Answered Prayer

Once again, God has it all under control. We're signing a contract at the end of this week to rent our house in G'ville to a couple for 2 years. I am so relieved that we did not have to sell it. Even if we do end up staying here in P'ville at least I will have peace about it. This couple is so nice and they are willing to do work to the house while they live there. They're going to resurface the driveway (which is huge) and take care of the yard and clean up all the overgrowth around the creek. I'm so excited. Part of me is a little sad because 2 years sounds like a long time, but I know that in the whole scheme of things it really isn't. I also know how lucky we are to be able to rent it. So, we're happy all the way around. Brian's happy, I'm happy and the girls are happy. We've made a few major decisions this week. We decided that we are going to keep Emmaline at the little private school she's at for one more year. Reason being that she has anxiety issues and she would go to the 2nd grade next year for one year, and then go to another school for 3rd-5th grades. That would be 4 different schools for her in 4 years if you count the school she went to last year. So- we're just gonna keep her at the school she's at now for one more year. Annelise is going into 3rd grade, so she'll be in that school for a few years before she has to change. But, she has decided that if she doesn't get into the gifted program at the public school, she's going to stay with Emmaline for one more year at the little private school. They will test her for the gifted program at the end of this month, so we'll see. The public school will just use her standardized test results to decide. They don't test for that until the end of second grade, so Emmaline would have another year until she is up for that anyway. Brian and I feel really good about this decision, so that was another load off of us. I just don't see Emmaline adjusting too well to a class of almost 30 kids when her biggest class so far in her life has had 12 kids in it. And it will be the first year that the girls will be at separate schools to boot. Throw in all of the problems that public schools have in a normal day and Emmaline would be in therapy again in no time! So, things are good here in the Few household. I just enrolled for the third course in my master's degree program last night. I put it off until I couldn't find an excuse anymore.... 24 papers in 10 weeks. Someone shoot me now. Seriously, it's gonna be rough, but I'll be certified to do grief counseling after I finish this course, so I am sooo excited about that. Overall~ Life is good. God is even better. I'm going to enjoy this peaceful time while it lasts. :0)

I Need A Vacation.....

So much for that lovely weekend I had. These past couple of days have been doozies. We've been trying to get together with some friends that we haven't seen for a while. The past 5 or 6 times we've invited them over or to go out they've cancelled because of this or that. Then, a couple days ago, the husband tells me that he just doesn't want to see us. WHAT??? I was really bewildered, so I felt like the least I could do was ask for an explanation. Now, these were friends we made at the church we went to for 9 years. That church experience ended badly, and most of the people our age left, including this particular couple and us. He sent me a response that left me totally speechless and really hurt. It's difficult to hurt my feelings, but he did it. He said that B and I were self-loving and arrogant. He said that people 'competed' for our friendship at the church we were all at and that we 'reveled' in that competition. He said that we thought we were 'better and smarter' than everybody else. And some other stuff, but that was the gist of it. Wow. I could not believe it. Let me say that it is really difficult for me and B to make close friends. The reason is because we are a 'doctor and a doctor's wife'. People tend to put us in a box with that label on it and automatically assume things about us. The doctors and doctors wives who do fit into that stereotype invite us out, they find out that we don't shop at boutiques and we don't enjoy going to expensive restaurants and that my children wear consignment clothes and that my purses and shoes are whatever is on clearance at the time. So, we don't end up fitting in with them. Then, the people we really like to hang around, the down to earth, real people who work for a living and know the value of a dollar, they figure we wouldn't want to hang out with them because we're a doctor and a doctor's wife. Or they do invite us out and they aren't themselves or they feel like we would'nt want to do the same things they would and they choose some ridiculous activity. So we're left somewhere in space with no place where we fit. That means that we try extra hard to make friends, to try to accept everyone into our 'circle'. We did that at the church we were at. We had no idea that people were competing for our friendship and if we had, we certainly wouldn't have reveled in it. It would have mortified me. Turns out that this guy had taken a few things we had said out of context and he had already stereotyped us as the doctor and doctor's wife and he took those things to mean something we had never ever intended. So instead of talking with us about it, he let it simmer and boil for the past 3 years. I was blown away. I racked my brain trying to think of times when I may have behaved the way he was talking about. I couldn't come up with anything. I know I am definitely far, far from perfect. Far. But, I don't think I ever behaved this way long enough for someone to define me by it..... Anyway. He also told B that he had a problem with me being as outspoken as I am. He said I should have never gotten involved with the conflict going on in the church because it was not a 'woman's place' to do that. Well, guess what, when a man isn't taking care of the things that need to be taken care of, someone has to. I loved that church. My heart and soul had been invested into it. Would have walked through fire for it. I have a very protective nature. When I care about something, and I see that it is being threatened, I defend it, I protect it with everything I have. That's just me. Mess with my kids and I'll show you what I'm talking about...... So, I guess I should have let the men handle all of the stuff that I was involved in. I would have loved to. They didn't step up to the plate. SO, he and B had a very long conversation over the phone last night and B cleared up a lot of misconceptions that this friend had been under for a long time. He had been fed lies about us and instead of coming to us about it, he just believed them and judged us on them. I was just blown away. I'm better today, even though I'm not sure that he thinks much differently about us than he did before. I hope that today is a better day. That threw me for a loop. I did apologize to him for whatever it was I did that made him feel that way about us. I didn't know what else to do. The rest is up to him. He wants to have lunch with B next week to talk about it further. He doesn't want to meet with me. He told B that he doesn't know if I intimidate him or if it's that I'm so far from what he feels is appropriate for a woman that he doesn't want to be around me..... Either way, it's his problem to work through at this point. So, that has been my week so far. I'm pretty tough, and I usually don't let people's opinions of me bother me, but when something that strong and that bad comes from someone you felt was a friend, it hurts. I'm about it enroll in my third course here for this Master's Degree program, so that will distract me a little, thank goodness. My cats have helped, too. They've been giving me some extra lovin' and more lap time. I think they sensed that I was upset. We'll see how this unfolds. In the meantime I'm gonna pray.

Lovely Day

Yesterday was as close to perfect a day as I could get. Church was wonderful. The weather was amazing. My kids were home and happy and my hubby was getting things done around the house in between talking with the neighbors and playing with the girls. It was busy for me. I had to go right after lunch to G'ville to pick up consignment clothes that didn't sell, and found that I did not have that many to pick up, and that I made about 500 bucks on the stuff that did sell. That was exciting- especially since we're going to Myrtle Beach in a few weeks and I'm gonna need outlet cash. When I got home, a family came over to see Molly (our second rescue dog we've been trying to find a home for) and they loved loved loved her and took her home that instant. Even though I am going to miss her, I am so glad that she has found such a great family. I mean, these people were awesome- I almost wanted to go live with them. After they left, all the kids in the neighborhood met in a neighbors yard and had snacks on a picnic blanket and played while all the parents chatted. I didn't get to participate in that fun because I had to come inside and review my Bible study for the high school girls at church that afternoon. I had a good review and went off to church. When I got to church, one of my high school girls' dads stopped me in the hall and said "I just wanted to say 'thank you' for whatever it is you're doing in this Bible study on Sunday evenings." I told him I appreciated that but didn't know what he was talking about. He said that his daughter (who is very much a unique and strong minded gal) had really enjoyed going and that it was the first time in all of her 16 years that she had looked forward to going to Bible study. He said she has opened up to her mom and that she just loves me. I was surprised because, even though I love this girl because she is 'real' and upfront and very intelligent, she does tend to be a bit cold and keeps to herself. So that made my night. (Don't get me wrong- I don't take any credit for that, God did that, but I loved hearing about it and knowing that He used my little ol Bible study to reach her was amazing.) I got into Bible study and the girls just talked, I mean really talked and talked and talked- about all kinds of stuff. Stuff that was going on in their lives and stuff that they had been through that week- all lighthearted stuff, nothing heavy- but this was a first for me in that group. I was so excited that they just wanted to talk and so I just let them talk. We ended up only doing our study of Esther for about 10 minutes at the end before it was time to go, but I told them that sometimes it's good to 'just talk' and they agreed. I was on cloud 9 when I left. When I got home around 6, we went out to eat Mexican with some of our neighbors and their kids and went home full, happy and tired. The girls were in bed and asleep by 7:30 and I was in a hot bubble bath by 8 pm. Brian had a neighbor dad to come over and watch a movie with him while I was in the tub with a new mystery novel in total peace and quiet. After I got out of the tub, we got a call from the realtor with our Taylors house listed. My stomach always turns when she calls because I'm afraid she is going to tell us that our house is sold. She just called to tell us that there is a family wanting to sign a 1-2 year rental agreement on our house for just a little less than what our mortgage payment is each month. Which means, my friends, that we would have close to 2 years to decide whether or not we want to move back there and we also have a much much smaller mortgage payment on that house for the meantime. Not to mention that if we decided not to move back at the end of 2 years, the market will have hopefully improved by then and it will be much easier to sell. We're praying about whether that is what we should do or not right now- but we're liking the idea so far. Wow- it was an awesome day. :0)