This Old House

The Brown House:  (click this link)

Yes, folks it is true.  After falling in LOVE with this historical home and then spending almost 6 years of blood, sweat and tears (oh and a ton of money) renovating it, we are putting it on the market.

We covet your prayers as we try and sell......

Much love and a big hug to all ~

Melissa B.

Times they are a changing.....

Well, our house is on the market as of today.  Times are tough.  Not just for us, but for many of our friends.  SO, we have decided to TRY and sell the house and downsize.  I have spent about two weeks purging all the STUFF that we have.  Stuff in closets, stuff in drawers, stuff in attics, stuff in sheds, man do we have a lot of stuff!  Ridiculous really.  I feel so much lighter in spirit knowing that I have gotten rid of things that I did not use and probably never needed to begin with.   Time to lighten the load which in turn lightens the spirit.  :)   I realized I had been holding on to stuff of my mom's and brother's that I needed to let go of.  Why is it that holding on to a physical possession of a lost loved one, makes me feel better?  I am sure it made me feel closer to them in some way, but I made the plunge and tossed things away.  Healing.  Peace. Growth.  Always a journey.  So, as I get ready to hit the couch with my beloved Kindle I send a prayer, thought, whatever it may be called to my Granny, my uncles and aunts, Momma and Jeff that 'I love them' and crave the day I run to them and hug them tight.  Peace.

Perspective - A View or Vista

My week started off badly due to my father's diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease on Tuesday.   I was very shaken while watching my father undergo the testing and realizing that he was testing positive for Parkinson's on all the tests.   It was hard to even finish out work that day, but I kept trying to focus on the fact that we now have a true diagnosis and that he was able to be put on medicine to help stop the symptoms.  On top of that we have been trying to get an old truck we have up and running for Jacob to drive now that he has his license.   Money is very tight and there seems to be many things that need to be fixed - one after the other.

And now it is Friday and our beautiful South has been ravaged and devastated by massives storms with a death count this morning of 297 which is expected to rise.  We have all seen the incredible video footage and pictures and I have talked to a few people in areas that were hit.   The destruction is unreal.   And, SO, once again I have been given perspective.  

Funny, I have been begging and pleading with God the past month or so to speak to me.  To settle my soul regarding certain family concerns, church concerns, and financial concerns and as I awoke this morning I realized that this was my answer - perspective.  Yes, my dad's condition is not great, but he has lived a long life.   Yes, my children may not always act the way I think they should, but they are healthy and strong and overall, good kids with incredibly good hearts.   Yes, our finances may not be in great shape, but we have a home, food, and power!   Perspective.  I suppose sometimes all I really need is just a good dose of it!

Come to Me with Empty Hands

Come to me with empty hands and an open heart, ready to receive abundant blessings.  I know the depth and breadth of your neediness.  Your life-path has been difficult, draining you of strength.  Come to Me for nurture.  Let Me fill you up with my Presence:  I in you and you in Me.  My Power flows most freely into weak ones aware of their need fr Me.  Faltering steps of dependence are not lack of faith; they are links to My Presence.

Excerpt from 'Jesus Calling'.

Good Friday, 30-Hour Famine and Easter!

Well, this will be my 5th year helping lead our Youth through World Vision's 30-Hour Famine and I am so excited!  We will  begin fasting at noon on Good Friday and continue our fast through 6 p.m. on Saturday evening.   Please pray for our youth and leaders that we would feel the Spirit's presence with us as we go without food for 30 hours and also that we would raise a sizeable donation for World Vision.  

It is going to be an amazing weekend!  Spending time with our youth, Good Friday service Friday night, service projects on Saturday and ultimately communion together and breaking our fast on Saturday evening. 

All of this blessing leading up to the greastest day of the year - EASTER!   We will be traveling as a family to Nashville on Sunday to spend Easter with my sister, so I will have to miss the Youth that are going to be making professions of faith this Sunday and also being baptized Sunday afternoon.   Know that I will be there with you in spirit and in prayer.   Believe it or not, I was going to get dunked Sunday also, but spending Easter as a family is tradition.  God is faithful and I know He will open up another opportunity for me to make the journey of "immersion" in the future. 

Blessings to all this Easter weekend and remember that Jesus paid it all and set us free!   Love ~  Melissa

Seasons

Not sure if anyone follows my blog anymore or not, but for anyone out there who might be reading:

My dad is coming home from Nashville back to his house in Winchester.   :)   This means that he has made it through the hardest part of his recovery and is on the mend!  Praise God for restoring his health and bringing us all through this trial. 

Life is full of so many trials.   This should not be a surprise to us - the Bible told us it would be this way.   Our job is to figure out how to navigate through our trials, do what we can to make our way through them and leave the rest to God.  Life is hard.  Our family seems to have been through MANY trials the past few years and I often wonder how much more we can bear, but then I stop and think of those people who are suffering major trials in life - the death of a child, the terminal illness of a loved one, a family member away at war.......and I am forced to stop and be grateful - to count my blessings.

I am in a very hard place right now.  A place of decisions.   A place of trying to decide what is best for my children.  A place of feeling like I am alone with no support.  It is a hard place to be.  But, we all come to a point in life that we have to do what we know is right for us.  A place where we quit trying to live for others expectations of us. 

I have made so many mistakes in my life and REALLY "should have listened to my mother".   Funny how we learn that way too late in life, isn 't it?   There is so much irony in the fact that we don't listen to our mother's advice until we ourselves become mothers.   But, I am learning to forgive myself and to let go of my guilt and my burdens and to realize that God's grace abounds.   His grace is never ending.  His love for me is even bigger than that!  Thank goodness, because I need to know that.  I embrace it and cling to it right now and it is what helps me through every day. 

My sister and I are moving into a new season of life right now with taking care of an aging parent and I am moving into a new season of my life with raising teenagers and the increasing possibility that we will be downsizing our home fairly soon if possible.   Life changes, and with that change many times comes difficulty and I praise God that I have faith.  I simply do not know how people get by without it.

My blog today was more therapy than anything and for anyone who happens to read I hope you glean something from my babbling.   Love to all ~ 

“Remember to be gentle with yourself and others. We are all children of chance and none can say why some fields will blossom while others lay brown beneath the August sun. Care for those around you. Look past your differences. Their dreams are no less than yours, their choices no more easily made. And give, give in any way you can, of whatever you posses. To give is to love. To withhold is to wither. Care less for your harvest than for how it is shared and your life will have meaning and your heart will have peace.”

Love

I am endlessly amazed by the people who only show love to others based on the conditions they place upon them.   This concept confuses me and I have never understood it.  I so many times have seen it cause hurt to others and also the name of "Christianity".   

I pray today that we would all show the love of Christ and not our own self-centered love. 

1 Corinthians 13:1-13
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;

“But groundless hope, like unconditional love, is the only kind worth having.”

The Coma and a Vessel of Mercy

The past 6 weeks have held MANY challenges for my father, my family and myself.  In order to spare you all the details, let's just start with "my dad had a bad fall" and go from there.  After the fall he had to undergo surgery on his brain in order to release a build up of fluid and blood.  This is a fairly common surgery performed by neurologists and we knew he would spend a few days in the hospital, but NEVER did we expect what actually happened.  We took my Dad to the hospital, spent some time in the pre-op dressing room joking around with him and praying over him and told him "bye" as he headed off for surgery.   We met him in a room after recovery and talked to him a bit and decided to leave the hospital for him to get some rest.   This is when our world as we knew it turned upside down.

My dad suffered post-operative seizures that left him in a coma for 10 days.   He developed pneumonia during that time and had to be placed on a ventilator in order to get adequate oxygen to his lungs for healing.  The outlook was bleak in our eyes, although the neurologist kept telling us to pray and that he was optimistic.  So pray we did and I mean we PRAYED!!

On day 9 of my dad being unconscious, they began to talk to us about the possibility of a feeding tube and performing a tracheotomy.  My sister and I discussed the issues and decided that a feeding tube was not an option and I prepared myself for the worst, for you see I had already been down this road with my brother and it was long, hard, dark and ended in having to tell my brother goodbye.  

Day 10:  I walked into ICU to talk with the nurses and physicians and see my Dad.   Imagine my surprise when I got into the ICU unit and my Dad's nurse said "your dad is waking up.  His eyes are open."  And, she wasn't kidding.  My dad was waking up and not only waking up, but trying to talk and pull his ventilator tube out.  PRAISE GOD doesn't even capture the joy I felt - as a matter of fact, I don't think I would be able to put into words the way my heart and soul felt at that moment and the moments following when I was there to watch my Dad come back around.  

But, this isn't even the most amazing part.  The most amazing part was my Dad's telling Chris and I (and the next day telling my sister and her family) that he had been in heaven.   He had seen my Mother and he had seen Jeff.  He had been there with them........and that my friends is where my story of healing begins.   I hope to be able to put into words the way God used that experience to heal a huge hole in my heart.  I pray I will be able to verbalize it in a way I can share with those around me.  I want to testify to God's grace and mercy in my life and also in the life of my family through this entire experience.   So, for now, let's just say this story is to be continued............

I Never Win Anything!

Wanted to share a great post by my friend Julie this morning.  Once, again I PLAN on getting back to blogging soon.  I have a LOT to share, trust me.  God has been showing me so much - He is good that way!   :)    But, for now, please read Julie's post from today.  So challenging and true.........

His Love Extended Ministries

It is Definitely Starting to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

I FINALLY have my decorations and tree up for Christmas.  Not we just have to trim the tree and we will be done!

I have been very spending a lot of time this year thinking about how much time, energy and money we can put into Christmas decorating, shopping, etc., and how biblical all of it really is.    Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Christmas and I certainly love celebrating the birth of my Saviour, but I have really been contemplating on how our family spends our Christmas this year.   We have always tried to give a lot of our time and resources  at Christmas to those less fortunate, but this year it just still doesn't seem to be enough to me.   If we are buying more for ourselves and our kids than we are giving away to others - especially giving the news of our Savior's birth, then are we really doing what Jesus would have us do?   Just something to think on this year.   It is so easy to fall into the commercialism of Christmas, but this year I think we will just slow down, enjoy time with friends and family and not worry so much what the decorations look like or how much we spend.   I think we will try and get back to the basics.    How 'bout you?

"If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." 1 John 3:17-18