Porch Swings Part 2

First thing off my chest: how much I need to work out. I have not sweat since my long run on Monday, and it's Friday! I have an uncontrollable desire to just RUN out my front door, and keep going until I feel less stressed. I won't though, because I think my boys would freak out when they eventually realized their Mom wasn't in the house.

My eating is, well, not being tracked. Sometimes I don't eat, sometimes I just throw food in my mouth. Right now I am eating 2 low fat Waffles with a tiny bit of lite cool whip and peaches on top. Too bad right before this I scarfed a handful of tortilla chips because all I've had all day is a cup of coffee. I can feel and see myself getting fatter. Confession- weighed today at 192. Up a total of 5 pounds!! I could just close the lap top and ball my eyes out right now.
I feel bloated all the time. I feel yucky and hate the food I am eating. I miss my healthy, scheduled life. LIFE is busy right now, and my healthy habits are not prevailing. I haven't been on track since before we left for TN. It's been way too long. And it must S T O P. Here's what's going on.........

Tuesday we announced that we got and accepted the job in Tennessee! We are officially moving at the end of this month. We have been busy packing and preparing. We are having a garage sale tomorrow to sell all the stuff we are not bringing with us. We've also had issues with our house, such as, dishwasher spewing out bubbles all over the kitchen floor, oh and a tree root problem with our pipes which ended up with waste overflowing into our bath tub. Yup. Can you imagine the clean up. Not fun.

Back to the exciting and happy news! We are so thankful for this opportunity from God. You all know we've been praying and seeking for God's will, and for a ministry to serve in for a very long time......long before my husband graduated from bible college which was almost a year ago.
We look back now and can see why we had to wait. It's such an amazing feeling to know where God wants you and to have complete P E A C E about it.

Oh how I am going to miss.... California [the sunny beautiful state of which I was born and raised], the Pacific Ocean, my favorite city: Santa Monica, Disneyland [Shane too. He has been praying for Jesus to provide one more trip so he can shoot the bad guys on the Buzz ride]. THE BEACH, Hollywood, MY MOM. Being only 5 hours from family. My church, my pastor, all my friends, my home, my beloved 24 Hour Super Sport gym, being 3 minuets from Walmart. Just knowing that if I wanted to...I could put my boys in auditions for Gap commercials. Diversity, crazies like this, that you see in Venice......
Having neighbors, having a backyard fence, having a Burger King, Del Taco, and an In & Out Burger right behind my house [literally right behind my house. I am looking at the Burger King sign now...] JUST KIDDING about missing these ;) got ya.
Hearing sirens at night [yes, this lets me know there are people out there], hearing the train go by, everything being close together, no curvy roads that make me car sick, not having to worry about snakes in my yard, the ability to see miles and miles away because it's F L A T. And.. of course.... all the wonderful and accessible, huge races California has to offer [obviously won't be able to do all the races on my race schedule]. There are tons more things I am going to miss. I know it, and am preparing myself for this huge transition.

BOTTOM LINE. God won't lead us where we shouldn't go, and when we do His will, He provides sufficient grace to get through it.

Sure there is going to be tons of things I am going to miss and I will cry over them I am sure, but nothing is more precious than serving God and knowing that what we will be doing, will be counted for Eternity!! Matthew 6:20-21 " ²⁰But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: ²¹For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

I am SO thankful!! I am thankful that, God didn't allow us to move to Morgan Hill a couple months ago like we were planning, because then we wouldn't be moving to TN, to do God's will. I am thankful for PS 37:4, He gives us the desires of our hearts. I am so thankful, that we will still be in the USA, and in a wonderful, beautiful state! I am so thankful for the 100 acres we get to live on, and for the 6 bedroom 2,700 sq ft ranch house that we get to call home. I am so thankful that we get to have a big garden, chickens, goats, horses, and cattle if we want to.

I am thankful that my boys will learn to work hard on a ranch and not sit inside and play XBox their whole teenage years [oh..if you didn't know...I HATE video games. I am thinking about maybe letting Davey and the boys get a Wii. But my kids will not be allowed to play video games where they so vividly kill people, steal cars and see women dressed like hookers. Okay, that was just a side note.] I am so thankful that we get to invest in 13 young men, and many more in the future, and to see them grow into, hopefully, great men of God, and to know that we had a part in that. I am so thankful that my husband will now get to come home every night, and most of the time be working right outside our home. I am thankful for the Internet and phones so we can easily keep in touch with our family and friends. I am thankful, that God has a predestined plan for our lives, and all His children (Romans 8:29). I AM SO THANKFUL FOR GOD'S GRACE, HIS LOVE, AND HIS PEACE. God is so good.

I am hoping and praying to get my act together with my eating and making time to work out these next few weeks. I know driving 2500 miles across the country won't be the best way to maintain my weight, so I need to get a hold of it now. As soon as hubby is home today... I am off to the gym. Must sweat.. need to run...

Love, The Curvy Housewife

Porch Swings

This is a tipical front porch set up in Tennessee. I even noticed that the really trashy mobile homes there had a porch swing! It was awesome. You will be driving, and see a beautiful, huge country home. Then about a hundred yards away a shack where some real hillbillies live. It was an amazing thing. Our friends said it's like that all over Tennessee.
We had a great time. Really missed my boys though. The ministry we went to see is amazing. Quit unique too. It's a boys ranch. There are 13 boys there ages 12-18. They live on the ranch in a dorm. The boys were very impressive. They say, "Yes Ma'am. Yes Sir." They are more respectful than the average teenage boy in California not having problems.

The Ranch has a house on the property for the director and his family. We got to tour it, the current director and his wife live there now. It was beautiful. There were a few other houses on the 100 acre ranch property as well where other staff live.

Can you believe it. I only took TWO pictures while in Tennessee!! What was wrong with me?! Well, we were so busy with church and their missions conference. And eating. All the time eating. I wasn't complaining. I love food. But my gallbladder sure did. I had an attack Sunday afternoon. Luckily I had pain meds and was able to rest and I felt better for church that night.
The southern food was so good. Very rich, thick, buttery, and delicious. I would get full off 1/4 of my plate! Too bad most of the time I didn't listen to my body, and I kept eating. Davey was like, "Who are you?! Why are you eating so much?" hahaha. I didn't know why! I really wanted to experience the south I guess!

The home we stayed in was so beautiful. We stayed with the couple that started the ranch 35 years ago. They once lived in the house on the ranch. It was a true country home. No one in TN has back yard fences. So odd to me. Neighborhood dogs roam free. Is this weird to anyone else? They thought it was funny how I couldn't get over it. They also thought it was hilarious when I found out the name of the town in TN the ranch was in. Calhoun. I said, "Cowhoun??!" They laughed and laughed. I also amused them when I couldn't get over all the trees. When we saw the ranch I said, "This is more like a forest than a ranch." They told everyone I said that!

To me that is the forest. It has more trees than bare land. The house on the ranch is nestled up against a hill with trees all around the house.

The church, staff, and pastor were all so awesome. As soon as we met the boys I wanted to hug them all. After the first day we met them they kept asking us if we could move there. :) It was so sweet. One young boy Carlos said, "Can Davey be our dorm supervisor?" I said, "Well where am I going to live?!!" he thought, and said, "There is a double wide trailer on the ranch!" hahaha. So cute. Then when we were leaving they asked us when we will be back.

The boys have some issues, all different reasons why they are there, but I believe they have so much potential to be used greatly by God.

A few things I'm concerned about are, adjusting to living in the country, 30 minuets from town and from church. Also, the protection of my boys. There is a pond on the ranch. The ranch boys do swim in it, but there are water snakes. Also they have Copper Head snakes on the ranch and they are deadly. One of the staff boys was bit by one, thank God he had on snake bite boots. We were also warned about poisonous spiders all over out there. These things may seem very insignificant, and they probably are, but as a mom I don't want my boys to get bit by something. Obviously. That's a mom's job. They comforted me that in the 35 years they have never had the snakes or spiders be an issue (except the one time). Typically the snakes don't want to be bothered. Plus I'm planning on bringing 100 mongoose with us. That should help.

It's really awesome how we could have chickens and cows and horses, and I can have a garden. But again there are big huge black garden snakes. Harmless, but I'm a city girl. If I see a snake, I will faint. The boys will have the biggest playground ever when they are big. Quads and horses for riding around it. And, I think it would be good for me to learn how to get my hands dirty. Some good old fashion hard work. But.... dun dun dun.... 30 mins to a gym and school for the boys. Yikes.

Whatever God's will is I want it! I know He will not lead us astray. He cares about us and our boys and our future. I know I would be super homesick for a while, but God's grace is sufficient. We are really praying and seeking counsel from our pastor and others about this.

Love, The Curvy Housewife

Tennessee

Today I booked a flight for us to Tennessee. I have not mentioned it yet because I hate getting ahead of myself [hate it cause I always do it]. But now since we are flying there it's getting pretty serious I suppose. :)

I am very excited about it. At first I was just in shock that somehow our plans to move to Morgan Hill ended so abruptly. I finally decided to TRUST GOD and realize He knows what He's doing! Then a few days later we got a call about this ministry.

I don't want to get too a head of myself, we all know I am really good at that. We have a peace about this ministry already. I know this is the 4th [Hawaii, Oregon, Ohio, now Tennessee] out of state trip we are taking to visit a church. God has allowed us to meet awesome people at every ministry. I really pray that this is it. We so desire to be in full time ministry. But if it isn't, God is teaching me that His will is worth waiting for.

What's one of the first things I thought of when I hear "Tennessee"? Well since I am so spiritual {sarcasm}, I thought, "I wonder if they have good races there! What about my half Ironman and marathon I am training for?". To put you all at ease, seems they have a fair amount of great races there. But now that I have learned more about the ministry there and prayed about it, I don't care if there are races (ok, well maybe a little). I would just really love to serve in this ministry and to be apart of the great work God is doing there.

Psalms 37:4 Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

I truly believe that verse. I believe that God has a better plan for our lives than we can think up in our own minds. We have to TRUST Him and believe He wants and knows whats best for us. I have no doubt that where ever the Lord has us in the future, that as long as we do His will, He will give us the things we desire to do.

Have you ever been to Tennessee?

Love, The Curvy Housewife