Counting Our Blessings

This week they have been numerous and I've decided it's time to write them all down, mostly b/c I need to write it. Hopefully it will encourage you as it has us. Spoiler: this is pretty long so I understand if you don't make it all the way through. :)

1. Samuel is doing great in school. His teachers are bragging on him and even seem a little surprised at how well he's doing (we, of course, are not).

2. Jeremiah has done wonderfully at his preschool. He gets a little timid and shy when we get there (I know that's hard for some of you to believe), but then he opens up and does great. The little boy from across the street, Tate, is in his class. That has helped tremendously.

3. Thursday when I took Jeremiah to school, Janabeth (the director of the preschool and mother of a 2nd grader in Samuel's class) said, "Hey Shelley, why don't you let me pick Samuel up from school and drop him off at home?" Wow!! I had been praying all week for a solution to the "waking Jeremiah up from his nap to pick Samuel up from school" dilemna. She's done that for the last 2 days and what an incredible blessing. Jeremiah slept till 4:30 yesterday.

3. I met one of our next door neighbors, Carlos, on Thurs. He was so friendly and so excited about us being here and about there being more kids in our neighborhood. He then told me the names as well as interesting bits of information about everyone on our street. It was so neat!! These people really do know each other. He also told me about the neighborhood Christmas party next week (that we will be attending). What a blessing!!

4. Thursday, David & I signed the final papers on our house in College Station. We have a contract on it with a family from Houston. But get this: We had come to an agreement on a price (this was several weeks ago) and then we heard that someone else wanted to make an offer. So our agent told the first offer's agent and the family upped their offer by $600. That meant that we were only $500 from our listing price. Now the relocation company buys the house from us and sells it to this family (I think this is so we won't have to pay any closing costs). But the relocation company said that the appraisal came in higher than the agreed price, so they are buying it from us for $1000 more than that price. Amazing!!!!

5. Thursday night, Jilaine came over for dinner. Jilaine went to ComChurch when she was at A&M. She graduated in May and is now teaching at Irving High School. It was so fun having her here. We had a great time just getting to know each other (we didn't know each other at ComChurch). She told us she had been waiting for us to get here to do church with us -- so now there are 7 of us!!! That's exciting! :)

6. Friday I met a neighbor from across the street: Mike. He is the preacher at Walnut Hill church of Christ. He was so nice and when I told him we were going to be doing church in our home, he was so supportive. Even said that if he came across anyone who would rather go to church in a home setting that he would send them our way. I was very encouraged by this.

7. Friday night Brad & Laura came. We were so happy to have them here. In case you don't know, they are the other couple that's moving to Irving with us to start doing church together. They came to look around and to sign a lease on an apartment. They are moving in next Sat. We went to dinner with them and Jilaine came and joined us. So I guess that was the first official meeting of ComChurch of Irving. :) It was so fun to just stay up late talking to them. They are such a blessing to our family and we are so excited about them getting up here. Both of them start their new jobs on Dec. 10.

8. This afternoon, we went with Meredith, Tate & Avery (the family that lives across the street -- Sam was at a funeral so it was just Meredith and the twins) to Irving's Christmas Parade. It was so neat! Mostly because it felt so much more "small town" than a metroplex parade. And the kids had a blast! When we got home, we went to their house for dinner. But first....

9. As we walked across the street to their house, we noticed the family 2 doors down from them outside putting their Christmas lights up. So we went to meet them. They are Vance & Janice and they have 2 kids, Bailey (7 - 2nd grade at Samuel's school) and Teresa (3). But get this, Janice is Filipina -- I'm telling you, the Lord is freaking me out by now!!!

10. We had a blast at Sam & Meredith's house. We have yet to realize the full impact of the blessing their friendship is going to mean for us.

Also, Janabeth has found me a pediatrician, a beautician, a handyman and about 5 babysitters. I don't know what I would do without these people. In the words of our dear friend Ken, "Are these people for real?" :)

It seems like there's more, it just keeps coming and coming! God is definitely confirming what we're doing. We just keep walking and watching what He's doing. If you made it this far: blessings! :)