Promise of a Rainbow

So it was a while ago now that I posted about our pending foreclosure.  We have been working and fighting through it ever since then and let me tell you, it has been quite an emotional ride.  Both Andrew and myself really felt called to fight through it and fight for what God had given us.  We began to remodel the kitchen, put in the nook we'd been talking about and I began really keeping up on everything in the house, making it more functional and comfortable than ever before.  Here's a few photos of what we accomplished:

a school room in my craft room

photos of the boys on the wall

Pardon the poor quality and the size, I haven't bothered to do nice photos, these are off of my phone.  And if you don't remember what the original place looked like, you can check it out here and here.

So, we were really hopeful that this mortgage modification would come through.  On July 12, 2013 however, I received a sheriff's sale notice in the mail.  I was so mixed with emotion, on one hand I was HUGELY relieved to feel like God shut the door on our hope of modification, but on the other hand I was really devastated.  I began feeling shame and embarrassment.  I have always been very proud of owning a home and now it was being ripped from me.  But the relief that I felt actually out-weighed the pain of the letter.  So I called the mortgage company to find out why it was so sudden and the lady I spoke with told me to look at the foreclosure and the modification as two different rail road tracks.  One was going at one speed and the other at another speed.  She also told me that the modification deliberation would be hurried along a little faster (30 - 45 days for a decision still) now because we have a sale date.  So Andrew and I started looking for and looking at places to move to.  I got boxes from a nice family off of craigslist.com and began packing everything that we didn't need for the next few weeks in faith that we would be moving August 1st.

We found a place that both of us fell in love with, filled out the application and put a down-payment down and were accepted.  We hadn't been planning on moving, renting, putting money down anywhere and were just catching up on some bills so needless to say, we were strapped and Andrew was watching the bank account like a hawk.  Well, some issues came up with money transferring between accounts and a whole fiasco that took him an entire day to sort out and our down payment check came back returned even though we had the money to cover it.  I was again devastated, thinking, "they are going to think, 'why should we accept them when the very first and smallest check doesn't even go through?'"

I was feeling hopeless and sick with worry and fear and disappointment, thinking through all the possible things I/we could do to come up with enough money to make it through until the next paycheck and what to do if we don't get this place that we wanted so badly.  I cried and pleaded with Jesus for hope and forgiveness for my doubt, worry and anxiety all the way to drop off a check and on the way home I was just calling out to Him again for assurance and peace and He spoke to me and said, "I WILL give you hope and a future."  And then I saw a rainbow.  I just broke down in relief and tears and laughed out loud and pointed to the rainbow and told Bennett, "see the rainbow, it means that Jesus will always keep His promises."  What a sweet, sweet time it was on the road.

I am still feeling a little frightened and I am still having a difficult time not worrying, but I have been reminded that He can work miracles and He is in total control.  

We haven't heard anything back from them about the check yet, so we rest in His hands that He has us covered and He knows best.  We just keep hoping and trusting that something will work out.  That HE will work it out for us.  So thanks for reading, I hope that whatever your circumstances are right now that this will bless you and help you find His joy, peace and hope in the midst of LIFE.

<3 p="">

Kayla

***{update:  andrew got a hold of them and let them know what was going on and all they said was, "thanks for letting us know, just write a new one and drop it in the rent box."  HALLELUJAH!!!!!  what a relief!  Praise Jesus with me!!!!!}

A Celebration for The Future Mrs. Schwanke

Well, another month has passed.  My mom and I co-threw a shower for my lovely future sister in law.  It was such a nice time and everything turned out so beautifully.  Here are some photos.  She is going to love me for some of the ones that I am NOT posting (you're welcome, sister).  But here are some of the details and some of the best gift ones...

So, there you go!  We did chicken salad sandwiches, a chopped salad that I found on Pinterest, and you can see the deserts for yourself.  :)  She is such a cutey and I am so excited to have her as a sister.  I am looking forward to being pregnant at the same time and holidays and doing all the thing sisters do!  Not that having a brother isn't fantastic, but I need some girl in my life...I'm kind of over-run with boys...but they sure are cute:

 Isn't he a nut?  That's his "huh, mom?" face.  As if he has no idea what I just told him...silly boy.  Have a happy fourth!  <3 p="">kayla

Birthday Celebration!

I thew my sweet friend Kristen a golden birthday party this year.  It turned out really fun.  I thought I would share some of the photos just because of how fun it turned out.  We were on a pretty tight budget so we made a lot of the decorations.  Check it out...

spray painted soda holder with glitter-sprayed dollar store flowers

tables with lace table cloths and decorations

dinner buffet

place settings with paper straws from etsy and decroated frappuchino bottles as cups

party favors made with stamps and folding paper for the bags

raspberry sparkling lemonade

cherry blossoms and fruit pizzas

cheese cake bites

spray painted mason jars for dinner ware holders

cheese cake stuffed strawberries

fresh cherry blossoms

three generations, mama, baby and grandmama

 Pretty fun, right?
We did chicken salad on croissants, spinach/strawberry salad, fruit salad, cucumber finger sandwiches, cheese cake stuffed strawberries, cheese cake bites, mini fruit pizzas and cheese ball and crackers.  For the lemonade we mixed up a whole thing of your standard, powdered lemonade with some sparkling water - citrus flavor and to get the pink we dumped a whole thing of frozen raspberries in.  It was fabulous!  We also had green tea and iced caramel mocchiato.  It all came together so well.  We had a high school friend of mine do a Mary Kay facial demo and ordered off a wish list for Kristen's present.  It turned out to be a really, really fun day!

A mission for our family

So last night Andrew and I sat down and wrote up a mission statement for our family.  It was really a sweet time for our hearts to connect together in the presence of Jesus.  The verse that I had on my heart was Hebrews 12:1-3 about running the race and fighting the good fight.  I began to think, perhaps God hasn't given us a girl or maybe even never will give us a girl because the mission that Andrew and I have together is to raise strong men of God that stand up for Faith and take an active and fighting role in the Church.  What a blessed purpose.

The verse that was given to Andrew's heart was even better,

Isn't that wonderful.  We both loved the beginning phrasing, "but you MAN OF GOD."  While our family so far consists of just boys, I just thought it was wonderful.  A charge from God.  Andrew said even a charge from him and I to our boys.  There is just so much power and I love it.  Here is our mission statement:

It was so fun to work on the wording, phrasing and elements of this together.  I just love it and am having a 16x20 print made of each to hang above our nook in the kitchen.  Thanks, Mom for the idea!

Hope you enjoyed this and were perhaps encouraged to do one for your own family!

Kayla

Grace upon Grace

Well, once again it's been a very, very long time since my last post...I don't really have anything deep or exciting to say tonight.  I'm waiting for my husband to get home from work...ugh.  We are still waiting on the mortgage company to find out if we are approved for a loan modification, working on the kitchen with some tax money and rearranging and reorganizing to make this place nice.  The whole process has made me so very thankful for so many things.  It has made me really appreciate just HAVING a house and then it has made me aware of the things that I'm thankful for ABOUT this house, the neighborhood, the nice yard, the tree cover, the space, the location and more.

I made up this printable, feel free to download/save it and print it out and frame it.  It is such a good reminder of what we have to be thankful for, really.  So simply put too...

There it is.  You should be able either to just click it and then right click and save or just right click and save it.  However it works for you, help yourself.  The photo is one that I took on a walk with Benntt and Andrew at the end of our road.  I just love it.  I hope you do too and that you really reflect on the Grace that we have received.

Have a happy night!

Kayla

Changing tides

So, it's been almost two months since I posted last.  Obviously.  But, there has been a lot happening and some big changes taking place in our home.  Just last Friday, Andrew and I found out that there is nothing more the mortgage company can do to help us avoid foreclosure.  That's right, we are in the foreclosure process.  As scary and horrifying as this whole thing is, it is such a time to look to God and His promises of provision, protection and good.  Instead of Andrew or myself playing the blame game or this whole thing separate us it has brought us closer together and more reliant on Christ.

There is so much in Scripture to encourage and comfort one in this kind of situation.  My favorite is one that was brought to memory while Andrew and I were praying together.

^{Matthew 6:25-34}

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^[a]?

²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdomand his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

What a beautiful reminder!  How true it is.  If the birds always have a home, why would God not lead us to the new place that we are to be.  The whole messy situation that we have gotten ourselves into is such a beautiful picture of God's love and grace.

It has been such a good refining experience for me already.  All of my growing up years I was a strong, confident, "do it myself" person.  After "the summer of letting go" I spiked in my confidence and then just let it all go.  My confidence and security in Jesus just diminished and I relied only on myself and felt that it was my responsibility to right everything and I became afraid.  I have been afraid to answer the phone and talk to creditors, afraid to face my poor choices and decisions etc.  But, after receiving that letter I knew there was nothing else to do but take Jesus's hand and deal with things with boldness and confidence in Him.  So that's what I and Andrew are doing.  We still don't know where we'll go or what we are going to do, but we are taking every action and step that we can in confidence with Jesus.  And looking for His guidance in everything we do.

At the same time that all of that is going on, I am still battling with my anger and impatience, but there is obvious progress being made.  The biggest thing that Jesus is working in me right now is having GRACE.  I am not a very gracious person and He is constantly showing me that I need to extend the same GRACE that Jesus gives me for my mistakes to my sweet, precious, growing boy.

My sweet, sweet boys.  They grow so quickly!

I probably won't post until after Easter, so enjoy your friends and family and remember the GRACE given us on that sweet day!
Thanks for reading!
Kayla