The 'Boda Clan

So I was reading In Colossians yesterday.  I will confess that if I'm not in a book study I tend to be a Proverbs fall back kinda gal, or I'll go to read a book I haven't read in a while, if ever, but then I end up in Chronicles...not exactly what gets me going in the morning...so yesterday I chose Colossians because I will be doing a study in it soon.  I got down to the end of chapter 2 (you can check that out if you want to see where my mind might have been at the moment) and my mind began to wander.  Many of us do this.  One minute I'm thinking that rules don't stop the indulgence of the flesh, then I think about what will stop that indulgence and naturally I think about Heaven and "Jesus, just come already" because then I won't have to worry about things like my weak flesh and how I get led astray so easily and...and...that leak in the bathroom.  Oh that leak.  I wouldn't have to worry about that stupid leak because I wouldn't have a house full of surprises around every turn.  Oh why did we ever pull on another project?  I know it was the best -if not only- option for us, but why, God?  This is torture for us. I just want someone to rescue us here.  Rescue this renovation.  Come do it for us so we can be parents and just parents.  So we can be husband and wife and not general contractor and laborer.  Someone just rescue me.  Please!

Then I start breaking into song, as I am known to do too often (and those of you who know this song, DON'T laugh...).  Guess what song I sang?  Oh, I know a select few of you have it going in your head right now..."Rescue me from the sin I seem to cling to.  Rescue me from this fight within my soul.  I need You to empower me with more of You so that in the end, with you I will be whole."  Now, seeing as the author of this song may be reading this, I apologize if I butchered the lyrics...I was going off memory.  But I digress.  The point is, I was focusing on my current situation and I wanted (still want so desperately) to be rescued from it.  The problem is, I have a far bigger problem in life that needs rescuing, as the song said.  I tend to focus on my situation and not my sin.  While I'm sure many of us do that, how many of us want to be rescued from sin as desperately as we want to be rescued from our bad situation?  I'll be honest.  I would give or do just about anything for someone to say "Here's $50,000; $100,000.  Dig yourself out of this ditch (it's quickly becoming a deep ditch) and go take care of your family."  I got you laughing now, right?  It's not happening, is it?  The reality is that I've been offered something greater than the means to fix my house...I've been offered the means to fix me.  Would I give just about anything for that or am I too fixed on my situation to have time to pursue my Rescuer? 

I have a computer again.  Tim has had my computer at work with him since he started in early July, so that is my delinquency excuse this time.

We have been in Iowa for a couple months now and we still aren't settled.  Not in the sense that I would like.  We are knee deep in a school that the kids like, the older boys are in football, we have met tons of new people that we have begun friendships with, we love our church family and can't believe we got so lucky to live so close to Tim's work, but we are by no means settled.  We are living in a rental that was an answer to prayer, for sure, but it's still a rental; a temporary home.  Our house in Indiana has not sold yet, and it holds half of our belongings including all personalization we own.

Our rental has no pictures on the walls and no decorations either.  In the bigger picture of life, that is not really important, I'd agree.  However, if I'm to be honest, I will tell you that it's beginning to wear on me; on my emotions.  I want to be able to be the best mom and wife that I can be and I find that more often than not, I am discouraged that I know we are going to be packing up and moving...again.

Up until recently, we had no idea where we were going to move.  We have been looking at every house that would come on the market in our price range, trying above all things, to get a move-in ready house.  We have been living in "projects" (not to be confused with "the projects") for 10 years, technically, and I very much wanted to be done.  There have been no houses come up in good proximity to the kids' school, the church and town that wouldn't be a complete project.  We don't want a project.  Did I say that already?

I was getting discouraged, to say the least, that every house that was in move-in condition, that would fit the 7 of us, was out of our price range.  Does anyone have an extra $250,000???  That's how much over budget the house was that I thought was perfect.  For once, we could move in, unpack and live.  Period.  We could absorb the impact of this move without distraction.  We could be mom and dad to these kiddos and not jip them of our time and energy because we were fixing a house that was in disrepair.  Did I mention I didn't want anything to do with a project?  I'm sure you know where I'm headed by now.

What's the title of that song????  ♫♪"Oops, we did it again?"♫♫  Yeah.  We did.  We went and signed on to buy (renting it until our house sells) another fixer-upper.  Dear Lord, You know my heart...and my level of sanity here...what gives?  Do we never get to be the people who pay someone to do this stuff?  Is this really the only way to get a house to fit us...in our budget?  Inhale through the nose.  Exhale out the mouth.  Ok.  We have to do it again, and here it is:
Things to be thankful for (and there are many):  The exterior is done.  There is a large, pretty lot.  There are original 1940's hardwood floors throughout the original house.  There has been an addition put on of a huge family room and an office.  There are enough rooms for the boys to each have their own, something we feel we need to try for a bit.  It is 4 minutes from church.  It is over 10 minutes closer to town.  There are no gravel roads.  There is an awesome campfire area already put together in the back yard.

I feel a bit like Pollyanna playing the glad game.  I guess I am.  For the sake of this blog entry and those reading it, I will refrain from the list of complaints and woe-is-me-isms that I have and focus on being Pollyanna.  God is still good when I have to live with sub-flooring instead of carpet.  He's still good when we see water dripping from behind the siding near the backdoor and He's still good when standard toilets won't fit in the space they're supposed to go in.

Were those backdoor complaints?  Maybe.  I just choose to see them as truths and glimpses of a bigger picture.  A picture where no matter what, we are going to be living in the place that God provided for us and it's a house that He wanted us to get and I have to believe that the steps it took to get me to be content with taking on another dad-gum project were steps used to bring my focus off myself and perhaps even off what I don't have rather than what I do.  In the meantime, I will try not to care that the bathtub and surround need to have a lot of thought put in to them to figure out how to conceal the flanges left behind without looking hillbilly...somehow...and instead, I will be thankful for finally finding the house that will allow us to get settled into our new life here in Iowa.

Well, we have been in our new home for just over a week now and what a week it was! Tim's parents and my mom came along for the move. When we got to our house, we were greeted by several of our new friends and church family, all ready to unload our truck. Much to my surprise, and gratefulness for sure, once the truck was unloaded, men got started on assembling the bunk beds and putting together the TV area while women were setting up our kitchen and unpacking all other boxes to get us settled right away. One of the ladies even ran home to get a much needed set of sheets for me.

The next morning it felt like we had an eternity to get ready for church with how early everyone got up, so I decided on a cup of joe in one of the cute owl mugs that Ruthie got me before we left to spend some of that precious time.
For lunch we went to a local favorite place called Gators where the the menu is large, just like this pork tenderloin sandwich, and very tasty. I was glad not to have to think about what I was going to feed everyone just yet. I'd eat here (shoot, I'd eat out) once a week if we could! For now, I'll settle for this treat!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...ok, it's not a ranch, but we do have a couple horses and the kids love them! This is Scooter and there is another one called Ready, but the kids call him shy guy...a much more fitting name. I really hope we get the chance to ride Scooter. The kids will go crazy if they can! In the meantime, the kids take turns feeding them apples and carrots and going in the pen to pet the horses and talk to them. The neat thing is that the horses come around when the kids come over. If its just me, they look up, roll their eyes and keep on grazing. It's rather sweet, really.

The kids have been able to ride their bikes more regularly, and I am very excited about that. What's more exciting to me is that when Micah said she wanted to ride two wheels only, Eden took it upon herself to dig through Tim's tool box to find the right wrenches to do the job herself. I wonder if she knew they were called wrenches?

Five days after we moved in, I left everyone for a leadership conference with some ladies from Harmony, leaving Tim and the kids alone for a few days. When I got back, I was saddened that no one came out of the house to greet me. Clearly they did not miss me. When I got in the house this is what I saw.


I am back in Indiana for a long weekend to get a few things I didn't pack up when we moved, bring dad's trailer back and get my hair done and so far we have made mema cry (in a good way) and spent the morning with our friends. Tonight we will see grandma and grandpa for dinner and to get a head start on some of our back-to-school shopping (thank you grandma and grandpa for some help with that load!) and then later we will visit with aunts and uncles before heading home. Perhaps next week we will take a crack at out first normal week in Iowa, whatever that will look like. I can't wait!

So we finally have Internet...which means I am already behind...again. Great. We've had a lot going on lately, but right now Elijah and Levi are at football camp and the other kids are watching Monsters, Inc. (They are soooo awesome!) and so I have some free time on my hands. I should be putting away the laundry or dust mopping the floor, but im just sitting here looking out the window at the cornfields and wondering, is this Heaven? No, it's Iowa. In case you haven't heard, we moved to Iowa last Saturday morning.

Now, I haven't got the stamina to go into the whole story right now, but suffice it to say, God picked us up out of the hustle and bustle of NW Indiana (where Tim and I grew up and all our kids have lived since they were babies) and carried us to our little cottage in the cornfields of Danville, IA. To say "I didn't see that coming" is an understatement, but to know that God directed each step of the way is divine! We have a house sitting in IN empty (oh when will it sell?). We are going to be living in what most would say is "too small" a house for 5 "lively" children. Tim just left his job of over 15 years. I suppose I could go on but I want to point to what has become the overriding theme in all of this (as in all things, right?!?) which is that God truly has orchestrated each of these seemingly negative things for our good and for His glory. The best part is that we can already see His hand through it all.

Before I start on life in Southeast Iowa, I'm going to talk about one of the sad days the kids and I had recently. Granted I don't think they fully realize what happened, but they will soon. If it wasn't hard enough for them to leave their mema and poppy, grandma and grandpa and aunts and uncles, saying goodbye to their closest friends was. Last week, we said goodbye to the Taylors. They've hung around each other for over 8 years, and don't know life without each other. They are brothers and sisters. They are cousins. They are friends.

Ty-guy and Mesay-guy. Oh how I wish they had more time! Unlike the other kids, Titus and Mesay (Mu-sigh) weren't "diaper friends" but they are so much alike that I felt from the beginning that God even had Titus in mind when he made Mesay for the Taylors! They are rough and tumble. They are strong willed and even quite obnoxious when they want to be (when the big boys leave them out). They are bulls in the china shop of life who are always on the go. Despite all of that, both of them are quite tender-hearted, loving little boys. I remember early on in their "all boy" friendship when they were both in my car and Titus gently pats Mesay's arm and says, "my chocolate" (I'm tearing up remembering that one). These boys aren't gentle (don't let that precious picture fool you), but in that endearing moment, I knew Titus had found his best friend. They had their ups and downs, mind you, probably more than the other kids, but I have no doubt that God brought them together. Oh how I wish they had more time! Titus will miss Mesay and I'm going to miss all that fair-n-square rough-housing.

Oh boy. Makenna and Micah. Good grief, just look at them. They have trouble written all over their faces!!! The babies of the family. Little sisters. The perfect storm. There is just too much to say about these precocious little girls. They are always into something making some kind of mess that their big sisters get roped in to helping clean up (these two know how to work that system). They have boundless energy (except when it comes to cleaning up those messes) and imagination galore. They fight and boss each other around, but must always hug each other goodbye. Micah will definitely miss "Kenna" and I will miss never knowing what to expect when Makenna and Micah are together!

God knew what He was doing when He brought our kids together and since I know that to be true, I trust that God knows what He is doing in putting the distance between these kids (and their parents). I am sad that it has to be this way. I pray that we find God's will in all this and perhaps, above all (from a mom's perspective) I pray that God sends along some new friends, for my younger kids especially. I know that Jackson, Abby, Makenna and Mesay cannot be replaced because of who they are and the specific spots they fill in mine and my kids' hearts, but I believe God cares about each of these kids and will send all 9 of them the friends that they need. In the meantime, I believe we as parents, the ones whose friendship carries on despite the miles, are challenged to be very purposeful in keeping the kids connected. It won't be the same, I know, but there is too much history to just say goodbye. I am excited to see how God uses this time in our lives and look forward to seeing each of the kids grow during this transition that right now is just plain sad.