Taken care of…again!

Well, the Lord has taken care of us again. Our rent was due on Sept. 1 and that morning we received $500 as a gift from our former landlord here in the city. Then, two days later, we received another $500 gift and — voila! — our rent is paid for September. Sometimes we wonder if this is the place for us and worry that the Lord isn’t coming through like He’s promised and then we remember that He’s consistently given us the money when we need it; whether that’s for bills, rent, or food.

We know it’s a hard economic time for this country and probably for many of the people reading this blog. But know that the Lord will fulfill his promise in Matt. 6 where He says if you seek first the Kingdom and His righteousness, all these things (your needs) will be given to you. We are not special, nor are we doing anything special. But what we are doing is taking our cares to Him every day as a family and taking care of the things that He’s given us — without striving for solutions to our needs.

As an added blessing, He has allowed me to start helping with provision for the family. I have started a lawncare business that is starting to bear some fruit. I have been cutting a lawn each week for about a month. It’s not a lot of money but gives me a chance to showcase what I can do to a neighborhood that is ripe for this type of service. It seems like I talk to someone new every week about it and they are interested in what I offer.

The business is called Reel Good Lawncare and you can see our blog/web site at www.reelgoodlawncare.wordpress.com. The unique selling point of the business is that it is zero-emissions lawncare. I use no electric or gas equipment, which leaves me with no emissions. I’m trying to reach out to some of the wealthier neighborhoods and it seems like they are interested from what I can see. Check out the site, it tells a little more about it.

I also got a job that I bid on a couple of days ago doing some landscaping work. It’s clearing some brush, weeding, mowing, laying some stone, and shaping up a yard for a house that is to be sold soon. I got it through the lady I’m doing the yard for.

Keep praying for us. It’s a wild ride with the Lord but it’s great knowing that there is someone driving that knows every turn and bump!

An evening in the park

We spent rush hour Friday at City Park here in the city. It’s about a five minute drive from our house and is the largest park in the city. It’s large enough to house the museum of science and natural history. There is a pond at the park with a pavilion out on the water where the city puts on a jazz concert throughout the summer. We’ve missed those concerts but it was a beautiful end of the day.

We find that we all go stir crazy when we keep ourselves inside all day and a little time at the park does everyone good. The baby wears herself out — mostly because she wants to walk (and try to run) everywhere — and K and I get a chance to see the great outdoors.

Here are some photographs from our day by the pond:

Thursday

Today’s a work day for me. I’ve got a lawn care account set up for every Thursday. It’s not much money but it’s an opportunity to feel like I’m contributing something financially to our life.

It’s zero emissions lawn care, which basically means I do everything without an engine — no electric or gas. I have a reel push mower, a trimmer, and a broom. I also do a little cutting by hand with a pair of grass shears. It’s a lot of work and a bit of a boutique service but it makes the yard look really great.

You can check out the web site for the business here.

Castle Hike

We went for a hike today to Mt. Falcon, which is in Morrison, CO. It was a beautiful morning and the baby did great. It wasn’t long but it was nice to be outside and up in the foothills. There is an old “castle” up on Mt. Falcon that was burned down in the early 1900s. The remains are still there and that’s what we hiked up to see today. Here are some photos of the excursion.

Job Opportunity

I have an interview for a job with an insurance company south of downtown Denver tomorrow afternoon. It’s the same job that I did with Optiver in Chicago. Pray that all goes well. At the top end of the pay scale it will be enough for us to be able to make it without outside financial support.

On that note…

We wish that we could personally thank everyone that has contributed to our lives in financial and other ways. Financially, though, most recently. It makes us feel pretty amazing when we stop to think of all the people praying for us and caring for us enough to send some money in the mail. I wish I could explain what it’s like to wait for weeks with a looming payment that keeps getting closer and then all of a sudden — just a few hours before it’s due — you get exactly what you need out of the blue. It’s not asked for, only prayed for.

So to everyone that has helped — Thank You.

Good news

We were able to sell off an old television of mine a few days ago and that allowed us to pay for two bills that were due and have some left over.

I also picked up an account for doing yardwork. I’ve advertised as Natural Care Lawns to pick up some business. I use all manual tools, no electric- or gas-powered equipment. It’s good for the the environment and I’m pitching it to people in the wealthier parts of the city. I picked up a client close to Washington Park yesterday and will begin mowing once a week for her starting Thursday. It’s not a whole lot but it’s a start. The Lord is to be praised for His faithfulness to us.  I don’t think I’ve ever thanked him so much for so little money — or for manual labor!

I’ve also canceled my account for www.jbhaferkamp.com. It hasn’t been something I’ve kept up with since we moved and it’s not brought in any money. It will be online for 8 more days from today and then it will be suspended and deleted. I hope there will be another time and place for my photography.

So much going on for people have nothing going on!

It seems like each day there are hurdles and challenges and news. Here’s the latest:

I applied for a position with a lawn mowing company that could start in a couple of weeks if they choose me. They’re losing a few guys who are going back to college and need someone to fill in thru October. It would be a full-time job and that would keep us afloat for a while.

I am also heading back to school for a master’s degree. It’s a Master of Arts in Management and Organizational Leadership from Liberty University. It’s an online program that should take about a year to complete. The degree offers a broad curriculum of subjects and areas which gets me ready to lead in business, non-profit, or any other organization who needs direction — including running my own business or giving leadership to entrepreneurs. It represents a new direction for me and for our family.

K and I both turned down jobs in the past week. She had an adjunct position with a community college downtown that just wasn’t right for her so she informed them this week that she would not be taking the position. And I turned down a cleaning supervisor position with a cleaning company last week. It just didn’t pay enough or give me enough hours, especially with the prospect of K teaching part-time. We really could use a full-time job between us or for both of us to work full-time.

At this point, the Lord has continued to provide what we need for each day. We were given money to pay our rent plus what we owed for the rest of the deposit. We have money today to pay our bill due today. We don’t know about tomorrow but the Lord will provide that,too, I’m sure.

We are trying to get comfortable with living by faith and not by the work of our hands. We have a desire to work and take care of ourselves and that feels like a mentality the Lord is trying to get us out of. Most days it’s frustrating to keep applying to jobs and not getting anything back — no call backs, interviews, not even an email. But He has been faithful to care for us and that is our testimony to others. If He wants you to wait on Him, then find it in yourself that you can enjoy the time. It’s difficult but we’re getting better each day.

Praises wrapped in requests wrapped in praises

We’ve got some good news and really good news and some prayer requests.

The really good news is that K went in for an interview today and was offered twice as much work as the school originally offered. They have had a run of bad luck with their english professors and they needed her to pick up two english courses along with two public speaking courses. It’s still part-time and the hours are equivalent to a split shift in a restaurant — mornings and afternoons. It does, however, dovetail into the good news.

While we were on our date tonight, I got a call back from a craigslist ad that I responded to before we left.  She’s running a construction clean downtown and needs someone for the next 4-6 months. I’m supposed to go in tomorrow morning for a more formal interview. Talking to her on the phone, she also asked if I might be interested in a supervisor position.

The really interesting part is that the construction site is on the same campus that K just got hired to work at. And the school has a daycare on campus.

We want to thank everyone for praying for us. A mistake that we made with this move is not allowing people to know on a large scale. That meant we were alone for the first time with no real prayer support outside of ourselves. In the past week, however, we have made our needs and struggles known and we can feel the difference.

Please pray for me tomorrow morning and for us this weekend as we have some decisions to make about K’s schedule and what to do with the baby. I also don’t have this job yet, so pray for that tomorrow.

The Lord certainly cares for us, even in sin and disobedience. Getting right with Him and dedicating ourselves to focusing on him is key to seeing Him provide for us.  We covet your prayers and your friendship.

If we had a big enough thank you cake, we’d share it with you all!

Tuesday Night

Nothing particularly special about the night but you gotta give it a title, right?

It’s been a rather tumultuous time here in Colorado and it doesn’t seem as though anything has gone the way that we expected. The Lord has come to show me that it’s because I moved out in front of Him that so many things have gone haywire. We had an option to leave CA early or around this time and I chose to leave early without allowing the Lord to speak about the timing of our move out here.

I let us down and have had to repent of that disobedience.  It’s a pretty gut-wrenching, humility-inducing experience that I hope no one has to go through. It’s good that I didn’t just continue in sin thinking that it would get better but there are still consequences.

We had been waiting the whole time we’ve been in our new house for the Lord to bring along the money we needed. As the days got closer to the first of the month, we were surprisingly calm and not striving after money. On Aug. 2, though, we felt like God had let us down. We were struggling in our relationship and it didn’t feel like He was listening to our cries, pleas and frustrations.

After searching our hearts, God showed me that I had been in sin and disobedience. It’s cost us but I’m not completely sure how much.  We are thankful that He has provided for us the whole way, even as we wandered off without Him. We haven’t missed any payments to creditors and we were able to pay half of our rent. After talking with the landlord, he agreed to take the other half on the 15th of this month along with the other half of our deposit (which we originally deferred).

After selling K’s bike, we’re at $200,  so the Lord still cares about us paying our bills. But we still don’t have jobs yet. I’ve applied at a temp agency but have heard nothing and K has an interview for an adjunct position Thursday. I also have a couple of meetings set up for tomorrow, one for the new business and another for a photography job.

We don’t know if we’re supposed to stay here or not but we need a good chunk of money pretty quickly. If the Lord lays it on your heart to give, we would take it with a good deal of humility and thankfulness. We’re not exactly sure what He has planned but we’re sure that it will be great.

It’s a bad place to be when you’re outside of His will. All of life is full of struggle but when He is absent because of sin, it’s incredibly difficult. This is a lesson I’ve learned before — though not with a family of my own — and I hope I will never have to experience again.

Continue to pray for us. In all of this, He has restored a strained relationship and helped our first landlords come to the place where they could finally let go of their house.

He never leaves us even when we go off without Him.

A spot of bad news, as the Brits say

I called our old landlord from Sacramento and found out that we’re not going to get any of our deposit money from that apartment. He’ll send us the final statement of charges in the mail but he used the deposit to clean up the apartment and get it ready to sell.

We’re still praying about the beginning of the month and I’m anxious to write on here how God has blessed us yet again monetarily. We are fully committed to placing our trust in Him for our provision and every time we’ve completely relied on Him there has come a tremendous outpouring of His provision in our lives.

We can’t wait to see what will happen next.