The Best Nest

I have been pondering something God has been showing me for quite a while now since our move. It is lesson that aches with conviction and sometimes even a bit of condemnation. However, since it was recently brought to my attention through a visual aide I figured I could now put words into pictures.

Many of the plants that are around our home havn't been maintained over the years. One of which, if not trimmed, turns into a huge, thorny, creeping mess. The bush was so overgrown and full of dead branches that, as you can see, it was leaning sideways. While it still flowered a small bit, the leaves began spotting and turning yellow so I asked a landscaper at church what to do with it. She recommended it probably needed a good trimming back. So as I took to the task of pruning the thorn-ridden monstrosity, eh hemm........ I mean Beautiful Bougainvillea, the Lord began showing me a bit of a picture as I peeled back the layers. In the course of pulling out the dead parts and cutting away at the massive overgrowth, I found something rather unexpected.

Here are 2 of the 3 empty bird nests that were located within the confines of the bush. I am sure they served their purpose in the time they were in use, however, the overgrowth was so bad that there became a point that these were stuck in the mass of thorny branches. If you will notice, they are so ornate and very sturdy to hold up in the harsh rains and winds here in Florida. Their placement in the bush and sturdy construction reminded me of our network of believers we left behind in WA state. When you are privileged with such an amazing support system, it is hard to see how this could ever be detrimental to your walk with God. However, these wonderful Christian people can become your standard of what Jesus has called you to. While you think that you are fully reliant on the Lord, following His will in everything because you have the support of your closest network......... they are not the standard, Jesus is. Just like me, they too are human with failures and frailties. Don't we tend to gravitate to those that tend to share the same liberties as we chose to LOVE and sometimes even hang out with people that have the same failings as ours so we can bond over fruitless living.

We can remain in ignorance together while condoning each others desire for unholiness while in the end our roots begin to surface and leaves turn a bit yellow from lack of nourishment. Much like I did with that plant, when the Lord removed us from our home, He pruned away the comfort & security of our nest. We really had no idea of why He was choosing to do this, however, I can see part of it was that we needed to check our roots. We had the ideal situation back home. Family close by, great friends/fellowship, job security, great church leadership, unwavering biblical teaching, a core group of people that really KNEW us intimately, people who we could count on if we ever needed anything at all. With all these wonderful things in place, unknowingly, our roots began to surface. Although we may not have realized it, God saw our leaves begin to turn yellow and wrinkle due to lack of HIM filling our needs rather than the security of friends, family & church.

Moving to Florida has been eye-opening in many areas. The most important honest evaluation though has been how shallow our roots were. That once all of our securities were stripped away, we were tested to see if we truely believed that Jesus really IS ENOUGH. We are called to have deep roots in the Lord so that when the fires of life rage with avengence, we can look to the one who has His hand on the thermostat. How often, when the fires raged, we were quickly able to call a reliable Christian friend, rather than seeking out the counsel of the one who made us. How easy it was in a time of trouble to solve the immediate problem through our network of people who loved and cared for us rather than call out to the One who made us and has an awesome plan for our lives. Logically, for a "mature believer" it is DUMB to do this on a continual basis when you realize that the maker of the Universe has our best interest at heart. Yet we are lazy, lonely people that simply rely on what is tangible for the RIGHT NOW when Jesus still small voice beckons to be enough for us. Seeking the voice that calmed the raging sea, raised the dead and who speaks life into these dry bones is the only way that our roots remain deeply grounded into the rich fertile soil, while all else is secondary. The bait of Satan is to get our focus looking to others as our standard, when Christ wants our eyes fixed on Him and His word for direction.

Not sure if this is you? Here is a possible self-check to do with the Lord.



When something horrible or amazing happens what is your first instinct?



When you need some guidance on ANY subject do you go to the Lord first or gather all the necessary information before consulting the Lord?



Is God more of your butler up in heaven? A means to an end only necessary when you need some answers, or some extra UMPH to get through the day OR is His whisper presently recognizable in every aspect of your life?



Most importantly, if you are still certain this doesn't at all apply to you, the Lord knows! Ask Him to search your heart and He will be faithful to point out any areas that are whithering. Maybe no one around you can 'see' your malnourishment, but be certain that God is just waiting to be enough.

Pregnant

Sorry to disappoint you but if you clicked on my blog in anticipation of a pregnancy announcement, sadly that is no longer possible. However, much of what we are anticipating in the upcoming year is much like process of pregnancy and the anticipation of expecting a baby. The only difference between a real pregnancy and what we are 'birthing' is the fact that with babies, there is an actual due date.

As the task at hand is becoming more and more apparent, there is much preparation in store for what the Lord is doing. There are a lot of emotions, expectations and anticipation to see God do what He does best, as we try not to insert ourselves and screw it all up. I remember being pregnant with each one of my children and being told what is the best things avoid (caffeine was my addiction) and to take my vitamins, eat healthy and drink plenty of water. Due to the complications of each pregnancy there were plenty more DO's and DO NOT's on those lists but each one of these instructions were there to benefit & protect the best interest my baby and myself.
In the same manner we are being instructed to prepare, anticipate and wait expectantly on the work the Lord is putting together.
~To grow together as a strong family unit so that when adversity comes we can count on the Lord and each other to get through. So that when one of us falls the others will be standing to help them up.
~To teach, instruct, model & build up our kids in their faith so that they too can become co-laborers in the work that God has for us.
~To be diligent in keeping our cups filled so that they may be poured out and used at a moments notice.
~To rest now because once the work has started there will be a time of business where our bodies and minds will be spent as we pour out what is supplied continually.
~To be wise with the stewardship God is providing so that if there is a season of hardship for our area, we can be a witness to those around us by providing for needs not being met.

It is so awesome to watch the beauty of comradery that women posess when a first-time mom announces her pregnancy. The immediate reaction is a whirlwind of planning by all those that love and care for her. What I experienced and have seen in many other of my friends is that, all the other moms around her begin taking note and anticipating her needs! Many go home and find things that they don't use anymore and pass along to her. There is a nesting instict that comes out in women all around her in order to help her transition to motherhood be a smooth one. An infectious joy, support and excitement is in the air during this time!

In the same manner, people around us, most not even knowing what God is doing, have given us things. For example, Abby is doing vision therapy at our eye Dr.'s office twice a week to improve her ability to read. He knows we homeschool but has no idea of anything else about us. This week he asked if we had any use for an overhead projector. He had just bought a new one and decided to give this one away and thought of us. I was floored. I hadn't even thought about this as a need but a major luxury! As always, God sees a way to meet a need, even before we can see it as such. He uses those around us, totally unaware, to meet them. I came home with it and John just grinned thankfully.

Our home is another example of this. Although I feel rather guilty for having such an amazingly huge blessing, God has shown us how it is only an extension of things HE wants to do out here. That our home is going to be a safe haven for people who are weary where they can experience a time of refreshment.

Just as a new mom can only fathom what being a mom is like and can only guess at how this will forever change her, we are in the same boat. What God has in store is a huge masterpiece and while we can only imagine the what's, when's, why's and how's, there is a solice in knowing that He has it all taken care of. Just as the mom has really nothing to do with the beauty that transforms inside her womb we too, have only a TINY responsibility in what God is working out. We are only to follow His leading in the everyday, so that we can be in the right place at the right time obeying as we watch how He pulls it all together for His Glory.

Many folks have inquired about if we know WHY we are here. We do know some of the reasons that God has shared with us. However, because we don't have all the answers, this could make us discouraged or insecure, but we would rather choose reliance. Chosing reliance over any other tempting train of thought makes us cling to the Lord for His lead. While our lives are not filled with the comfort of an 'exact purpose' or 'detailed time lines', it stretches me (the planner) to find comfort in not knowing. After all, is it really important to have details or do they give us an artificial security in circumstances, rather than our Lord? While it makes me uncomfortable to say "I don't know why," it does cause me to be more intentional with small and minute decisions. It has made me see the difference between a God-allowed choice rather than a God-designed choice. There are many things God will allow us to take part in that have absolutely no eternal value at all. Their rewards are temporal and more about keeping idol hands busy rather than glorifying the Lord. When I thought I had a pretty firm grasp on the game plan laid out and an understanding of my life, it was so easy to get caught up in the eventual monotony of 'cruise control'? Because I have the benefit of NOT knowing what next year will look like, it makes me more intentional about praying before committing my time energy and resources to anything. God Bless all!

Shock & Awe

This post is dated just 2 years to the date where the Lord first allowed us to come to Florida. At this time 2 years ago we were hustling around packing for the vacation of a lifetime. We had amazing plans to visit Walt Disney World AND more importantly, meet my hubby's birth~daughter for our first face to face meeting. The kids were so excited to meet a sister they had only heard about from e-mail, pictures and phone calls. You can read a bit about that here. Without that pre-ordained plan to come spend time with her, we probably would have never visited Florida. What an amazing gift we have been given to have her on our lives. Who would have ever figured a simple visit of a lifetime would be the precursor to something way bigger?

As of February 4th, we are the owners of a home that we do not deserve. It is a huge blessing and I can't even comprehend why the Lord would so abundantly give us our hearts desires. Especially after the many temper tantrums I avoided blogging about when I knew I was going to have to sell our last home....... On the outside, I was trying to be excited about this new plan from the Lord. I didn't want to quench His plan by mourning our losses/counting the cost, OUT LOUD. However, in my heart of hearts, I didn't want to. I could only see the reality of giving up my family's fingerprints on that home. The time invested there making memories. I know we are not to hold on to earthy treasures, but I really didn't want to let that one go. Remember in the Old Testament where their mourning was filled with sitting in ashes and wearing sackcloth? My dramatic pity party was quite similar to this with the exception that my mourning was all about something that is going to burn.

When I look at the blessing of this house the we just purchased, it is just an amazing testimony of the character of God. While I am so reactionary when He takes away a blessing that we didn't deserve in the first place, He remains the same. He still wants to bless my socks off regardless of if I deserve it. His amazing provisions are not based upon anything I can earn, but about resting in His grace. While this new home doesn't have my family's fingerprints on it quite yet, in some ways I hope it never does. At least not in the same manner my last one did. Effectively being able to use God's provision for HIS glory is all I should be satisfied with. Don't get me wrong, I want to make it inviting, pretty and LESS COLORFUL, but I never want it to take captive a special place in my heart. To make me second guess the fact that God always has our best interest at heart if He wanted us to give it up tomorrow. The difference between Earthly treasures and the things that God finds worth in are quite clear.

Proverbs 24:3 By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; 4 through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures.

Isaiah 33:5 The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness. 6 He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure.

Matthew 6:19"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Lord, continue to guard my heart so that what my heart treasures, are reflective of what you find worth in!

News about the house we are buying!

As many of you may know we have been searching for a house for quite a while now in and around Lehigh Acres. I will not lie, our search has not been without set-backs, discouragement and quite a bit of doubt. God told us quite a while ago, that we were to move out there. However, when things were not falling into place right away and we were not seeing any homes that would work, there was a lot of doubt.
Each time we would doubt the Lord would, ever so gently, tell us to wait on Him. That He really did have a plan and that His plan has a perfect timing. The last house that I blogged about here was a very good find, but the price wasn’t quite right for us. The Lord told John that this was our home, but he never really got a solid confirmation about a price. I did get confirmation on a price, but it seemed highly unlikely that the bank would come down to that when it had only been on the market for 5 days. We initially made a full price offer on the house and if you read my last post about it you will know how much I wrestled with it. The cool praise behind it was that the bank refused our terms, so we walked away, watched and waited. After a period of time, we digressed and began looking at other properties, with the impression the Lord closed that door. At this point, our doubting became an action of disobedience. We widened our search area to include the east side of Fort Myers, and looked outside the area God told us. We actually did find 2 homes in North Fort Myers that were very neat and tugged at our flesh! However, one was a bit out of our price range and the other was an older home. Either one would have been an excellent purchase/deal, but God was silent. We were trying too hard to make his will come to pass in an area we were not suppose to be!
After about a month went by and Christmas came and went, we noticed the price went down over $10,000. This brought the home into our price range. However, we were guarded with that because sometimes there are reasons why the price falls due to vandalism and key elements being stolen. This was not the case though. After seeking the Lord on it we made an offer with the seller paying 6% commission. They responded back saying that there would be no offer they would accept unless they only had to pay 3%. This was the reason why they refused our first offer! Basically it is the banks way of making sure you can afford the property. SO we countered a reduced price as if they were paying the full 6% and they accepted!
Buying a foreclosure, while it is a great deal, is very tedious! Many of the common fees paid for by the seller have been on top of their 3% and an additional portion of our transaction. While unexpected and weird because it is unlike any other house buying experience, the Lord has been guiding the whole process. The whole reason I waited to blog about it was because our realtor and mortgage broker kept warning us that the deal may fall through. Due to all the foreclosures and cash flow that is easier to deal with than waiting for loans, many deals like ours are not going through for some reason or another. So with all the nightmare stories we heard, we kept our hearts open to the fact that just maybe God might have another plan. Inspections have been done, surveys are complete and insurance was acquired on the property. Closing is suppose to take place on February 5th. So we wanted to share our new home with you! These are definitely the BEFORE pictures as we know this house needs A LOT of tender lovin care! Hopefully once we paint and replace some things it will be cute! Here is a picture of the front at the Real estate listing link. The rest are on a slide show I will place below!
CastleStone house

If any of you would like to see the layout much like the ones you get when deciding on a model home, I have a schematic that I drew on word that I can send you via e-mail as an attachment!

Click here to view these pictures larger

I was having trouble viewing these photos so you may have to use the "Click here to view there pictures larger" link! Thanks for all your prayers during this process! As you can see, we needed it!

The hunt continues

As many of you know from reading my last post we have begun house hunting. There in lies the premise for this post.
Just last week we literally stumbled on the ‘perfect house’. It basically had all of our heart’s desires in a home AND then some. It wasn’t in perfect condition, however, with some new paint and TLC it would be ‘perfect’ to suit all of our needs. (It even had one room that had Seattle Seahawk colors on the wall with SEAHAWKS written on the wall; who knew bad taste in football teams traveled THAT far away! YIKES. John shook his head in shame telling me that was the first room to get painted!) LOL! It was built in 2001, so this meant is was new enough to have a lower insurance premium, but not new enough to have the possibility of Chinese drywall! COOL! We had seen another home that was still in the back of our minds as a possibility but it was much older and missing several things things that this home had. Like a bigger yard, fence, pool, quiet street, ect. It seemed as though this one was the whole package and our search was over!
As John and I spent time with the Lord to ask Him if HE concurred with our thoughts neither of us got scripture about it being ‘the house’. John got scripture about going and dwelling in the Land again. Basically I got scriptures stating I needed to have faith. Maybe I am just a bit picky, but I asked the Lord for specifics. I wanted something along the lines of having the subject of a HOUSE in the scripture? Nothing, but we thought maybe John’s scripture was enough and that I just needed to have faith in the fact that God wants us to have this sweet treasure? To be honest, I got discouraged and basically gave up seeking to get confirmation. John felt like he got confirmation on a price/offer so we placed an offer on the home and the seller to pay a 6% concession. There was no peace as a result of that offer on my part because I knew I stopped seeking. I began praying for God to PLEASE protect us if we stepped out on our own and not under His direction. The bank countered our offer with only paying a 3% concession and we knew right away that this was above the offer John had peace with. We pretty much walked away from the offer all together and put it in the Lord’s hands. If we are to have it then God will make it clear to us through more scriptural confirmation AND the bank will accept our previous offer.
All the while God kept bringing to mind another property we had looked at, but fairly quickly dismissed. It was no longer even a caditate for consideration as far as John and I were concerned. However, the realestate agent kept asking our agent if we were still interested? It was owned by a church and they used it as house for recovering addicts and possibly visitors to their church. It was older, not well cared for, smelled of cigarettes, needed A LOT of work, not in the best part of town and NOT even in Lehigh but a little north of it (East Fort Myers to be exact). However, the home was much bigger than the others we had seen for the same price. It could accommodate an extra family and visitors to stay with us. It also had plenty of room for bible studies. So I felt the Lord tugging at my heart asking WHY we are here? Is it to have the nice house, huge yard, pool , in an acceptable part of town? OUCH! I know that we can accomplish both things in either home, but only God knows where we will have the biggest impact and what we will need, long term for what He is calling us to do. Oh, how our ‘hearts desires’ can sometimes be so short sighted looking only to the immediate need/wants rather than the fact that God has a LONG term plan going on. So we are continuing to seek more confirmation from the Lord. I am well aware that we NEVER “surprised God” by making a choice using our moderate understanding of what God thinks is best for us. However it is quite similar to old adage “When life hands you lemons, make lemonade”. However, we are the ones providing the Lemons for GOD to make Lemonade! Settling, not His first and foremost plan for us but He will make due with the effort we have given. Handing God ‘lemons’ and HIM orchestrating all those affected by our mess…….. We never make decisions in a vacuum and there are always casualties of decisions made without Christ. However, God is a God of redemption. It is God’s pleasure to have us submit to Him and give Him ALL our messes repentantly. Repentance is the key to getting our hearts back in line with the Lords desires for us.
I wish I could tell you that we HAVE confirmation on 'the house' God wants us to own, but so far we keep on seeking until our hearts are in line with scripture and attain the peace that only comes from making a decision based on the Lord's will for our lives. If you think about it please pray for us to get that confirmation! Love you all!

My Thankful List

Being that quite a few things have transpired since my last post I figured, in order to keep you from snoozing through a post I would keep it short and sweet…….. Never done that before so I suppose we will see how that goes!

1. I am thankful that I have a pretty amazing husband, 3 great kids that the Lord has blessed us with and an extended family that has been grafted into our clan through adoption.

2. I am so thankful for my sustained health and the fact that everyone else in our family is healthy! I have been seizure free for many years now, thanks to the Lord’s sweet provision and the ability to pay for the medication necessary to keep me well!

3. John, not only has a job in this uncertain economy, but it is a job that is truly a gift from God. He has had several opportunities to witness; mostly through acts of kindness, but those are rare between inmate and officer so they speak volumes. It also gives him time/energy to pour more into our family! This is just awesome to see the fruit from this happening as we become more knit together and indivisible for the work that God has called us to!

4. God is providing for us and continues to take care of us above all that we could ask or think!

5. I am so THANKFUL the kids and I got to go home and visit/recharge with my relatives and Calvary Chapel Tri-Cities church family back in August. Also, very grateful for opportunities to eat food (mostly ice cream and ranch dressing) that we can’t find here in Florida.

6. We seem to have some direction about the WHY behind being here in Florida. (To be disclosed when we have more evidence/direction)

7. A family from our church in the Tri-cities will be moving down, possibly within a year, to come alongside us in what the Lord has planned! We are pretty happy ELATED/AMAZED about this! It will be so wonderful to have fellowship for our family as we encourage each other to follow the path that God has laid out for each of us here!

8. As per the Lord’s direction, we have been house hunting again in an area that is about 45 minutes, yet only 20 miles, SouthEast of our current location. The town we are looking in/ around is called Lehigh acres.

9. The housing market is still pretty affordable here, but prices are slowly rising because investors are saturating the market. It has also been a bit tricky to navigate this market for these reasons:
~Foreclosures that have been ‘invisibly’ or visibly trashed. Some people are so upset they are losing their homes that they pour cement down the drains & toilets to make sure whoever buys the house has to “pay” for taking it away from them. They get back at the bank by selling off all light fixtures, pool equipment, AC/HVAC systems, kitchen cabinets, ect.
~Short sales: a term that basically says “I am trying to avoid foreclosure with my dignity and credit in tact. PLEASE buy my house for less than what I paid for it. However, since I really don’t want to HAVE to sell it to you, don’t expect me to let you see my house or negotiate a price for 1/3 of what I paid.”
~ Chinese drywall, which the government says is perfectly safe to inhale inert Strontium isotopes that stink like rotten eggs? It is in many of the homes on the market but is not disclosed since it is ‘safe’. Many of the homes built between the years of 2004 to 2006 are effected and since this was a time when there was a huge housing boom it is hard to know what is and is not a home with that drywall. It is so sad to see that people had to go into foreclosure on their ‘dream homes’ because they were unlivable. Even if you have one sheet of this stuff in your home it will cause BIG problems. It breaks down appliances, AC units and damages copper wiring within the year. People who have lived in these homes have the same health problems, however, even though the complaints are the same it is unrelated to the drywall? No worries though……. Obama will LOAN you upwards of 100,000 to ‘fix’ your unrepairable home. Many are struggling to afford their mortgages ‘as is’ and are then forced to foreclose. GRRRRR!
With all these obstacles in our path we are SO GRATEFUL we are seeking the Lord for direction. Only He knows what house we should have so when He says NO, it is easy to walk away KNOWING HE has our best interests at heart.

10. Ever since we realized that my seizure disorder would not be able to sustain another pregnancy, I knew that God gave me a hope that we would adopt to complete our family. John half-heartily agreed with this notion because, he saw how upseting devastating it was, for me. To have the desire to physically bear more children, but submitting that desire to the Lord, KNOWING it was time to let my body be done. However, adoption was MY hearts desire, not John's. After 6 years of praying for my husband to let the Lord speak to his heart on this matter, God has come thorugh. WE will be pursuing adoption once we get settled into the home God has for us here in Florida. The kids are VERY excited and pray daily for their new sibling(s) and that God would keep them safe till we meet him/her/them.

11. I am so thankful that the Lord has chosen this time of isolation for our family. Weird I know, but it has caused John & I to take a very good look at the fact that “you are going to get out of your children, exactly what you put into them”. Yes, we homeschool, yes we use Christian curriculum, yes, we talk about what the Lord is doing for us as a family and how He relates to us. However, how much of this is just scratching the surface? How much of this really cultivates a relationship with us AND more importantly, Jesus? Meaning if they only hear about the Lord through quaint little stories at church and via a short devotional in the morning before school, are they really equipped or are they starving spiritually! Since this has been brought to our attention, we have been doing family devotions in the evening. Just going through the word, reading and answering questions. I only wish we had started doing this earlier as it allows them to ask us questions without shame for not knowing. It gives us opportunities to diffuse all the worlds influences that creep to tempt their hearts. A place in our children’s hearts needs to be cultivated more proactively in the world we live in. The bonus is getting to see them grow in the Lord more fervently, turn to Him when they struggle in their sin AND, most importantly, get victory over those areas they give to the Lord.

12. This year we got to have someone over for Thanksgiving that we know from back home! A former co-worker of John’s moved here to Cape Coral about a couple months ago. We have gotten together a couple times to share our ‘confusion’ with the new culture here in Florida and swapping stories from back home. John and she also had a nice time swapping work stories of their time spent at Benton county as well as being so THANKFUL each of them no longer work there.

I know this is longer than I promised so I will stop there! I am thankful for more than just these things but I know you are already probably thinking “I don’t really care whatever else you are thankful for because you are so long winded” and ready to move along to check your Facebook page. Please just don't post a status update of that you now "need a nap because Theresa's blog is so long"! I will still chose to love you even if you do this but I may send you a poopy diaper in the mail. I work in the church nursery! :o) For those of you naysayers like Ryan, I, just want to let you know, there are 3 separate posts I started along these lines and never got finished because they were a bit too long individually. So, in a way this really is LONG STORY SHORT! He He! Hope you all are well and enjoying getting ready for your Christmas celebration! BIG CHRISTMAS HUGS SENT FROM FLORIDA! Especially because I am not sure if we will get Christmas pics out this year! Anyone want to come celebrate Christmas on the beach with us? Just let me know!

An additional puzzle piece

I mentioned a couple posts ago that I was pondering our puzzle pieces. Basically God was giving us some information to ‘sit on’. His plans get revealed to us before hand but it is only when circumstances follow that the plan actually looks feasible! One of puzzle pieces had to do with John’s job. While his job is a tremendous blessing, one thing about being a corrections officer, the hours are harder on the body as you get older. Don’t get me wrong, 12 hour shifts have their advantages and can be an amazing blessing. Only working 15 days a month is very neat, however if on the other 15 that you do work, you are present only in body, but the brain should be categorized as the ‘walking dead’, this is not so great. Also when the off days are spent recovering from the working days, many times this results in permanently working with an intellect that is a few fries short of a happy meal!
A little history for you….. When my hubby and I married in 1998 he was already a corrections officer. He had a ‘specialty position’ though, working with inmates on the road crew. The reason why it is such a great position for most, is that it has normal hours of operation. Back then, he worked Tuesday through Saturday 7am-3pm. Being that I was raised by a police officer who was on rotating shiftwork, this schedule was a piece of cake! These hours meant that he still had a little energy left when he got home for us AND enough ‘spring in his step’ to maybe attend an evening service at church or go to a friends house for dinner. In all his years as a corrections officer THESE were probably the most care-free and fun for him. You see, my hubby has the gift of evangelism and when he worked this type of job, he had so many opportunities to witness to people. It wasn’t like he had a ‘captive audience’ either. He never abused his position as an officer to shove the gospel down someone’s throat. He would merely have his bible in his work van, read it during lunch breaks and just live out his relationship with Jesus in front of the people on his crew. Inmates are pretty much used to being treated with disrespect and when you do not fill this role with them, it makes a big difference. Many of them would strike up conversations about the bible. After a short while of conversation, the barriers that were standing in between them and the Lord was eradicated. Being that many of them are invariably at a pretty low point in their life, they are already ‘seeking’ something that makes a lasting change or difference in their life. Talk about my hubby being in the right place at the right time. Unfortunately, after a couple years of being a work crew officer, my hubby tested for a supervisor’s position. He always regretted making this move as it felt like ‘trading in’ his most effective ministry for career advancement. Although, God still used him in his new positions, it never felt as right as when he was really being used with his work crew. As a supervisor, he was grateful for the fact of KNOWING from experience, that career advancement isn’t all it is cracked up to be. With more responsibility, comes greater headaches that are not worth the pay increase! He never imagined that he would ever be presented with the opportunity to do this former job again until just recently.
A month ago, there were two work crew positions that came available in the department here. They seemed to take forever to post them all the while John was just chomping at the bit to apply! He figured that maybe they would have to cut the program, since budgets around here are very tight! What is very neat about the timing of the posting is that it was a month after John’s one year anniversary and annual evaluation. One of the requirements for being considered for the position was that you had to be there over a year. God is so good and His timing is always so perfect!
He put in a letter of interest for the position as soon as it was posted. There were many rumors flying around that they already had in mind who they wanted for the positions. While there were quite a few applicants, there were less than a dozen interviews. Everyone who was interviewed was sent an e-mail of when they needed to show up for their oral board interview. A few minutes after receiving the e-mail, John got a radio call from the Captain asking if he got the e-mail and was planning to make the interview. John felt his heart jump a bit but didn’t want to read too much into it. No one else on his crew received the same radio call to confirm.
The interviews were today. He called me RIGHT after his interview and said that he didn’t think he did well! He was pretty bummed thinking he must not have made it. An hour later he called me again stating that the Captain called him and offered him the job. So beginning on October 5th John will be running a work crew and working 4 ten hour shifts. Having a set schedule opens up many opportunities for ministry not only at work but for home fellowship too! This is just one more piece of the puzzle that has been revealed to us and we want to share with you all! More to come as God begins to reveal more of His plan for us here!

Pondering my puzzle pieces & God's plan

Jeremiah 29:11-13
11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
Romans 5:1-5
1Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
For many reasons, I have been pondering these verses lately. What immediately caught my attention is the fact that our worldly definition of ‘prosper’ is so off base and opposite to the Lord’s. I looked up the word prosper, however in the KJV, the word that is used is Peace. When I dig deeper into that word peace, in Hebrew it means rest & safety. DUH, kinda sounds like another way of saying peace? After reading the first verse, I can see how awesome it is, that all I have to do is understand God has plans for us and all we need to do is rest in His plan. Seems simple enough right? He promises the end result of doing this is sweet intimate fellowship with Jesus and that He will hear our prayers which provide Him direct access to our hearts. (My paraphrase) With that kind of direct access, comes a yielding heart that is moldable to His plans over our own.
Then my mind slips into the realization of the second scripture. While God does have plans to give us peace and keep us from harm, He never promises that life will be easy. This is sometimes where my “heart to heart” kinship with the Lord gets tested. Many times, God’s plans have periods of refinement that do not FEEL like peace or safety. Dyeing to self through whatever circumstance is usually painful. Many times, those periods when dying is the only option that serves the greatest purpose, became so much harder because I got distracted with how I felt about dying. Just as a baby cries when they have a dirty diaper, we adults can kick against the Lord’s plan when the process gets uncomfortable. We question God’s process eventhough we KNOW He desires peace, rest and safety for our lives. Sadly, this is where kinship and the Lord’s direct access to MY heart gets muddled by self-loathing.
Hence the reason for this verse:
Philippians 4: 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.
If testing our faith produces a temper tantrum, isn’t is so awesome that God knows exactly what we need to do, to get right back on track. This verse functions a bit like the tazer/stun gun that cops use to disable a criminal. It jolts them out of their stupidity to get them to comply. This verse stings to the heart to get our eyes off our petty problems and onto the Lord. He is so faithful to keep it simple, for simple folks like myself. After all, God’s ultimate goal is very dis-similar to that of a police officer. He desires a heart that is more than just compliant. The ultimate goal of the Lord is not forced manipulation to achieve the task at hand but restoration. He wants that fellowship back that willingly offers Him humble obedience and that direct heart accessability again.
How come the knowledge that God HAS a perfect plan that suits our best interest, is not enough? How come that concept is not something we cling to while persevering through the refining process? Since not much has changed since the fall of man, I suppose it is much in the same manner by which Adam and Eve KNEW there was ONE tree they were not to eat from but ended up hanging out by that tree? Knowledge is not really good for anything unless it is preceeded by a trusting in, relying upon and clinging to, relationship with Christ.
As God begins to unfold His Plans to “prosper us and not to harm us” in whatever manner He choses to do this, I am praying for our family. That in the midst of His plan, to have yielding hearts that will hold fast through whatever refinement is necessary to achieve things He desires. Counting the cost of following Jesus in the times of comfort is never any challenge. However, when you begin walking according to the Lord’s plan you become a target for spiritual battle. Ergo the need to for this verse of which I am making my memory verse:
Ephesians 6: 10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— 19 and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

What are God’s plans for you this year? Do you think He is calling on you to count the cost, in ways that you don’t care to be stretched out of your comfort zone? What scriptures have helped you when you were being stretched persevering through refinement? Feel free to share if you have any words of wisdom!

Its not easy being green!

I thought you all might get a kick out of seeing John's new uniform! Here he is all proud of his new duds with the exception of the small band above his name labeling him a trainee.

Look at the stud in his pose and cheesey grin!

He actually begins 'real work' on FTO status (on the job training) here on Sunday, so goodbye are the 8-4 hours of classwork and here we go with the 12 hour shifts again! John has been excited to get on the job because the last week of classes were very boring and basically geared toward the recruits who have never worked in law enforcement before. Today's class was pretty interesting though. They went over the internet access, programs offered and specialty positions.

The only residual effect we got from Ike was just some short bursts of rain storms lasting a total of maybe 10 minutes each and some mild wind. In Tri-cities it would have been considered a normal day with the exception of the rain. It is just kinda funny that it comes and goes so quickly! I have a feeling tonight we will be dumped on with rain as it passes by us. It has been raining for over an hour now, which is fairly uncommon for it to rain this much at one time.

Here is a picture to proove I am actually a Floridian! I guess the extra expense for this plate per year goes to ministries that support moms who are either giving up their babies for adoption or who chose to have their babies and offer support to them much like the TCPC. A worthy cause!

It seems like the loan process on the house is proceeding like planned. We got paperwork from the title and escrow company to sign, so now we just wait for the final financing details to come through on their loan and I guess we sign..... Until we sign there is still no word on a closing date yet.

More great news!

This will be short sweet and to the point since I know I am kind of a blog hog and write quite often! However, I miss you all and am so excited to share all the neat things God keeps doing! We found out today that John passed his test for certification so he will get sworn in within the next week! I will take pictures since it is a pretty big deal here! WAY COOL & AWESOME BLESSINGS here in Florida which makes the heat & humidity bearable! God has come through beyond our wildest expectations!
On a lighter note....... John got sprayed with Pepper spray in the morning and then later that day had to qualify shooting! I thought this was rather humorous since they wanted to blind him before seeing if he could shoot straight but I guess after a good shower, he had no trouble qualifying! This is in itself another awesome praise that we are so THANKFUL for! Anyone from Tri-cities want to come and join us yet?
Love to all you back home that are enjoying the beautiful signs of fall and 70 degree temps!

EXCITING NEWS!!!

THE HOUSE IS SOLD! YIPEE! We signed papers and faxed them in today!
I have shared with some of you that we were in negotiations on Saturday regarding the house in Wa state. Some folks had come to see it quite a few times and were very interested in it. They were approved for a conventional loan & I guess they went this route so that the financing would go through as soon as possible. After lots of prayer to make sure our hearts were in the right place (it is always hard to sacrifice your price on a home you worked so hard to make pretty!), several offer/counter-offers we came to an agreement on a price that God had wanted us to sell it for! They are hoping for their loan to be fully funded and be in the house in 2 weeks so we are praying that all this happens for them! Only one more house payment and another month paying bills on the house and then we will be without all those extra expenses! God is so good and has been providing all the funds necessary to make those payments thus far so the house selling this soon was just an amazing blessing that we will be able to not be totally tapped out for funds! He is a merciful God isn't he!

Today, John got to experience being tazed. Everyone had to experience it but he was volunteered for a "special example" The instructor clipped one prong to his shoulder and the other to his boot. I guess it was quite effective and definitely something John will never forget as the electro-shock reverberated throughout his body! There wasn't an explanation given to him WHY they did this in particular since you can't really manage to do this to an assailant but maybe they just were having a bit of 'fun' at someones expense?

Tomorrow he will be qualifying to shoot. Praise God that his finger is doing much better so that shooting will not be as painful as it would have been if he was still swollen and sore! We will hopefully find out tomorrow what John's score was on the test! Until then...... Thank you for all your prayers!

Confession time..... & Thank you!

I know this is terribly late and way overdue but I just wanted to throw out a BIG THANK YOU out to all of you who came to our going away gathering and put together care packages & activities for the kids.
I must confess, however, due to a miscommunication about what stays with us in the vehicle and what gets shoved back in the nether-regions of the truck and trailor all of those precious bordum busters got placed in the truck and we were unable to get to them during our journey! There were many times I was bummed about that but now I am kinda glad that it happened this way.
As time ticks away and the kids begin to miss their home, family & friends from the Tri-cities, those sweet loving genstures have become a neat reminder that they are loved and that someone cares enough about them to wish them well!

Since school started quite a bit earlier here than it did in the Tri-cities we have already begun our studies. Unfortunately there is a bit of work that we did not finish from last year so we are trying to get caught up on this right now. When we found out we were moving, while homeschooling did not completely stop it slowed down quite a bit. Now that there are not tons of folks to do playdates with I guess this will help me to buckle down and get stuff done more often! Homeschooling laws here are not more strict as far as WHO is capeable of homeschooling but it is more intense as far as record keeping. This is one thing I do not enjoy but I have to keep a portfolio of all their school work and report into a Homeschool liason from the district a couple times of year. No pressure! UGH! There is a lady in our church who has 6 kids and has homeschooled them all in the state of Florida so I really need to get together with her and pick her brain. There is an option of doing umbrella schools or charter schools as well so I need to my homework and pray about what option is going to work out for our family! Sounds a bit too much like California to me which makes me a bit nervous but as with everything else in our lives...... God will cover us where we are lacking!

NOISE!

I am not sure if the camera's small mic will pick it up, but here is a typical day in Florida. It usually rains, thunders & lightenings at least once a day. On this day in particular there was a constant rumble of thunder due to the consistent lightning strikes. I got a couple strikes on film but I was fascinated with the constant rumble. I had to film through the screen so sorry for the poor reflection. Maybe if you turn up your sound real loud you might here it too?

Here is a picture of a turtle I almost ran over sitting in a puddle on the roadway. I figured someone else might mistake him for pavement as well so after snapping his pic I moved him to a safe place since he was so little....... as you can tell he is a bit shy!

SO far all the other animals have been hiding real well which is a bummer. I really want a pic of an armadillo & racoon to share but I may have to wait till the weather is a bit better?

I tried getting a short video of the noisey neighbors! Whatever they are, birds, crickets, some other bug I would care not to meet? They live in this tree and while you may not be able to hear them in the video I can hear their constant buzzing from inside my house! They tend to get a little quieter once I started taking an interest filming. GRRRR! John says that once I get used to the buzzing I will miss it if it ever goes away? I suppose he is right as it is the sounds of the country!

For those of you wondering about how John did on his test, well we are not sure quite yet. All of the guys that went up together to take it, came out from taking the test with the same dread...... Each felt as if they couldn't have prepared any better than they did but that they might not have passed. We shared this on Wed. night at church as our prayer request. A lot of the sermon talked about how it is not anything that we do in our own strength that bears fruit but only what the Lord does through us. I figured it would be neat if God reveals himself through John passing that it is not in John's strength/wisdom, but that the Lord did it through him.

John got to go to the core facility today and tour the place. He met some other folks that lateralled over from state facilities and are taking some of the same intro courses. Tomorrow he has a training called verbal judo that teaches you how to communicate effectively/professionally wiht the inmates. I guess this is a training John has always wanted to attend and here everyone gets it before they start working! Next week he will have to be sprayed & tazed so as you might of guessed, he is real excited about this! :o) He is having fun and just praying that God will expedite his test results so he can stop waiting with anticipation...... Tis all for now! I hear you all in Tri-cities are experiencing and early fall. I am jelous! TTFN!

The next thing

As of Friday John has 'officially' passed the academy. YIPEE! Now he just has to pass the exam to become certified on Wednesday the 27th. On Monday and Tuesday this next week he has to report to the academy to study from 8-4. Some of the other guys he has been in class with for the last 2 weeks will also be there so they are going to use this time to quiz each other. After the exam, John will then have to go through another qualifying certification with Lee county. He will have to qualify shooting and some other areas before being able to work in the jail. I guess you do not get your test results from the exam back right away so after Wednesday, until they find out he has passed he will be qualifying in those other areas. He is doing rather well on the practice exams so please pray for his nerves not to get the better of him! We are also praying about replacing his small car and are shopping around and praying so if you could pray for God to direct our paths that would be awesome!

John had to go to the Doctor this week for an infection in his right index finger. Of course this is on his writing hand so after he was qualifying with shooting last week it really began to bug him. I am thinking it may have happened initially when we first moved in because he kept jamming/smushing his fingers like crazy. By Wednesday this week, it was throbbing and quite swollen and since Satan REALLY doesn't want us to experience our first Wednesday night at our new church, we had to get him to the urget care. They said it wasn't severe enough to lance it just yet and sent him home with some pain killers & antibiotics. By today, the swelling still wasn't going down abd it had begun turning white, so he went in and got it drained. Hopefully, God will allow it to heal fast enough so that when it comes time for him to qualify (shooting) it will be strong enough to do so? I think John is just glad that it isn't a bite or something more severe! He was getting taunted by the instructors at the academy "Welcome to Florida, something bit you!"

Some have asked if we are experiencing any of the flooding that is going on down here and PRAISE GOD we are not! There is a lot of standing water in the gullies, drainage ditches, undeveloped land and other lower lying areas, but they are pretty far from where we are at. Thereare some big puddles in parking lots around town but I guess this is pretty normal for Florida in the rainy season.

We checked on renters insurance since we had not had time before Fay, to get that taken care of. I was amazed at how much of an expense this was, Just to cover our property and NOT even the house it was $1100 per year. The lady said I guessed really high on our personal property value but it would still be pretty spendy. I remember paying $30 a month for renters insurance in Tri-cities and I am not certain, but I think we only pay $60 per month for homeopwners. We do not live in a high risk location though, but still this was rather surprising to me. I can't imagine what homeowners insurance rates goes for around here but I guess if you are going to live in a hurricane zone there is a high price to pay. All homeowners/renters insurance is covered by the state of Florida's own company. Sounds kind of unusual to me since this means you can't really shop around for the best rate, but I can only assume that private comapanies have pulled out since it is pretty high risk! In order to get our car plates switched we have to get Florida car insurance as well so this too is on my to do list.

With all the new things that are more expensive down here one thing that we do get a break on is gas. I know it is going down all around the nation right now but BEFORE we started seeing decreases we were paying $3.65. Now we pay around $3.55. Sales tax is only 6% but the cost of food is a bit more! I have my spreadsheet put together to do some price comparisons but I have a feeling that the outcome will be that I will have to increase my food budget by at least $100-$200 until I get used to the area and figure out how normal families on a budget make ends meet.

Ever since we got here our dog has been fascinated with the lizards and frogs that are everywhere. Last night she finally caught and ate one (we didn't know this till after talking with John's daughter Sarah today). I guess these lizards and frogs have a toxin in their skin that is poisonous to other creatures and can make dogs act liek they are kinda drunk. After she ate it she became nauseated, vomited and became very lathargic. I had to carry her from outside to her bed as she wouldn't/couldn't walk to come inside. After about an hour & a half of being very lathargic and scaring me into thinking she was dying...... I asked her if she had to go outside and she jumped to her feet and was anxious to chase more lizards. UGH! Maybe she will learn? Until then we are trying to break her of this interest!

I guess that Florida is in a drought........ I am not sure if this has been lifted now that there are so many places that are flooding, but you hear Floridians talk about it and it is quite a real thing. This absolutely boggles my mind coming from a location where drought was a pretty visual/realistic thing. A place where you rarely get real rain fall & have to dig for many more than just a couple feet to hit water. I remeber when Peg and Dan moved into their new home before they had put in their yard...... the boys were getting idle so Peggy sent them out to dig a hole in the front yard. Since they were pretty bored they dug quite the hole. I think when it was all said & done, their hole was about 8 feet deep........ If my kids did that here they would drown in their new pool!

Drought is unusual concept to accept here when standing water is fairly normal in undeveloped/untouched land. If you dig down just a foot deep you may make yourself a quaint little pond, and a location where it rains A LOT on a daily basis....... This is just not a drought to me? Kinda crazy! Hope all is well in your neck of the woods! Love to all!

House, FAY and some pictures

Many of you asked for pictures of the house we are renting so here it is. I took these last night before the storm began. I will get inside pictures once I am done painting.



Fay has now passed on and the house still remains looking the same. Most homes here are one story ranch style homes and ALL are built out of concrete blocks. It is against code to build out of anything else as all structures must be able to withstand a category 4 hurricane. Most of the homes are stucco finished but I think it is funny when someone puts wood siding on the outer parts of a concrete home. Especially since the siding does not stay in very good shape. What is rather interesting is that it is against code to build a structure out of wood, but you can have a mobile home or MFH at your own risk. I would guess insurance rates would have to be outrageous! They set up shelters at the local schools and I would assume that these folks are the ones who might weather the storm at the shelter?

The storm that just passed by our area was really no bigger than a good old Tri-city wind/rain storm WITHOUT the mudd! I guess there are other areas throughout the county and other counties that have lost power though so some areas got a bigger brunt of the storm than we did!

We are still getting some rain but I guess that will continue into the night.

Here is the back of the house. Back in Tri-cities we might refer to this screened in area as a back porch but as I have been corrected many times, it is a Lanai here in Florida. NOT A PORCH? Floridians are so funny! OH BROTHER!

I threw this piture of my neighbors house in so you could see what hurricane shutters look like. In order to pass code you either have to have stubs on the outsides of your windows for shutters OR hurrican windows that can withstand debris and huge wind gusts. We have hurricane windows on our home so we had no need for shutters. John got to go over and help him put them up. We met them before this and they are very friendly although they think we are pretty unusual for having more than one child, me staying home and not working AND to top off the weird factor, we homeschool. John got some opportunities to witness to him while they worked and the kids played.

There are several other homes in the neighborhood, however they are abandoned and owned by the bank.

Here is an amazing tree that caught my eye. It is places at the entrance to a cemetary by John's academy. It is very huge and as you look at the close-up shot of the trunk it has many, many trunks. It was just really neat picture to me of growth through adversity. Each of those trunks are so crammed together you know each has to share its nourishment with its neighbor as there is cement & asphalt surrounding it. As you can tell from the picture above...... they have grown together to create this huge HEALTHY tree. Many times, we as Christians chose to NOT grow through adversity and then wonder, when the 'dry times' come, WHY we are so dry? Refusing growth is a way of refusing the Nourishment that only the Lord can give. This can also lead to withdrawing from fellowship & putting off time spent with the Lord....... At which point we become parched. It is so awesome that when we realize how far distant we have become, God is always faithful to pick us up, dust us off and help us look up and grow towards Him so that we don't get parched.

I have learned here in Florida to keep my camera close by since there is just so many neat things to take pictures of. When we take walks along our developement there is still so much untouched land so there are armadillos, raccoons, turtles, bunnies...... If I get some pictures of these as well I will pass them along! HUGS TO ALL!

John's job so far

To say the least John is pretty stoked about his new job. About the only thing he has complained about was that it was difficult to do 8 hour shifts but this is only temporary while at the academy so it is short lived!
One of the best things about his new work environment is he finally feels like he is respected for what he is doing. At this agency, the corrections officers go through the same academy as the police officers with the exception of EVOC training (driving skills). They take different tests according to the job specifications but pretty much have to know many of the same things. Much of his time spent at the 2 week academy has been studying the laws of Florida and learning the different definitions/verbage of their laws as it will pertains to his job. Due to the fact that he is learning the same things as the road deputies, if he ever wanted to go to the road he would NOT have to attend another academy but just take some courses on his days off and take a test to become certified. If he is double certified as a deputy and in corrections this means he can really “have his cake and eat it too”. Meaning he can work in the jail on his regular squad, but then be on the overtime list for the road. The pay scale for both road deputy and corrections are the same so this is how they can be able to do this.

Pretty much from day one of his orientation, John was very impressed with the integrity of the department. Let me give you some examples of why this is…..

IA (internal affairs) was one of the presentations at orientation. One of the main things he emphasized was that there a no tolerance rule for the 'gossip train' at the department. If you are caught causing strife by spreading rumors or discontentment, you will be caught and disciplinary actions will be taken. The sheriff puts out a memo each month to share what is going on 'behind the scenes' with any officer that is under investigation so that that officer does not create a mutiny and cause discontentment in the ranks. It is also in an effort to get out the whole story so that officers are not duped by misinformation that is slanted.

The sherriff and undersheriff came in and spoke to the new recruits. They were extremely approachable eventhough it was an election year. They told the new officers that they will occasionally see them working the jail and patrolling on the road. The way they put it was that they would not tell any of the officers to perform a task that they were too ‘busy’ or politically minded to continue doing. They are very hands on the the departments as well to maintain a cohesive work environment and also provide officers opportunities to approach them with concerns.

Their gun range is no joke. It is an indoor range and they have a viewing area for family members to watch....... no pressure there but it was fun for the kids to watch! John was issued a 40 caliber Glock as all the officers are required to qualify. At Benton county he is used to qualifying with his 9mm Beretta. The Glock has a bit more punch and in order to qualify you have to hit both still & moving targets along with qualifying for day and night shooting. He also had to qualify using a shotgun. Their standard for qualifying is much more stringent than those that John was accustom to. Due to the fact that he was doing this with new weapons & a holster that wasn’t broken in, he almost didn’t qualify. In the end, although he was one of the last ones left, God was gracious and helped him qualify. He does have to qualify again though, once he gets out of academy and passes the state exam. Then he will have to do it again for Lee county so please be praying for this. That he will get plenty of time to practice and perfect his abilities.

The way this academy works is they don’t do a lot of lectures, but just give you a lot of practice tests to get used to the verbage and help you learn from your mistakes. You have to get an 80% in order to pass the state exam and John has a date to take this on the 27th.

From talking to many of the employees at the department, John discovered that the jail is a more coveted job than that of the road. Since the officers in the jail are treated as equals with the officers on the road, there is no discontentment or animosity among the corrections officers. They have their own workout facility that family members can use. They are fed on complete meal each shift they are on duty. Due to the fact that the corrections officers already are respected and are not treated like a ‘red-headed step child’ of the department, the desire to leave or achieve ‘road status’ or deputy, just to receive respect, isn’t an issue. This is really great because instead of working with people that hate their job you are working with folks who genuinely appreciate their job! You see, in Florida, in order to get certified in this state, you have to PAY to go to academy if you have no work experience. This gives the officers a greater appreciation for paying & earning the right to become and officer.

Many of the road deputies come back to the jail due to fact that there is more promotability in corrections than there is on the road. Promotions are achieved not based solely on seniority, experience, testing or oral boards but another factor added is education. If you are interested in advancement you need to be proactive and take them up on their offer to pay for college. You have to complete the courses on your own time but they pay for books and tuition.

There are four jail facilities in Lee county in different locations. There is a facility just for booking, a facility for work camps, the NEW main facility where a majority of the prisoners are kept, and John is not sure what the other facility is for yet. We will keep you updated once John passes the test on where he gets stationed and how he likes it.

PS. If anyone wants to lateral over here, NOW IS THE TIME since they are having a difficult time getting people to pass their backround checks. As you remember from when John was doing his, the backround checks are very thorough so passing can be difficult! We would love to have some familiar faces around here but understand that this would have to be a decision made prayerfully!

Where we ended up.....

After staying a couple days in Naples and finding out our only real options for renting there was an apartment.......... with 3 kids and a dog, we really didn't have peace about signing a one year lease, which is standard and required for most places, for something that really wouldn't be a good situation for a John on graveyard! We therefore began looking closer to John's work in the most affordable & safe city, which was Cape Coral. This city is much closer to John's work and with him being on shift work for quite a few years it would be best if he was getting enough sleep as well as NOT driving 40 miles away at 5am after a 12 hour long shift.
Cape Coral was developed around Huge waterways that run in the backyards of many of the homes here. When it was first explained to me that these were considered water front properties it made me laugh as I figured these were much like out irrigation canals back home.......... until I realized how big they were and that people actually boat through them. We opted not to have one since Ben would probably try to jump in! Where we live, in the county, the waterways are more woodsy and unkept much like that of wider irrigation canals. You might be able to run a fan boat through them but they are'nt really deep enough to dock a boat. You shouldn't really swim in them either since alligators are known to live in them as other wildlife like snapping turtles, frogs & other fish.

Here is a picture of the ones by us so you can get an idea:

Due to the housing crisis there are a lot of forclosed properties out here that investors have bargained with the bank to get a steal of a deal. The owner of our home offered the bank 100,000 for this one and they took it out of desperation! Unfortunately some people pose as owners of these forclosed homes they are trying to rent out, but after you move in you cant contact them & they just take your money and run. We had one guy that was trying to get us to rent 'his home' but there was just a lot of red flags in dealing with him. When we looked up the property address on-line we found that it was still owned by the bank........

The place we got is a pretty nice place and will be very nice once we get it all painted inside! It is called a 3/2/2 and is 1700 sq feet with 3 bedrooms + den & 2 bathrooms. It is only 2 years old, however the previous owners either sabatoged the place before they lost it or they just didn't treat their stuff well. The carpet was a mess so the owner replaced it 2 days after we moved in. In exchange for not having to pay the last months rent up front I will be painting the place (the owner will pay for the paint and I get to pick the colors)...... Kinda funny that it took me 2 years to paint the house we owned, but I am immediately painting the house I don't own! Crazy but it really needs it!!

Unfortunately, on Monday the septic system backed up into the house. Luckily it wasn't too bad and it didn't get into the new carpet, but it left quite a mess for me to clean up. What is it with me and flooding? When the septic guy came out and fixed it he unclogged a ton of grease from the pipes in the house. Either the previous owners didn't know not to put grease down the drain of a septic system or they did it because they were losing the house? Who knows but now it is working just fine.

Here is the Welcome to Cape Coral sign on the way into our housing developement. Very excentric/eclectic if you ask me? John says it looks like something out of the middle east.

Here are some pictures of the waterways in the city. I can't even fathom how much their home owners association fees are to keep these in good condition? The picture doesn't even give you a good idea how beautiful they are!

We visited the Calvary here in the Cape. The church is for the area of Fort Meyers and Cape Coral but it is located on the Cape. It is fairly small but very welcoming. They have about 30 regulars but in the seasonal time I guess their numbers go up. They actually just moved to their first building in a strip mall. Before this time there were meeting at a school, but when we were first trying to find the place, we passed by it several times because of what was next door. Right next door, there is a Castle superstore, no joke! It is much smaller than the one back in Kennewick but when I asked about it, I guess they moved in AFTER Calvary was there and within a month it closed. GOD IS SO GOOD!

The pastor & his wife have a daughter in between Michaela & Abby so the girls made fast friends. Ben is just very excited to be 'big enough' to be in class with his big sisters and all the other kids up to 5th grade. WE haven't quite made it to Wednesday nights yet because last week we were moving into this place and this week time just slipped away from us!

I will blog more about John's new job later...... the quick version is he is loving it! Gotta get to bed so I can take John to work in the morning...... tomorrow they are doing DT's so I am sure he will be very sore!

Pictures from our road trip

Here are some pics of the kids & dog along the car trip!

Here is a picture of those that came to our going away party. Such a fine group of people we are leaving behind!

This is one of those peaceful serene valleys that were just a neat setting. Lots of these pretty backrounds from Utah! Amazing rock formations. Many of these were taken as we were driving by so sorry for the lack of clarity!

More of Utah....... just gorgeous there!

The "Your in Wyoming" sign...... lots of desert and pretty much nothing picture worthy!

This was at a very neat rest stop . It depicted the way that the Native Americans and the English folks would greet each other and what they would trade! Cool homeschooling moment!

Neat hisory lesson about the highway we were traveling on and WHY the highway system was developed..... Thanks to Grandpa there was a pretty accurate history lesson.

Here is a pretty amazing rainbow that came during an intense lightening/rain storm in Kansas. It was the most dramatic rainstorm and amazing lightening display I have ever seen.....

Here are some picture of the big metal arch that they built in St Louis! Grandpa says the Arch is a gateway, symbolizing the fact that St. Louis was the gateway to the west in the old days...... as a matter of fact it is called the Gateway Arch.

Side view; it is quite enormously huge!

This picture was taken in St Louis....... the reason I took it was because the building is abandoned except for the plants growing out of the bricks! CRAZY weird!

Here was a very pretty setting somewhere.... Kansas City, maybe?

Here is a "welcome to Kentucky" sign.