Sacred Mundane: The Blog

Fun snapshot of what’s it like to be a seminary mommy…

I had almost 60 papers to grade this past week (4-5 pages each) and record into the online grading system.  I planned to finish the last dozen or so during Dutch’s nap on Monday, from 1-4, before leaving at 4:15 to get to my mentor meeting at 5pm.  I had it all planned out, including nursing Heidi at 3:45 so I could get her in the car and ready when Jeff was to arrive at 4:15 to take care of Dutch.  Well…from 1pm-3:30pm Heidi cried. Not just whimpered. CRIED and cried and cried and cried.  No matter how hard to tried to sit and use one arm to grade and one arm to rock her, she would only calm down when I walked around.  Why now?!   Finally, I managed to finish the grading and feverishly type in the scores while nursing her, then raced out the door at 4:23pm when Jeff arrived.  When he drove up Dutch was running around the front yard in his socks. 🙂

So I arrive at school and finally get up to my mentor’s office after racing to the computer lab to print off my assignments that were due, rocking Heidi’s car seat with my foot as she began to stir and grunt.  I rush into Val’s office (my mentor) and collapse in a chair.  She wants to hold baby so I pull Heidi out–Oh so precious! She is so sweet and warm and cuddly and hm…grunting a lot…hm…pushing a lot..hm–BLAST!  She blasts off the most explosive poop and Val goes, “Um, I think it’s all over my hands.”  Sure enough she hands Heidi to me and there is poop everywhere–all the way down to her fur-lined boots and all the way up her back.  Val is laughing hysterically holding out her hands which have poop on them.  As she walks to the door to go wash them and as I’m peeling off the layers of poopy clothing on the floor, there’s a knock at the door.  As the door opens her eyes widen, “Well hello Dean Redman!  Um… I have poop all over my hands.” Oh yes. Our new Dean of the seminary of course has come to the door and Val has poop all over her hands.  She rushes past him to wash them and he leaves, then comes back a moment later and peeks his head in, “Is there really poop all over in here?!”  Then he sees the baby and we introduce ourselves to each other, I welcome him the seminary, and apologize that for his own sake I will not be shaking his hand.

It was fun, and as my mentor professor has birthed and raised seven children of her own, she’s had plenty of explosive-poop experiences of her own.  Although I would dare to wager that that was the first time she’s had a poopy baby on the floor of her office.  As I drove home that night, I thought about how many amazing experiences I’ve had in my four years in seminary…and yes, I got all sentimental.  I don’t graduate until May but already I see the finish line, and am filled with mixed emotions.  On the one hand, I am so excited I can’t even describe it.  I’m SOOOOOO STINKING TIRED.  And I’m so ready to spend my son’s naptime doing something other than schoolwork!  But on the other hand, the halls of Multnomah are filled with some of the most amazing memories and God-ordained divine experiences I have ever had.  I’ve puked innumerable times in the stalls of the girls’ bathroom during my morning sickness bouts. I’ve cried. Lots. I’ve paced the halls studying flashcards. I’ve prayed with friends, played djembe for worship.  I’ve heard God’s voice and watched Him move. I’ve carried both children around in their carseats, dropping off papers and going to meetings.  I’ve waddled up the stairs hugely pregnant.

So as May 15th draws closer, I’m just thankful for this season.  And so very excited to walk across that platform as a testimony of God’s faithfulness and grace.  Not because of some master’s degree, which isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on, but because these four years have taken me deeper with my Savior.  Sweet times as a seminary mommy.

Well I got permission to share :-)…and I think the details are so fun and such an example of our Great God.  So here’s the deal with our next adventure:

First off, as any of you know who have spent any time with us, we love love love our new church family and especially our new staff who have become like family to us.  Our lead Pastor and his wife and kids, though we’ve only known them six or seven months, have welcomed us with amazing love and I feel like I’ve known them forever.  But we had no idea just how much they’d welcome us in…

Last summer pastor Joel and his wife Joy (who blogs! Check her out here!) and kids sold their house and began construction on a new house with more room.  The floor plan they really  loved was really big, and after evaluating the economy, etc. they decided that it was best stewardship to just be conservative and go with something smaller, since they didn’t know what interest rates would be, etc.  So, their house gets built in a new housing development just walking distance from our new church building.  As our house sells (the one we live in that my brother owns) and we can’t find a place to live, and as their house nears completion, we all realize that their family, our family AND our entire church will be moving the same weekend!  We’ve just finished a new church building, so now the Lead Pastor’s family, Associate Pastor’s family, and entire church will be moving the same weekend…  I kept thinking, “Lord this is craziness! What are You doing?” 

So just weeks before they are planning to move in to their home, they are notified by the city that their house was built just feet too close to the street…and they are now unable to buy that house.  What?!  I’ve never even heard of something like that!  So, the builder–desperate to make a sale–makes them a special deal allowing them to buy the house next to their house for a huge discount.  Guess what floor plan that one is? You guessed it. The original large house plan that they loved in the first place. Plus, this one had tons of upgrades that they wouldn’t have justified choosing, but God saw fit to toss them in there for them free of charge :-).  And, because interest rates dropped to astonishingly lows, their payment remained nearly the same. That’s God!

So, they found themselves now moving into a huge house with…hmmm…two extra rooms and no furniture for them!  So you guessed it: They have generously offered to let us live with them for two months while we wait on the Lord and seek what He has for us next.  How amazing is that? God had that house picked out especially for them, knowing it would provide just the space we need.  And not only do we have two bedrooms, there’s a little sitting area between them that’s big enough to be our own little family room!  It’s like we have our own little flat in the midst of this new beautiful home we get to call our own.  As we drove to church today I pointed and said with a chuckle, “Look Dutch! There’s our new house!” 🙂  Plus Dutch is in heaven because there’s so much construction going on he can sit outside and watch dump trucks, cement mixers, and bulldozers all day long.  He thinks he’s moving to heaven!  Did I mention we’re just walking distance to the church. No more commuting!!  Have I mentioned we’re also walking distance to the park? Yeah…every little detail.

So all this to say I am giddy with excitment because I think God is up to something.  I am so moved and blessed that Joel & Joy would open up their brand new home to us, that they would practice what they preach, recognizing that nothing is theirs, but all is God’s.  A few months back Joel preached on wise stewardship and was talking about sharing with others and he said, “We firmly believe that you don’t have to own it to enjoy it!”  Well, Joel, we’re taking your advice. Thanks for letting us enjoy your house!

So thankful, so blessed, so anticipating what God will do next.  Blessed to be along for the ride…Move #9 and God’s been in them all.  I admit, my prayer is that #10 will be the magic number.  🙂

I love the feature that Jeff set up on this blog, to the right–“This week last year”.  It’s such a fun way for me to quickly recount the lessons, trials, and adventures that God was taking us through at this time last year.  Sometimes it’s encouraging, as I realize, “Oooh, that’s what You were doing, Lord!”  And sometimes it’s convicting: “Oh man, I’m still wrestling with that.” But it’s always fun to see progress.  Countless times in Scripture God tells His people to remember, to recount stories, to tell of the ways God tested them and blessed them.

It was interesting this week, as we’ve been going through three weeks of crazy house stuff–this house we live in selling, and then trying, trying trying to buy a house.  Offers rejected, an offer accepted and then the inspection showing that the house was unfit for habitation, a bank saying they’d take a certain offer and then rejecting it once we put it in writing.  Argh! It’s been frustrating and stressful to say the least. Then, when we settled on renting for a couple months just until the summer so we could catch out breath and reevaluate, we couldn’t even find a place near the church that would rent for less than a year!  I kept feeling like, “Ummm…God?  Not sure if you noticed but we need a place to live…not trying to be picky here, but please!!”  So in the midst of all this I glance over at “This week last year” and click on “A little thought for today.”  And the short post simply reads, “I don’t pray, “Lord, give me a home.” I pray, “Lord, be my home.”  Wow. I then remembered back to last year at this time, praying and praying that God would open up a job for Jeff so that we could move out of my parents’ house and into a home of our own.  It was amazing realizing it was almost two years ago that we decided to sell all our stuff, move out of our house, and move in with my parents.  I had no idea what adventure we signed up for!  And now I pray again, just like last year, “Lord be my home.” 

And…I am thrilled to share that God has provided a place for us to live for the next two months.  A wonderful family from our church has offered to let us stay in their home for two months while we pray and figure out what God has for us next.  Yay!  I’m not going to share all the details on here as I want to respect their privacy…but the whole story is SOOOOOO God, so if you’d like to hear feel free to email me individually and I’d love to share!  We’ll be walking distance to the church, and just blocks from the house that we are still hoping to buy, so we’ll get to know the neighborhood where we serve and hope to live.

So it appears we’re headed into yet another adventure, but I suppose that’s what following God is, right?! He has us on such a grand adventure as He molds our lives and uses us for His glory. I’m so excited to see what He has up His sleeve…