Some of these I have posted on my Facebook status, but that is not something I can easily access and read to myself in the future. So I'm going to elaborate on them here.

1. Last week, the sun shone for two days in a row, and Liberty and I couldn't have been happier about it. I just had to go play in it. Liberty looked up at the sky and said, "Mommy! Look at that yellow circle in the sky. It looks just like a sun." Later on, we walked on some dry pavement to get to our car, and Liberty exclaimed in a worried voice, "Mommy! I'm stepping on something!" It took me a few seconds to realize she was referring to the dry ground and truly did not recognize it. I laughed out loud.

2. The girls received helium balloons for Valentines Day, and Liberty spent a good chunk of the day on Monday playing with them. She emptied the toy box (which is a cardboard box leftover from our move) and put the two balloons into the box, then she struggled to keep them inside while closing the flaps on the box. "I'm making a birthday present," she told me. Then she wrapped the box in several blankets and decorated it with beaded necklaces. When she had finally finished wrapping her present, she called her sister over. "Meecee Dane! It's party time! Here's your present!" Mercy came over and gleefully unwrapped the box. When the balloons popped up, Liberty jumped up and down clapping and squealing, and Mercy did the same. Then Liberty would repeat the process. Over and over all day, the two of them played "Birthday" with short breaks in between sessions. At one point, the balloons were being unruly and would not stay in the box long enough for the flaps to be closed on them. After yet another episode of the balloons jumping joyfully towards the ceiling, Liberty reprimanded them with a stern, "NO! IT'S NOT PARTY TIME, YET!"

3. Since we long for summer so much, I unpacked our sand buckets and beach paraphernalia, and the girls and I spent a happy forty-five minutes building snow castles around the outskirts of our patio. Liberty even found a leaf leftover from the fall and stuck it stem-first into the top of her castle. We had an amazingly great time laughing and building together.

4. Mercy Jane tried to take her helium balloon for a walk in the baby stroller, but surprisingly enough, that balloon just wouldn't sit still (ADHD?). Poor Mercy tried and tried to go for a walk, but never got beyond a step or two before having to sit that balloon back down in its seat and shake her finger at it while saying "Noo-noo." I think I quit breathing for a few seconds from laughing so hard!

5. Liberty insists on being called by her first and middle names. She calls herself Yibby Gace and corrects me if I introduce her to someone using only her first name. She also corrects me if I use only Mercy's first name.

6. I think my favorite item of all is the fact that Liberty narrates herself as she goes throughout her days. For example, this morning, I heard Liberty telling her imaginary audience, "One day, Yibby Gace talked to her mommy and said..." then she approached me and asked, "May I have a drink, please?" While I was in the process of answering yes, she turned back to her audience, "And her mommy said yes! So Yibby Gace went to the kitchen..." She narrates most of the day, and it cracks me up! I hope she never stops. Of course, her college roommates might want to request a different room assignment, but oh my goodness the hilarity!

7. Mercy is talking now. Granted, most of the time I have no clue what she is saying, but it is unmistakable that she is using real English words. She'll repeat any word you ask her to say, and a month or so ago, Daddy was playing the "Can You Say ________?" Game where he comes up with a fun word to say, and Mercy repeats it. She was trucking right along, repeating every word he came up with including the big ones like rhinoceros without hesitation when Daddy pulled out "Can you say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?" Mercy paused just a slight second, and then she looked him straight in the eye. "No," she stated truthfully. Oh, how we laughed!

Jeremy and I have decided to change our lifestyle. We joined a gym (I finished my second workout tonight), and we are working on reinventing what we eat. We started by counting calories - Jeremy has a LoseIt! app on his phone, and I have been using livestrong.com to help me track my eating and exercising habits.

Interestingly enough, several incidents in our lives over the past few months have pointed us in the direction of whole foods, and while we are not all the way on board with that idea yet, we want to be. We're still in the information gathering stage (about whole food eating) at this point, and in the meantime, we will continue counting calories.

I started counting calories yesterday, and over shot my goal by about 150. Not bad, I congratulated myself, until the nighttime snackies attacked me. I valiantly fought a mental battle of will-power, giving myself pep talks that the Superbowl coaches would have paid money to hear. I went to bed having WON THE VICTORY, and I dreamed about food most of the night.

Today, I beat my goal by about 700, and in an effort to avoid the nighttime snackies, I went to the gym. Go me! Now, it is almost 10 pm, and I'm not hungry. Yet. I'd better get to bed before the snackies find me, though.

Good night, all!

I find my mind wandering many times during the days and nights to what I've optimistically been calling "our house." I pick out and discard paint colors and furniture. I plan parties right down to the tiniest details. I see the girls RUNNING FULL SPEED through the rooms and hear them giggling together. Then I have to remember, all of this might not happen. Just wait.

Wait? Are you kidding me? I can wait -- because I'm forced to -- and I can choose to have a good attitude about it, but what in the world does patient waiting look like?

I've got no clue.

I don't want to get my hopes up too high, but a tiny bit of dreaming is fun, you know? So dream a little dream with me.

From my last two posts, you can tell that I am in desperate need of inspiration, and that is why I have borrowed an idea from my friend Tiffany. It goes like this.

I AM - waiting. For summer, for a house, for the flu to leave our family, for Jeremy to get home from work. And now I have that song While I'm Waiting in my head.

I HAVE - tons of pictures on my camera that I keep struggling to get onto the computer. This should not be so hard, really!

I WISH - I could go running right this second. In the sunshine. Where is it?

I WANT - to eat tacos for supper tonight, and we have all the ingredients! Guess what we're having!

I FEAR - that the sun will never shine again. Or that when it does, it will last only a day before the next snowfall. I believe this is a reasonable fear.

I HEAR - a fabric duck quacking and Mr. Mumford turning the entire world into quacking people.

I WONDER - when Liberty and I will be able to breathe through our noses again?

I REGRET - not buying chocolate chips the last time I was at the grocery store.

I LOVE - running barefoot through soft green grass while the SUN SHINES on my face and the WARM wind tosses my hair behind me.

I ALWAYS - Um, after much thought, I realize that I ALWAYS lack consistency. It has something to do with not enjoying boredom.

I USUALLY - read books, but the plots all seem the same to me right now. Can anyone recommend something wonderful to read?

I AM NOT - well. Really, you can ask Jeremy.

I SING - Happy Birthday off key quite horribly. You should come hear me sometime.

I RARELY - pick my nose. Oh, that should go in the I NEVER category. Ooops.

I NEVER - (and what do you know, there actually is a NEVER category.) I never knew blogging could be so complicated.

I CRY - What? That's a complete sentence all by itself. I suppose they want me to tell you what I cry about or how often I cry. Let's see, well, I teared up last night as I was writing our 2009 recap because I checked my blog to see what we did last year, and I found this post.

I AM NOT ALWAYS - this random or this disgusted with the sun.

I NEED - SUNSHINE!!! Do you hear me? SUNSHINE!!!

I just finished typing up the 2009 recap of our lives that I planned to mail out in December as a Christmas letter. Go me. Now if I ever actually mail it, that will be an accomplishment.

I'm doped up on Thera Flu right now, and my neck muscles are giving up on me. Poor Liberty is fighting a fever as we speak and coughing a sad, pathetic-sounding cough of misery. Of course this malady did not stop her from pouring water all over my living room floor today, although it is currently preventing her from sleeping.

Thera Flu is my friend.

I probably should refrain from typing after medicating, but there's something in me that gains comfort from blogging. But not as much comfort as my pillow would give me. Good night!

So. I've been sick. Correction: I am sick. The flu or some other sort of hideous little germ has invaded my territory, and I've been doing many nasty things trying to remove it. And now, here I am typing my little heart away while on medication.

This might be an interesting post.

Or it might not, seeing as how I really have nothing to say. Usually when I have nothing to say, I avoid typing about it, but tonight, I am bored and tired and slightly off in the head, AND I CAN'T SPELL. Not being able to spell is frustrating. Every three keystrokes I have to backspace and start over.

What can I tell you about?

I could tell you about Liberty's newest bedtime routine which involves thinking up every excuse known to mankind and calling it through the bedroom door in an attempt to avoid sleeping. Tonight's excuses came like this:

"Mommy, I had a bad dream about bears and monsters. Please pray about it."

"Mommy, I'm thirsty. I need a drink please."

"Mommy, I spilled water on the floor. I need a towel please."

"Mommy, I need to go potty."

"Mommy, Mercy's hitting her sister."

For the record, Mercy's crib is across the room, and she cannot get out of it. In order for her to be hitting her sister, her sister would have to be out of her own bed and standing within a baby-arm's reach of the crib.

"Mommy, I can't find my toy doggy."

"Mommy, I miss you. I need a hug please. A really big hug."

"Mommy, can we go to church today?"

"Mommy, we're going to have a party at the library!"

Or I could tell you about... Um, about... Well, I can't think of anything riveting.

EXCEPT THAT SURVIVOR'S ON TOMORROW!!! And I will get to see it on Friday! OOOooh I can't wait!

Okay, that's enough backspacing for tonight. Sleep tight, and don't breathe in any germs.

This is a little personal...well, maybe a lot personal, and I'm not sure about sharing it. But, I thought it might be helpful to someone. An excerpt from my prayer journal:

God, I have been wallowing in something close to depression, and I don't know why. The winter blues? A lack of sleep? Impatience about a home? Poor diet? Whatever is causing it, will You please show me how to avoid it?

Also, the Truth is: my emotions do not have to follow my circumstances. My emotions should follow You, my stable, unchanging God. So how can they do that? First, I need to know where You are and Who You are. That can be found in Your Word. Next, I need to see reality instead of my perceptions.

Reality - What my life is really like:
1. I am a friend of God, rescued from Hell and on my way to Heaven!
2. I am married to an amazingly understanding and godly man who loves me exclusively and thinks I'm pretty and wonderful.
3. I am the mom of two fun, special, loving, little girls who also think very highly of me (at least for now).
4. I am comfortable, healthy, taken care of, and I need to be thankful.

I think I have forgotten my purpose, and that is causing my discouragement. So what is my one main purpose? POINT TO GOD.

How can I fulfill that purpose on a daily basis?
1. Have a plan for the day and carry it out.
2. Teach my girls about life.
3. Eat right, not whatever I happen to be craving at the time.
4. Exercise daily, not whenever I feel like it.
5. Memorize Scripture so that my mind dwells on Truth instead of feelings.
6. Pray purposefully for a deeper relationship with God, and for others' needs.
6. Take note of what gets accomplished. (So that at the end of the day, even if the living room is completely trashed, I can say to myself, this room has been totally cleaned three times today. I don't need to feel like a failure because of its current state.)

So.

Today is day one of me being in charge of my emotions instead of my emotions being in charge of me. It has been purposeful and refreshing. Thanks to God!

I went to bed very early last night to catch up on sleep. I woke up before the girls and spent some time with God. I made a list of specific items I wanted to get done today. At breakfast time, although I was not hungry, I forced myself to eat a banana. At snack time, although I wanted something else, I chose to eat 20 blueberries. At lunch time, although, again I wanted something else, I chose to eat leftover tilapia, peas and potatoes. I worked on memorizing the next section of Ephesians chapter four, and Liberty heard me quoting it to myself and announced, "Mommy, I'm going to say Romans 3:23!" She proceeded to say it word perfectly, then we worked on Romans 6:23 together until she told me firmly, "Mommy, I think that's enough for today." And that was that. I followed along with my palates video and even survived a kamikaze Mercy Jane attack when she jumped off of the rocking chair and onto my tummy, giggling maniacally the entire time.

There has been no sunshine today. AGAIN. And I will not be able to accomplish all of the items on my to do list today, but I have chosen to be thankful for my blessings and let God control my emotions. Hooray!

I will apologize immediately for keeping you waiting on the rest of the story. The cliff-hanger was caused by two main reasons. Well, one main reason and one secondary reason. First, I waited on our realtor for some more information before blogging. (Although I listed it first, that was actually the secondary reason.) The main reason is Jeremy and I have stayed up until around two am most mornings, watching the first and second seasons of The Mole. This activity drained my brain of any creative writing skills it may contain, and any spare brain cells unoccupied by day-to-day living spent their time pondering the question, WHO IS THE MOLE?

And now I must follow a tangent in my brain in order to tell you...well, I cannot tell you what I intended to, because I typed it all out and realized that if anyone wanted to watch season one on Hulu, I would be ruining the ending for you by telling you what I wanted to say.

Now the second season is a different story. I can say what I want without ruining anything, and I HAVE to say this because I have to get my brag on. I totally called that one! From the very second episode, I called it! Go me! And I did it without any of the producers so-called clues. Clues? Yeah, right. Those were not clues. Jeremy and I were so frustrated during the show because we couldn't pick up on any of the clues, but when they revealed the clues at the end of the season, we did not feel badly at all. Those were not clues!


And now back to our regularly scheduled post.


Monday came and went with no further knowledge about where to send our offer. Tuesday came and went. Wednesday came, and my phone rang. Our realtor's name showed on the screen, and I picked it up, "Hi!"

"You guys have been praying hard, haven't you?" she answered with an odd sound in her voice.

I smiled then joked back, "I like the sound of that opening line; tell me more!"

"You're not going to believe this," I could hear the reciprocating smile in her voice, "or maybe you will! I just got an email from the foreclosure office about that house. It goes like this:

You have been selected as the Agent for the Short Sale property at [the yellow house]. Please check your Workflow for any tasks assigned to you for this property. Thank you.

I hesitated, wanting to share in her joy, but not knowing exactly what that message meant.

Our realtor explained with excitement, "This email came to our office out of the blue, and I was copied on it because of my position within our agency. The foreclosure office had no idea that we were searching for that house. They had no idea that we had an offer on that house. In fact, after I did a little digging, I found out that if standard procedures had been followed explicitly, our office would not have been given this listing." When my "wow" sounded weak to her, she further explained. "This means that we know where to send the offer. It means that we have direct contact with the decision makers, and that we can dialogue freely with them."

"YES!!!" This time my answer came strongly!

"But Missy, you still don't understand," she continued earnestly, "In all the time I've been working here, I have never seen this happen, and in fact, if everything had gone the way it was planned to by the company, it would not have happened. This is definitely something that God did!"

We continued talking, marveling at the odd twists this house had gone through to get to where it was right now, and finally I asked a favor, "Would you mind sending me that email? If God does give us this house, I want to be sure that we remember what He did."

She sent the email with this note attached:

Please find attached the message I rec'd from [the bank]. This is the first time in my 5 years in real estate that we have rec'd a message like this! We've gone months with no communication from the bank and this just came in out of the blue. They were not even listed as the #1 bank in line for this mortgage. Pretty much unheard of......please keep praying!!!

I'll be praying as well!

Jeremy and I have submitted our offer, and now we wait for all of the lien holders and mortgage holders (there are several) to decide whether they will accept their losses and not ask for any money from the sale of this home or if they will reject the offer as too low because they will not be regaining any of the money that is due them.

Don't hold your breaths, everybody. This could take a long time...

But you can pray!

Also, I want to say, just because God has done this miraculous thing, it does not automatically mean that He plans to give us this house. I do not pretend to know what His plans are, but I do know one thing for sure: whatever they are, they are the best, and we will praise.