 | | |
| | |
|
Spaces home  Life Is Just A Bowl Of C...PhotosProfileFriendsMore |  Tools   |
|
Life Is Just A Bowl Of CherriesCherie's Space
4/25/2008 Blog? What blog? Certainly not mine!!! My blog wouldn't go neglected for over.... gulp... 4 months??! Life these days seems to be one crazy twist and turn after another - not that I'm complaining! I'll try and just give a quick update on how we're doing for all of you, my faithful readers (ha!), who I haven't talked to recently... We have officially found a meeting place for the new church! It will be in a school gym, which the principal is very excited about, believe it or not!, as well as having some of the big essentials right there so that we won't have to haul them in and out every Sunday (like chairs, pulpit, and a piano). So we're very excited about it, since we KNOW that it was from the Lord. It's a bit further south than what we had originally intended, but we know that this is the place that God provided, so He obviously has a reason for the location. And we know that this location, Lord willing, is only temporary, so when we start looking for a permanent place we could potentially go further north at that point. Troy has daily been getting things ready - it seems like there are countless small things to take care of in preparation! It's good, though, because it keeps our focus on the reason we're here, when it could be so easy to just dive into the church here in Warren and get tunnel vision. It still is hard to believe that it is actually going to happen, sometimes, but we have seen the Lord lead thus far, and we know that this is His doing, so He will be faithful to complete it! When we get together for prayer with the families that will be a part of it, we have seen the Lord bringing them and us together, and it's such an awesome thing to know that we will soon be a church family! They had a vision for this long before we did, but it's been so amazing to see God bring their vision together with the calling He gave us and mesh it into one. God is SO good! I believe everyone who reads my blog knows this already, but just in case you hadn't heard... (and for my own sake of having it "journaled" here) Troy and I have begun the process to adopt domestically! I'd like to chronicle our progress here, but seeing as there really is no news as of yet, it will have to wait until there is! We have chosen to go through a Christian agency here in the Detroit area called Christian Family Services, who several of the families in our church have adopted through, and since it is a smaller agency, they only work in a pool of 10 couples at a time. Since their pool is full right now, we have submitted our application, but now have to wait until they contact us so that we can start the paperwork and get the ball rolling. It's hard sitting back and waiting when we would really love to be able to be DOING something, but we are truly trying to rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him, although it is not easy by any means! We know His timing is perfect, and we're trusting in that, and using our time now without children to be busy in His work! I was so thankful that we were able to make it back to Hartford for my sister Missy's baby shower - what a special day! And it's always SO good to see our families again! But as we got back to our little apartment and our church here, I realized something. This is our home now. I mean, I had been saying that for quite some time already, but even though I can't put my finger on exactly when it happened, sometime between our trip back to Wisconsin for Christmas and this last trip, this truly became home to me, and I love it. And I'm so thankful for that. Yes, I do still miss my family, friends, church, old job, and even - dare I say it? - good ole' Hartford! But thankfully, the Lord has allowed this to be our true home now. The driving... well... the driving not so much, but the everything else... :) Now, if we could just figure out how to build a bridge over Lake Michigan... 12/5/2007 Never a dull moment!One thing that I have noticed in the 4 short years that Troy and I have been married is that there is never. a dull. moment. Even on my birthday! As many of you, my readers, have already heard, my birthday was anything but unexciting this year. Troy left for work at about 8:30 AM, as usual - but about an hour after he left, I got a call from him... saying he was on his way home. Now in my silly little mind, I thought, wow! He got the day off for my birthday! ...Until he finished the sentence. He had been in an accident - rear-ended by a lady at a stoplight - and had put his head into the windshield. Of course he prefaced this by telling me not to panic or anything... :) Ah, what that boy does to me! So my birthday evening I ended up sitting in an ER for 2.5 hours while they waited on everyone else first, so that they could look in his eyes and do some xrays and, eventually, tell him that he was fine and all they could do was to give him some pain killers for his sore head and back. Thank the Lord he's fine, and I have to say that he did make up for it by taking me out for dinner the next night!
As I was talking about it with one of the ladies from church the following Sunday, she gave me a positive perspective that I hadn't taken before when she said that it was actually a great gift because it reminded me that I do indeed have him. How true that is! I'm so thankful for my husband, and I am so thankful that the Lord kept him safe in that situation, and every day, because I truly never know how much longer he or I have on this earth.
It was without a doubt a birthday that I will not soon forget, and I'm thankful for it! 11/26/2007 Another FirstSince moving, Troy and I have experienced many "firsts" as we take on new roles and responsibilities, as well as adjusting to life hours away from either of our families. Well, Thanksgiving Day provided us with another of these firsts - this one being my very first Turkey! I actuallly wasn't even planning on cooking a whole turkey originally - I mean, there are only 2 of us - do we really need a whole turkey? But after we had been given one by the church, I decided to go ahead and cook it, along with all the traditional Thanksgiving Dinner dishes. And boy, was it fun! The turkey turned out beautifully, along with the stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls, corn, cranberries, green bean casserole, and cherry cheesecake to top it all off. So we had a wonderful, relaxing day with just the 2 of us, and since it was Troy's first full day off since moving here, it was one much-needed day!
Another thing that we've been enjoying immensely is entertaining guests as they come to visit us. Mom and Dad B were the first when we first moved, followed quickly by Matt and Missy. Then we had a bit of a break, and just last week Caleb, Kassey, and Carson came for the weekend, which was lots of fun, and just this morning Mom and Dad Gordon left after being here since Friday. We had a wonderful visit with them and it was SO great to be able to show them our "home" and new lives!
It's hard to believe that Christmas is now less than a month away and soon we will be back in Wisconsin to celebrate Jesus Christ's birth with our families. God has been working greatly in our lives here as we learn and prepare for the task that brought us here. We continue to get more excited about the new church and although we feel unworthy to be used in this way, we know that if we remain willing, God will be able to work through us! What an awesome opportunity! 10/4/2007 On Becoming a MichiganderFor those of you who have ever lived in Michigan, I admire you.
For those of you who live here currently, I applaude you.
For those of you who might possibly think about moving here someday... I warn you. Don't do it! Unless, that is, you are prepared to make the following changes, in no particular order:
1. "SODA" SHALT NO LONGER BE CALLED SODA. It shall henceforth be called pop. Ugh.
2. WHEN ONE HAS FINISHED WITH HIS "POP" CAN, IT SHALL BE SAVED UNTIL IT CAN BE TAKEN TO THE NEAREST KROGER AND A 10 CENT REFUND HAS BEEN RECEIVED.
3. WHEN ONE WISHES TO TURN LEFT AT ANY PARTICULAR INTERSECTION, BEWARE! You must first go through the intersection, then turn completely around in the designated "turn-around" intersection, followed by turning RIGHT at the intersection you only wanted to turn left at in the first place. It has been dubbed a "Michigan left" and believe me, it's nuts.
4. WHEN DOING DRIVING OF ANY KIND IN MICHIGAN, BE PREPARED TO BE HONKED AT. Anytime, for little or no reason at all. Hmmmm, although maybe that's just because we still have a Wisconsin license plate??? :)
5. DOOR LOCKS SHALL HERETOFORE ALWAYS BE USED. At home, on your car, and whatever you do, don't leave the keys in the ignition! Oh, and it's probably in your best interest to just not leave home after, oh, 10:00 pm or so. Especially living 7 miles away from the infamous "8 Mile" of Detroit.
6. ABOVE ALL, NEVER TAKE FOR GRANTED THE COMFORTS OF BEING "HOME." Because, no matter where you're from, or where you may move to, home is never quite the same as where you planted your roots the first time.
God is good, and we love what we're doing here, but, well, you know, I can't help but be a little homesick. It's been so great jumping in to a wonderful church with such sweet people, but it's going to take a little while for it to feel completely like home, where we can be ourselves and feel totally comfortable with the people. And, you know, the fact that I can't hug my mom or my sister any ole' day that I want to kind of makes it a little harder too. But I don't mean to minimalize the awesome thing that God is doing here. Troy is LOVING being PAID to study God's Word and work with people! Honestly, it really couldn't get better! And I am getting used to this whole stay-at-home wife thing too. I'm staying busy with the church as well, but I will admit that my home is cleaner on a consistent basis than it's probably ever been. :)
God is blessing, and really, being a Michigander isn't all THAT bad... ;) 8/14/2007 We have an address!...and the packing has officially commenced! I got the first two boxes packed last night! We were in Michigan this past weekend looking for an apartment, and we were incredibly thankful that it went very smoothly, since we ended up arriving later than we had originally intended to. So we had a 3 1/2 hour window to find something on Saturday afternoon. Exciting, right? Well, I began to think it was going to be stressful, especially when we showed Pastor Marriott and his wife the apartments we had found online and they didn't think that the areas that they were in were the best neighborhoods. But they did mention that they thought the apartment across the hall from their daughter and son-in-law was still available (it had just been moved out of when we were there in June)... so would we be interested in that? And of course we were, so we took a look, and liked it immediately. It's nothing fancy, just a small one bedroom apartment, but the price was beautiful (which really has a lot to do with our decision right now!), and we knew that we'd have at least one set of good neighbors. :) So we checked out one other place down the street from that, and soon discovered that it was very comparable in size and everything else, but was more expensive and didn't have a dishwasher (and the first one did). So Troy and I decided that we really didn't think we'd find anything else for as good a price as the first one, and since we really liked the idea of getting to know Pastor's daughter and son-in-law better, we decided to go with it. So we filled out the application and other paperwork that afternoon, and yesterday the landlady called to let us know that we were approved. So, we have a home!
While we were over there this last weekend it really started to become more real to us that this was really going to happen and that, unlike that weekend, in a few weeks we wouldn't be going "home." We will BE home. It's kind of a strange feeling when you've lived in one place your entire life and are trying to grasp the idea of a completely unfamiliar place being home. It's kind of sad. And hard. All the familiarity will be gone. The comfort. The carefree lifestyle of NOT being "Pastor Troy" and "Mrs. Budreau", but just Troy and Cherie. The closeness of family. It will be strange, but good. Every time we visit the church there we just feel so very blessed by the people in it. We know that God is doing this thing in our lives. And, you know, I have to say that the convenience of shopping will be wonderful! Since the nearest Target, or even Walmart, is a good 30-35 minute drive away right now, it will be so nice that when we move, we'll probaby be able to pass at least 10 Walmarts/Targets in a 30-35 minute drive from our apartment. Crazy. So that part will be fun. We're also looking forward to people coming to visit (seriously, everyone, come visit!). And of course the ministry. We are so looking forward to being able to pour ourselves into a ministry, as well as just watch, grow, and learn from the people that will be over us there. It's exciting. I'm so looking forward to seeing Troy thrive in a position like the one he will have there as well. He's been waiting almost his whole life for this opportunity, and God has been using so many things in his life to prepare him for it. I can't wait to see what He is going to do through my husband. Aaaghh! 3 more weeks!
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Invite as friend