Tim and I went to Mill Run, Pennsylvania a couple weekends ago to celebrate his birthday. He has been wanting to visit Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater so I planned a weekend trip out there. It was a nice weekend away for the two of us, with my parents watching Noah while we were gone. After touring the amazing house, we headed to Tim's parents for the rest of the weekend and had a chance to visit with family.
The infamous view of Fallingwater that you will typically see in books.
The morning that we left, I had a voicemail informing me of the death of a friend of my family's. Since Tim has been slow with work, we were able to stay at my parents' house for a couple days until I could attend the viewing with my parents and sister. It was so weird. She was my parents' age, the mother of a childhood friend of mine. She has a husband and three daughters, two who are engaged. The oldest, my age, is getting married next month and it is heartbreaking to think that her mom will not be there...that the hurt will still be so fresh...although I doubt the hurt of losing a parent ever goes away.
We finally arrived home and I knitted like a mad-woman to finish some projects to sell in a craft show that Jeana and I were a part of. Overall, it went...ok. I don't think anyone sold much of anything, really. It was a weird time of day and in an odd part of town, although the house it was in was gorgeous. It was a fun experience though, and it got me out of the house for the day and I got to spend some time with Jeana and a woman we used to work with in admissions at Cornerstone, who was there selling some things as well. We are putting some of the leftover items in a craft fair on Cherry Street in Grand Rapids this Saturday, and are entered in another one on December 15th. Somewhere within all that craftiness I have to find time to read "The Count of Monte Cristo" for the book club I'm in. I had better start that... 
Just one of the many recent projects. This one is from the book, "Bend the Rules Sewing." If you are a sewer, I would highly recommend it. The patterns are adorable, fun, and somewhat simple! Just ignore the water bottle model-head. =)
After being home for a whopping 6 days, we took off again for my parents' house, this time to celebrate Thanksgiving. We went earlier than usual so that Tim could paint some rooms at my grandma's house. We had a great time while there. My parents recently bought a Wii (before they became sold out everywhere) and you would not believe how much exercise that provides! My arms have finally stopped aching from the boxing and tennis.
Tim, Noah, and me at the Festival of Lights Parade in Howell the night after Thanksgiving. It was so cold, the parade started late, and we were unwisely at the end of the route...so we only got to see a few floats before heading home to save our frozen limbs.
Now we are home again. I'm glad we came back on a Saturday so that we could attend our church this morning. It turned out to be a distracting service for Tim and me, as Noah's nursery number was displayed on the screen and that hasn't happened since the first time we attended over a year ago. It turns out he was playing catch with someone, tripped, and hit something on his way down. His tooth sliced open his lip and I have never seen so much blood come from a toddler's lip. It took a few minutes to stop the bleeding and now he is running around with a fat lip that is sporting a gash. Thankfully, it didn't happen right away so we could at least experience what turned out to be the emotional part of the service for me.
There are a lot of things going on in mine and Tim's lives right now, most of them being financial. I had (another) breakdown last night about it and Tim was great at reminding me the ways that God has continued to provide for us, even if they haven't been checks in the mail like what I wish would happen. Today, Matt was recapping this month's series and started describing the second week, which we missed due to Tim's birthday trip. I've taken the summary from his blog (http://web.mac.com/journeymatt/iWeb/matts%20blog/blog/blog.html):
"we looked at Isaiah. He was someone who didn’t feel good about himself or the situation he was in - his country is falling apart and his king has died. But he sees God in a real way for the first time and it changes everything. He shifts from “Woe is me” to “Wow, it’s God”. Isaiah’s message to the nations and to us is turn to God and find strength (Is. 12, Is. 33, Is. 40). The theme for this week was Relying on God’s Strength by shifting our perspective from the problem to the Provider. We talked about how we view life through filters...like the Lions. We can’t put hope in them because they have let us down so many times (like TODAY). So, let’s shift to view life through the filter of God. This is more than just positive thinking. It is trusting that God is with us, faithful to us, and that His divine power can give us everything we need for life. When we stop dwelling on the situation and shift to the solution in our Savior, we can find that our problems don’t seem as big because God is bigger and we can find strength for every day."
I felt like God had hit me in the head with a 2x4, explaining to me that my problems are starting to overtake me. They occupy my every waking thought and drive me crazy as I try to figure out a solution on my own. I needed to be reminded, like last night by Tim, the ways that He has provided for us and that He will continue to. He is the Provider. It's not usually in the ways I expect, but I never seem to be displeased with it when I look back. I just become so impatient in the time of waiting to see how He is going to work, or what miracle He is going to perform to get us out of the jam we're in.
I'm so thankful this weekend - for an awesome and loving husband, for an adventurous and adorable toddler, for a life inside me that I do not yet know by name but by movement and that unbelievable bond between a mother and unborn child, for family and friends, for a church filled with outstanding people, for having no debt, and for knowing the love and forgiveness of a God who continues to speak and provide even if I feel deaf and alone.
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