Life is a highway (scatch that) Life is a roller coaster

Remember that song "Life is a Highway?"  It goes something like this, "Life is a highway....I wanna ride it all night long." These days life is more like this...

Have you ever been on the Texas Giant?  Oh my lands, it is such a rush.  You look up and think there is no way I can ride this and end up alive but somehow you muster up the strength to get in the long, ever so long line.  After waiting for hours you get in and buckle up (figuratively).  The first part is really bumpy with lots of jerks...it is a steep incline but you see the people lining up to ride and hope that it worth the jostling pain, anxiety of viewing the entire town from your little seat with an even smaller metal safety bar.  Insert  our lives here!!

We are on the crazy roller coaster ride with God right now!  I am so anxious to see the view from the flip side and enjoy the rush coming down the coaster but right now we are in the painful, jostling stage.  So many of you have been sweet to ask where we are in the moving process, and in all fairness this move is so minor in comparison to other trials, but it is a faith walk none the less.

So hear we sit...among a ridiculous amount of boxes and wrapping paper. All our worldly goods will be housed in cardboard boxes....see the irony?  Friends, we are making our third attempt at an offer on a home today (yes still homeless and supposed to move out on the 24th of June), our potential buyers may or may not back out this week, and all this packing could have to be unpacked and put back away in this home or be stored for who knows how long in storage.  I am packing up our "vacation" bags to go and house sit for the month of July.  We call it vacation because by golly it's gonna be fun!  Life is just about to get really interesting so I am placing the full armour of God on and relying on HIM to direct us and lead through Craig.  Who knows if we will end up with land, a permanent home, or chickens, but we are walking with Christ and although I may be crazy at times I know I am obeying the one who orchestrates it all...

Until then....Giant, you got nothing on the Hindes family........

Divinity in the Details

Divinity in the details was kinda a "fluke name" choice.  One of my friends, Tiffany, won the "name a blog" contest.  So I sat with this amazing blog name but not yet really sure what to do with it.  Fast forward and after chatting with sweet friends, they assured me that a blog chronicalling my move to the back woods, aka coutry living, would be fun to follow.

BUT....I just can't chronicle the move because life has a way of creeping in and reminding you that this life is not our own.  We were designed for way bigger things than we could ever even imagine.  So as I sit and watch Divinity in the Details of my life unfold I thought some were just way to good and to significant not to share.

"drum roll"

About a month ago a friend of Craig's invited us out to a friend's who runs a farm.  Not the go to market and sell your eggs kind farm but a hobby farm with 30 chickens, 5 goats, too many to count qauil, and the craziest fly paper I have ever laid eyes on.  Anyway, this is me "Betsy" and "Betsy their pet holding chicken."  Divinity in the details??!!  I learned so much from that 1/2 day visit.  I learned that my kids thrive in the open, they love animals and love learning about them and apparently so does everyone else who visits her hobby farm. My heart's desire is to have something on a smaller scale we can bless others with...but I lay that dream open to the creator.

  
Our house went on the market and in 24 hours we had 2 full price offeres.  It was crazy trying to decide who to give the house to, but the family with the turquoise couch won out. I figured they would really fit nicely into this home. In my defense, there was very few details to pick from as far as deifferences in the families.We had plans to head out to Dallas to visit family and be out of dodge as we tried to show the house.  The kids had their heart set on visiting family so we headed back to my childhood home.

This is the house I spent most of my formative years in.  Funny thing now is that there are very few reminders of that childhoood there.  My parents divorced 2 years ago and despite our urgings it was an ugly battle that left bitterness at every turn.  Our visit ended up being a pleasant visit but still saddens my heart for what I hoped for my kids to grow up in.

The really intersting thing is that the same neighborhhood I grew up in reminds me of the houses we are currently looking at...older, sometimes distressed, but have the potential to be great homes.

But, the houses in the neighborhood I grew up in are actually being torn down.  Not just remodeled but leveld and rebuilt upon. The land has more value than the structure on it.  So as with my family sometimes we have to be sripped down and rebuilt for a far grander purpose than we could even know how to ask for.  God can turn ashes to beauty but letting go of the expectations can sometimes be our hardest hurdle.

So as we plan to move out in 27 days, we have no premamnet home to move into, but we have amazing friends!

Friends that we choose to do life with... (End of the year tea party celebrating our daugthers and the amazing way God created each of them)

 

Friends that we want to raise our families with....(presentation day where the kids presented their talents as an offering to the lord)

Friends that make life fun and share each other's burdens... ( I did survive my first camping trip and the survial nutella was instrumental!)

 

Friends that want to raise biblical men and women. (our eldest earned his first pocket knife on a camping trip)


Friends that are letting us house sit while they are on vacation and crash at until we feel God's leading.  It is a faith walk but super fun to know God is into the details. Some things in life you just can't plan beause they are far better orchestrated by an all knowing infinate creator. Until then, I'm clinging to the one who clothes the birds of the air...and sinking my roots deep into his words...

I'm also gonna be trying to submit to my husband and allow him to lead us to the next adventure!

 

Life in between the dreaming

Life is crazy cool in our home.  I mean 4 kids all day, one geriatric dog, 4 tadpoles, field trips, life lessons, and preparing to live the green acres dream proves to make for full days.  Here's a run down of our week so far.

So a sweet homeschooling mama called me to tell me they had found the mother load of tadpoles.  I of course wanted in on the action so last Monday we went tadpole or polywog hunting.  It was a huge success.

As you can tell there was one causality.  We talked about center of gravity and why you should lay down before scooping the net....but par for the course, one of my kids fell in.  I think Faith was more in shock at the nastiness of the water yuck.  No real eminent threat, but she learned a valuable lesson!

    Let me fully disclose that we had one tadpole from before the hunt.  It is a special needs tadpole and has yet to morph into a frog...18mo later and still a tadpole.  The real reason I wanted some more tadpoles was for this lone special needs tadpole.  I thought maybe if he had friends changing into frogs maybe they could show him the way to frogdomeville. I know crazy but at this point whatever works right? I might add that some of his other friends were used as fishing bait so these are some of the lucky ones!!

 
  Lastly, for the tax day, we had free cookies at the American Cookie Company.  Some good things do happen on tax day!:)

Wednesday, we toured the Round Rock Express stadium....it was a behind the scenes tour.  We got to be lead by all park Bob, sit in the dugout, and walk the clubhouse.  My kids along with their friends loved it!!

Friday took us to the State Capitol....for TeenPact. It is a one day class to teach 8-13 yr. olds about the legislative process.  Holy Cow this was an impressive teaching day!

Apparently Lady Liberty got the memo to be there in full attire :)

We started out the class with sword drills, talking about what scripture had to stay about governing authorities, worshiping with hymns, and then going on a prayer walk thru the capitol.  The y talked about on of the most powerful things we can do is to pray for our leaders. Prayers for wisdom in policy making, prayers for more Christians to hold office and prayers that we could continue to pray in public....these are all things that are slowly dissolving!

Finally, both of my kids presented their mock bills to the legislature   They were coached on presentation skills, how to dispute a bill, and how amend it.  I may have learned more than they did!!!



Next up....our farm visit...did you know that you have to trim hooves of goats?  I sure didn't!!!

Easter 2013

Easter, this year, was a stressful time.  In that, I mean there are some family expectations that come into play. Like, aren't you supposed to have extended family, for dinner? Apparently, we are not!  With my parents divorce and their new significant others, it all just seemed too messy to hard to process, to much anger on the cusp.  So instead of having blood family, we opened up our house to neighbors both near to Christ and not familiar with Christ.  It was, by far, one of my favorite Easters! We got to love on our neighbors and serve in this home that God has blessed us with!

 Crazy amounts of amazing food!

 Neighbors meeting and breaking bread on the Super Bowl holiday of the Christian Faith.

Single people, married people, widowed people, new babies, old doggies, I think we passed the generational test!

and of course...you know how we love a good game.  We ended the day with Apples to Apples.  Blessed...Blessed...Blessed beyond measure with a full house to love on!

I love how Christ meets us all where we are at...wooing us with his constant grace filled love.  Today was such a neat example of it.
  

If it poops like a mouse then maybe it is a mouse !?!

Ok, first off, I am feeling a little schizophrenic. I have been dreaming about land, raising animals...basically being Mrs. Dolittle and then a friend posted this picture on her facebook page.

This is my friend's mother-in-law helping out with one of their roosters. Granted roosters are a bit bigger, but holy cow look at those talons.  Then all these crazy bossy thoughts start popping in my head like
....can you get chicken scratch
....what kind of chicken gloves does a person need
....I'm gonna die
....one of the kids will for sure die
...what do you do with an animal when it dies
....I am so ooo oo going to be in over my head!

And then when I am feeling completely inadequate, we had an unfortunate incident. Here's what happened.  So a couple of weeks ago we showed the house and most things ended up in the garage...things started to pile up and we slated to clean out the garage as one of our pre-listing duties.

We (ok Craig) started moving things out to organize into groups of sell, donate, or trash it piles. While moving we saw black rice looking stuff and then it hit me...we have mice, but not only did we have a mouse, we found a nest.  It was empty but holy cow I was on high alert. My son swears he saw a five foot rat.  So being proactive we bought both kinds of traps...

Ya'll know we homeschool so everything is educational.  This lesson had the boys FULL attention.  Let me just say that on the test snap everyone jumped....if the mouse/rat does not bite the dust I just may!  Let me also address that checking on said traps = large cojones. Craig may not sleep tonight....


Before you all start commenting...yes I know mice are small and relatively harmless but what about
rickets.  Ok, off to ponder this whole country living thing and oh and listen for the "snap".  

FYI...

When you are house hunting there is some lingo that must be "clarified".

1. Bring your tools does =bring a bulldozer cause this house needs to be leveled.

2.  Handyman's delight = almost condemned property.

3. Has flooded before = uninsurable property.

4. Open acreage living= not a tree for miles.

Just thought I'd share some learned opportunities. Both houses on the hunt today were a fail, but I learned some new lingo! God has a plan so let's see what he has next!:)

House Hunting!!!!!

I have to post 2 pictures of houses we toured,and people this is super exciting cause these houses we actually like and can almost afford. What I mean is that they are relatively close to the budget:) tomorrow we see 2 more....it could really happen.... Whoo hoo!

Nice big lot with almost 2 acres....open floor plan but just blah. I guess we should have started with this one cause it pailed in charm to the next one:)

This may seriously be the cutest house I have ever seen...so pottery barn meets country charm. Bathroom counters were farmhouse tables yet the master shower had a rain water spout from the ceiling. Super super super cute but backs to a public park and is in the middle of a downtown so the neighbors could be questionable...not to mention it is priced high. Praying about it and the last house too. Thanks for being excited with us...either way we gain some acreage and adventure!

How do people blog everyday?

I am a non-typical blogger.  While I do love meeting my word quota on here....it's hard to make time to blog.  Life is in overdrive, but I guess that's the point of blogging....capturing those moments that otherwise slip through the cracks. So here is a recap of the last week or so events!

Passover Seder

Loved that my husband was teaching our children about the significant symbolism in the passover meal!  This was so neat to share with dear friends and we all learned a ton.  Our God is so into the details!

This was our Passover plate...with lamb shank, matzah bread, bitter herbs, salt water, horsey sauce, boiled egg, apple chutney, and candles.  Where did we get such interesting candles?  Well, I am so glad you asked! The kids made them the week prior at the Williamson Bee Keeping event. 

I also got knee deep in this book...so dang good!

That's right...where else but in Austin, can you attend the Funky Chicken Coop Tour.  We had a blast at this very informative filed trip. When you homeschool nothing is off limits for a field trip!

We held baby chicks...so fitting this weekend of new birth!

We explored the latest craze...the mobile chicken coop!

The kids met other homeschool school kids that participate in a group called Fancy Feathers.  It is a 4H group that shows chickens....can you guess what the kids want to do next year?

This crew learned about the different varieties of chickens and the family decided we need 5-6 different breeds of chickens...so we can name them and tell them apart and have lots of colors of eggs.  We shall see about this one!

This is $2000 coop....I think my husband almost feel over when they said what their coop cost.  Of course, this was the first coop we saw!

Coop build buy 3rd grades...we can so do this!

family FAVORITE!

30 chicken coop

Next up Easter pictures...and how God got to show off at our house!

Holy Week

   This week and the resurrection is like the super bowl of Christianity.  Christmas, as special as it is, is only about the birth of a savior. The holy week and Jesus' resurrection are truly what give people their faith.  It's all because of Jesus. He was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, and took the cross for our sins.  He paid the debt...but not only did he pay the debt he broke all the rules and rose from gave. There is nothing we can do to bridge the gap of our sins....there are not enough good things we can do to earn our way to heaven.  It's that crazy FREE gift of choosing to believe Jesus was not just another cool, good guy.  He was and still is the savior of the world. Check out this cool modern take on the age old truth of Jesus!

What if Jesus Had Twitter



We've had a crazy cool week paying honor and remembering the ultimate price Jesus paid for us...

Sunday- We celebrated the miracle of healing in James Dear.  If you have not heard of him check out his wife's blog on their journey.  Dear family Blog

Monday- I met with my incredible mentor.  I think everyone should have a person speaking wisdom into their life.  She is someone who is a lifestage ahead of me her precious grandchildren....she homeschooled, has a ministry in recovery, and is someone who wants to walk daily with Jesus.  She's not perfect but man she so much further ahead than me in my walk and I just want to spend time with her and let her goodness rub off on me!:)

Tuesday- Our small group read through the account of the holy week in Luke 22

Wednesday-Financial Peace class and our Easter craft started growing grass

.....and we still have a New life celebration today, ceremonial passover meal tomorrow night, and a neighborhood Easter dinner at our house on Sunday.

Ohhhh...and stay tuned we have this fun event on Saturday where we are learning about keeping chickens in the backyard!!!!!!

The night I ran away

There are just some weeks that make me want to run away and this was one of those weeks.  I didn't run too far just far enough to meet up with a "sister from another mother" kinda friend!  The week started out with the house showing and I am not gonna lie...it was harder than I thought to not sell the house.  I mean I already had packing boxes in the garage and some of them even packed!

Tuesday brought a visit to the vet.  Our 15 yr. old puppy, Sassy, is now in her "sunset days."  The Vet informed us she has, at best, a couple months to live.  Hospice for Dogs is currently operational in our home.

Wednesday  brought an unexpected emergency trip to the dentist.

My sweet Faith bumped heads with her brother and almost knocked out her two front bottom teeth.  Glad I went to the pediatric dentist when I did.  They were able to re-secure the teeth and hopefully avoid a double root canal.  We go back next Wednesday to see how the teeth are doing and also get a quote to fix the chip where the teeth hit one another.

Thursday we went over to a very special family friend's house.  We did an Easter craft and our 8 kids had a blast!  This is the best picture to accurately reflect how some homeschooling days go....joyful and chaotic!

 Thursday afternoon was the President's Day Challenge.  All the kids ran either a mile or 1/2 mile and completed 4 other challenges.  It was a great afternoon.....until we came home with another friend.  While the Mom and I were talking one of her kids were hit in the head with a softball.  Friday morning I got the call that our friend had a concussion because of it:(

Friday night was supposed to be our date night, but it was a total bust.  Tensions were high...emotions off the chart so I decided to run away with a friend.

Brenda, my sweet "wise" friend made me laugh and forget all that the week ensued.  What a blessing friends are....they know the good, bad, and the ugly and they still chose you!

Well that about sums up the week...I don't think I even mentioned my parents divorce and how it continues to ravage my family, the recovery of my husband and how that still impacts us or my own sinful flawed nature, but for now I continue to run the race set before me....knowing I am in a marathon not a sprint.

Hebrews 12:1 

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,