Neighborhood Cookout

With God's prompting, we excitedly prepared for a cookout today...having invited the entire neighborhood (at least 150 houses) to attend. We had no way to know how many people would show up, so we prepared mountains of food...hamburgers, hotdogs, pasta salad, asian slaw, chips, cookies and brownies. Needless to say, we weren't going hungry.

Me and my bestie, Sara, enjoying the sunshine during the cookout

Our first guest was a great little guy, a 5th grader who Toby had seen earlier riding his bike and invited to join us. He threw the football with Toby and some other friends who had joined us and seemed to be thrilled to be included with "the big guys." As lunch time progressed we had a steady stream of neighbors grace our yard...some familiar faces that we had met before, and other faces were new. We heard repeatedly how great it was for us to organize this. Two families even mentioned that they have lived here for about 15 years and there had never been anything like this in our neighborhood. Both of these families were so precious to help out...one gave us a $25 Wal-Mart gift card toward the expenses, and the other brought a lemon cake. Both gifts were totally unexpected and a blessing to my heart.

All in all we fed and chatted with about ten neighbors and made a good start at building new friendships. Having prepared to feed close to 100 people, I have to admit in the quiet places of my heart that I was a little disappointed in the turn out. As I drove around this afternoon collecting our signs and balloons, I allowed myself to say it out loud to my Jesus. His answer was sweet and compassionate..."you did what I asked you to do." And that's all I needed to hear. We had a really fun day with Toby's parents (Pop and MiMi visiting from out of town), several friends from west Mobile who were sweet enough to help with the set up and mingling, and several new neighbors. So whatever Jesus' goal was in our hosting this cookout...it looks like we accomplished it. I'm sure He'll reveal the fruit in time and I know it will be good!

Sweet gifts from Jesus

During the months leading up to our move from Tennessee to Alabama, God showed me five houses that I was suppose to go to and begin forming relationships. You can read here to see how it went - phase 1, 2&3, 4 & 5. It wasn't long before my next assignment came clear. As I met our neighbors I observed a common theme, most of them didn't know many other neighbors...ding, ding, you guessed it...we need to remedy this. God has clearly told us to possess this land (aka our house), but that includes our neighborhood, but how would we do that if we don't know anything more about them than the color car they drive?

So we are planning a neighborhood cookout for this Saturday. It started out with an idea of inviting the five houses I was assigned to, but then it grew to the whole street and neighboring cul de sac, and then up to the entire neighborhood. I'm not sure of the exact house count, but there's likely close to 150 houses in these parts. Now, I know this may sound a bit ridiculous, but we are totally going out on faith here and trusting that God will never ask us to do something and then not provide what we need to do it. So, this week I will buy mountains of hamburgers and hot dogs and should we require more, I am trusting for frozen hamburger patties to miraculously appear in the box. (Secretly, I'm kind of hoping we run into this challenge just to see how God meets the need and takes the credit!) Last week I stuck 45 printed invitations on mailboxes on our street and today we put four signs up...the front of the neighborhood, our front yard and the two ends of our street.

On to my gifts I referenced earlier. Our dear friend and beloved babysitter from Knoxville is on fall break from school this weekend and chose to spend her time off with us in Mobile...a great honor. Nicole flew in on Friday and she has been wonderful company and help this weekend. Haley has really loved having her here and catching her up on all that she's missed and showing her around her new big girl room. Nicole has been a great help in finishing our signs for advertising our cookout. I will (hopefully) use these signs for years to come, and they will always serve as a reminder of our fun weekend together.

Nicole and Haley boasting our sign in the front yard

This weekend held another cool gift that Jesus dropped in our lap...Toby signed up at the last minute to play in a church golf tournament yesterday. Because he hadn't played in over a year and a half, he didn't expect much from his skills, but was looking forward to a day outside with old friends. On hole 7 (ahem, the number of perfection), Toby shot a hole in one. That's right...a hole in one. Toby has never taken formal golf lessons and barely plays often enough to play with dignity. He even confessed that his tee shot was ugly, but still miraculously ended up in the hole. Because of this great shot, his name ended up in the "closest to the pin" drawing for the grand prize of the day...a gas grill and tons of grilling accessories. You guessed it...Toby's name was pulled from the pot and he brought home a huge, new grill. Now, let's count up the unliklies here...1 - Toby decided to play in the tournament just before the deadline, 2 - he hit a crazy, awesome shot which put his name in the pot, 3 - his name was chosen in the drawing, 4 - we have a neighborhood cookout scheduled for seven days later!! Coincidence...of course not! So, while Jesus is certainly in the business of spiritual gift giving, He's also in the business of grill giving! He told us to have this cookout for who knows how many people may show up. We planned to use two of our little grills to meet the demand, which would have been sufficient, but here's a little confirmation and preparation. Whoa! Let's get grilling!

our Jesus grill with all the trimmings

We would really appreciate your prayers for this event in the days to come. Specifically we are asking for doors to open to build relationships with those living around us, for Toby and I to be prepared to share Jesus' love with every person who walks through our doors, for the house work, organizing and food prep required to pull this event off, and for follow up opportunities to encourage these new relationships in the weeks to come. Thank you friends...and you know I will let you know how it goes!

A call to His Word

Over the last few months, I have been feeling a great call to study His Word. In my life I've gone through seasons of "doing good" about reading my Bible regularly, but by and large, this was out of obligation and not hunger. It wasn't until my life changing weekend in Tennessee that I actually desired to read the Bible simply because I wanted to know what it said. After that weekend I started reading the Bible because I finally understood that these were Jesus words to me, not just to "all mankind" but to me, Carey. There are tons of things in there that He wants me to know about Him. So I started off on this journey to see what He had to say.

The speaker at this life changing retreat weekend, gave a great analogy that I will carry with me for the rest of my life...the Bible is kind of like a Super Wal-Mart. The first time you set foot in a Super Wal-Mart it can be incredibly overwhelming! I recognize that may be impossible to imagine for some of you younger ones, but go with me on this. Before you made multiple trips around town to the grocery store, then the fabric store, then the car repair shop, etc. But now, all of these things are here under one enormous roof. It would be irrational to expect a first time, Super Wal-Mart shopper to bust through the doors with a list a mile long and be in and out in 10 minutes. The first trip was likely more of a tourism adventure. You grabbed a buggy (or shopping cart, for you northerners) and slowly perused the isles to see what the store had to offer. Now, many years later you can zip in, go directly to the toilet paper isle, grab the urgent necessity and be on your way in a matter of minutes. Well, our study of the Bible can be the same way. There's a lot to take in on the first round, and it's unrealistic to expect to understand all of the Greek and Hebrew translations, symbolism, and prophetic fulfillment on your first trip through the pages.

Well, this is where I am. After growing up in the church, but only beginning to take the Bible seriously as a living being, I'm still on my first round through...18 months after my life changing weekend. A part of me is embarrassed that I'm not further than I am, but I know there is grace for the many days I have chosen to fold laundry or do dishes instead of spending my precious few minutes alone (aka Haley's nap time) with my Jesus. All I can do, well any of us really, is seek Him every day and soak in as much of His presence and His nature as we can during the hours He gives us.

My renewed call to the Word has two great motivations. The first being my precious Haley. It is clear to me that as her parents, Toby and I hold the greatest responsibility in teaching her about Jesus. A verse that has come across my path numerous times in the past few months serves as a constant motivator.

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." Deuteronomy 6:5-9

Now, I don't know if you caught that, but that's a lot of talking about God's Word to my Haley. I'm not sure I have that much to say. What am I going to teach her when we sit and when we walk and when we lie down and when we get up? If I'm suppose to talk about Jesus that much to her, then I need to be building my hard drive!

"This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success." Joshua 1:8

So the key to having a "successful life" is to meditate on, speak of, and obey this book. But why? That sounds pretty legalistic, rule following and rigid.

"Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the Lord's commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good." Deuteronomy 10:12-13

That's it! It's not about rule following. It's about loving Him because He loves me and He wants nothing but good for me! So even though I don't know all the details about the minor prophets and how their visions were fulfilled, I may not know the lineage of King Whoever and all the crazy offshoots on his family tree...I KNOW that my Jesus loves me. And I KNOW that He wants good for me and this is what I will teach Haley as we sit and as we walk, as we lie down and when we rise. I will remind her every day that I love her and Jesus loves her more. I will continue to study the Word, so that when she gets to an age to understand (which is not far away) I will be able to tell her about the minor prophets and the amazing visions God gave them and how He was so faithful to fulfill them. I will be able to tell her about generations of men and women who loved God and how they were blessed for their faithfulness.

My second motivation comes from visiting many churches. We are in a season of learning and seeing all of the "options" that are out there. Knowing that God has called us into full time ministry at some point in the future, we know that now may be the only chance we get to visit around and see how different groups worship, study and pray. This has been monumental to my understanding of "one body." We are all in this together...we are all (hopefully) loving Jesus and seeking to make His name known, regardless of the denomination that is posted on the street sign. In visiting these churches, I want to be able to decipher truth from truth that has been twisted without a moment's hesitation. I have heard things preached that just didn't quite sit right, but I couldn't put my finger on why. I call that my spiritual nose...I can sniff it out, but I want to go deeper and be able to crawl right to the root of it, point to scripture and say this is why that doctrine, statement, etc doesn't line up with truth. My goal, by no means, is to become self righteous or pompous, but rather to discern truth and avoid Satan's sneaky tricks. When he led Eve astray, he took truth and twisted it ever so slightly. I don't want to fall prey, I want to be able to sniff it out and squash it! You know, when bankers are taught to identify counterfeit money, they only study the real thing. That way when a fake comes across their path, they may not know exactly why it's counterfeit, but they know it's not authentic because they know what the real thing looks like.

So I am using you, my readers, as accountability to continue to study and to dig and learn and I can't wait to share with you what He teaches me. Will you study too? Just pick a book (I would suggest Matthew if you're new at this), read a few chapters, jot down your thoughts, questions and any sections that stand out. If there's something you don't understand or are curious about, ask the Holy Spirit to explain it (yes, He will hear you and He will answer you...you just have to be still and listen), read some other verses about it that may be noted in the margins or the footnotes. Let's dig together so we will have lots to share with our little ones so that they will always know the real thing.

Bargain shopping

About 18 months ago I saw a story on the Today Show about a coupon mom who bought $100 worth of groceries, but after the store's sales and coupons she only paid $0.25. Being strapped with one income and two mortgage payments, I was blown away and totally excited about this new world, so I started doing some research and taking classes from the "pros." Soon I cut our grocery bill down to about $70 a week, including toilet paper, paper towels, toiletries and the like.

Well, once we started the count down to move back to Alabama we started eating through our stockpile of groceries and I slowly stopped buying groceries and cutting coupons. Now that things are starting to settle down here in Mobile, I've decided to pick back up the game. It really is a game, you know? Today I made my first trip back out in the field and landed some great deals! I have to thank Frances at Frugal Fairhope for all of her research...don't worry you guys outside of south Alabama, her tips are good nationwide.

Today's Walgreen's finds
Regular price $71.79, I paid $20.80, Savings $50.99 (that's 71%, baby!)

I scored 10 2L drinks...just in time for our big neighborhood cookout next weekend. You know, having been told to invite the whole neighborhood makes for tricky planning, but I think this is a good start.

Shrimpfest

One of my favorite things to do is check out local festivals. I love being outside, I love seeing the local art and creativity, and most importantly I love the food! Not long after we moved back to Mobile, I saw a billboard for Shrimpfest, so Toby and I planned a mini vacation to Gulf Shores to check it out. Yesterday afternoon we left Haley with my sister and headed south...

Carey and Toby at the beach, enjoying Shrimpfest.

We got there just in time to join the crowds for dinner, but of course we had to make a complete loop to take in our options before making any decisions. The offerings were ridiculous...crab cakes, fish, scallops, clams, conch, lobster...anything you could want on a stick - shrimp on a stick, chicken on a stick, gator on a stick...and to steal a line from Bubba, "fried shrimp, grilled shrimp, shrimp creole, popcorn shrimp, coconut shrimp, shrimp scampi" and the list goes on. There were also plenty of land lover options including pizza, hamburgers and gyros, but why would you go for that at Shrimpfest? I even tried the "2009 Best of the Fest" winner, the Creole Pistol...crab, crawfish, shrimp and cheese stuffed into a roll and fried...it was interesting, good bread, but too much cheese and not enough seafood for my taste. I guess you get the point...I like to eat! The Shrimpfest is still going on tomorrow (Sun, Oct 10) for any of you locals that haven't had a chance to check it out yet.

Nothing like a funnel cake and Wild Bill's root beer for breakfast!

My second favorite thing about local festivals is the art. I am always amazed at people's creativity. We saw tons of paintings, mostly beach scenes, but all were beautiful. There was one booth that had taken beer and wine bottles, melted them down into various objects like bowls and wind chimes...interesting and creative. Another booth boasted jewelry made out of glass bottles and another artist had made portraits on canvas out of beer bottle tops. Are we seeing a theme here? Despite the alcohol theme of several of my favorite vendors, the festival was very family friendly. There was a great kids play area and tons of children's clothing booths.

Last night we met a great mom and daughter duo selling classic handmade children's clothing. Their shop is called Sarah's Kids and they were the sweetest ladies. Their clothing was beautiful, simple, well made and reasonably priced. I'm not a frou frou kind of girl and therefore rarely dress my daughter in the traditional southern frocks. (For those of you outside the south, little girls here are expected to sport lace, smockings and tights on special occasions...all of which require delicate care and formal settings...neither are things that interest me.) Anyway, after seeing what Sarah's Kids had to offer, I decided I wanted to have cute Christmas pictures this year with Haley in a *gasp* dress. We found one we loved, but quickly ran into a snag. Haley is way tall and way skinny. Any dress that fits her enough not to fall off within two steps will leave her tiny booty hanging out the bottom. I asked one of the owners her opinion and she offered to alter a size 2 to fit around her skinny self. What a sweet offer! After further discussion, we concluded that Haley needed a 6-9 month size to fit her waist and a 3T to fit her long legs. The sweet owner said, "I tell you what, why don't I just cut you a new one?" What? "How much extra will that be?" "Nothing...I live in front of a sewing machine...it's no problem." What a sweet gift from my Jesus! Not only did we find a great Christmas dress for Haley, but we basically got a custom dress at a really great price! Their website is still under construction, so give them time to get some more pictures up, but moms, you've got to check them out!

All that being said, Toby and I really enjoyed our 24 hours away. We were able to relax and enjoy each other's company without any pressures or responsibilities hanging over our heads. My favorite part of the weekend...simply holding his hand and strolling the beach in the sunshine.

Toby brushing off the sand after our walk on the beach...and not so happy with me for snapping a picture.

Stuff, stuff and more stuff

The moving truck showed up Monday morning and immediately began working in a fury. We knew that moving from 2,100 sq feet to just under 1,100 sq feet would pose some challenges, but we had no idea how it would all work out. We planned to take advantage of the moving company's "unpack" option, but I set up post in the living room, unpacking one box at a time trying feverishly to keep up with them as they unloaded the furniture. I have to say, I did pretty well up until lunch time. Once the furniture was unloaded and somewhat in place, the boxes quickly became overwhelming and seemed never ending! Due to our tiny master bedroom and massive California king size bed, we opted for the master bedroom boxes to go outside on the porch. We downsized from two walk-in closets to one tiny closet...some (a lot) of stuff was going to have to go! Fortunately, we bought a shed and had it set up during our six weeks here without furniture and it quickly became the default for anything from the garage, yard, or otherwise miscellaneous.

The back patio loaded with master bedroom boxes.

The shed, all be it unorganized, loaded to the brim.

I am so grateful that Toby's dad stayed the whole week with us to help unpack and tackle the seemingly endless project list. My mom kept Haley so we could work without having to structure the day around nap times and early bed times. By the time Haley came home on Thursday morning, her room was finished and the rest of the house was in some semblance of order. She walked into the living room, took in her surroundings and then flopped on the floor as if to say, "I know this stuff...this is my stuff." Next, we took her to her big girl room, complete with all of her toys, books, new curtains and a chest full of dress up clothes and accessories. Again, she flopped on the floor with great relief and what seemed like understanding. In the days since, she has loved her big girl room and often plays in there by herself. While it was really sad to say goodbye to her baby days in Tennessee, it's kind of fun to think of her turning into a little girl here in this house.

After the movers unpacked all of our boxes, except those belonging in the master bedroom, we started to shove things in every nook and cranny our little house offers. And when I say the movers "unpacked" our boxes, that really means they took everything out of the boxes in a matter of minutes and piled their contents on any flat surface available. The chaos was ridiculous, but with many hands working it didn't take long before some vague sense of order was established. We quickly realized that all of our stuff was not going to fit in our new, tiny home, so we started a yard sale pile. What? It's good stuff, no need to throw it away when somebody else could find good use for it, right? Crazy that on Tuesday a friend came over to help organize and she mentioned that they are having a yard sale this coming Saturday. Ha! My sweet Jesus knew that was coming and He set up a way for us to pay forward our blessings. Just as we were so incredibly blessed by our friends in Knoxville with our yard sale in April, we were now in a place to pass it on here in Mobile!

I am very pleased to report that we have made monumental progress in the last week with getting our house settled. We have pictures on the walls and no more cardboard boxes inside, but we've still got a ways to go. Anybody that has ever moved knows that it takes several weeks to get things "settled"...shuffling the spatulas, knives and cereal in the kitchen cabinets, figuring out how to transfer the laundry from the washer to the dryer since they are on opposite sides here, and establishing a home for the daily mail to land in the afternoons. All of these things take time, but after being here for nearly two months, the unrest is starting to get to me. I'm ready for normal again and the establishment of a new routine. When do we do laundry and go grocery shopping? When do we have play dates with friends and run errands? When do we clean the house and meet Toby for lunch? This new normal is what I'm missing. Because we have lived in five places in the six years we've been married, we've been here before...this unrest, and I know that things will come into a routine in time. It's just a matter of patience.

My sweet Jesus used my sweet Toby to speak straight to my heart yesterday. Just as this unrest became stifling, there was a knock on the door. On the other side stood a woman holding two beautiful bouquets of flowers. Totally confused I asked her to set them down and I noticed that my name was on both cards. I opened them and read, "A little something to brighten up our new home," and "I hope you like your new room, sweetie. Your daddy loves you!" Toby even went as far as to get yellow flowers to match our kitchen and purple ones to match Haley's room. He told me later that Jesus told him to send them. For those of you that don't know me, I love fresh flowers. There is nothing else that makes my home feel more welcoming and settled than fresh flowers on the kitchen table. This gift was exactly what my soul needed on that dreary afternoon.