God is in Control

    A lot has happened in the past week. Some things occurred that made me draw a little closer to the Lord. I was glad for that as I've been feeling a little spiritually dry and in need of a personal revival.
    A friend of mine and I aren't as close as we once used to be and it's painful to watch our friendship seem to be slipping away and not knowing if I should do everything in my power to not let that happen or to just let it be and hope something good comes from it but I've finally placed it completely in God's hands and know He will do what He deems best for me and for my friend. I've stopped trying to control things but let Him.

    My dad was out getting firewood two weeks ago and a tree fell on him. He wasn't doing too bad and even went to work that week and the next but his back and the side of his ribs where the tree had hit were hurting pretty badly so he was taking aspirin daily for that and was seeming to be getting better but then last Thursday he fainted twice during the night when getting out of bed to get a drink and then to use the restroom. He stayed home from work on the next day and we were all praying that he'd get better. That evening, my sister Becky came over and was going to check his blood pressure but my dad needed to use the restroom first so he got up and was heading towards the bathroom door when his face paled and he started to faint. My mom and Becky rushed over to him while my brother Kirk called 911. I was upstairs when this was going on and my sister KayleeBeth rushed up to my room and told me what had happened and that she was really scared. We prayed and then heard the sirens coming and the firetruck and ambulance were here soon. It was so scary seeing my big, strong daddy being out on stretcher and being put in the ambulance. Kirk rode with my dad and my mom and Becky left shortly thereafter. It was then around 11:00 PM.
    Kaylee and I "camped out" in the living room and my little brother was amazingly asleep while all this was taking place (which was a good thing because he would've really been freaking out). I called a friend to ask for prayer and she helped calm me down a bit and was very comforting. Kaylee fell asleep after a while but I was so frightened and fearful of what would happen to my dad that I couldn't sleep, so I prayed. Oh how I prayed, and prayed, and prayed! The situation was out of my control and I went to the One who was in complete control for I knew He could help. Well, my mom got home about 1:30 AM and told me it was alright and that he would be okay. Immediately, relief washed over me and I was able to relax enough to go to sleep.

    On Saturday we visited my dad at the hospital and it was so good to seem him doing much better and acting like his usual self. We found out that the cause of all this had been the aspirin that he had been taking; the pain killer hadn't been able to process through his body very quickly and as he was taking it daily it slowly began to create holes in his stomach and he got ulcers and had gotten internal bleeding from it. They fixed the problem that day though and he was able to come home on Sunday evening, praise the Lord! He can't go back to work until next week once he's recovered but it's nice to have him around the house and to spend some time with him.

    All this has brought me closer to God and caused me to trust Him in everything and to know that He is in total control. Going through this has made me stronger and taught me things that I don't think I would've learned otherwise. And I love the Lord more for always being with me and am so thankful to Him for healing my dad and showing me His power in all that happens. Whatever you're going through, know that God is in control in your life.

Klayton My Silly Nephew

    My oldest sister Karissa and her youngest son Klayton are visiting until Monday. She has a booth in our fair this week selling stuff she and a lady from her church have made. My younger sister KayleeBeth and I are going to help her with that and also watch Klayton who is three. The other day Klayton was playing with his Thomas the Tank Engine toy trains. He had them up on the coffee table running uphill on a car race track which they got stuck on. He left them there with their batteries running while he colored a picture.

This is the conversation that I had with him after I noticed the trains were running while he wasn't playing with them . . .

Me: "Hey bud you need to turn the trains off when you're not using them."

Him: "Why?" 

Me: "Because the trains will get very tired and their batteries will die."

Him: "They'll not die." 

Me: "They will if leave them running while you're not playing with them."

Him: "No, they're smart trains. They'll live."

Me: "But they are dying. See how tired they look? You're killing them little man."

Him (shocked face): "I am?"

Me: "Yup."

Him (stares at trains intently): "Oh no! They're dying!"

One train slips off the track and falls off the table.

Him: "I killed it! It's dead!" (picks train up and holds it to his chest) "Poor train!"

   Isn't he a silly kid? 

This is a photo of him I took today.

Here's another conversation I had with him that day . . .

Me: "Klayton, what is the name of the animal that says 'cock-a-doodle-do?'"

Him: "It's a cock-doodle-do!"

Me: "Uh, I thought it was a rooster?"

Him: "No! It's called a cock-a-doodle-do!"

Me: "Okay, sure, if that's what you call it."

Then I got inspired to ask him what his favorites were . . .

-Klayton's favorites-

Color: Blue

Food: Salad

Toy: Trains and monster trucks

Movie: Cars

Place to play: Food stores

I just had to ask him about the last one . . .

Me: "You like to play in food stores huh?"

Him: Yesss!"

Me: "So you like playing in the carts?"

Him: "No, silly! Play in the food!" (grins and dances about the room)

I was having such fun hearing his funny replies to my questions that I asked him who his best friend was. He said, "Ryan. But he's not my friend anymore, just a best."

Lol! Didn't know you could not be friends with someone but have them be your "best!"

My Kitchen (Photo Tour)

So here is the long awaited photo tour of my kitchen.

I cleaned and straightened the kitchen before taking picture of course. =)

Didn't think you'd want to see the mess that it was. ;)

Yes, those are water marks on the table. It happens with big families. ;)

My mom has this thing for collecting blue and white plates and putting them up in the kitchen. 

They look pretty cool don't they? 

These are the cupboards and drawers where we keep dishes and the the like. You can see what the counters hold. (I organized everything on it.)

We love that big picture window so we can look out into our backyard. 

I am constantly straightening the fridge door. You can not believe how disorderly it looks after people slam the door closed a few times!

That's our back door.

Our semi organized pantry. Don't you love the height measurements on the doorway there?

See? It's kind of put together in order. ;)

My Living Room (Photo Tour)

So here is the promised post of an inside tour of my house, well just the living room for now. We don't have the nicest things or furniture but we like what we have and are comfortable living with what we are grateful to have.

This is the view you get when you come in from the front hall.

My loves to put things like on this wall around the house. She took the picture on the wall to the left by the lamp. 

This is what the living room looks like when it's clean. Well, all that really gets messy is that coffee table there. 

The green chair is my mom's and the one to the right is my dad's. ♥♥♥ 

View from the other side. The two couches can be pushed together to form an "L." 

This is our entertainment center. This is the first flat screen TV we've ever had and we just got it last November. 

I call this little corner the "travel center" because of the map and globe. You could anywhere you want right here. Hey, there's even a palm tree type plant, a light to be the "sun," heater so it's more realistic, and magazines from America. =) Oh, and that door is the downstairs bathroom with the shower we all have to share.

This table is used for many things, School, eating, game playing, talking, and crafts are all done here. The fan is from a missionary (Mike Roberts) in Vietnam. The door with the posters all over it is where my two brothers rooms are.

We got that piano for $400 dollars and have had it for about ten or so years. KayleeBeth and I both play. 

Everyone hates that couch. When you sit down you sink just about all the wall to the floor! We had to put boards under the cushions so it wouldn't be so bad but it still is pretty uncomfortable to sit on. 

And this is our wood stove. It only looks this clean when it's not winter and in use. =)

So what did you think of my living room? Isn't it kind of ugly and old looking? Haha, I think so but I like it in a ways. Should I continue to do photo tours of my house?

To view the outside photo tour of my house click here.

Outside of My House (Photo Tour)

    As you know, the name of my blog is "A Home Beyond the River" but not all of you know why it is called that. I named my blog that for two reasons, #1 It's the name of my favorite hymn and #2 I live in a house/home by a river and if you're on the other side of the river and see my house it is indeed a home beyond the river. =) The house is almost an hundred years old (there's a brick down in the basement that says "1927" but the foundation/basement wasn't laid until after the house was built (weird huh?) so we're not sure how old it is) and is considered to be historic (it has old Italian paper underneath the carpet in the living room). It was advertised before we bought it as having ten bedrooms but we have also used other rooms for bedrooms too. I think around when my family first moved in my dad started  renting the upstairs bedrooms in our house to tenants until about nine years ago when our family had grown too big to not live in both parts of the house.

     Last week I took pictures of the outside of my house and will be showing you those now . . .

 This is the front view of my house. My dad likes to have scripture verse signs on our house so others passing by and our neighbors can read them. I was born in this house (literally). My older siblings and parents have lived in this house for almost nineteen years since my older brother Kirk was a baby. 

I was standing on the sidewalk next to the road/highway by my house when I took this one and the next two.  There's a little square space where my dad keeps some tools in where the door on the side is (on the tunnel looking part of the house). The middle part (where all the windows are) is part of the downstairs bathroom where are washer and dryer are. 

Um, so I don't know why there's a random ugly blue board leaning up against the back porch (probably something one of the boys did). 

 The window on the far right is my where my room is (now you know where I live and sleep o.o), the one in the middle is where we have a stove and sink (since it used to be a second kitchen) and the window on the left is a bathroom. Sometime my sister Kaylee and I will go out my window and sit on the roof. Hehe.

This is the back view. The window up top in the middle is where the attic is, the window to the left and right are both guest bedrooms when family and friends stay for a long visit and nap rooms when family is over for a short while. 

The left and right side views from the back.

This is a stone someone chipped (or did they buy it someplace? I can't remember) for us. 

We put it out front.

Our front door mat.

 The front door.

My brother Kirk's dirt bike! He parks it out front when he's not riding it (which is rarely, lol). 

It's pretty awesome is it not?

I tried to get a nice picture in his mirror but it didn't really turn out too well.

 This is inside our porch where people are supposed to come in and knock but they are forever (and I do mean forever) knocking on the front porch door and we can't really hear them. I think we just need to get a doorbell after all these years. But then my little brother Ryan would ring it just for fun or even try doorbell ditching. Ha! As if people actually fall for that (besides, well, everyone).

 Isn't that the coolest doorknob ever? Of course it's just glass but it's pretty looking. =) And will you just look at that porch wall? Those are broken glass pieces and rock! So awesome! If you can't tell, I really ♥ my house. I actually have this fantasy of getting married and once my parents but an RV and move out (that's their fantasy lol) moving in and having my children grow up here. Strange to some people but to me I think it'd be pretty cool.

    What do you think of my big old (really? you just couldn't tell) house? Want to come for a visit? Over for dinner? Stay oh well, forever?? Lol, that would be nice but . . . I live in Montana and you live . . . where? Oh, too far away. Well, if your ever near our neighborhood do tell me and I'd love to give you a real tour. =) Speaking of tours, I'm going to do some other posts with pictures of the inside of my house so check back this week or the next for that.