Can I Get a Buyer... Please!

Posted by Victoria comments (0)
My house looks the best it has ever looked, to bad someone else is going to get to enjoy it. All the work we needed to do is finally done. It has been so hard to get it all done quickly on a tight budget with two children who are always needing something just at the moment you open the paint can and dip in the brush or right when you climb all the way up the ladder and find just the right spot to balance everything so it won't fall off the ladder. I think it has been God's way of helping me let go because now that I have painted and nailed and boxed up clutter, and scraped, chipped, repaired, and scrubbed I am done not only with the work, but the house itself. I am kind of ready to see it go. We have great memories here (it is the only house Jason and I have lived in since we have been married) but I am ready to make memories in a house that requires less work and more fun. I have been looking at houses in Caldwell county for months now and I have seen some go that I really liked, so now I am ready to find the one God leads me to. I know that the one for us is out there, and I am excited to find it. Emma is anxious, and worried, and I am ready for her to be able to settle in and know that this is where we are going to stay. I want her to understand that all of her things that she loves will be with her. She asks me everyday if her bed is going and if her dog is going and if her sister is going. She is so confused and it bothers me to see her upset about the unknown. I really want to get up there and get settled so that we can all get acclamated to the area before school and fall activities start. I would love to have a relaxing summer learning the area and getting familiar with everything. I am praying every day and every night that God will help send a buyer to our home. The economy is bad and the housing market is worse and we live in a little old starter home in a corn field in the middle of nowhere. Not exactly ideal circumstances for selling a home, but I am convinced that God has led us to this place and He will not leave us stranded.
"Answer me when I call to you, oh my righteous God. Give me relief from my distress; be merciful to me and hear my prayer." Psalm 4:1

 

Simply Easter...

Posted by Victoria comments (0)
Easter... one of my favorite holidays. I didn't really know it was my favorite holiday until I had children. My favorite time of the year is fall. I love to watch the trees change, I love the crisp air, fall festivals and the beginning of winter. I have always loved fall and winter and Christmas has always been my favorite holiday. The birth of my savior is a great reason to celebrate, but I also enjoy the presents and the cookies and the music... Spring is one of my least favorite seasons. Don't get me wrong I love warm air returning, and flowers blooming are o.k., but I don't like head colds ( which I get every Spring), allergies, bugs, yardwork, and rain, all of which arrive in the Spring. I never look forward to the arrival of Spring, but I have found myself looking forward to Easter this year. Easter celebrates the greatest moment in all of History, Jesus overcoming death and the grave. I like that Easter is simple. Christmas is so busy and I feel as though it is hard to keep my family focused on the true meaning of Christmas in the midst of shopping, cooking, entertaining, shopping, presents, Santa Claus, did I mention shopping? I don't have to shop for weeks and weeks to get everyone I know a present for Easter and I don't have anything to wrap or take back afterwards. I enjoy getting dressed up and letting the girls dress up to look their best to worship Christ. I have gotten so casual in the way I dress for church and sometimes my attitude is a reflection of how I look and feel. I want my girls to know what it is to look nice and give your best for Christ. I love that the activities that we do at Easter are just family time activities, dying Easter eggs at the kitchen table, baking cookies with the girls, going to nana and papaws to eat dinner and play. I love to see my children get excited over a simple basket of candy and a stuffed animal. I love that I don't have to worry if the true meaning of Easter is getting drowned out by the world's view and the hype because Easter is about Jesus. Emma asked me the other day what we celebrated Easter for and I told her because Jesus is alive and we celebrate the fact that He died to save us and that He lives so that we can live also and that was that. I didn't have to keep reminding her to focus on the true meaning, and I didn't have to worry that she was going to miss it in all the chaos. She could see it in the bird's nest full of new life on our porch, she could hear it in the songs about Christ as we drove down the road, she could read it in her Bible before bed. The meaning of Easter was coming through loud and clear, all the world had to offer was the Easter bunny and the Easter bunny is no Santa. The Easter bunny is fun and the Easter eggs taste good and look pretty, but Jesus is what it is all about. A simple holiday that has such a huge meaning in a season which brings new life. HAPPY EASTER!
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead..." 1 Peter 1:3

 

Ready, Set, Go... to Kindergarten!

Posted by Victoria comments (0)
Kindergarten registration is tomorrow night. I don't know how I feel about it yet. Part of me is so happy to see my little girl growing and learning and experiencing so many new things, but another part of me is afraid to let her go. I worry about the "big" kids and what they will teach her and I worry about how her personality will change once she is around a lot of other children and their ideas about how she should act and dress and talk. I have tried to decide whether home school would help her, but then I worry that by the age she would really need sheltering she will be fighting me to go to school. I wish we could afford private school so she could be in an enviroment that reinforces the morals and values that we are trying to instill in her, but right now that would be difficult and then when Lydia starts it would be impossible and I don't want to send one if I can't afford to send both, so it appears she is off to public school. I tell myself that I went to public elementary school and I turned out just fine, but that was then and this is now. We went for the Kindergarten visit last week. Two hours of touring the school and sitting in a classroom and meeting the teachers. They got to do activities that the Kindergarteners do and the highlight of the day was riding on a real school bus. Emma was so excited. She talked about it all week. She is a book worm and she loves school. Then we arrived. Her first reaction was " it is big" and she took on somewhat of a deer in headlights appearance. She never spoke a word the whole time we were there. She sat on her carpet square and stared at the smartboard while the teacher asked them their ABC's. She has known her ABC's since she was 2, but she sat frozen while the teacher smiled a sympathetic smile and called on someone else. She refused to do the excersize portion of the class, because she refuses to do anything she deems embarrasing, and when it was time for centers she sat on her carpet square and stared at the wall until the teacher took her hand and walked her to the puzzle table. I felt so bad for her. She seemed so small compared to the other children there. She couldn't reach the smartboard- she was to short and she seemed overwhelmed by how many kids were there- about 15. I told her there would probably be more in her class and she said " I hope not". The bus ride was fun though she decided she wanted to be a car rider because there were no seatbelt to keep you safe. ( That is fine because she was going to be a car rider anyway). You might be saying to yourself- why send her? If she is that little she may not be ready, but she is turning 5 in June way before the cut-off and like I said academically she is ready. She knows how to write basic words, count to most of the way to hundred, she is reading sight words and tying her shoes. Her pre-school teacher said she would be to bored to stay in preschool another year. They believe she is ready and that she will come out of her shell once she is there. I don't know if I am ready for her to come out of her shell, but I guess the time has come to let her go... even if it is only a mile down the road. Thank goodness lydia's birthday is after the cut- off so I still have three more years before I have to go through this stress again!

 

Stop, Look and Listen...

Posted by Victoria comments (0)
I was reading a blog several weeks ago and they had posted random things that they had heard said around their house that week. I thought it was so funny when I read it and since then it has made me pay more attention to the little random things that I hear around my house. The things that normally would be funny for a moment and then forgotten. My children are growing up so fast and many days we are rushing to get things done. I am hurrying them up to go go go and I forget to stop and listen to the sweet things they say. All to soon these days will be gone, they are getting older and more independent every day. I don't want to miss these little moments because I am so busy focusing on myself, my house, and what we need to get done. Last week I went to the mall to look for summer clothes and realized that Emma is no longer in the "toddler" sizes. She has moved up to the "big" girl clothes. We were standing next to a little girl that was probably nine years old and looking at the same shirts, it really scared me to think that we were now shopping in the girls section and not in the baby and toddler section. In the Bible James says that we are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes and I never really felt that until I had kids, time truly does fly and we don't know what tomorrow brings so my prayer is that God will help me to slow down, listen, remember and enjoy every minute of this season He has blessed me with.
Some of the things I heard this week in the Hartman home:
"Mommy, I pushed out 16 babies today." (Wow Emma that is a lot.) "Well mommy you have to take care of what God gives you. Tomorrow He is gonna give me 22 more... First there is Josiah, Mary, Emily and then Slinky and I have to think of the other names for them."
"Tickle my belly button Mommy!... do it again... do it again... do it again... do it again..."
"Be careful, it is a jungle out there... watch out for lions and tigers ( and bears, says Lydia)"
"Love you back.. Da-dee! Love you back... Mo-mee!"
"Me shaken' my booteee."
"Daddy your face rough..." ( Emma used to say it was fuff, but Lydia talks plainer than she did)
"Pillow fight!!!!!" ( daddy's idea)
"Nobody worry about that dog you just sat on!"
"When I get big I want +8 babies just like Kate... but I am going to have to call a babysitter because I am going to be a veterinar..a vetriner... a dog doctor."
"Look mommy I'm climbing daddy mountain..."
"Mommy... Lydia says she is gonna eat me."
"You get to have dinner with a princess tonight..."
Thank you God!

 

Moving on...

Posted by Victoria comments (0)
After much prayer, discussion, and deliberation we have decided that we are moving. We just feel like God opened the door for this job and we would always wonder what other doors God would have opened if we had gone, so we decided we should trust God and go. I have been so worried and stressed about what to do, but after we just said let's do it I have been pretty much at peace. I still worry about some things, whether we will be able to find a great church like the one we have here and whether or not the schools will be as good as the one Emma would go to in the fall, and of course I worry about the fact that I am an only child and this will be the farthest I have ever been from my family ( I know it is only an hour, but still it is the farthest I have ever been); however, I know that God will work it out. I have laid it in His hands and I choose to trust whatever He plans.
Now comes the fun part, trying to fix up an old house on a limited budget, trying to sell an old house in a horrible market, and trying to get our finances in order to be able to buy another house in a broken economy. My house has always felt tiny until I started painting it and now all of a sudden it seems huge. We had not really painted the whole house since we moved in and it has been a huge project, especially with two little sets of hands and feet that want to "help". Emma just keeps begging to paint her door purple and doesn't understand why that is not a good idea and Lydia just wants to paint anything any color and doesn't understand that paint doesn't dry that quickly. I never noticed all the little things that need to be updated, repaired or painted until I started. I started painting the bathroom door and then noticed that the doorknobs front to back didn't match. Someone just replaced the front of it but left the inside one original. I never noticed it before, but now we have to replace the doorknobs and since they don't make the doorknobs that are on it anymore we have to replace all the doorknobs going down the hall or none of them will match the bathroom. It is the little things that are driving me crazy, but God is in control and if it is meant to be it will be. The other morning I heard Ty Pennington yelling "MOVE THAT BUS" and I fell on the front yard as I saw my dream home revealed... and then I woke up.
The LORD says," I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you." Psalm 32:8

 

Why I get tired of cleaning...

Posted by Victoria comments (0)
Monday... cleaning day at the Hartman home.


Me: Emma, can you and Lydia please go to your room for five minutes so I can get something done without you guys dragging more stuff out?
Emma: Yes mommy, we can read books.
Me: That sounds like a great idea. I will come read to you in just a minute when I finish the dishes.
Emma: o.k. come on lydia. Do you want me to read to you?
Lydia: Emma read book to me mommy.
Me: o.k. follow Emma



Five minutes later...













Me: Emma, What are you doing? I thought you were going to read a book.
Emma: We are reading mommy, these are the lily pads to keep us from sinking in the ooey, gooey, muck.
Lydia: Me sitting on Lily pad.
Emma: We only dragged out books mommy nothing else.
Me: Thanks Emma.

 

Valentine's Day...

Posted by Victoria comments (0)
Another Valentine's day has come and gone. I am not romantic by nature and have never really been a mushy girly girl, so I do not normally get too impressed with Valentine's day. Jason and I show our love to each other and our children daily so I don't get really worked up over Valentine's, but I did begin to think about it after reading all the Facebook posts and other blogs and I realized just how much Valentine's Day has changed for me over the years.
Jason and I have now spent 17 Valentine Days together. I had to add that up twice before I believed it, but it was true- scary! In the beginning, when we were just dating, I would get so excited about Valentine's Day. My love language is gifts and I would love getting a present- usually chocolate or sometimes a piece of jewelry. Jason and I would plan a date with a special dinner and a movie. I would sometimes get to stay out past curfew so we could see a late movie and then we would go home and exchange our little gifts and kiss goodnight and talk about how much we loved each other. I know- mushy!
We didn't have children until 8 years into our marriage so the first few years after marriage we would still make plans. The gifts became smaller now that we had bills to pay and groceries to buy. We normally counted dinner out as our gift to each other and then we would exchange cards. We still planned romantic dinners out, ususally at the nicer resteraunts in town, the ones we wouldn't go to normally. I loved to get dressed up and get my hair done and go on a "date" with my husband. Valentine's Day was a special date night.
Now that we have two children under 4, Valentine's Day has changed dramatically. We no longer have time for late night dates, fancy restaraunts, and the only gifts that we exchange now usually consist of me getting a bath with the door locked or Jason getting a shoulder rub on the sofa in front of the evening news. Luxuries in our eyes:)
As I look back I don't regret any of it. I loved our special dates, our special gifts and our alone time, but as life changes so do I and now my joy comes in knowing that Jason and I are still in love and we get to share that love with our children. This year our gifts were homemade Valentine cards and stuffed animals, our special date was at the local library watching a puppet show and eating a heart shaped cookie, our fancy restaraunt was the kitchen and our steak dinner was homecooked and enjoyed amidst giggles and milk mustaches. We have come such a long way and we have loved every minute of it. May God bless us with 17 more Valentine Days together.
"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God." 1 John 4:7