What kind of friend are you?

There are 2 kinds of girls out there. The kind who are loyal to their friends and do whatever they can to defend and stand up for their friends. They are there in times of need and in times when there isn't a need. They know their friend so well that they sense when "I'm FINE" doesn't really mean "FINE". They rally to their friends needs before their friend can utter the words-they bless her socks off. Then there is the friend who appears to be loyal and true, who stands by you until ....(you fill in the blank). We have all experienced those heartbreaks when a 'friend' stabs you in the back and it hurts worse than words can express.

Times are tough financially for many families out there. Some are struggling to keep their heads above water, others aren't. Do you look for ways to bless people who need to have their socks blessed right off their feet? You may not be able to help someone financially but you can still help in other ways. An encouraging word, be a true friend that sticks by them through thick and thin, having an ear to listen when they need to pour their heart out and a shoulder to cry on, that could mean the word to them when all their other friends and family have turned on them and shake their heads in disgust. Help your friend hold her head high. Walk the path with her and pray for her like you have never prayed before, as if it was your burden to carry.

My sweet hubby used to work as a Executive Rep for Lehman Brothers and when the housing market started to crash we saw the writing on the walls. We didn't know what to do. We prayed and prayed for direction, he took evaluation tests to see where his strong points would be, because we knew we had to look for a total career path change. We did research and it looked like there were a good number of jobs in the field he was looking into and finally decided to do student loans and have him go back to school. It was a struggle for him to work full time, go to school, study and sleep. There wasn't time to fit anything else into his schedule. He missed time with the kids and eating dinner as a family. He left work and went directly to school, eating his "sack dinner" as he drove to school and stayed till school closed at 9 PM each night.

My parents called, from Florida, several times, asking if there was a way we could possibly move down here to be with them and help them out (physically). My dad was having some health issues at the time and still deals with them, but Prince Charming was in school. (My Dad has a kidney disease.) In a passing conversation, with someone from the school, they mentioned that my husband was to a point in his Computer Programming courses that he could do school remotely. We did all the checking as far as testing sites etc, verified everything, got our house up, starting selling or donating almost all of our belongings (storage facilities would have been over $300 a month down here -you can replace a lot of things for $300 a month if you rent for a year or more), rented a truck, loaded the rest of our things and moved 1/2 way across to country. He got his Computer Programming classes done and passed everything with flying colors but by then the job market was in despair and finding a job was not successful so he started another certification that focused on his Management skills. Being here has been a help to my parents and has been a help to us as well, so my husband could focus on more school (and yes he does work as well) but we so look forward to him finishing this PMP (Project Management) final and being able to find a job and get moved and it just be our family again. I can't wait to be able to bless other peoples socks off. We pray that our eyes and ears will always be open to the needs of other people.

Recently there are a couple of peoples life journeys that have touched my heart. I know this blog is about decorating but I still have a heart and I really do feel connected to you gals.

I stopped at Nesting Place the other day and read a guest post from Christy.

Christi's blog Wow! I have wondered if there is something I could do, like add a donate button and have people who have been touched by someones story and can bless others, have a place to do so. I don't know if that is a good idea or not. I'm not in a place to be able to bless their socks off but I have a desire to be able to do so.

Everything in BLACK is my info, or thoughts.
Everything in RED is Christy's post and everything in GREEN is Beth's post

Here is the Christy's post (I did her post in RED):

Our house will be foreclosed on October 6.

I'll bet it's happening to someone YOU know, too.

What I feared for so long is finally happening, and you know what? I have complete peace about it.

I've spent the most of the last year unable {or unwilling} to be happy - and making everyone else around me miserable, too. And what I had to learn is this: it's okay to still be happy, it's okay to still live your life while in the midst of something like this. It's not the end of the world. Yes, it stinks! Well, at least it did in the beginning to me. Now, honestly, I have just let it go. To say I don't care sounds like I'm calloused or irresponsible or something - and that's not it.

I lost almost a year of my life {and my family's life} worrying, fretting, acting ugly over this. Being mad, yes at God - because why would He allow this to happen to us? And the reality is, this is a fallen world and the world is in the shape it's in because we are sinners - in SPITE of God, not because of Him which is where my perspective was wrong. So, I don't care anymore. I don't worry about the house that's being left behind, which is next door to the house we're moving into. We're fortunate that we HAVE somewhere to go, although the Lord will have to pay for it, because we sure can't do it! It's okay.

It took me a long time to get to this place. And please don't think I'm advocating just throwing up your hands, or walking away from something that you've a responsibility for. But we just couldn't do it anymore. The money simply is not there. We haven't done anything wrong - yet we've been judged, looked down on, distanced from family and friends, and had to console other people when we were the ones in crisis.

Finally, after lots of anger and tears I got back on my knees and I know that's where I should've been all along. It's still a journey EVERY hour, EVERY day. I was so caught up in what might happen in the future, that I couldn't be happy with the day I'd been given. I wasted a year worrying about a day that hadn't come yet. I couldn't see how to be happy, when I "knew" misery & uncertainty were lurking right around the corner.

Uncertainty doesn't have to be something that takes away inward rest.

Now that we're here, though - it's not what I thought it would be. I've already gone through the heartbreak and misery. It almost, very nearly, tore us apart. We've had to work together and get creative to carve out a new normal for our family. There are amazing opportunities ahead of us, and I'm finally excited thinking about the possibilities. We're still living a blessed life.

It takes courage, faith and hope to step into the unknown. I wanted to run away, but He kept calling me back.

What I want you to know - especially if you're facing this situation - is that it IS okay. Please don't waste your life worrying, even about your children {which was always my biggest concern, how will MY BOYS deal with this}. Please don't become so hard that your marriage is on the line. Please don't get to the point that you look back and realize that you've wasted a year, and those are minutes and days and memories that you can't get back.

Life isn't perfect. Thankfully It doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful.

Another story that has touched my heart is Beth's

There is a Bible passage in the book of Luke where Jesus teaches his main men how to pray to God, and then he encourages them to be persistent in asking for what they need. Jesus uses the illustration of needing to borrow some food from a neighbor in the middle of the night to feed an unexpected guest. I can totally relate! We recently had some out-of-town guests visiting and I ran out of eggs . Now fortunately for my neighbors, my guests' brownie craving didn't hit in the middle of the night. However, I can relate to needing to ask a neighbor to help a girl and her hungry-chocolate-hankerin'-guests out! I had to knock quite a few times to get my neighbors to come to the door, but they did. And I left their porch a happy hostess, with egg in hand, and the promise of brownies for my guests!

In this story, Jesus also says that even if you are friends with your neighbors, they may be totally annoyed with you for waking them up in the middle of the night and refuse to give you the food...uh...yeah! However, they may honor your request and hand over some chow because you are persistent and unashamed in asking for what you need. The lesson to be learned from this story? Don't be embarrassed to ask for what you need because persistence pays off.

I have told you in every single post a few times that I'm on a budget freeze. What I haven't told you is that I've looked into applying for welfare and considered visiting my church's food pantry to feed my family. I also haven't told you about the handful of friends and new friends that have reached out to my family with gifts of money, gift cards for food/gas, garden veggies, and crafting jobs. I have never been more humbled, more grateful, and more persistent in asking in my life.

Before my birthday, I posted a frivolous wish list. I wasn't expecting to receive anything off of it. It was just fun to dream and admire pretty things. When the above apron came in the mail from two friends, one of whom has only met me in person once, I wanted to cry. It was such an unexpected blessing! Then when I opened a gift from my big sis and saw the Crate & Barrel box, I wanted to do a happy dance. I am now the proud owner of 12 of the footed coolers that I've wanted for the last 10 yrs. There they are below looking cute in my kitchen cupboard.

I also received a gift card to Michaels, a gift card to Target, and a generous amount of money--much of what I didn't ask for but was just blessed with. I also won this botanical print giveaway on my birthday from http://www.findingfabulous1.blogspot.com/

To top it all off, I won a blog makeover from Courtney at One Fine Blog Design. (I think right about now she is wishing someone else had won because...ahem....let's just say I'm a bit Type A. Bless her heart! It should be ready for the grand reveal early next week. Love you Courtney!)

So what's my point here? Just ask people for things and persistently pray to God and you will be blessed with aprons and win giveaways? No. I know that it doesn't always go well in life. I know that I have persistently asked for my dad's cancer to be healed and he is still dying. I know that I've prayed that my child's Asperger's will go away and yet he still struggles. I know that I've begged God to intervene on behalf of friends who are struggling with terminal illness, late-term miscarriage, barrenness, broken-hearts, unfaithful spouses, and death of loved ones. We are not promised blessing on earth. But we can trust that God loves us and that even in the face of our pain, He is good. We can also choose to rejoice when blessings are bestowed. And, oh yes, I choose to rejoice....for I am so deeply blessed.

****Edited to Add: The pics of me were taken today by my barely-turned-5-yr-old, Asher. He's the one with Asperger's :). He wanted you to know it was him behind the mad-photo-skills...****

My challenge to all of you is to ask God to reveal to you how you can be a blessing. We all know how good it feels to give gifts at Christmas and see the joy on someone's face. It really is better to give than to receive.What would bless our socks off--a great job opportunity. All the things can be replaced (frugally-is that a word? replaced that is). We have each other and that is the most important thing. So, who can you bless today?

I have added a poll so help me out and vote for the name of the Home Tour.

Be sure to subscribe. It is great for you, you can view all your blogs in one spot. I had one gal, who had no idea what it was. She e-mailed me and said "You are my new best friend". I guess she was pretty thrilled with her new time saving tip. It quick, free and makes blog life so much better. If you have any questions about it let me know.

I love coming to meet you and if you follow me I will come and do the same. If you have not had a visit from me with in 24 hours you need to contact me because I can not find you -due to the way your account is set up, or Google issues. I feel really bad when I can not keep my promise.

I have been swamped the past 2 days because I have been busy working on something really big, no HUGE would be better word, but that word isn't big enough for the news I have to tell you, but I can't tell you yet. You girls are going to be so excited. I am just giddy because I know you are all going to LOVE all of it. So, (yes I know I'm not supposed to start a sentence with so but so what) if I have not gotten back to you, there is a reason but I will respond to you gals. We only have 3 subjects to do in school today and both boys are done with one. They are doing their dog walking job right now, so I am trying to hurry and get this done while they are gone. Then I will work on some blog replies after a while.

Come by for the Knock Off Knock Out party next Monday, and bring your posts.