Socks are my nemesis

I think they seriously gather at night and have meetings, deciding who is going to hide where. Can we get Congress to pass a bill making all socks uniform so I don't have to spend literally hours on the floor of my family room agonizing over matching the exact grey-tipped toe with another? (Perhaps it would help if I were not so anal!)

I can't tell you how many mornings I've hoped that Jacob would happen to not remove his shoes for nap that day because the best I could match with his navy school sock was a black one.

I think finding only one sock and not it's mate is worse than finding none at all. Deep my friends, very deep. I should write fortune cookies.

I'm so glad it's getting warmer. Sandals are much less stressful ;-)

I don't believe in Karma or anything but...

if you bathe your child at bedtime AND put fresh, clean sheets on their bed, even if they haven't wet the bed in like three months, they will that night. That's just the way it is!

So close we can taste it

Well, we are almost the owners of a home that will be new to us, bigger, with a huge yard. Tonight, Matt and I went to the inspection -- the inspector said it was one of the most solid houses he's seen in a while. This is actually the most time I've spent in the house since I first was inside it two weeks ago. I was a bit rushed that night (had to get home to teach a piano lesson) so it was nice to take time and really "absorb" the house.

So far, God has opened the doors. Please continue to pray with us that they will continue to be open if this is in His plan for us.

More to come!

Home... and off again!

Hello, friends. We are safely home from Texas. I was hoping to blog again while there, but we didn't have internet access the last few days of the trip. It's funny how dependent we get on something that was barely in exisitence 10 years ago! Anyway, the CR weekend at VLC went very well. I sang for church Sunday morning. It was the first time I've done a song that I had written as a "special". Dave made us some CD tracks to use befor we left. It's funny getting up and singing something you created - it's a little vulnerable. Honestly, it was like one of those dreams where you discover you're at school naked! Not to fear -- I did remember to dress that morning! Doing songs others have written feels "safer", but life's too short to take the safe road all of the time.

We moved on to Houston to see friends Mike and Shari May and Doug Stringer (I really must learn how to do links on my blog. You can see their profiles at our site www.chainreaction.be if you click on T.E.A.M.) We went to the Kemah boardwalk for food and fun carnival games (Micah won a basketball). Wednesday afternoon, we began the vacation part of the trip by heading to Galveston Island. It was the first legitimate "do nothing but relax" that we've had since the day we went to Disneyworld last February. We flew kites on the beach, collected shells, ate, shopped in the historic area, and, aside from a little sibling fuss-alry, had an all-around fabulous time. We arrived safely home last (Friday) night. I took tons of pictures that I'll share as soon as I can get them on my computer.

Off again. This time to nearby York, PA. I'm leading worship at Cityview Church and we're enjoying Easter dinner with the Kopps -- good people. More soon.

The stars at night are big and bright

Late Thursday, a little too late, a very tired family got off of a very crowded airplane and sauntered through Houston Hobby airport with a decent amount of wordly possessions in tow. They took the shuttle, rented their car and headed to a nearby hotel where they all subsequently passed out. That’s right, my friends – the Stevens have arrived in Texas.

Let me first tell you that this week has been a crazy one. Between packing, finishing up the CD and another thing I’ll tell you about, I’m running on fumes. I got about 10 total hours of sleep Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights combined. But we’re here and it’s all worth it.

This morning, we drove over three hours to Waco where our dear friends, Pastor Kevin and Becky Harrison, pastor a church. Some of you may know Pastor Kevin as the one who officiated Caleb’s funeral back in August. They are faithful friends who saw us thorough some of our darkest days. It is good to be with them again. We’re doing a Chain Reaction weekend here. The people are “getting it” – good stuff.

OK. Other stuff. Dave is doing the final mix on the CD. We had intended to send it out to be reproduced before we left, but didn’t feel we should rush it for the sake of getting it done a week sooner. Look for an early May release…

WE FOUND A HOUSE! It all happened very quickly. We saw it on Wednesday and made an offer that night, knowing anyone else would snatch it up as soon as they saw it. It is perfect for us and has a huge yard. Please pray that if it’s meant to be that everything will fall into place.

That’s all for now. Hope all of you are well. Stay tuned.

The Stevens Orchard...

Well, I did it. I finally crossed over. You may exhale.

I'm officially a mac girl. Yes, the Dell finally bit the dust. Last night, I became the proud owner of an iBook G4 and I LOVE IT! We got a good deal, too. They have "refreshed" laptops (I told Matt is sounds as if they've been to a spa) that are just as groovy as the brand new ones. We're a comlete mac family now. So I am online, fully-functioning and happy. You may hug me upon seeing me and share in my joy.

Also, I was up until about 2am touching up on the vocals for the CD with Dave. It is sounding pretty good. Matt finished the cover design last night, too and I love it. We're hoping to ship it off this week. Keep praying for us if you could.

It's been fun hearing from a lot of you that you are reading my ramblings. Drop me a comment if you could, or better yet, start your own blog, too. So there!

Almost there...

Hello, friends. Sorry I've not been blogging. I have been busy, busy, busy!

The most exciting thing right now is that, last night, we laid the last vocal track for the CD! Yea! Today, Dave and I will listen through everything to see where any corrections, additions, etc. need to take place. Then he and Matt mix everything and we ship it off to get duplicated. Yea again! I'm really pleased with the way everything is turning out. Hope you'll give it a listen when it's done.

March has been an incredibly long month at school. It's like the Wednesday of months. The kids are tired of school and don't want to be there, I'm tired of school and don't want to be there... But now we move into the final stretch -- one week of standardized testing, spring break, and then only seven more weeks. I'm thinking they'll go fast.

We leave for Texas on Thursday evening. We're going for mainly ministry reasons, but have some good friends to see while we're out there, too; Kevin and Becky Harrison, Doug Stringer, Mike and Shari May and maybe even Uncle Dan and Aunt Melinda! Good times.

Must go get ready for church. More later, gators...