The write way to right...

In keeping with my resolutions I figured I better write something on here and keep my mind attentive. The more I write, the better I seem to be able to write. Anyhow, I thought I would write about how I write (when it comes to my stories and novels).

Many authors have a certain right way to write. Some snuff mushrooms (not my cup of tea), some write only one sentence in the morning, some let everything just flow out, others are very meticoulous, and so on and so forth.

The most effective way I have found to write is to pray for creativity. A wise professor taught me this in one of my classes when it came to making lesson plans and teaching in a classroom. I have used this for about four years now in everything that I do, but especially in my writing, and it always proves frutiful for me.

Whenever I sit down to work on my novel I always make sure I have spent time in the word and I pray for creativity, and it amazes me what God can do. For my novel, I had an idea of how I wanted it to end, but I just could not think of the right way to put it together. I spent over a year and a half praying for creativity to find that perfect ending and then one day during worship it came to me. I have left holes in some of the chapters in my story because I wasn't quite sure how I wanted that chapter to go. On some of them I was completely at a loss at what to do. Well, now that I'm almost finished, I really need to go back and fill those holes. I prayed and prayed and was able to fill up three of the chapters that I was having such a hard time putting together.

What's most amazing to me is that God would answer a prayer like that. It's not like it is a dire need or anything, but he would still take the time to help me come up with ideas for a story. Not just once or twice, but on a consistent basis for me. I laugh because I feel like I can't even write anything worth while without praying first. I have to have God's help and because of that, I have to give the credit to him when it comes to my writing. It makes me smile because now I can't get a big head and say, "Look what I did," nope, I can only say, look what God helped me do... Just got to love the way he works.

Anyhow, that is how I have found the write way to right in my life. Now praying for writing is righted on my heart now forever, or would that be that praying for righting is written on my heart now forever, or the write thing is to pray and it is righted on my heart in a written sort of way... Too fun... tata for now!

HELLO 2011!!!

Every year, I am always sad to pack away all my Christmas decorations. The last few days I have been packing them away in our red and green storage boxes to store away for another year again. Today as I was sweeping up the tinsel (which by the way is a very messy thing to have in the house with a 5 and 3 year old running around), I couldn't help but think that I was sweeping up the last of 2010. I don't know if we have ever been so happy to see the New Year come, and after the worst year that we have ever faced together, we have happily embraced 2011 with a hug! Our 2010 was the equivalent of humpty dumpty except that instead of falling off the wall, we were pushed by people we trusted and were left to pick up the pieces of our shattered lives and had to try and put them back together again. We prayed and prayed and prayed that God would turn our situation around and finally our family joke has become that we gave up praying for 2010 and started praying that 2011 would be our best year yet! I'm excited to see what God is going to do this year!



We do have our "resolutions" this year.



Of course there is the "let's get in shape" resolution. James wanted to do it to quote "be a monster..." and I am tagging along because I like working out together and as silly as this sounds I love hard workouts. James and I borrowed P90x from a relative and did our first workout yesterday. I found it incredibly enjoyable to listen to James huffing and puffing and groaning and moaning next to me. Half way through the workout he was in the bathroom trying not to puke while I was still doing workout sets. Now normally I wouldn't brag, but he kept acting like I wouldn't be able to do it and it was a "guys" workout, so I have been having a little too much fun giving him a hard time. I will say though that I had a hard time keeping up with the push-ups, my goal is to be able to do pull-ups at the end of this 90 day thing ( I think it will take longer though, James said he needed a break today...lol!). The pull-ups are definitely important to me because in grade school, I always missed out on the highest patch (president patch?) for the fitness test because I could not do enough push-ups. Very detrimental for a little girl... I know some of you know what I am talking about! ;)



My own goal is to finish my novel. I am so close to being done, just a few chapters away and it is the most incredible feeling to see it all coming together.My sister who majored in English is in Cambodia until the end of January, and I am hoping to have it completed when she returns so that we can start the major editing process. To help I am going to keep up on this blog because it is kind of like my free writing to get my mind going and it helps to keep me accountable!



Last is to focus on loving people and teach my kids what it means to love others. The one thing that was successful this past year is that James and I did not want our kids to turn into green-eyed monsters during Christmas time. We set up an advent calendar that the kids would open up everyday and receive a small treat. However, mixed in with the treats the kids would every so often receive a slip of paper that had to do with giving to others. One was to go to the dollar store and the kids each picked out a toy for the dollar store toy drive in town. Another time they were each given money to go to the grocery store and pick out food to donate for a shelter. Then another time they were each given money, so while we were out Christmas shopping and we came across a salvation army worker, they would have their own money to put in the bucket. It ended up being a really great thing for all of us, as it turns out working on teaching our kids this taught us a lot too! We are going to make a point out of being intentional about this. I'm not sure how yet, we are praying/keeping our eyes and hearts peeled for ideas, so we will keep you posted.

That is it for now, we will keep you posted! Happy 2011 to all of you and we will be praying that this is your best year yet as well!

When It Comes to Hard Times, Am I Beauty or the Beast?

One of my ultimate favorite shows growing up was Beauty and the Beast. I would watch it over and over again with my sisters. It was my dream come true when my mom got me a Belle costume for Halloween, I got to waltz around in my sparkly yellow dress being the "Beauty".

It's funny, many of us let go of fairy tales as we grow up. Life happens, darkness rolls in and dreams crumble. When dreams crumble and that darkness comes, life gets hard to live. Instead of living it to the fullest, it's like hanging on for dear life. Attitudes change, bitterness creeps in, anger is on the horizon, and depression takes over. In the darkness, fairy tales and beauty are the last thing that enters the mind.

I love what Beth Moore has to say about fairy tales... She's says they do exist (I knew it!).
There is a real kingdom, there is a king, and he is coming here to rescue us!!!!!

Meanwhile, while he is getting everything perfect in heaven and getting ready to come through at the right time, will we be beauties during rough times... dun dun dun... or will we turn into the beast?

I recently read this in Psalms and it made me laugh/cringe.

Psalm 73:21-22 "When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you."

Oh gosh how that made me cringe and laugh at the same time! Laugh, well because I know what hard times are like, and what a fitting way to describe the way we tend to act during those times! And cringe, well because yikes- I hope that being a beast is the farthest thing away from me! Brute beast and hard times go hand in hand, lol.When life really stinks it is so easy to take on a bad attitude. When dreams are shattered, tensions get high and perspective gets lost. The princess who behaves herself can get UGLY (think that line from Lion king when the hyenas say, "And boy are they uhhgly)! I sure hope that as I have traveled through these last several rough months that I have been a source of beauty to God and to the people around me and oh gosh, "cringe" not a brute beast.

I just want to encourage anyone out there keep hope during those dark times and be a beauty to those around you. Life is hard. There are so many awful things that happen to people and we need beauties who will step up and be a light to others. In Beauty and the Beast, the beast's hope was found in love. If someone would only love him and if he could learn to love in return, the beast would return to his origional nature. Being the beauty during those dark times will help others to shed their beastly nature and help them to become like God intended them to be. Like the hope of a first spring flower, so is the hope of the beauty to a cold and hurting world.

Under His Shadow

As I was reading my Bible tonight the line, "Live by the day- aye, by the hour," caught my eye. It is a small section entitled Under The Shadow by Charles Spurgeon. The whole thing is really good, but here are a few lines that stood out to me. I hope that they encourage you as well.

"Serve God with all your might while the candle is burning."

"Be content to be nothing, for that is what you are."

"Continue with double earnestness to serve your Lord when no visible result is before you. Any simpleton can follow the narrow path in the light: faith's rare wisdom enables us to march on in the dark with infallible accuracy, since she places her hand in that of her great guide."

"... be it ours, when we cannot see the face of God, to trust under the shadow of his wings."

The Adventures of James and Carrie- Going on a House Hunt (part 1)

James and I have taken house hunting to the extreme...

We are literally in a race against a guy named Adam and his wife in the hunt to find a house! You see, several of the houses that we have looked at have been bought by Adam and his wife who fix them up and sell them for a much higher price (which incidently is much too high for us).

To catch some of you up to date, we put an offer on a cute two story white house about a month ago. It was a foreclosed Fannie Mae home that we both began to fall in love with. James loved the two car garage full of shelves for all of his hunting stuff. I loved the laundry/sun room with beautiful wood paneling and huge windows, and I loved this little nook upstairs with a big window (the perfect place to write). The yard had some big beautiful trees in it and the location was perfect. However, it needed lots of work in the kitchen, living room, and bathroom. The kitchen looked like it was built in a closet, so I didn't like it at all. Uncle Bob said we could knock out a wall and would be able to open it up. Our offer ended up being refused because the paperwork went through to put it up for auction the morning that we had put the offer on it. Since then, no one has heard anything about the auction (including the realtor).

The next house we were really looking at seriously is my great great great Grandma's house. Her name was Carrie Little Ringer, so this house literally has my name on it (Carrie Ringer Austin). My family members have mentioned that because I'm little ( a whopping 4'11''), it really does fit... :) It has been a fiasco to get any information on this house! We went to the courthouse and talked to the judge, who sent us to the treasurer, who sent us to the ascessor, who sent us to the recorder, who sent us to the sheriff, who sent us back to the recorder... yes, like I said we are extreme when it comes to house hunting... What we found out is that a couple got divorced and both walked away from the house. They may or may not still own it... The realtor tried to e-mail the man, but we have not heard anything thus far. We drove by and it is a big beautiful two story white house, but we have not been able to see the inside. I think it would be really awesome to own my grandmother's house, but it is not looking too likely as of now.

Besides that, we drove past some houses that were supposedly on sale to find people working on them. I drove back the next day to check it out, and that is where I met Adam, and his wife, and their beautiful little preschool girl. It turns out they had just bought both of the houses and were fixing them up. They will be for sale this week, but with a much larger pricetag... Adam informed me that they buy and fix up 2-3 houses a week in the area... hmm

We were going to make an offer on another house last Friday. The price had just been reduced as a last ditch effort to sell it before putting it up for auction. Unfortunately our realtor called us Friday morning and someone had beat us to the punch and made an offer sometime on Thursday.Using my Nancy Drew skills I am willing to bet I know who got to that house... ;) Anyhow, I can't help but think that God was rescuing us from this house. I keep praying for a cute house, and this one was going to take some hard work to try and make it cute if you know what I mean. :)

We have been a little distraught by this house hunting experience. Our options keep falling through, but we keep just trusting God that has the perfect place waiting for us.

This coming Thursday we are looking at a few more houses that have been foreclosed upon, both in "Adam's territory", so wish us luck as we continue this crazy house hunt! We will keep you updated!

Lots of Love, The Austins

Give Me A New Song to Sing

It seems like the course of our life has been a continuous downward spiral for awhile. People ask us how we are doing, or if there is any good news and we keep trying to smile and say that we are hanging in there.

I was reading through the Psalms yesterday and this stuck out to me-

Psalm 40:3a "He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God"

I guess that is my prayer for now, that God would put a new song in our mouths and in our hearts. Life has been tough lately, and we need a new tune. Just two chapters earlier David says this-

Psalm 38:9-10 All my longings lie open before you, O Lord; my sighing is not hidden from you. My heart pounds, my strength fails me; even the light has gone from my eyes

That is how we have felt. We keep laying everything before God. We feel like we are at the end of our rope when it comes to bad news and we keep giving our sighs to God. It's hard not to get discouraged and it's hard to pick ourselves back up over and over again.

This is what David says over and over again throughout these Psalms- I love this!

Psalm 6:9 "The Lord has heard my cry for mercy; the Lord accepts my prayer."
Psalm 27:14 "Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart"
Psalm 28:6 "Praise be to the Lord, for he has heard my cry for mercy"
Psalm 31:22 " In my alarm I said, I am cut off from your sight; Yet you heard my cry for mercy when I called to you for help."
Psalm 31:24 "Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord."
Psalm 34:4 "I sought the Lord and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears."
Psalm 34;15 "The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to his cry."
Psalm 37: 7 " Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men suceed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes."
Psalm 38:15 "I wait for you O Lord; you will answer, O Lord my God."
Psalm 40:1 " I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry."

I love the part that says, "Be strong and take heart." It's almost as if David is whispering, "Hang on, God sees what is going on, and he hears you. He will come through, and he will give you a new song to sing..."

THe Adventures of James and Carrie- Voyage of the Chrysler

Nothing too exciting going on for now with the Austin family.

James' job is going well. He is still training on first shift, but is also working part of second shift so that he can get to know the guys. This past weekend he went on a hunting trip with my dad and Uncle Bob to Missouri. As my dad put it, they spent their time boiling in the nuclear sun and feeding the bugs their own flesh. My dad the doctor gave everyone IV's and they all made it back alive! ;)

While they were gone the kids and I took our Chrysler on a voyage down to Washington, IN to visit Grandma Price. We had a lot of fun visiting with aunts, uncles, cousins, and Grandma! We ate too much of Grandma's good cooking and read lots of books with her.

We're all back at Grandma and Grandpa Ringer's and settling back in for now. This week we are going to see what we can find out about housing and get a post office box! Keep you updated as we go! :)