so...

it's been emotional around here. for like, all of us. we had an original move in date to the new house last friday. so far, it's postponed one week. weddings are in full swing. there were 3 this weekend. since we live in the house, we don't interfere with the weddings too much since they take place outside and in the barn. but the kitchen is used for all things wedding and it just gets a bit chaotic trying to keep the kids occupied. so i try and be gone for most of the wake hours during events. all in all, we are just plain old exhausted. all of us. there is just a lot of juggling, moving around, eating out, driving, etc. good thing we aren't budgeting this month :). being a wife and mom i really had no idea how much i relied on my home. my place to go home too. with all of our things, our environment, our food, our dishes, our routine. it's been tough. and it's been almost a month since we were robbed and not had a home. we have a great house we are moving into. thank you, kind Jesus. and i can't wait till we can move in. it's just been hard in the meantime. 

of course, because the Lord is so gracious and kind, He has provided little gifts all this month. from money gifts, to giving me some rest from taking care of the house with my hurt back, to not having to cook much :), to sweet friends who invite us over for dinner after a particularly hard day, to sweet friends who invited us to sleep in their home while they were gone so we could get a little break from the business living chaos. it goes on and on.

this is what we are thinking as of now: we will move in friday. i leave saturday morning for dallas (a trip i've had planned for months to see my dad for his birthday-which i am going by myself to!!!!! if i've ever needed a vacation it's now!), jake has babysitters for the kids on saturday so he can potentially unpack and finish emptying the storage unit, and i will come home on tuesday to a lovely, new house! :) haha, in an ideal world this will happen. some things could postpone the move in day so i am trying to be prepared for that. i will certainly be a little heart broken if that's the case.

it's usually really hard for me to admit when i am struggling, need help, or am weary. God is breaking down that idol in me. the idol that i got it all under control. that i am always sweet and nice and don't need help from anyone. NOT ANYMORE. i told jake the other night, one thing the Lord is doing in all of this is breaking.me.down. and making it okay to ask for help because i have no choice. i need it. it is humbling. and horrible. and beautiful. and hard. and beautiful. and freeing. i am just a person. trying to please the Lord. trying to be a great wife and mom. and right now, i can't do much. i am surviving. and that is okay. for He is my strength and my ability. amen. 

i thank the Lord daily for the grace of my friends here in charlotte. and you kind people who listen to me complain and cry and be frustrated with our situation. BUT we will make it. no doubt. and look back on this one day and be thankful. i just hope we have a house before this baby comes in may :) jk, jk!!!!!!! at least, i better be jk-ing! or else i'll be in a mental hospital when i give birth. 

i say this with a true heart, thank you. and love to you this day.

mer     

where we at

hey there lovely. i've decided to make a bullet point blog today.

right now in the life of the greers....

• our realtor friend from church has a client who is going to buy a house that's for sale that we want to rent. this will get us into a much nicer house for our budget. we have picked a house out already and it's under contract...but nothing is guranteed yet, so still a waiting game.
• jared and ashton (jake's little brother and wife) are in town. with their baby boy, roman. so fun.
• me and finley spend every naptime on jake and i's bed watching his shows. he won't really nap in this house. it's not always super restful, but i'm enjoying the one on one time with him.
• audrey is looking super cute in pig tails with her growing hair.
• my favorite color to wear while pregnant is black, but i have to wash like every black thing after i wear it once because it gets so "icky" with these kids around (think audrey with a peanut butter sandwich and then screaming till i pick her up and her hands clinging to me).
• my back is in bad shape. the chiropractor seems to be helping a little...really i just go for the 1/2 hour massages each time. omg. can i get a what-what! 
• the massage therapist did help a lot yesterday and she made some good observations about my areas of pain and how the type of accident i had explains why the pain is where it is. that was reassuring. that i'm not just a crazy person.
• we are living in the wedding venue house. this means many appointments throughout the day. we've only had one really loud screaming fit during a meeting so far. not too shabby.
• if you want to give me a present, give me good chewable, "soft" ice. my prego ice crazed self is back and i constantly chew it all day. thankfully, it has no calories.  
• my sweet friend, becca, sent us some DELICIOUS cookies in the mail today. everyone was excited for that package. thanks, pack family :)
• it's rainy and drizzly and i don't mind at all.
• i really wanna see Les Mis one more time while it's still in the theaters. 
• jake and i get to have a hott v-day date tomorrow. holla. we need some quality time.
• i still love our new van! amazing gift, for sure.
• finley asks to go "back to our house" less often. this is happy and sad. i'm glad he is comfortable here, but i still wish we could go home too.
• i don't remember the last time i actually cooked dinner.
• i'm so thankful for family and friends.
• i'm looking forward to small group tonight.
• i would love to know when and where we will live next. i'm excited about this one house that is under contract, but also trying to not count on it until it's a done deal. this is hard for my momma heart that just wants all my babies safe and settled in their home. i've felt homesick for all sorts of homey things. 
• will keep ya posted on any developments. 

hope your wednesday is going just great. thanks for stopping by. 

love to you.
mer                       

when people steal

wow. what a week. well, really, the past 3 weeks. 3 weeks ago was the car wreck. two weeks ago we got our settlement check. one week ago we found a new van (! which we love, amen). and one week ago i got home from my usual wednesday morning Bible study to discover our house had been robbed for the second time since being in charlotte. we were robbed back in april when they stole many big things. unfortunately, we didn't have renters insurance yet and so nothing was covered. many generous family members ended up replacing the things we had taken. this time, they took every small electronic they could get their hands on and we did have insurance, thank goodness. the first time, they kicked open our back door. this time, they threw a cinder block through jake and i's bedroom window. there was glass everywhere. they went through our room, tearing off our bedding looking for things. they stole my laptop, jake's playstation, all his accessories for that, ALL of jake's camera gear including 3 lenses, a video camera, the camera itself, his bag, etc. they stole a kindle, an android tablet, 2 ipod's, 2 backpacks, credit cards, a big jar of change we have saved since we got married, and more. we had been staying at josh and joy's house since it happened and after church on sunday, jake went home to pack some stuff up and discovered the robbers had come back. this time they broke our bathroom window and went threw all of our stuff. they opened every drawer in our house, threw my clothes all over. it was obvious they spent a lot of time in there. thankfully, jake had cleared out all our valuable things, but i was easily the most disturbed by this break in. i wouldn't do this, but it makes me want to throw all those clothes away just knowing they were thrown around and picked through.

what is it about being robbed that is so disturbing and violating? to me, it's about the fact they came in through our bedroom! they saw pictures all over of us, our babies, and whole families. they know how we decorate. they know our schedule and when a good time to rob us is. they took things that we have saved and worked hard to pay for. things we care about and use. i think the bottom line is, they just came right in and took what they wanted. as if people were not attached to those things. that someone wouldn't be affected by their actions.

the hardest thing for me has really been the fact that we have to move. obviously, we can't live in that house anymore and i wouldn't want to. but i loved that house. i always pictured where i would put baby3's bouncer and swing and clothes and burp cloths. it was our home. and because of other people's choices, we need to move. to keep our babies safe. to not have break-ins be a regular occurrence.
this transition time has been tough on everyone. we are now staying at the wedding business which is a historic home. we are incredibly thankful to have this place in the meantime. it's not the most kid-friendly place and finley calls it the "work house" and always wants to work with daddy and go in the work garage for tools. he asks to go home all the time and is confused about why we can't. jake is working so hard to get all the insurance stuff sorted out, so i've been mainly looking for houses. we are both exhausted and want to be settled again. so blessed to have a realtor from our church who is helping us find a place. he knows so much about the area and is super helpful. we have a couple good leads, so it's just more waiting to see what turns out.

you know, jake and i don't have any idea why the month of january was the way it was. and it doesn't matter why. we are incredibly thankful for the endless blessings the Lord has given us. it hasn't been easy. my back is still very sore from the wreck and i can barely take care of my kids by the end of the day, let alone be much help moving at all. so many people have offered to help and we have people who love and care for us. near and far. i am thankful for the body of Christ and how He designed it. jake and i are weak right now. that's just the darn truth. we are weary. but we are not alone. and we have the love of people and the love of Him keeping us comforted and persevering. and we know these trials are real, but there are people dealing with incredibly difficult things every single day.

"do not grow weary in doing good." He always knows, right :)

love to you.
mer