Thank you, Lord.

Wow, I hadn’t checked my blog since early Friday. I didn’t realize so many of you participated in Sew Crafty Friday. I see we also had some new participants. How exciting! I need to stop by for a visit and check on all of them soon.
As I sit here trying to figure out what to write, my mind is drawing a blank. I know I had a few posts swirling around in there not too long ago. ;0) Until they pop back up, I guess I will just share what has been going on in our household lately. Exciting, huh? ;0)
On Sunday afternoon my beloved took the children for a bike ride. Being that I have been having such horrible headaches, he told me to stay home and relax. The house was spotless, all the laundry was caught up. I had cleaned everything up earlier in the morning while my beloved was at an Elder’s meeting for church. With the house so clean and not much to do(a rarity, I tell you), I decided to cross stitch while listening to a CD. I listened to The Refiner's Fire from one of my favorite ministries, Restoration International. Anyway, it was an eye opener. He spoke about trials, and how they really do refine our characters. He spoke about how every time we go through a trial, it’s as if the Lord Himself is chipping away at us with a hammer and chisel. Each and every blow of His chisel is so precise, that not one little chip will come off needlessly. In reality, we should pray for the Lord to send us trials, if every time we get through a trial we will be closer to the Lord’s character. I mulled over the trials in our lives right now, wanting to move, etc. My beloved and the children got home about 10 minutes after the CD was over.
The following morning my beloved gathered all of us for prayer/family worship. We all took turns praying, and then my beloved had to go walk the dogs. He took the boys with him, which gave me a jump start on Britney’s therapy activities. Fifteen minutes later I heard the front door open and then I heard the boys crying. Neither one of them could muster up the words to tell me what happened. Three minutes later my beloved came in and asked me if I could please pray. He asked all the children to leave the room and told me to please thank the Lord. He proceeded to tell me that Elijah almost got hit by a car. When I say almost, I mean like a hairline almost. My beloved said he wouldn’t be surprised if Elijah had a paint mark on his head from the car. The boys are always looking for bugs, frogs and different critters. If they are two or three feet ahead of us, we always tell them to stop in front of the upcoming driveway. They are not to walk across it. I have always had a fear of an SUV or something zooming out of a garage. They were up to the driveway next to our house, our neighbors, and Micah mentioned something about racing. He took off, and went right across our neighbor’s driveway. Elijah was chasing Micah, and did the same exact thing. At this point our neighbor, without looking, zoomed right out of her driveway. She reversed out of the driveway. It wasn’t until she did the half turn in the street that she saw my beloved standing right there. Everyone on our block knows if my beloved is walking outside, he has either the dogs or children with him. At that point fear came across her face and she realized what she had done. She rolled her window down and apologized. My beloved said for some reason when Elijah was running across her driveway, he did like a little side step. It was that sidestep that allowed him not to get hit. Well, obviously the Lord, but you know what I mean. Needless to say, the children have not gone to walk the dogs since then. It always brings to mind first time obedience. I don’t know if they thought they were so close to home that it was okay to run without listening to our “stop before you get to the driveway” rule or what. My beloved did scold them, which is why they both came in crying. My beloved tried to pray outside, which is why they came in ahead. All that would come out was, thank you, thank you, thank you. After we prayed, we called the children in and we all prayed as a family. It has really shaken all of us up. Just last night Kayla reminded me of something. Right before they went to walk the dogs, we had all taken turns praying. My beloved was the last one, at which point he prayed for each of us individually. When he got to Elijah, he specifically said, “Lord, please keep Elijah’s little body safe. You know he is the baby of the family, and he seems to want to keep up with his older siblings”….. I’m so thankful that the Holy Spirit touched my beloved to pray for him like that. Yesterday I was thinking of the Refiner’s Fire CD that I listened to the day before. What if he would have gotten hit by the car and was injured or died. How would I have made it through that trial? Nothing that happens in our life happens without the Lord’s permission. That is something that I need to keep in mind, whether it is a small trial or a large one.
On another note, my beloved was outside walking the dogs this morning alone, and could you believe that same lady zoomed right out of her driveway again. He said she literally slams her foot on the gas pedal to come out of her driveway, which already has a slight natural downward slope to it. It was 8:30 in the morning, at which time there are a lot of children in the neighborhood walking to school or the bus stop. Well, I guess I better post this before it gets any longer. It has taken me 3 days to write this. This lesson has really shown me what is really important in life, and how I should go about my days. My computer time has decreased already due to Kayla’s school and Britney’s therapy, but I am realizing that I need to take more time out to just play and enjoy my children. Yesterday I closed my eyes to the dishes and laundry, and the floor that was desperately calling my name to be swept and mopped. We went to the park for an hour and just enjoyed ourselves. Could you believe that school, therapy, and all that housework was patiently waiting for us when we got home? When we got home my beloved called, and I told him he had perfect timing, as we had just gotten home from the park. He said, “I’m so proud of you when you do that. It makes me so happy.” Hmmmm, a beloved who likes when I leave dirty dishes, a pile of laundry and a dusty, sticky floor waiting to be cleaned. He is definitely a keeper, huh?