The Waiting Is Over (Mostly)

It continues to amaze me how God works, even in the tiniest details!  If you read my last post, which was posted on Wednesday morning, you know the title was "Waiting, Waiting, Waiting".   So, Wednesday evening I go to church and the title of his sermon was "Waiting, Waiting"!  I am not kidding.  I almost fell out of my seat.


He used the text from Psalm 40:1-5.


¹I waited patiently for the LORD;
   he inclined to me and heard my cry.²He drew me up from the pit of destruction,
   out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
    making my steps secure.³He put a new song in my mouth,
   a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
   and put their trust in the LORD.
 ⁴Blessed is the man who makes
   the LORD his trust,
who does not turn to the proud,
   to those who go astray after a lie!⁵You have multiplied, O LORD my God,
   your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us;
   none can compare with you!
I will proclaim and tell of them,
   yet they are more than can be told.


He talked about how we wait and wait and wait for God to move and how we get so impatient, but that it is through the waiting that our faith and trust in God grow.  And, if we wait where God has us, He will take care of us and we will receive what we need.  Just what I needed to hear.  Not that I didn't know it already, but I just needed a little reminding. :)


So, I waited some more....a little more patiently after Wednesday evening.


Thankfully, though, the wait was over on Friday as far as Doug's job was concerned.  The company chose to divide the job responsibilities for the position Doug interviewed for and didn't hire anyone at all.  So, we are not moving to Columbia.  I'm actually relieved.  Now we can focus on what we need to do here without worrying about about commuting and trying to sell/buy houses while I'm in Africa and the puppies are so small.


Today, we got down to business with the garden and flower beds.  Doug hauled in two truckloads of compost for the garden.  He spent last week building the raised beds.  It's ready for planting now, so I'm hoping to make a trip to Baker's Seed Co. tomorrow to see what kind of plants they have.  I had actually started my own plants a few weeks ago, but Barkley destroyed them last week, so I'll have to buy them instead.  I still need to mulch around it and I want to create some sort of cute path with stepping stones.  I think maybe I'd like to boys to make them, but we'll see.


We also dug out a flower bed, put the weed barrier down and filled it back with the good compost.  All the leftovers went into another flower bed at our front door.  That one still needs some work before we can plant, but at least we have gotten started.

This is the garden from the deck above.

The bed w/birdbath in front yard.

Now that we know we are not moving to Columbia, a decision is going to have to be made about whether or not to send the boys to school or homeschool.  We are praying about that and waiting (there it is again!) to see what God's will is for our family.

Conclusions:  Waiting is part of the journey and there will, in fact, be almost zero time that you aren't waiting for something.  Take a chill pill and get used to it.    Quit hoping and expectantly waiting so much for tomorrow.  Be happy with where you are and what is going on today.  Afterall, tomorrow may not even arrive.

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting!

So much is going on here at the Widhalm household, and yet we are doing nothing but waiting!   There are many things in progress, so many that I am feeling a little overwhelmed.  However, I know that everything will work out in God's time.  Boy, do I wish my time and God's would just match up a little closer sometimes!  LOL


1.  Doug's job.  This is probably the biggest one at the moment.  He interviewed for a different position with Shelter, which would mean a move to Columbia.  The interview was last Friday and we should hear something by the end of the week.  Whether or not we move, dictates other decisions that will be made regarding our house and whether or not the boys will go to public school next year or continue to homeschool.  It also may make a big difference in how we make arrangements for the time I will be gone to Africa next month.  We are WAITING to hear so that we can start making decisions!


2.  The basement.  It has been cleaned up, after a flood of sewage a couple weeks ago, but now the repair work needs to begin.   All the flooring and bottom portion of sheetrock and insulation need to be replaced and the whole thing will have to be painted, of course.  We are WAITING to hear about Doug's job and WAITING for me to get back from Africa before we begin.  Thankfully, all the personal property has been returned to the storage room from the POD which was in our driveway.  


3.  Africa.  The plane tickets are purchased and our application for Visas have been mailed.  I received a tentative itinerary for the trip this morning.  I'm SO excited!!  I have a few more things to purchase before I'm ready to go.  Need to pick up a few changes of comfy clothes and sandals, rainboots, and a digital video camera.  Everything else is done and paid for, so I'm just WAITING for the departure day.


4.  Puppies.  Liza, our Australian Labradoodle, is pregnant and the puppies are expected to arrive the first week of May.  She is doing great and we are just WAITING for them to arrive.  We are all excited to see how many there are and what they look like!  It's actually a blessing that the basement is without carpet for now.  It won't be nearly as big of a deal when the puppies make puppy messes!


5.  Jackson's birthday.  Jackson will be 8 years old in nine more days.  The party needs to be planned.  We still haven't decided the details of when and where because we have family coming next weekend as well as a fundraiser to attend for the mission trip.  So, the party may have to WAIT.  Regardless, he will be 8 years old on the 22nd, no matter what the events of the day are.  He is counting down and doing a great job at WAITING.


6.   Garden.  Doug has been working on building a raised bed for my garden.  I've got tomato, cucumber, zucchini, squash and a few other plants started inside.  I'm WAITING for the last frost and a completed garden bed so that I can get them planted.  Of course, this will somewhat depend on the job situation.  No need to plant a garden if we aren't going to be here to tend it and eat the harvest.




So, needless to say, things here at our house are going to pick up and be a little crazy over the next several weeks - especially if Doug gets the job and we have to move again.  Doug starting a new job 3 hours away, new puppies arriving and mom flying to the other side of the planet will make for an interesting time, I'm sure!


 Oh well.  It will all work together for good!  It all reminds me of a song I grew up singing in church....


"They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.  They shall mount up with wings as eagles.  They shall run and not grow weary, they shall walk and not faint.  Teach me Lord,  teach me Lord to wait."   

Getting The Garden Started

One of my goals this summer is to garden and produce as much healthy veggies as I can.  Hopefully, we will be successful enough to feed us throughout the summer and into the fall.  If I'm lucky, I hope to have enough green beans, onions, tomatoes and peppers to preserve for winter use.


I'm really new to gardening, I planted my first very small one last summer.  It did ok, but not quite as well as I had hoped.  This year, we are in a different house so we'll be building new plots and trying to plant as much as we can in the space we have available.  


Doug has applied for a job in Columbia, which might mean we'll be moving before the garden is actually planted or producing.  That's sort of a bummer as far as the garden goes.  We won't know for a few weeks, so we decided to go ahead and get started building one here and just see what happens.  


The location of the plots in the back have been chosen, but the borders need to be built and I've got to find a source for compost and other "soil" ingredients.  The soil here is mostly clay, so we are going to purchase what we want and build square-foot style beds.  This year, they will be deeper, hopefully about 12-18 inches.  If anyone has any suggestions for soil composition and depth of planting, or anything else garden related, I'd love to hear!


I've got tomato, peppers, cilantro, cucumbers, squash and zuccini started inside.  We have used all heirloom seeds from Baker Seed Company, in Mansfield, MO.   We'll also be planting green beans, onion, carrots.


I'll post before and after pictures when it is all finished.