am Thankful For

Here I am again.....waiting on miracles to happen. There is nothing worse than trying to make things "happen" and getting ahead of God, so in memory of all that I have taken the liberty to post some praise reports of things God is doing and has done for our family. We are ON THE EDGE of finding a house to buy near the city because...

- I work there

- Our oldest is taking his CNA training there and has to work 6 months in exchange for the training.

- My husband is working there at the airport. We're super excited because he is trading a good portion of his labor for air time/training. He can finally get his commercial pilots license after all these years. That would be such a good thing for him :-)

- The commute in the winter is an hour and a half one way.

And so in light of that, my husband has assigned me the duty of finding a house and organizing financing, etc. It is a lot of work. I remember last winter I was focused on "Operation Hawaii" which never happened. I hated wasting all that time and energy on something that didn't happen. Part of me wants to push ahead and "make things happen". The other part of me doesn't want to do anything at all because of the times things didn't work out when I invested a lot of time and energy. Still that Still Small Voice reminds me to plod on purposefully, not taking any of that into account. So here are my reminders, maybe for myself, of things God has already done.................

1. The Archer got his bull elk this past weekend!! That man hunted hard with incredible skill and cunning. If you heard his story of how he bagged this big boy, you'd feel awed at his amazing hunting ability. Speaking of The Archer, he has faced many a wild predator of the forest and still came home.....

2. Art Dog got lost in the woods this past week. He finally found a creek to follow out, but wouldn't have made it out till after dark. As he was praying, The Still Small Voice told him to go up a hill. He didn't want to because the creek was all he knew for sure. Still, he obeyed and it caused him to find his way out before dark. He also faced a Grizzley bear this past fall and came home unharmed.

3. I once made a 300,000 real estate error by "pushing" and God delivered us out of it supernaturally by putting a $50 black and white no picture ad in a major paper once. This was after 3 Realtor listings of it!!

4. I've been married for 20 years and God has not only some how kept us together, but He continues to work miracles in us.

5. We once bought a repossession and sold it for a good profit by my putting up an ad on a bulletin at a grocery store.

6. Our heavy equipment business came from nothing, served a purpose, and maintains no debt.

7. God spared The Sock Fashion Expert's finger when we were in India, as she had a terrible crushing injury causing an open fracture to it.

8. God healed Art Dog's head after he had a traumatic fall many years ago. Thats another amazing story altogether....

9. I prayed for friends one day and God gave me all kinds of good ones who are life long wonderful women of depth who inspire and encourage me in amazing ways. They enrich my life on a regular basis...

10. I some how made it through nursing school all those year ago and I get to have a job I love working in an Emergency Room.

11. I got to have a super awesome summer - including my cousins wedding, scads of camping adventures, a 20th wedding honeymoon with a boat, athletic endeavors, tanning, water and all manner of fun.

12. My husband has a job he loves to do.

13. My kids all love God. They all hear Him. They all serve Him.

14. When we moved to Montana, we didn't have the money to even get here and God supernaturally provided in so many amazing and miraculous ways.

15. After a tragic miscarriage, God gave me Miss Moonbeam. He said "before these blossoms come again you will have a baby" and I did.

16. He said there was "destiny" in things that took time to happen, but they did.

17. I got to see India for 2 months and meet the family I spent my whole life wondering about.

18. I got my puppy Miss Libby Liberty after waiting soooo long :-)

19. My husband has spent a lot of time lately trying to make me happy. We even got to go out on a date last week :-)

20. As messed up as a kid as I was, I somehow have stumbled into a wonderful life with a good family and a lot of love. Most thankfully, God has been faithful to keep me close :-)

21. I somehow lost and kept off almost 50lbs. So many things I never thought I could do, I have done.....

Okay, well thats a good start to a lot of things I am thankful for. There are many many more. Surely finding a cheap, but livable place for our family is something God is very capable of providing :-) I bet it won't be long before I have to edit "Yaak Adventures" to a new chapter of living......