Eight is . . . (a multiple-choice quiz)

A. The atomic number of oxygen.

B. Seventy-two days fewer than it took Phileas Fogg to travel around the world.

C. The number of days until Abbey leaves for Lynchburg and her last semester at Liberty University.

D. The number of days this blog has been postless.



No matter which one you picked, you're right. It's not that nothing happens; it's just that I have no time to document it. So here are two big happenings of late.

Our sofa has been dying a slow, painful death since about six months after we bought it eight years ago, and last week Ben announced that he didn't intend to go another winter with it in the house. That just happened to be the day before Abbey and I made the rounds of local thrift stores, looking for a bedside table for her new house in Lynchburg (more on that later). We never did find the table, but at one of the stores, we found a like-new couch. Tan-ish with beautiful carved wood trim. I've admired sofas like this for years, but honestly, with two kids in college, who can afford a new one?

Abbey and I sat down on it. We stood up and looked. We turned all the cushions over. We pulled it out and looked at the back. The only thing we didn't do was turn it upside-down trying to figure out what was wrong with it. We couldn't find a single flaw.

The tag said $200. I turned the tag over, then back the right way. It still said $200. I looked over the sofa again, and still nothing was wrong with it. The tag still said $200. I bought it. (Sorry for the sub-par cell phone picture.)

Every time I walk through the living room I'm amazed all over again at how God provides not just what we need, but so often what we want. And he's under no obligation whatsoever to do that!

Also, we've spent most of the summer trying to find an apartment or house for Abbey to live in for her last semester at Liberty, and possibly next spring if she can find a job and wants to stay there. We've gotten our hopes up numerous times about places that looked promising, only to have them dashed in the end. Abbey's been very stressed about it.

Then one day last week, I was perusing the message boards again and came across an ad for a house that sounded perfect. There was also a photo of the house, which is just as cute as a button—very artsy looking, which according to Abbey is "inspiring." And that's important when you're an artist. So I texted the girl right away, we went to see it a few days later, and signed a lease while we were there. To say that Abbey is excited is the understatement of the decade. She would have packed up and left right then and there if she didn't still have a job at home. We kept saying all the way home from Lynchburg that God is "able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think." What an amazing Father we have!

And now it's 10:17 pm, I've eaten pizza and ice cream, and I have to drag my fat self to Pitaiyo at 9:30, so I'll go to bed.

E. More than the number of days until my next post. I hope.

Be thankful ~