Mission Trips plus other random musings

So, several weeks ago, my husband went on a mission trip to Haiti. I hope that you make the connection that I quickly made when he first mentioned the possibility of going on this trip: I would be left alone with the children. I know. Of course I was happy for him to have the opportunity to travel overseas and put his professional skills to use helping disadvantaged people who so appreciated the dental care they received. I actually would have loved to have joined him on this trip, but Haiti or no Haiti for me, we had our own little mission trip going on here on Rosewood Avenue!

I am proud to say that during Philip's absence, I was a single mother to both of my children for six straight days, (six straight days!), followed by two final days during which time I received some much-appreciated help from my mother. And do you know what I am even more proud to say? I did not completely lose my mind! I am quite sure that I had the prayers of many, many people behind me during this time, and goodness am I thankful for that. That is really the only explanation for the fact that all three of us survived this period of time with no real injuries to show for it. Buoyed by prayer, I just tried to rally myself and face my mission.

Believe it or not, we did get out a few times over the course of the week. We went to church (I'll be honest, the free childcare was pretty appealing :) and met some friends at the park later in the week. While there, I took multitasking to a whole new level. If you've ever wondered what it's like to nurse a baby while you push your toddler in the swing at the playground, well, wonder no more.

What a treat it was to catch up with sweet friends, Liz, Mary Katherine and their precious kiddos.

Continuing with this post's theme of missions, it was an absolute delight to receive a visit from some very special friends who themselves are overseas missionaries while daddy was away. The Iversons were in town and we were so honored that they had some time to spend with us!

Do you see this pretty mama above? That is Maggie, and after I share things that are on my heart with her, things that are tough for me, she tells me things like "You have enough suffering in your life to know that God loves you." Gosh, I need more of her in my life. Maggie, do you know that these things you tell me stick with me? She has much Godly wisdom and I so wish I got to interact with her on a regular basis.

She's got herself a good man, too. Jonathan and Philip were friends in college, and Philip was so disappointed he had to miss seeing them.

It may have been a bit of controlled chaos on our porch during their visit :)

What a blessing it was to have the help of Jonathan's sister, Hannah, who entertained Wade during their visit!

And finally, straying from my topic here, I'd like to share with you three things that recently made me quite happy.

I found this original painting at my favorite thrift store for $2. Its mat was white and it was in a gold frame. Thanks to the genius idea from my friend, Jennifer, I painted the mat with a $3 jar of sample paint from Home Depot (just regular old latex paint) and switched out the frame with a black one I had in the basement. I rather like it and think I just may leave it propped on my kitchen counter!

I also hung another piece of thrifted art that I've had for a while over a doorway. Why do I love this so much? I don't know but seeing it there over that painted door gives me a little flutter in my heart, haha.

And finally, I scored this piece at that same favorite thrift store for 50 bucks. I just couldn't pass it up. I could make it over and sell it, but I think I just may love it too much. I've moved it to our basement because I don't have a place for it in our current home (maybe you should know you have a problem when you buy things that you don't even have a place for...) but I'm hopeful that I'll be able to use it in the future. I just love dreaming about the possibilities for this bad boy.

Not sure how we made it from a mission trip to Haiti to thrifted furniture, but there ya go.

Lastly, I need some help. I'm tempted to have this be my last blog post ever due to the fact that I can no longer use Windows Live Writer for blogging. We recently got a Mac and while it is fabulous in most every other way, there is no good free program for writing to a blog! I absolutely hate using Blogger's program...can anyone help me out? Blogger is so cumbersome to use--I have spent entirely too long putting together this little post. Those of you who blog from macs, what do you do???