Praise God!

The Sauve family are no longer nomads!! We have a home!!!! Today started out *lovely* though as we drove farther up north the clouds hung lower and then it rained! God was so good! (Yes Mrs. Hall the sun did shine!!) and the closing went well and we now own a house that is quickly becoming our new home! Our new friends and neighbors the Brysons were such a blessing as they helped us get things into the house and then proceeded to mow our very long neglected lawn! Also our dear friends the Eddys came and helped out tremendously with getting more things unpacked in the kitchen and starting to rip up carpet as we hope to get some new flooring on Wednesday.
Today was wonderful! Thank You Lord!!!

Yes, the time is late, my eyes can barely stay open, but I just wanted to keep you all posted before all our computers down here get closed down. I took a lot of pictures today but I don't have time to download right now.

More boxes are calling to be packed...God bless you all...good night


~Grace (officially known as The Blogger)

The race is on!

Tomorrow starts the last leg of this marathon and the finish line is in sight! We cannot express enough gratitude to all our dear friends who are helping us move! May God bless you all richly!

We pray that the Lord's will be done as we head up tomorrow morning with two vans and a car full of things and people, close on our new house at 1:00pm and start cleaning and getting stuff settled in it! May our strength be in our great God alone. The evil one is constantly trying to discourage us but we will have the victory if our focus is always on Christ and His glory!

Though we may never see some of you again...by God's grace, we shall meet again at the finish line! Happy racing!

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:1-2

Moving!

What do you get when you have 9 people living in a 2500 sq. ft. house for seven years? A LOT OF STUFF!

Yes folks we are finally realizing that we have acquired a lot of things over the years and as we are moving into a smaller house, we are starting to really see just how much stuff we have!

This picture only shows MAYBE an 8th of all that is in our house! Thankfully this morning mom and dad were able to take a load up north to store at some friends place as we were realizing that getting everything up there by next Wednesday just might be impossible!

For those of you who have not heard, we are closing on the new house on Monday the 14th, and moving it all in by Wednesday. Yes, it will be hard, but thank God for dear friends who have offered to help us so we hope to have the big truck loading start at 9am on Wednesday and hopefully be up north by 4pm to unload!

All things are possible with our Lord's help and we again thank you all for your prayers!

May His will be done. <><

Vintage shopping again... an outing with friends

This past Tuesday our friends the Bezeaus came over to visit and spend time with us before we leave and also us girls wanted to go together to Alora's.


Before we went though, Christianna, Madison, Halley and Faith went back in the woods to look at the flowers that we have seen back there recently. They came back with treasures!

Besides the lovely bouquets of wild geranium and violets Faith also brought over this unique plant that has many different names. Jack in the Pulpit, Wild Arum or Lord and Ladies. We know it best by Jack in the Pulpit.


Then we headed out for a trip through the town!

Again we were all thrilled by the beauty and delicateness of this antique shop!




Though its rather hard to point out, the book/album on the left with the white tag hanging down the front was quite the treasure find! It was a family photo album dated in 1880 and it still had almost all the images in it! Almost all of them were tin types too!






Inspecting and admiring the beautiful dresses.



Three friends - Christianna, Madison and Halley



Ancient opera glasses...



...and new stationary and organizer books!



The most special picture of the day was when I was able to capture the three friends in the mirror on the lovely toiletry stand!

After spending what seemed like two hours in Alora's we then started to head home but taking a different route we ended up finding another cute store, a more modern gift shop, which had some really neat things to offer as it was set up with different dealers booths here and there.


Jellies, sauces, china tea sets, candles, crocheted gifts and so much more!



Yet again the day's outing was most enjoyable as it was a blessing to be able to spend time with our dear friends!


Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. James 1:17

Vintage shopping

Several weeks ago we noticed an article in our newspaper advertising a new antique shop in downtown Wyandotte. Though we have never really gone antique shopping before, Christianna really wanted to go visit this quaint little store before our move so last week Mom, Faith, Christianna and I headed over to see what Alora's Attic had to offer.

Sandy, the lady that owned the store also owned the room next door and had the windows filled with lovely articles from the past - elegant dresses and hats, old baby carriages and bird cages!

*Self-portrait*

Inside the shop

After leaving Alora's and on the way home we stopped at another store who's sign stated: Almost Antique. Well, lets just say that they named the store a long time ago, as almost everything in the place was definitely antique! What a place! Though we definitely were only 'window shopping' as the prices were extremely high, is was a real treat for us to be able to see so many things from the past, made to last, with many stories to tell from our ancestors.

The lighting was rather bad and it was hard to get clear pictures but here are a few for your enjoyment.

The lady at the store said that she has been collecting things for over 25 years and finally decided to start sharing it with others!

On this one wall there was hanging a huge collection of saws and old farm tools that had been beautifully decorated with scenery paintings.

Of course a favorite of us girls was this old treadle Singer sewing machine. Gorgeous!

Faith found the clothing and accessories section and was having fun trying on many of the hats.

Then Faith saw this candle stick patriotic phone! *FYI if you didn't know, Faith is our patriotic baby, born on the 4th of July* Unfortunately, when we asked the price,($75!) all possibility of being able to purchase this special gift was wiped out.

However, if any of you out there would like to send the funds to help purchase this unique phone for Faith's birthday... =)

Anyways, as you can see, we greatly enjoyed ourselves on our little shopping outing, though we again have been reminded of the words in scripture:

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21

Visit with friends...

Some dear home school friends, the Van Riper family, came over for dinner and fellowship last week. We had a very enjoyable evening with hamburgers and grilled chicken for dinner, fun at the park for the kids and wonderful fellowship as brothers and sisters in Christ.

They have a lilac bush in their yard and knew that we greatly admired the blooms of this bush, so they brought us a beautiful bouquet, which while it lasted, filled our dining room and kitchen with it's most delicious perfume!

The Van Ripers have 7 children, with #8 on the way!

Jamie is the youngest and becoming quite the little talker at 20 months old.

Emily is quite the pianist, and if she didn't have anything else to do, she would be composing some new piece of music for our enjoyment!

Mrs. Van Riper is one of the very ambitious ladies that took over the homeschool group that mom was leading and has done a great job in helping others out in their home schooling endeavors.

Daniel, the second youngest, is a very friendly little fellow and near the end of their visit was delighted to be able to try on our huge sombrero! Doesn't he sport it well!

We are so thankful to the Lord for being able to know the Van Riper family and spend time with them before we move.

May the Lord richly bless them as they continue to serve Him and be a blessing to others!

Dina and Ginger

Last week yet another 'chapter' was closed in our lives, a memory was etched in time and something 'new' was brought into our lives...

Dear Dina, our sweet old van. The automobile who has carried us far and wide, been faithful in so many travels where in she must have had angels packed around her carrying us on our way. God has been so faithful and merciful to us! Only one accident as I recall ever took place in dear Dina and that was only a minor fender bumper, otherwise God has kept us safe in her and protected us over the many miles we have traversed.

Now to those of you who have never heard the reason behind the naming of this vehicle, a while back when our van started to have some congestion problems she started to make this strange groaning sound whenever you accelerated which sounded like a dinosaur (ok, so we don't really know what those animals sounded like but you get the idea), and when it couldn't be fixed, we then started to call her Dina, and thus she has been affectionately called since.

Don't ask why we decide on that gender, but maybe it was because the majority of our family are females.

Like I said though, last week another 'chapter' was closed in our family and that enclosed Dina. The dear old van was becoming rather fragile for our many travels up north and back and we didn't know when she might just fall apart on us, and because of the move coming quickly (or not so quickly) upon us, we decided it was time to say goodbye and find a newer replacement for our faithful steed.


Faithful old Dina. Twice down and back to Florida, once to Shipshewana and out to Pennsylvania, a couple times to Canada and several times to Toledo, Ohio, (and probably many other trips that have slipped my mind right now) and last but not least, all the innumerable times up and back from church and other events up north in the thumb area!

Baby and the faithful old friend, ready to go for a ride at any given moment.



We'll miss you old girl. =)


So the old was taken and the new brought home and surprisingly a name was almost immediately found and labeled onto our new traveler!

Welcome Ginger! Wild Ginger to be exact.


Back in the woods behind us are many plants that we have observed and transferred over to our backyard for our enjoyment. One of them that was found in the last couple weeks was a strange little plant with some very interesting looking florets of the exact shade in color of our new van! It was a Wild Ginger plant!


[the color might be a little off, but from the human eye, it is exactly the same shade.]

..And yet again we are praising God from whom all blessings flow!

Beautiful Florals... from our surrounding landscape

~Dew drops on the Iris leaves~

Azalea-
Faith's azaleas did not do very well this year, but the small bunch that did bloom was, as usual, a beautiful work of art from our Creator!

Spring Beauty! Their name describes it. Beautiful little flowers that bloom in spring! We found these in the woods.


Vinca! Periwinkles to be exact. Gorgeous ground cover that is very hardy, sometimes staying green through the winter and sending forth brilliant starry blooms in spring that last quite a while.

And then there are the tulips!

Though for the last couple of years (while thinking that we were moving) we have not paid much attention to our tulips in the front yard, they have not repaid our negligence and have sent forth quite a few blooms, of different sizes and shades to our delight!



Deep inside.

For as the earth brings forth its bud,
as the garden causes the things
that are sown in it to spring forth,
so the Lord God will cause righteousness
and praise to spring forth before all the nations.
Isaiah 61:11

A few Changes...

Dear family and friends... a few complications have come up and we most likely will not be able to move into our new house until the week of the 14th. God is good though, and we appreciate all the offers for help that we have received and will be grateful when the time comes.

If you would like to know the new address, please contact us at

redeemed18@wideopenwest.com


Thank you all again for your prayers!

We serve a mighty God!

Soon to be HOME!

Ladies and Gentlemen! We present to you our soon to be new Home!

Inspection is due Wednesday, and hopefully, if all goes well the closing will be either this Friday or next Monday, and most likely we will be able to move in immediately!

Thank you to those who commented and all of you that are rejoicing with us!
We serve an awesome God!

Please keep us in your prayers as we move in and get settled and try to adjust to smaller space then we've been used to these past 7 years! (we've been rather spoiled and now are downsizing quite a bit!) May God be our focus though and all else shall pass away! Most of all, we are so very thankful to finally have a yard again and land (2.5 acres) to use for gardening and such.
Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow!

Finally a Home!

He is our praise, and He is our God,
who has done for us these great and awesome
things which our eyes have seen.
Deuteronomy 10:21

Yes, the Lord has been good to us! We finally have a destination set, a new house, a home!

We will give more details later as things progress, but as of now we do not know exactly when we will officially move and it could be for another two weeks (we hope not!) but for now we are rejoicing and thanking the Lord for His mercies unto us!

Sorry, I don't have a picture of the house but the last picture of the last post is our new mailbox. =)

Finding a new home isn't easy...


But for all the hours and many roads we have traveled God has blessed beyond our worthiness and protected and guided us on our way, and for even the discouraging times, we made the best of it and I think we have a big enough supply of good, bad and just plain hilarious memories to last us a while! Exactly a month ago today (the 28th) we started out on our quest for a new home in the Lapeer area, and right from the beginning God was teaching us and showing us His will. What exciting times we are living in right now!!
Though I did not take a picture of every house we looked in, and tended to get more shots of the surrounding landscape (maybe because 75% of the time we were driving!) then of the buildings we went into, following is just a little taste of all that we have seen these past several weeks... I think you'll get the picture! =)

Enjoy! Oh! And to just let you all know, most likely, before noon today we will know where we will be living! We have narrowed it down to two and the finish line is in view! Praise God!


From city (Detroit sky line)....


...To Country



Click here for more images of barns we have seen.


Driving, driving, driving! We have figured by now that Dina (our van) must have several angels surrounding her and keeping her running, as we thought she would die on us a while ago, but for all the driving we have been doing lately with her (especially on dirt roads!) she is still holding up. Though we will be getting a new van very soon we will all terribly miss our dear Dina, for her comforting purr (or roar!) and all her quirks and uniqueness that we have become accustomed to!

Bored?


Enjoying the sunny window seat


One of our favorites! An old (yet restored) 1890 farm house with a falling foundation.



Missing a deck. John with his crutches and Josh outside.



Beauty of Spring! Round-lobed Hepatica


Josh and the Elk


This is a door inside an 1820 farm house. Can you image! That was before our state was founded!


House on the hill.


Travels home under a beautiful sky.


So where is our new abode? We will post as soon as we find out! Thank you all for your prayers!

God's will be done.

~Grace