Children are messy. Saturday night I gave the boys a bath. Ian got out first and was standing in the bathroom wearing a towel one minute, then I turned around to dry George off and Ian bolted from the room, leaving the towel behind. He ran straight to his father, who was sitting on the living room floor and promptly peed on the carpet. About 30 seconds after I got that all cleaned up, Grace grabbed Nathan's plate of hot, saucy pizza and dumped it on the floor. Tonight, we had grilled chicken on salad for supper, and George thought it would be great fun to fling spinach leaves from his fork, catapult style. Yes, children are messy. These are just a few of the hundreds of slops, spills, spitups, and stains that mark my days. I think it's one more thing about children that makes us get our eyes off material things. When everything is going to get ruined anyway, it's kind of pointless to get too attached to it. And really, who can be mad about stained carpet when there is a shrieking, laughing naked little boy flying by you, begging to be grabbed and tickled? :)

I have been praying, fretting, consumed with this house situation, and Thursday night I asked my husband if he had made a decision yet, fully expecting him to say "Yes, it's just too much money, we aren't going to do it." But he said no, he hadn't decided yet. Sunday afternoon, Nate disappeared for awhile and didn't say what he was doing. He must have been just praying and thinking about it, because on the way to life group he grabbed my hand and says "About this house..." I just looked at him. I had resigned myself to the fact that he wasn't going to go for it. What he said next was "You asked me the other night if I thought the Lord would never lead me to make a financially unwise decision, and if that was an absolute in my mind. Well, there are absolutes, and one of them is 'honor your father and your mother.' That's what I need to do here. I know how much it means to my parents for us to move next door, and I'm going to go for it." I was so surprised, it wouldn't have occured to me that that would be a reason for him to make this decision, but I could tell he took the responsibility to be obedient to this scripture very seriously. I was so proud of him. I am so proud of him. I knew it would be a huge leap for him to decide to do this, but the fact that he is doing it based upon honoring his parents just makes me respect and love that man even more. He called today and spoke with the realtor and made another offer. If the seller doesn't take that, which is slightly lower than what the seller had said he needed before, Nathan said he will pay what the man needs to buy the house. I am overjoyed excited, but still trying to guard my emotions, because it isn't final yet, and someone else may offer him more than we could pay anyway. It is an answer to prayer just to have our minds be in one accord over this, whatever the decision was. Lord willing we will hear back soon. Pray, pray, pray!!