Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We hope you are having a wonderful holiday week as we celebrate Jesus' birth and look forward to new things in 2010. Blessings to you, The ReichanadtersMom and Dad Rack had us over for dinner last weekend for a delicious meal . . . cornish hens, cranberry sauce, wild rice, and salad. Mmmm. Doesn't the table look festive?

Lehman Christmas

We celebrated Christmas with my family this past weekend. It was great to be together again, all 10 of us! One afternoon Dad and I took Clay and Em sledding at OxBow Park. It happened to be a very icy day, so the slopes were incredibly slippery and fast. I have never done sledding like that before. We had a blast!

We also decorated cookie cut-outs, went to a Christmas Eve candlelight service at Dad and Mom's church, and watched "The Nativity."

Mom had the idea to act out the story of "Cinderella" one evening. Here are my two sisters as the mean "stepsisters" and Emma as Cinderella in her "rag" clothes. We laughed 'til we cried. And this is Cinderella in her finery at the ball later in the evening.We're so thankful for the gift of family.

We got it!

This house has quite a story . . . When we went to look at homes about a month ago, this forclosure caught our eye. We peeked in the windows and saw the gleaming hardwoods and said, "We've got to call the realtor!" But when we called, we found out the sad news, "The house sold YESTERDAY." Ugh! We missed it by a day.

So, fast forward through 20 more house tours, two offers that fell through on other homes, and finally last Tuesday evening: We were at our friends' home for dinner on the same street as "the house." As we were getting ready to leave, they said, "Oh, by the way, we heard that the sale of that house fell through recently. You should check into it."

Sure enough, the next day the house was back on the market. We toured it, loved it, and made an offer. It turned out that we were not alone and there was another bidder interested as well. We both had to make our "highest and best" offer by 5:00 Friday. We waited and finally heard today, "It's yours!"

We are so humbled to think that God would lead us on this journey, and just in the nick of time, when we needed a place to move to, God allowed us to purchase this home. We have to be out of our temporary home in January, and now we can move right into our more "permanent" home. The timing could not have been more perfect. We are amazed at how God has "untied the knots" of our situation and within a week, He delivered our belongings from Las Vegas and gave us this home. We praise and thank Him for these blessings!

At last

This is what Jeff wrote in his journal this morning:

Yesterday morning our things arrived at 9:30 a.m. It turned out exactly like we had anticipated in the beginning. The truck knocked down a large branch on the pear tree in the front. Then the driver refused to let me in the truck to see our things before paying. It got pretty heated for a bit. The driver threatened to leave. Eventually Ade called 911. The police showed up, but unfortunately they couldn't do anything because it was a domestic issue. They told us to pay up front and dispute things in court afterwords. Then they left. Then I paid. Then we started to unload.

We found a damaged post on the coffee table. We saw a broken piece on the vacuum cleaner. Then . . . everything was good. Everything was here . . . everything seemed right . . . again . . . finally. We unpacked. We felt at home. We felt relief.

Thank You God, for delivering. Thank You for the journey that taught us once again to release and surrender. Thank You for your goodness . . . all the time.

Night out

Last night we put the kids to bed a little early and then "woke" them up 10 minutes later with our Santa hats on. We said, "Let's go get in the van and look at Christmas lights!" So we whisked them away and drove around looking at the beautifully decorated homes, listening to Christmas music. We ended up downtown at the Circle. We walked around in the snow and drank delicious mint hot cocoa at the South Bend Chocolate Factory. Clay said, "I'm kinda embarrassed to be wearing my pajamas here!" :) (This is the same boy who said to me recently, "Mom, we didn't go anywhere today. Why did we have to get dressed?")

It was such a fun and magical night. The kids asked if we'll do it again next year. I suppose we've started a new tradition.

What can brown do for you?

Clayton has found one of the perks from Daddy's job at UPS is dressing up in his big brown coat.

prayer

It feels like we need a “Miracle on 42^nd Street” this Christmas!

We are asking for prayer for three areas right now:

1.We got a call from the movers that they are on their way and should be here with our things in the morning. After nearly a month of our things being “in transit,” that is good news, but we’re still not sure what to believe, because of all the complaints on the internet about this company, and because of how they’ve lied to us several times. They are demanding cash on arrival, and won’t even open the truck until we pay. This produces a problem to us, because we’ve heard that many of our things may be damaged or missing. So, please pray for Jeff to have favor with them and that they would let us inspect our belongings and come to agreement calmly.

2. This morning there was a knock at the door of our temporary home. Mr. Inspector was here to do a radon test for the buyers. “Buyers?” I asked, incredulously. I guess that means we’re out in about 30 days. Yikes. This could actually be perfect timing if the #3 option goes in our favor…

3. We have made offers on 3 fixer-uppers. So far, the first two fell through. This third one is our favorite yet. This home is one we fell in love with a month ago, but realized we were a day too late and the home had already sold. This week, the sale fell through, and we heard about it the night before it went on the market again. We made an offer the next day. Today we had to make a “highest and best” offer, as we are against another bidder.

This roller coaster ride is getting a bit crazy again. We are praying for God’s hand to be on us and for His peace as we think about moving again. We recognize that He is in control, and we surrender our lives, our stuff, and our future home to Him. Our biggest prayer is that we want to walk through this leg of the journey with open hands and open hearts, not holding too tightly to the opportunities or things that we want.

This Christmas, may each one of us find that we love the Giver more than the gifts.

Advent

I had a fun afternoon crafting with some new friends recently. Taking an idea from Country Living magazine, we made these advent calendars out of matchboxes. Each miniature box can be filled with a small candy or treat, ticket, coupon, etc.

Chai tea, oodles of ribbons, buttons, pretty paper, and being serenaded by Sarah McLachlan's "Wintersong." It was lovely!Hope you are enjoying the Advent season and having many Christ-filled moments this December.

Broad Ripple Christmas

On Saturday night we took the kids to downtown Broad Ripple for their little town parade, saw Santa on his sleigh, touched a reindeer, met an "elf," and watched the lighting of the Christmas tree.

Then we drove downtown Indy and saw lots of pretty decorated homes. It was a fun Christmasy evening.

Stuff

Just wanted to fill in a few details of our life right now. We moved to Indy a week ago and have been living with my brother and his wife until our things arrive. We found out recently that the moving company we chose is ending up to be shady and according to several online complaints, they may bring our stuff a month or more late, with many pieces damaged or missing. So, we will continue to wait and just pray that God will protect our things while they sit in Las Vegas (of all places). While we realize it's just "stuff," it's also part of our "home." We have said so often lately that this is not in our control.

We haven't moved to our temporary home yet because the heat hasn't been working there and the house temperature has been 35 degrees. It's funny how it makes you thankful for even the little things. Last night Clay prayed, "God, thanks that we can sleep in this warm house and that we don't have to be in the cold house."

The heat will be fixed soon and we're moving to our temporary home tomorrow. We have sleeping bags for the kids and a big mattress for Jeff and me. Austin and Kristina graciously loaned us some plastic plates, cups,2 pans for cooking, and even a fake tree and some ornaments so it can feel like Christmas. This is not quite what I had dreamed this Christmas to be, but somehow God is still on the throne and He knows what we need. I am glad we can trust Him when everything seems to going haywire.

One last part of the drama . . . Jeff has been looking for jobs, and has a part-time UPS position. He may also be Santa Claus at holiday parties the week of Christmas. I don't think I could have written this story quite like it's turning out. Some parts are hilarious and we practically laugh 'til we cry, other times I'm crying 'til I can't hardly breathe, then there are the nail-biter moments or the sinking pit in the stomach feeling! I hope someday we can look back and see the pieces of the puzzle coming together. I am reminded that God is an amazing Author and there is a story that He's writing with our lives and yours. May He receive glory from all of it.

The Nutcracker

Today I introduced Emma to ballet. I grew up going to The Nutcracker nearly every Christmas with my Mom and sisters. It is a great memory for me, and I wanted to start that tradition with Emma. She loved it. She was totally glued and didn't know about appropriate "whispering," so she would comment, "Look! The tree is growing. It's like magic!" or, "Mom, I love that red girl (meaning: "girl in the red tutu)!"
At one point, she asked, "Do I have a tutu and a crown at home?" We got in the door and within five minutes, she asked for her hair to be in a bun. She's twirling around as I type . . . just like I did when I was a little girl.

Open the Gate

This was Clay's bedtime prayer a few weeks ago. "Dear God, Would You please just open the gate of the city for Daddy to find a job? And would You just open the gate of the city for us to find a house?" (I'm not sure where he got that language . . .)

The next night, Emma prayed, "Jesus, please open the fences for us." Clayton immediately corrected her, "No Emma, it's not the FENCES. It's the gate of the city!" :)

It seems as though God has heard the kids' prayers and has "opened the gates" for us in Indianapolis. There is a church planting / discipleship training school with Common Ground Church that we will be participating in. We have a place to stay temporarily. Jeff had an interview with UPS yesterday, and we're looking for other part-time jobs. It seems like we are still in the waiting game, but now just waiting in Indy.

I laughed when I read this quote today, "If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere." I asked Jeff, "What if there are tons of obstacles in the path? Then what?" Our obstacles for this move have been: nearly being scammed by a moving company in California, finding a squirrel in the home we're going to live in (and other family members of his in the attic), Clayton being sick, the UPS job not turning out to be what we hoped for, etc.

My prayer for us and you today is that we push through the obstacles and get a glimpse of God's beauty on the other side.