This boy suited up for the last time on Saturday.  We've spent a lot of time and money on baseball in the years that he's played.  I've sat in record high temperatures, rain, and snow watching this boy play.  It is a game he loves, and I have loved supporting him along the way.  Baseball isn't life.  There is so much more for him, but he has learned many important lessons through the game.  I'm so proud of him.  He's learned perseverance, loyalty, and commitment.  He's learned to enjoy the wins and learn from the loses.  I'm going to miss my days at the ballpark cheering for Big Red, but I'm excited to see what is next for him.

 

7th Grade Band Concert

Izzy had her spring concert tonight. She had quite the fan club, and of course we followed it up with ice cream.  All band concerts are followed by ice cream. Three of my children have now been blessed with an amazing band teacher aka survived being in Dad's class.

Date Night at Lowe's

 We had a much needed date night. We ate dinner and strolled through Lowe's, because projects. There are so many projects to come at the new house. It's exciting and scary. 

We are under contract=Let the chaos begin

 Our house is under contract. Last week was a whirlwind. Who sells their house in the middle of late night conference week?! I had late night parent teacher conferences three nights last week as well as 7 principals observing me teaching small group one day last week. The week was full of activity and exhaustion. For me that means emotions are high. On top of that, every morning our house had to be ready for a showing. Beds made, clothes put away, all things sparkling clean. Ugh! Good news..we survived. 

  Now, we need to start living the minamilist life and packing everything that we are taking to our new to us, very small home. Also, the soon to be owners of our current home want the girls room taken out of the garage. That began today, and I now have two little people living in my room for at least the next three weeks. 

  Two take aways from this morning's sermon: 1. God is there in the midst of uncertainty. 2. You don't get strong faith with a weak story.

Grow us, God.

Along Came House #4

 We looked at 3 houses this weekend. The first, I walk in and right back out. I have no idea what the house actually looks like, because I couldn't get past the cigarette smell. Kevin and the realtor actually arrived before me. So, they had already been inside. They stood on the front lawn and timed how quickly I would be back out. 10 seconds. It took 10 seconds. I can make a sacrifice, but that was too much. The next house was perfect. Everyone else must have thought that as well. There were at least 20 realtor cards from weekend showings. We would have to offer more than asking prize to even be considered. We decided that while it was wonderful we would probably later regret not moving more toward our goal. So, on to the third. It was small. It was cute and fun and small. It has lots of potential. As we were finishing up looking the seller let us know that they had a cash offer that morning but hadn't accepted it. Of course they did. So, we went home and talked through it quite a bit. We decided to make an offer and see what happened. They accepted our offer. We are praying that all goes well with the inspection. We know it needs work, but it has to pass an inspection. Our current house will hit the market on Thursday. Showings will start on Friday. We will have an open house on Sunday. Let's go! Watch God move!

Another House, Another Offer

 Alright, house number 3...It sat for 46 days on the market with nothing.  We made an offer yesterday.  So naturally, someone else also made an offer and it was accepted.  If you want to sell your house, just have the Humes look at it, show interest in it, and make an offer on it.  You are sure to sell it.  Let's see what house number four holds if we can find a house number four.  What do you have for us God?

In today's news

 In today's news, we put in an offer on another house today. We've been waiting since 8:00am on news. Our realtor says they are working up a counter offer. We also had real estate pictures taken of our house today, so it is ready to list at any moment. 

Continuing the Search

 God has something different for us. His answer was no. I have no idea what it is, but I know He's working. The house we made an offer on will not work as our kids would have to leave their schools and attend in MO. So, it's a no go. I battle being anxious to being at peace to being worried to being joyful. I'm exhausted physically and mentally. He's never late, so we'll continue following knowing that He will work it all out. Our house goes on the market Friday no matter what. Will the Humes be homeless?😜 Let's watch God work.

There's Something Stirring

 I wish I had logged every moment of this journey up to this point.  Unfortunately, I didn't so I'll try to do it justice and then log God's work throughout each step to follow.  Something has been stirring in us for some time to turn our finances over to God.  I don't mean tithe our 10%.  I mean turn it all over to Him and watch Him move.  Due to dumb financial decisions that started with student loans and then continued into our marriage with other unnecessary debt, we have felt the burden of being slaves to our own finances.  If I'm being honest, it has never felt okay but a deep stirring began a few years ago.  It started small and has grown bigger and more constant over time.  That constant tug to step into financial freedom has become so clearly a part of what we want.  So, we have continued whittling away at debt and worked harder to be good stewards of our money.  As that stirring continued to grow just recently, we've begun to look at what else God has for us.  What does He want for us?  What does He want from us?  Where is He leading?  Then, I think for no other reason than the leading of the Holy Spirit Kevin and I began to have conversations.  What if?  I say that it had to be the leading of the Holy Spirit, because this is something I wouldn't have dreamed of considering just a few months ago.  What if we sold our house? What if we used the profits to pay off debt, and we bought a true fixer upper aka known as dump after seeing some of the possibilities.  We could live in it as we fixed it.  The reward would far outweigh the sacrifice.  As we kicked around the idea, we found a house that needed lots of work.  Some of the work would need to be contracted out but most could be done by us.  We met a realtor to see the house.  It sat on the market for 56 days with no interest.  A few people had looked at it but said it was too much work.  We talked to our kids about it.  We took them to see it.  We talked about what it could mean for us immediately and later down the road.  The kids much to my surprise were excited about the possibility.  So, we made an offer on a house that sat on the market for 56 days with no interest.  The kids asked several times over the next 24 hours if we had heard anything on the house.  On the way to school the next day, Shelby said "Mom I really want that house."  I told her we needed to pray and ask God what He has for us.  I immediately heard her in the back seat saying, "God, what do you have for us?"  The same day we made our offer, a cash offer was also placed by an investment company.  Of course, the seller took the cash offer.  Can you blame them?  That excitement and possibility only made us more excited about what could happen.  So, we continued our search.  There's not much out there.  If it stays on the market more than 24 hours, it is either way overpriced or is an absolute dump.  We happened upon another house as we broadened our search a bit.  I know God will put us right where He wants us.  I know He is working for our good.  I know He has great things for us.  I trust Him fully.  So, we were scheduled to see the other house.  I was very skeptical.  The pictures online look less than desirable, but I'm willing to sacrifice to experience financial freedom.  Much to my surprise, the house was really great.  It needs work for sure, but that's what we are looking for.  It has so much potential, and it would be such a great place for our kids.  Everything about it seemed right.  So, we made an offer.  It was our first offer and it was very low.  We expected a counteroffer for sure.  We thought we'd just see what happened.  As we waited for news on the offer, we continued with 24 hours of life.  I had dinner with a friend and in our discussion about what was going on in our family and the offer on the house, she asked if that would mess our kids up for school.  The house is just over the state line.  That conversation put me into a bit of a panic.  That thought never occurred to me.  My kids go to school where we teach.  Why would that be a problem?  Well, apparently it is a problem when you cross the state line.  I had a quick conversation with our school registrar who confirmed that my kids could not be in my school district if they don't live in Arkansas.  Now, I only have one kid in my district with me.  The other two school-aged kids are with Kevin.  It is a district-by-district choice whether or not this is allowed.  So, Kevin has talked with his admin.  He has visited with his assistant superintendent who is looking into it for us.  This weekend, we have battled discouragement along with constant reminders that God is fully and completely in control.  In the meantime, our very low offer was accepted on the house.  I've had I'll Give Thanks playing in my head nonstop along with a few other songs.  I've woken up in the middle of the night singing in my head and believing for great things.  I don't know what tomorrow holds.  I know our house hits the market on Friday, and if it goes anything like every other house in our area we'll have several offers before Monday.  I know God has great things for us.  I'm excited to see what He's up to.  I know His plans are always bigger and better than any I could have dreamed for myself.

Summer Vacation

 Today was our first travel day. 6 Humes+1 Mathis are headed to Colorado. Traveling so far has had me pretty nervous, but day one was great. We had plans to stop at a park for a picnic lunch, but it was pouring down rain. So, we walked through Wal-Mart to stretch our legs, made sandwiches in the car, and kept driving. Eden finished her lunch and handed me her plate. I handed her her blanket and told her it was naptime. She was asleep within minutes. She was a dream to travel with today. We ended today's travels in Great Bend, KS with Madi, Jon, and the boys. We had a great visit.

Overwhelmed with Joy

Today was a wonderful day.  My heart is full.  Elijah and his girlfriend Kyley were baptized.  God is working in their lives and He is a good, good Father.  I have watched this guy as he has moved from one friend group to another.  I have watched him push boundaries and test limits, but he has such a pure heart.  He loves others.  He's growing and building a relationship with the Lord.  I'm thankful for every person in every season who have leaned in and loved him.  I'm thankful for all of the seeds that have been planted over many years.  I'm thankful that others find value in challenging and growing an obnoxious, red headed boy.  I'm excited to see what God continues to do in him and through him.

Valentine's Day

 There's this girl...

If she only knew.🤦‍♀️

Playdough Art

Shelby, you made an octopus!
Nope.
Oh, you made a jellyfish. I love it!
Nope.
It's a rain cloud.🤷‍♀️

Shelbyisms

1. "Mom, why do I always wake up so early?  I wake up before you and dad." This is true only on Saturday and Sunday. I wish I knew why. I'd fix it.

2. I asked, "How was you lunch today? Did you eat it all?"  Shelby answered, "I ate it all except my yogurt. It turned into cottage cheese before lunch. That's gross."  FYI...It was cottage cheese when I packed it.🤦‍♀️

Wishing the Time Away

Shelby age 5: I wish I could get married. It is literally going to take forever until I can get married.

Random thoughts from all of the tabs in my brain that have been left open

-Our church is doing a 7 day fast and prayer. We talked about what that means and the purpose of doing something like that. We encouraged the kids to think about what they could fast from as they pray and ask God to help them grow. Isabella decided on her own that she would fast from all technology and tv for 7 days. Saturday was a snowish kind of stay home all day and watch tv kind of day. She busied herself all afternoon at the kitchen table doing crafts of all sorts. It has been hard for her, but she's pressing on. She's also counting down for the fast to end.
-My boy lost a friend to a sudden death last week. He's 15. He has questions. He doesn't understand how this could possibly be part of God's plan. Why? All I can say is, we don't know God's plan and as terrible and hard as it is, we have to trust that He is in control. His plan is the very best plan.
-Laura is going to be grounded for the rest of her life if she doesn't stop being so much like her daddy. (Sneaky, smart mouth comments. Passive aggressive jabs at others.) It's funny but not. She often sees the real in people. Unfortunately, that means she doesn't always give others a fair chance to prove who they are.
-17 month old fits when they throw their head back on the floor and scream don't bother me nearly as much with the 5th kid as they did with the first. In fact, I can continue on with life and completely shut it out. It almost doesn't faze me at all.
-"I can't wait until Shelby is old enough for summer camp. Can you imagine a week of vacation from Shelby?" Quoted from another one of my children who will not be named.
-Sometimes teaching is just my job. It's not really great. It doesn't feel like a calling. It's just a job that I have to complete. This is one of those years. While there are little connections with students along the way, this is a tough group. I will love them and do my best for them, but I'm much less frustrated if for now it is just my job.  Tough group of kids.
-I'm grateful for a church that is pushing me and my family to take the next step, to grow, and to be open for God's purpose for us.
-Fasting from coffee is harder than I thought.

Spending Time Together

Yesterday, she asked to get coffee and sit and talk. Then she said, "I wish they had reindeer games like Anopoly that we could play while we talk."

Proud Momma

I'm so proud of my big kids.  They have transitioned so well to a new high school.  They have made some great friends already and have been working hard.  They are doing band without their dad, and that's hard.  Secretly, they might enjoy it a little.  I know they enjoy being surrounded by a large group of students who want to be good at what they do.  It makes them want to be even better, and I love seeing that in them.  I was nervous for them to make the switch to a new school, but it has been refreshing.  And since dad doesn't work so much, guess who is volunteering to drive the equipment truck to band competitions?

Always Thinking

Shelby: Are you thinking about what I'm thinking about?
Me: I don't know. What are you thinking about?
Shelby giggles: Chocolate
Girl, I think about chocolate a lot. ❤

What a week!

Everyone in our house cried at least once this week.   All 7 people. Every single person.  It was a tough week.  Laura and Elijah started a new high school, Izzy started middle school, Shelby went back to the sitter and MDO, and Eden is cutting 4-6 teeth all at once.  The kids love their new schools, but they are exhausted.  Laura and Elijah have band practice three nights during the week.  We're tired.  Kevin is transitioning into a new job in Rogers.  This week did not go as planned.  Great lesson plans were no match for a classroom that couldn't be used, because the air conditioner went out and mold was growing on the carpet and instrument cases.  The kindergarten teachers looked at my class list and said, "Wow!"  I was concerned but not defeated.  Then, I met those precious 1st graders.  I spent the week with them.  Every single day when I picked them up from activity the activity teacher said, "Bless you!"  I have my work cut out for me.  Six of the twenty-two are hard.  So, I'm tired and there have been tears.  We ended the day Friday with news that Elijah did not make the baseball team at school.  We were shocked.  He came to the car after tryouts on Wednesday very excited.  He said he did great.  He worked all summer to hit 80mph on his pitching and finally did it.  He worked almost every day on hitting.  He put the work in all summer long.  I have no idea why he didn't make it.  Three boys from the team last year who are great ball players and who he has become friends with this week didn't make it either.  When he sent me a text saying he didn't make it, I knew he was teasing me.  I was shocked.  We cried last night and shared some Ben and Jerry's ice cream.  Today is a new day.  I don't know what the reasoning is, but I know God has a plan.  So, I'll continue to be his cheerleader in all things and will encourage him in the path God is leading him on.
I'm thankful for a weekend to rest, recharge, and get focused.  I'm thankful to be home with my people, and I'm hoping for less tears next week.