• When walking to the checkout at TJMaxx, I did not keep stopping over and over again to look at different items that caught my eye. Lillie Kate most certainly did not call me out on it by saying, “Mom, I know that’s cute, but you’re getting distracted.”

• Recently when changing out a roll of toilet paper in the bathroom, I did not drop the entire new roll into the toilet.  I’m much too coordinated to have done it a second time in the same day in our other bathroom, thereby totally not ruining two good rolls of toilet paper.

• I have not gotten completely addicted to shopping with coupons.  I don’t spend hours each week combing the sales flyers to match the sale items with my coupons.  I would never go to three different stores in one day in the 90-something degree heat with my two kids in tow.  And never in a million years would I give them Oreos when we got home right before supper for being such troopers.

• Last month as Talmage was getting over a horrible stomach virus, I  did not call the doctor about several mysterious brown spots on his hand, belly, and leg.  I was not at all worried that the virus caused them or that something else really bad was going on with him. The nurse was not totally stumped and did not tell me to keep a close eye on the spots and call them back the next day.  I was not completely embarrassed mortified when Brian called me into Talmage’s room that night and told me he had just rubbed the spots off with alcohol.  The spots were most certainly not from where I had spilled liquid Poly-Vi-Sol vitamins on him earlier in the day. I did not call the nurse back the next morning and tell her he was fine and the spots were completely gone, never disclosing exactly how they were gone.  Yes, please nominate me for Mother of the Year.

As our seminary days  fall further behind us and we step through the threshold of transition, I continue to comb through all the events and emotions of the past eight years. I’m carefully searching for ways I’ve seen God move and what I’ve learned about who He is.

Several times throughout the Old Testament, after an encounter with God or an experience where God revealed himself, the people would set up a memorial to help them remember what God had done.  One example is found in Joshua 4:19-24 after the Israelites had crossed the Jordan River.

¹⁹ On the tenth day of the first month the people went up from the Jordan and camped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho. ²⁰ And Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken out of the Jordan. ²¹ He said to the Israelites, “In the future when your descendants ask their fathers, ‘What do these stones mean?’ ²² tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ ²³ For the LORD your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The LORD your God did to the Jordan just what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over. ²⁴ He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the LORD is powerful and so that you might always fear the LORD your God.”

Now, I doubt any of us are going to be hauling some big stones into our front yard to set up a memorial to remind us of something God did in our lives.  It’s a tad bit impractical and I’m sure my homeowner’s association would have a fit.  Brian’s dad once preached a sermon about how we can mentally put a marker, or “signpost” as he called them, on these special times and events.  It’s these signposts that we can call to mind over and over again to remind ourselves of who God is and what he’s done for us. The stones near Jericho also served as a reminder for future descendants.  Our signposts  are the events and stories that we can pass along to teach future generations about God as well.

Two truths I feel God really hammered home to me throughout our seminary experience are (1)  “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” Phil. 4:19 and (2) “…him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine…” Eph. 3:20.  Here are a few of my signposts that I often recall when I think of how God taught us about his faithful provision:

• Before moving to Louisville, we prayed for a house to rent that would be affordable, close to the seminary, and have a fenced in backyard for our dog.  God provided a perfect house for us that had all of those things we needed, plus a few “wants” like hardwood floors, a huge deck, and a wonderful landlord who let us do lots of improvement projects to the house.
• Stepping out on faith and moving here with no job, God provided me with a teaching job just two weeks after we moved here.  A few months later Brian found a job and then in May of 2003, God blessed Brian with an amazing job that has truly epitomized “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine”.  It has been a dream job for someone going to school full-time and it also has also given me the opportunity to stay at home, which is another answered prayer.
• We didn’t have much money at all when we first moved up here.  Even though I had gotten a teaching job, I wouldn’t get my first paycheck until after school had started and Brian still didn’t have a job yet.  We had saved up a little money to help us through this time but we were pinching pennies.  I wanted to get a big rug to go in our new rental house and found one that I loved.  The price of the rug wasn’t displayed properly and both myself and the cashier thought the rug was a certain price. After I had paid and was loading the rug into my car, I noticed a different place on the rug where the price was listed and it was $100.00 more than what I was charged.  I knew that was probably supposed to have been the correct price and my conscience just wouldn’t let me leave with that rug knowing about the huge discrepancy.  I also knew that if it was indeed a hundred dollars more that there was no way I could afford it.  I lugged the rug back into the store and explained the situation to someone at customer service and their reply was, “That’s ok. Just keep it.”  Really??? Just keep it??? I then lugged that rug back out to my car in tears, thanking God for blessing me with something that I could not afford.
• A month before Lillie Kate was born Brian had to have all four of his wisdom teeth removed.  It was going to be quite a large unexpected expense and we had no dental insurance.  A few weeks later we received a check in the mail from our mortgage company saying that we had overpaid our escrow account.  The check was for the EXACT amount of what we had to pay for Brian’s oral surgery.
• We once received a check in the mail from a member of our former church in Alabama, along with an encouraging note saying they felt God led them to bless us in that way.
• God provided Brian with several scholarships throughout the years to help pay for school. He provided the rest of the tuition money for eight years worth of graduate school.
• God provided new health insurance for us when we found out we didn’t have maternity coverage and I was already pregnant.  I blogged about it here.
• I also blogged about how recently God has blessed me with braces, something I’ve always dreamed of getting.  You can read that story here.

As we’re looking at major changes coming down the road when Brian gets a new job and we relocate again, I need to be reminded of his provision.  I can get so worried wondering about how all the little details will work out and I’m so thankful to have these signposts to go back and remind me of his faithfulness. In Genesis 22:12-14, we learn one of God’s names is Jehovah Jirah, meaning “the Lord will provide”.   He’s definitely shown us that he is our provider and I know he’ll do it again.

I’ve mentioned before that there’s several decorating blogs that I regularly follow. Many times they’ll show amazing projects where they’ve breathed new life into furniture or accessories that they’ve gotten at Goodwill, yard sales, or Craigslist. A recent beautiful armoire redo that someone bought off Craigslist for $40 got me thinking that maybe I should give it a try.

About a month ago, I started looking on there for a new-to-me kitchen table and chairs. After several days of looking, I stumbled upon this:

And I immediately fell in love.  Well, not with how is now, but how it could be.

I had never bought anything from Craigslist before but  I emailed the seller and set up a day and time to come and look at the set with the intentions to buy.  They were asking only $50 for the entire set!!!  When I saw the table and chairs in person, they were even more fabulous than I could have imagined.  Sold!

They have occupied half of my garage for about the last month as Brian and I have been giving them a little TLC.

We decided to paint the table and chairs black. Now I do realize that I have two small children who spill lots of food and drink, but I covered the cushions in a very neutral fabric.  I did spray it with two coats of Scotchguard fabric spray in hopes of warding off serious stains.  If they end up getting totally messed up, I’ll recover them with a different fabric and chalk it up to a lesson learned.  Here’s the chair painted and with new fabric:

And here’s a pic of the table with only one coat of black paint on.  Still more painting to be done!

After many, many hot, humid nights in the garage with bugs driving me insane flying everywhere and even getting stuck on the freshly painted surfaces, they’re finally done!

We are just tickled pink with how it turned out.  It’s a gazillion times better than our other table and chairs which were literally on their last leg.  I would like to get two more chairs, one for each end, that look something similar to this…

…without the $689 Bassett price.  (And that’s the sale price. Yikes! )

Here’s a final look at the before and after:

YAY!