"House Day" - March 3rd - The journey - Part 1

I know it is crazy that I know exactly what day we closed on our house. This is the third house we have owned but the only one I can tell you the exact date. I can tell you the month and the year with the others but not the exact date. Our first house, we knew that was the house for us. We had been searching for months and when the realtor called and said a house had just come on the market she thought we would love I went over to meet her alone. Emily was sick and the weather was yucky, the house was only about 4 miles from the house we were currently renting. I met her and fell in love. I went back home and Ryan went to meet the realtor so he could see. We had an appointment the next day to make an offer. The house had only been on the market 3 days and we only had $500 earnest money for a deposit. The realtor was skeptical as to whether or not our offer would be accepted. It turns out that the lady of the house, knew me from school. I was a Kindergarten teacher at the local elementary school at the time. She had just pulled her 5 kids out of our school to homeschool them. I thought she was crazy - 1) to have 5 kids - 2) to want to HOMESCHOOL them when we had a perfectly wonderful neighborhood school. That was why they were selling the house - she felt she needed more room. It was just a small, three bedroom house. Much to our realtor's surprise, they not only accepted our offer but asked them to give us their phone number so that if we had any questions or needed any measurements, to please call. I took her up on that offer and we spent a lovely afternoon together. I remember it being the first time I was impressed that a person could have that many well-behaved children. They were kind and polite to me, to their mother, to each other ( unbeknownst to me that tinny-tiney little large homeschool family seed possibly taking root). I loved that house. The only thing I didn't love about it was that we were so far away from family. Ryan's job was also very demanding and he didn't see a lot of potential for growth there so after 2 1/2 years in the house we put it on the market. It was on a pretty busy road and because we hadn't owned it all that long and because we were moving to a more expensive town and because we had decided I was going to stay at home full time we decided to list the house for sale by owner. The sign had been in the yard a couple of hours when a couple stopped by. They were friends of friends from church and had been hearing that we were thinking of selling. They bought our house. One day, one showing. We were on to our next adventure...

What's your platform?

For the past several months, we have been reading inspirational true-life stories of young adults. These are ordinary young people living extra-ordinary lives for Christ. The first book we read was "Kisses from Katie". The story of Katie Davis who moved to Uganda for a year after high school. She is now the 22 year old mother of 13 living in Uganda. She did not spend her life preparing for her platform. She clung to His will for her day to day decisions. She shares very openly about how difficult some of those decisions were and the ramifications both good and bad of those decisions. We finished the book in record time and I went out searching for another. The next book I chose was Tim Tebow's "Through My Eyes". The boys got a laugh at how they had to explain some of the more technical aspects of football to us "females" and how I butchered some of their names. However, as with "Kisses from Katie" the questions we began to ask ourselves and each other were often about evaluating our own lives to see if our "platforms" had eternal significance and if they didn't how could we change it , if it did, how could we do better. One night, Ian decided that we all needed to go around the room and announce our platform and tell one way we had used it for Christ. A couple of night later, he made us do it again and this time we had to name a different platform. Obviously, Tim Tebow has spent a lot of time preparing for his platform and knew at a very early age what he was called to do. Still, he was able to walk us through some of those difficult decisions he had to make and share with us the outcome. It took us a little longer to plow through the Tebow book because his chapters were longer, we had to stop to explain things more and it was over Christmas break so things were a little more hectic. After Christmas, I went on the hunt again. This time, I came home with Bethany Hamilton's "Soul Surfer". This book was a little different because we had all seen the movie. However, hearing things from her perspective as a 13 year old girl has been very intriguing. Yesterday, we were talking about her "platform" and how her platform got a louder voice as a result of tragedy. Like Tebow, she had been preparing all her life to become the best in her sport and was making great strides. Then, that fateful Halloween day, everything changed. Platforms take all shapes and sizes. We have learned that just from asking one another how it is going, giving one another encouragement and accountability. Our pastor has been saying recently that "For anything to be dynamic, it has to be specific." I truly believe that. I believe that we have to be specific in looking for ways to share the gospel. I will be the first to admit, I am good with using actions, terrible using my words. When we go into Target or Wal-Mart or the grocery store, I often engage the clerk in conversation. It drives my kid's crazy. It also drives them crazy that the cashiers remember me and whatever we talked about last time and the kid's think it is crazy that these people all over town know random things about us. That's my platform. It may not be glamorous and I surely didn't pick it, but it is. So I ask, "what is your platform and how are you being specific?"