We bought a house!

Do you ever ask God for something, knowing that He will provide but hesitant as to what all the details and specifics will look like? J and I had been asking God for a house...I take that back, we asked Him for a home. A house is where we have lived for the past four years - an apartment that provides shelter, running water, and safety (much more than most of the world). However, over the past four years, we've had crazy neighbors, and I'm not exaggerating - the smokers, the screaming baby, the couple who fought all the time, the dog that never stopped barking, and the man who smoked pot while carrying on a conversation with J...just to name a few. It's no lie that ministry is hard and in part, we wanted a home where we could extend our ministry apart from the church building and in turn find an oasis to call our very own. 

Our past is filled with some details that we'd rather not relive. We've spent the past six years paying off debt and staying very, very close to our budget. We looked at houses back in the summer. I thought I had found the perfect house - not excessive, great neighborhood, etc. We went and looked at it and then headed to the bank. After many weeks of them prodding every detail of our lives, they essentially said "Thanks, but no thanks!".

In my selfish, sinful nature, I thought I would never get that house out of my mind and perhaps the Lord had made a mistake (wink, wink!...you've never thought that before, right?). J and I had decided to stop looking and try again in January/February. We would peruse the Internet looking but never being serious because we were waiting until the new year. 

Ministry in December was VERY overwhelming - we had something on the schedule almost EVERY day/night. In the midst of everything, J saw this house on a website and it had an accompanying video (see the end of this post). He prayed about it and approached me with it. My first thought - no way, it's December we don't have time to buy a house. My second thought - this house is SO much more than I could ask for or imagine and is much lower than our top price point. My third thought - Jesus, is Your timing going to every match mine?  :)

So in the midst of the busiest week of December, J and I went and looked at the house. Then in the midst of the busiest week of December, we met with a bank (a different bank than we met with in the summer). Again, they prodded every detail of our lives and over many weeks, they said "Yes!". We offered the buyer a price, they counter-offered, we counter-offered back, and then they said "Yes!". 

As I look back on this journey, I don't want to forget how the Lord has provided so much more than we could ever imagine: 

• While I thought His timing might be off, we were so busy in December, I didn't have time to stress or worry. We would sign some papers and then back to ministry. We would stop several days later, provide more paperwork and then back to ministry. The Lord's timing was impeccable! 
• The price of the house is so much lower than we thought we would ever pay and so much more than we thought we would get for the house itself. 
• The extras of the house are again so much more than we thought we would ever have in a house and more than we dreamed of having - a remodeled kitchen, 7 fruit trees, a herb garden, a jetted tub, a rain shower, hardwood floors, a designer craft room, 4 bedrooms, and I could go on! 

We are grateful that the Lord has answered our prayers! 

May we be the best stewards we can possible be of all the He has given us.

Wordless Wednesday

Projects for April & May

In April, I lacked motivation to craft. It scared me for a bit - why was I not in the crafty mode?? I got a new job but still worked my old job and my new job during the month of April. I had limited time to craft. When I got home from work, all I wanted to do was veg out. Then May came and I still lacked motivation. My craft room had become the catch-up for Easter decorations that had not been put away, a box of stuff from my old office, and a layer of dust. I lacked motivation because I had to do some cleaning before crafting and who really wants to clean. Well the cleaning is now done, so here are the projects from the last two months (but really I made them all in less than a week - ha!)

I made this quote for J's office. I cut it with my Cricut machine on brown vinyl.

Block of the Month 2013 - April Block, Fan

Block of the Month 2013 - May -
Strippy Spools, bottom left 7 blocks
(pictured with the other blocks I've already made for this project) .

Sugar Block of the Month, April - Sunny Days

Sugar Block of the Month, May - Signed, Sealed Delivered

Block of the Month April 2012, redo - Hexi Stripe

Block of the Month May 2012, redo - Wonky 5-sided Log Cabin

Block of the Month May 2012 redo - Modern Log Cabin

The 15th day of the 4th month

April 15th is not my favorite day of the year! 

My first job was when I was 15. My grandfather had his own business and he made me get a work permit so I could start working on Saturdays. I got paid "under the table" and made less than $50 a week. At some point, maybe when I was 17 or 18, I got paid for real, which meant taxes came out. Taxes weren't fun then, and they're not fun 13 years later. Although when I was a teenager and in college, my family's accountant did all the leg work for my taxes and that was a lot more fun than all the forms I fill out now. 

I hear of some people who do their taxes on February 1st in hopes of getting their refund ASAP. I hear of others who file somewhere between that time frame and the dreaded day of April 15 in hopes of getting their refund. They buy elaborate things (that may or may not be more than their refund), plan their summer's vacation, pay off a loan, etc. And then there are people like J and I who file on April 15 because somehow we end up owing the government money each and every year. I'd be lying if I said I'm not jealous of those people I mentioned at the beginning of this paragraph. 

When it comes to taxes, there are several things that are stacked against us. J is a minister which puts him in the self-employment category (#1). Then we rent and don't own a house (#2). Renting isn't necessary a bad thing, but there are several additional things we could write off should we own a house and not rent. Owning a house is an entirely different post in itself. In addition, it's just J and I - children and their expenses are yet a few other things we could write off (#3). When you add all those things together, it means I write a big fat check to the federal government each and every year - and sometimes I even write several checks because I have to use a payment plan. In addition, I write a smaller check (but a check nonetheless) to the state government each and every year.

I appreciate living in America, home of the brave and land of the free. I realize the importance of taxes and I refuse to discuss politics on this blog, so we won't talk about all the ways taxes could be different in this country. However, every when April 15 approaches, I usually break out in hives because I must analyze every receipt, every penny spent, and count every penny to pay. I sometimes wonder would things be different if we owned a house, had a gaggle of kids, or weren't in ministry. However, each and every time I think upon those decisions and where we are at in life, I realize that obedience to my Creator is worth so much more than paying taxes. People often ask us when we'll buy a house, when/if we'll have children, why don't we have different jobs, and each and every time, the answer is the same - obedience to my Creator is worth far more than paying out taxes or receiving a refund revolving around that ill-fated day of April 15. In His time, He consistently tells us where to take a step and how many steps to take. Those steps aren't always easy (like paying taxes), but completely worth it along the way and completely worth it in the end. 

Dinner for a Friend

A couple in our Sunday School class had a baby. We signed up to take them dinner one night. There was one problem, all the recipes needed to be wheat/gluten free. I have high anxiety when there are food allergies involved - it just stresses me out. It's completely my problem! For dinner, I decided to order pizza from a great new pizza restaurant in our time - they have gluten free crust - score! I then prepared a salad with all the fixin's and all that was left was dessert. I asked a friend who is a great cook if she had any what/gluten free recipes and she didn't have a one. She told me to check Pinterest but sometimes I become so overwhelmed with all the options of Pinterest it stresses me out more than I already am! I searched the grocery store and found that Betty Crocker makes a gluten-free cake mix (warning: gluten-free cake mix is triple the cost of regular cake mix). I decided on yellow cupcakes with chocolate icing. I got home to make the cupcakes and realized that I didn't have gluten-free vanilla extract (it is about twice the cost of regular vanilla extract).

I then remembered about my Sugar Block of the Month class - every month's lesson comes with a recipe. It just "so happens" that February's lesson came with a recipe for flourless chocolate cake. I made the cake, added some gluten-free chocolate icing and dipped strawberries. It came out much better than I thought...too bad I couldn't try a bite!

How He Loves

I'm married to a worship leader, so whether I like it or not, I am constantly challenged with new songs - we sing them in the car, talk about the lyrics, play them at band practice, etc. A few years ago, my favorite worship leader introduced me to this song. From the get go, I couldn't stand it. We talked about it and then never discussed it again, he never sang it around me, he never asked me to play it, and the radio station was immediately switched when it came on.

About a year ago, my favorite worship leader temporarily lost his position as my favorite because he said he was going to play it at church. In fact, he said he needed to play it - the Spirit had lead him to the song and thematically it fit perfectly. If I'm remembering correctly, it was the invitation song and I left before invitation strictly because I did not want to hear it. Do I have your interest peaked yet?

If you are familiar with my story and the song, you may already know my problem with the song, 4 words -

loves like a hurricane

In August 2005, a hurricane did not love me and I did not love it. It robbed me of most of my earthly possessions, strained earthly relationships, and in essence turned my world upside down. More than seven years later, you would think I'd be over it and in a lot of ways I am but it is still a marker in my life that will always be there. For about the first year after the hurricane, I couldn't ever utter the word "hurricane" and instead called it "the sleepover" because I ended up bouncing from house to house until things settled down in December when I got married.

A few weeks ago, I received my band assignment and looked up the songs we would be playing the upcoming Sunday. I asked my favorite-again worship leader if he was out of his mind, and he assured me that again the Spirit had led him to the song and he had faith that I could play through it. I had about a week to wrap my mind around it and prepare my heart for it. I love to worship Jesus and I'm a big believer that your face shows your heart when worshipping Jesus. In other words, I don't believe you can worship Jesus with a scowl on your face - it's impossible to worship the King of Kings with a scowl, smiles only please. So I had to ask myself - can I worship Jesus and my face reflect the joy of the Lord rather than the pain and despair of the hurricane?

So practice came and I did okay, but let's face it practice is practice. Very few if any participants attend our practice sessions, so no one was really looking at my facial expressions during said song. Throughout the week, I talked about the song with my favorite worship leader. One particular question he asked me was "do you hate the whole song or just the one phrase?" I thought about it and it was just those four words - if only I could remove those four words, life would be much better.

If you don't mind, I'm going to be theological for a second. Life is sometimes similar to my relationship with this song - there are just parts (sometimes little and sometimes big) that I would like to remove, alter, or somehow change so that I feel better and deal with so to speak. These things include but are not limited to things like hurricanes, financial hardships, the timing of things, a bad day, a strained relationship, a word I wish I had not spoken, etc. In addition, if I reflect on the other words of this song, I am blown away by its promises and reminders of the Lord and His character.

And oh, how He loves us oh,
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all

He is jealous for me, Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden, 

I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

Oh how he loves, Yeah, He loves us,
Oh! how He loves us, Oh! how He loves us, Oh! how He loves.

And we are His portion and He is our prize, 

Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If His grace is an ocean, we're all sinking.

And Heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don't have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way...

Oh, how He loves us oh, Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all, How He loves

If I'm able to stop for just a moment and look past those four words, I can see the beauty in the song. For a while I couldn't stop for a moment and the first line of the song sent me running in the opposite direction. Now all these years later, I am able to see past the hardships to see the beauty. And in life, I believe we reach a point where we're able to see past the hardships and see the beauty in, among, and after the hardship.

I'm not in the business of writing songs, but my favorite worship leader is. He too was affected by the hurricane and if I was a bettin' woman, I'd say he probably will never write a song with the word 'hurricane' in it. However, the truth remains - if I can sing past those four words, I see the beauty in the Lord and His love for me!

2012 - 4th Quarter

Our fourth quarter update includes October, November and December. As busy as we were, each month could have had their own entry. 

 

I organized a Women's Ministry event at church called "Crafts and Conversations". It was my third time orchestrating the whole event. It's always a lot of fun for a lot of people but also a lot of work too. Women sign up beforehand and pay for dinner plus the cost of the crafts they want to make (they can make up to 2 things). Here are a few pictures from the event:

After spending way too much time deciding which pictures I should use, I decided to make it its own post. Read more about "Crafts and Conversations" here.

A few weekends later, I got together with some seminary friends. We all moved to New Orleans in August 2003 and 9 years later we still love and adore each other. I would make our memories their own post, but alas ET thinks she sent us the pictures but she didn't (hint, hint, ET!).

J went to Texas to attend a Worship Conference with his dad. It was a fun trip for him to see his family whilst in Texas.

J and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary a few weeks early. We went to Nashville and had a fun night away. We saw the Rockettes perform, stayed in the Opryland Hotel and went Christmas shopping at Opry Mills. We also ate at Chuy's - one of my favorite Mexican restaurants.

On our actual anniversary, we went out for pizza. It might not sound so fancy, but that's just the way we like it.

I decorated for a Christmas party given at church. It was for the adults that invest in the 2345 Ministry. It was very festive, wintery, and blue.

I also organized an event at church called Festival of Nativities. People were able to come and browse the nativities as well as have their pictures taken in the dress-up area and listen to festive music. It was a lot of work but also a lot of fun!

We went to Texas for Christmas and had a great time. Sad to say, after J and I have been together for nine years, this was our first actual Christmas spent in Texas on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We had a great time visiting with our family and you can read more about it here.

Christmas 2012 - A Texan Christmas

We went to Texas for Christmas and had a great time. Sad to say, J and I have been together for nine years and this was our first actual Christmas spent in Texas on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I realize how bad that might sound, but the other 8 Christmases we were a little busy. We made a timeline:

• Christmas '04 - I spent several days prior to Christmas in Texas and then flew home to be with my family in Virginia. 
• Christmas '05 - We got married the week before Christmas and had to be back at our church the following Sunday because it was Christmas Day. 
• Christmas '06 - We stayed in Mobile for Christmas in our new house that we had purchased the summer prior. 
• Christmas '07 - I graduated from seminary so everyone came to us in New Orleans.
• Christmas '08 - We flew to Virginia for Christmas. 
• Christmas '09 - J graduated from seminary so everyone came to us in New Orleans.
• Christmas '10 - We flew to Virginia for Christmas.
• Christmas '11 - It was our first Christmas in Huntsville so we stayed put. Christmas was also on a Sunday so J fulfilled his ministerial duties. 
• Christmas '12 - We drove to Texas for Christmas. Details below.

• I won the Wilkerson Family jackpot consisting of over $70 in dimes, nickels and pennies. Long story short, J's grandpa collects his change all year and during Christmas Eve breakfast, you place your bet as to how much change you think is in each container. I guessed closest in the dimes, nickles, and pennies category.

We had Mexican with J's sister and our nieces and nephews.

It snowed on Christmas Day and everything in Texas is bigger...including the snowflakes.

I made Christmas morning breakfast. This helped me to share some of my own family's traditions despite them being miles and miles away. Breakfast casserole (made with hard-boiled eggs) and homemade donuts - yummy!

A Wilkerson Christmas tradition is to switch the letters of "NOEL" to "LEON" and see how long it takes for J's mom to notice. No one claimed this switch-a-roo but it makes me laugh every time.

• The idea was for the entire Wilkerson family to sing/play during the Christmas Eve service...that is, until multiple family members got sick. J and our niece did a great job representing all of us. You can watch the entire performance here.

A Family Christmas Carol

Christmas Carols

J sang "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/We Three Kings" 

at two events this Christmas. 

The first is a duet with our friend Bobi Ann 

and the other duet is with our friend Alison 

(please excuse the sound guy who interrupts my second video - 

I only taped them during their sound check). 

Crafts and Conversations, October 2012

I organized a Women's Ministry event at church called "Crafts and Conversations". It was my third time orchestrating the whole event. It's always a lot of fun for a lot of people but also a lot of work too. Women sign up beforehand and pay for dinner plus the cost of the crafts they want to make (they can make up to 2 things). Here are some pictures from the event:

All the decor was zebra print and hot pink.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

In August 2003, I was 22 years old, single and had just graduated college in May. Seminary was the next step for me, and to be exact New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary was the next step for me. I met these 3 fun gals and we've been friends ever since. From Katrina to marriage to death of loved ones, we have experienced the ups and downs of life together. Since we've all graduated from seminary, we try and get together ever few years. We first got together in New Orleans when 2 of the 4 of us still lived there. The next year we got together in Mobile because we were a little more scattered. And in October, we all got together in Tuscaloosa, because we're even more scattered. It was so much fun!!!

It had been 3 years so we had a lot of catching up to do!

 

2012 - 3rd Quarter

Our third quarter update includes July, August, and September. Those three months contain a mixture of ministry, family, and fun.

The second week of July was Music Camp at our church. Since J is one of the Music Ministers on our church's staff he was heavily involved. He actually co-wrote the music for the Older Camp with a friend of ours. The Older Camp had a 70's theme so for the final performance we dressed appropriately.

J challenged the children to learn their music and lines and if they did so a day early, he would dye his beard a color of their choosing. They choose purple! I went to Sally Beauty Supply and the clerk helped me find what I needed. She guaranteed me that it was temporary and could easy be washed out. I was hesitant but she was right and his beard is back to it's normal shade of red.

During the first few days of August, J's mom called to see if we wanted a family-built hutch that she no longer wanted. We needed a hutch to hold some dishes as well we like the sentimental value of having things built by family. We told her to put it in storage and we would get it next time we were in town. She saved us a trip and came for a visit bring the hutch and our 16-year old niece. We had lots of fun shopping, visiting, and of course filling the hutch with our dishes.

We made a trip to Virginia over Labor Day Weekend to visit my parents. There was so much packed into those 6 days it deserved a post in itself. You can find it here.

We also had church directory pictures taken during the 3rd quarter. The one on the right is the most current picture and the one on the left is from about 4 years ago. My how times have changed!

Some other things worth mentioning, but no pictures -

• In August, I went on a staff retreat at a nearby lake house for the ministry I work with.
• In September, J went to the same lake house for his church staff retreat.
• We enjoyed watching the Olympics and we were so sad when they were over. 
• I started teaching a new Women's Bible Study called Brave on Wednesday nights. It's been a great self-reflection and I think the other 15+ ladies have enjoyed it too. 
• J has started guitar lessons with his two students again - they both took a break over the summer.
• J's grandmother, Dixye, also passed away. She had battled dementia for several years. We are so thankful she knew Jesus and is now made whole again. As one friend said: "She knows all the words to the songs again." J made a video tribute to her including pictures from throughout her lifetime. He copied the DVD multiple times so that every family member could have a copy. It was a great work!