The New Casa

As I mentioned in the last post, we moved... again.  Let me just say, I do not enjoy moving.  However, I do love living in a place that feels like home.  The last 2 residences we have inhabited were what we needed for that season.  The price and timing worked out for both places, but neither of the places felt too much like home.  We ended up finding out that the last home we lived in had mold in the kitchen walls/cupboards.  Not something anyone would want in their house, especially with 2 little guys running around like we do.

So despite our greatest efforts, we weren't able to get it fixed the way we had hoped, and we had some trouble with our landlord.  That was when I decided it was time to search for a new house.  I had high hopes for our new place, and had a list of "must haves" along with a list of "would really likes".  I spent many hours days on Zillow, Craigs List, Trulia... you get the picture.  I found a lot of houses that I would've loved to live in, but the price of rent was really making it difficult to find one that fit my list, but that also fit our budget.

One evening, we were at eGroup, and one of the couples suggested that we talk to their friends who had just bought a new house and were wanting to rent the one they were previously living in.  We got in touch, and I went to look at the house.  It had all our "must haves" and most of our "would really likes"!! Oh happy day! Not only that, but this incredibly wonderful couple made it financially possible for us to rent from them.  When I came over to see the house for the first time, the owner told me about how she had been praying for their future renters, and that God had laid it on her heart that it would be a "safe" place for someone to live.  She didn't know exactly what that meant, but she waited.  She got a call from a friend (Suzy from our eGroup) and said "I have a family that is looking for a house to rent, the house they are living in has mold, and they don't feel safe".  She knew right then that this was what God meant.

Unfortunately, we had to figure out how we were going to get out of our contract, and work out all the details of moving. There was a point in all this that I ended up giving up, I didn't know how it would all work out so that we could move into this new house.  I was convinced that my efforts were not enough, and I had to surrender my desires over to God.  I started praying that Philip would feel the same conviction to surrender the whole situation over.

Side note!  Ladies, one thing I am learning (and I don't get it right every time) is when I bring to God the things I want to see change in my husband to Him, then he either works that change out in him, or changes my heart to give grace, and be at peace with where we are.  Let me tell you, this is so much better than nagging!  Nagging, I have learned, does not work. Bringing your concerns to God does.  If our husbands are seeking God, and there is change needed, God is gonna work on him.  Isn't that so freeing?!  I'll have to do a whole other post on that later :)

 Anyways, back to it. A couple days later Philip came to me and said we should let God work it out and he would provide.  This was a particularly difficult one for us to let go, because there was quite a bit of money that we would be losing due to breaking our contract, and we had felt that we deserved something because we had been living and dealing with the mold in the house.  (The boys had an incredibly sick season while living there.  We don't know if this was caused by the mold, but it could have been related)  I think we both felt the need to protect and provide safety for our family, and we realized that was best done by surrendering it over to God.

When we released this, He worked everything out in His timing. Praise Jesus!  We packed up and moved within the next month and have been here since mid August.

It has 3 bedrooms,

2 full baths, a nice big living room,

 a kitchen with a gas stove, (Yeah!)

and a beautiful fenced in backyard.

 Not only does it have all of these perks, but it is 10 minutes away from the location we serve at and attend.  We are currently working on putting in a fire pit with some seating in the back, and finishing up some little projects inside.

We finally feel at home.  We are so grateful for God's provision and consistent reminders to allow him to be God in our lives.  Recently we had a ladies event, and our Pastor's wife Holly spoke.  One thing she said that stuck out was "What's beyond my control is in God's Control".

Is there something in your life that you are trying to control that should be in His?  Maybe something to think about in your next quiet time.  :)

Happy Hump Day!

With Love, From Charlotte

Sand In Our Toes... Mouths, Ears and Everywhere Else!

Since moving to the East Coast we have not yet made it to the beach til just recently.  Having lived in San Diego for a few years during college, I have spent quite a bit of time at the beach.  However, as a family, we have only done a beach trip a few times, and we've never done it on the East Coast.  For those of you West Coasters that don't know, there is a huge difference in water temperature from East to West.  I had no idea that this was the case, but when I put my feet in the water just south of Myrtle Beach, I thought I was stepping into a bath tub.  I was shocked!  I am used to going to the beach and laying in the sun for a good 45 minutes to get good and hot before attempting to take a dip in the ocean.  Not here! Don't get me wrong, San Diego will always have a special place in my heart, but I do have to say the warm water is a plus!

This was a fairly last minute planned trip for us, we had a couple in our eGroup that blessed us by gifting us their time share.  It was minutes from the beach and we spent as much time as our two littles would allow us in the sand and the water.  We tried to go prepared, knowing that Camden would try to eat as much sand as humanly possible, and that Parker would need an eye on him every moment we were in the water.  We got a little tent that Camden was able to play and nap in without being in direct sunlight, or rolling in the sand the whole time.  

We also got plenty of sand toys and a life vest for Parker to use.  Philip got to teach parker how to ride the waves in, dig huge holes, and build castles. 

 I got to catch a few rays, while Camden snoozed in the tent, and went on a search for the best seashells we could find with Parker.  

We headed back to our incredibly comfortable and spacious condo for the afternoon for long afternoon naps and relaxing evenings. 

 They had a perfect for Parker pool area, with a "lazy river" around it that you could ride an inner tube on.  

We had a kitchen in our condo so we got to make our own meals and relax when we wanted.  It was a perfect little getaway and one that was much needed after the busyness of the last few months.  Next time we will stay a little longer :)

As we got back to Charlotte we got to spend time with Grandma Engle.   It was so nice to have her here as she gave me the opportunity to finish up some things around the house. 

 Oh yeah, by the way, we moved again!  Ha!  That's right, 3 moves in one year.  Not my idea of fun, but we love our new place.  It is in a quiet part of Charlotte, much more country than where we were, and it is also much closer to the campus that we serve at. Both boys have their own room and we have a beautiful back yard for lots of playing and running for both Parker and Bella :) I'll try to put up a few pics of the new place soon!

Sorry for the tangent!  Like I was saying, Cindy watched, walked with, played with and took care of the boys so I could finish up the unpacking, cleaning and organizing that comes with moving into a new home.  I was also able to run errands and check some things off my to do list that I didn't think I'd ever get done! She also spent many hours working on our yard, we have a fire pit that Philip wants to put in, but that meant lots of clearing out.  We did get to enjoy many meals, outings at playgrounds, a new mall and some garage sale scavenging as a family while she was here too!  We are so grateful for her willingness to help us in so many ways.  

Things are getting back to normal around here, but I am getting ready to go visit this awesome mama as she is getting ready to have her second little one.

I'm taking Camden with me, and Parker and Daddy will be staying here to fend for themselves.  Don't worry, Philip's a pro at this whole dad thing, and I am completely confident that they will have a blast without us.  Plus, they both really like pizza from all sorts of different places :)

I hope you are enjoying what season of life you are in right now.  We miss and love you!

With Love, From Charlotte.

Love Week at Elevation Church

Hey there!  So I promised a Love Week post, so here it is.  It is much later than I hoped, but hey, that is the story of my life!  At Elevation we have a whole week dedicated to loving on the city of Charlotte.  The initial goal in starting it was to ask each person that attends Elevation to serve at least one hour during the week.  We partner with these organizations year around, and serve our city weekly, this is just a condensed and focused week that we look forward to throughout the year! The reason I think it is so important for me to take you back to what we did in July is because it was such a fun week for my family.  We learned a lot about the joy we find in serving others together.  

The week started off with taking the boys to an assisted living home for alzheimer's patients .  We went with a Mommy's eGroup that I'm in.  Parker and Camden have found their sweet spot for sure!  They call this ministry "Baby Therapy", the goal behind this ministry is to allow babies and toddlers come visit the patients and brighten their day.  Simple as that!  Parker led the group in Jesus Loves Me, You Are My Sunshine, and Daisy, Daisy.  He also sat on one of the walkers as one of the older men pushed him around the room.  Camden let all the ladies hold him (he's quite the ladies man) they tickled him, squeezed his cheeks, and gushed over his smile.

The following day I was involved in two different ministries.  I was able to serve with an organization called Bright Blessings.  This organization provides birthday gifts and parties for displaced children in the city that won't get these things throughout the year.  They partner with the schools in the city to make a difference in these kids' lives.  

In the afternoon I was able to serve at another organization called Second Harvest.  This is an incredible ministry that provides food for the hungry.  They have a huge warehouse in which they sort and prepare all the food and goods that they provide.  We got to sort through hundreds of items, to the point that they ran out of things for us to do for them that day! 

We finished off the week serving as a family with the eGroup that Philip and I have been leading.  We put together several hundred backpacks for the start of school for some underprivileged kids in the city.  That night Parker's official job was to push the filled backpacks in a box to the finished pile.  He was catching so much attention, because let's face it, he's adorable. As a result,  he got photographed and recorded throughout the night.  

He ended up making one of the Elevation collage pictures...

...and he made the official Love Week Video.  Check it out, I promise you won't be disappointed.  It's a great recap of what happened during Love Week and keep an eye out for Parker.  I will cherish this video forever! 

A week like this is such a good reminder of how much fun it is to serve those around us.  I am so grateful for the opportunity to impact someone else's life and teach my boys the importance of the calling on their lives to serve others.

I hope you had a great weekend, and are ready to get in to this next week.  Find an opportunity to bless someone by serving them this week.  I promise, you won't regret it!

With Love, From Charlotte