Samuel and His Box

OK Daddy, lets load that truck!!!!

Just thought this video was cute. He LOVES the boxes and wrapping stuff all over the house. He has no idea what is going on, but he is loving it! :-)

Three days till the move, packing, packing, and more packing. Just finished the garage, yuck! Man, I'm all already tired!

Anyone feel helpful or adventurous, we should arrive at the new house on Friday, May 29th. Want to help? ;-)

Ok Daddy, what do you want in this box?

Do we need packing material in this?

Bubba, I'm tired, you pack the next one!

Delays and Insults

Soon to be our new home in Texarkana!

Well, after my last post I was bombarded with insults! My pictures were goofy, I really DIDN'T look 10 years younger, etc, etc....

I am so insulted I've decided not to move to Texarkana!!!! :-) Just kidding!

In case you didn't realize, the goofy nature of the pictures was INTENTIONAL! I know under normal conditions, I am dashingly handsome (NOT!), but I was going for the goofy look for the fun of it!

Now as for the 10 years younger remark, I'll have you know my lovely wife said that, BEFORE seeing my goofy pictures, so THERE!!!! Her opinion is the ONLY one that matters anyway! :-) Though, a certain sweet senior adult with excellent taste in men said that I was "just a good looking man", without my beard. So there!

After all that, I'll just take my toys and go home! ;-)

All the emails and comments were taken in good fun. Hope you enjoyed my relative transformation!

On the update front, all is going well. In case you haven't heard, I was delayed starting my new job for two weeks. I came in early this past Monday, as planned, only to have to delay my start because my hire packet had not been received by the state. Though I REALLY could have used the money, it did allow me to come back home and continue to help Carrie get ready for the move.

If all goes well, we hope to move this Friday, May 29th! Cross your fingers and say your prayers.

If that all goes as planned, we are planning a first meeting, tentative and introductory for the first Sunday in June. Can't wait!!!! We'll be sending out more detailed information and updates to our email list tomorrow. If you would like to be included on our email list, if for no other reason than being a prayer partner, just let us know. Otherwise, we will include all of those who have for sure signed on, asked to be informed, or our close friends who we know will be praying for us. All prayers are coveted!

We had a yard sale today, not great results, but we were able to thin out the junk. What didn't sell, went to Goodwill!

Our week looks like this:

Sunday - Monday - Packing, packing, and more packing.
Tuesday - Bring Carrie's Mom, Donna, to a Texarkana Nursing home.
Wednesday - Drive back to Denton, still more packing.
Thursday - Pick up the big Uhaul and load it up!
Friday - Moving on back to T-town!

I will (SHOULD) start my new job the following Monday, and we should actually close one day that week. The bank says for sure before the 5th of June. The sellers have graciously allowed us to move our stuff into the house prior to closing. This is a HUGE blessing!

Thanks again for all of your love, prayers, and support! We love you!

Micah

I'm tired of being in this playpen!
I'm using this ladder to get out of here!

Bubba rescued me,
so now I can help the family with the yard sale!

Baby Face

A relative transformation has taken place. Today, I became 10 years younger! How did I accomplish this amazing feat? Did I have a facelift? Botox? A miracle? Nope! I shaved my beard!

On Monday, May 18th, I go to work for the State of Arkansas, as a corrections officer. You guessed it, they have a no beard policy. So, out came the hedge trimmer and POW! Instantly ten years younger. If you don't believe me, just check out the pictures. I thought it might make for a funny set of pictures seeing me go from furry to baby face. Samuel didn't quite know what to make of his now clean shaven Daddy. He just looked at me funny and rubbed my face. Carrie is the one who says I looked 10 years younger. Of course, she had to throw in the fact that it doesn't mean I now look 27, because with the beard, I looked older than 37! I'm not quite sure what to make of that. According to her, I look like maybe 33 to 35. I guess I'll take that, though that would mean that I looked 45 with the beard! :-(

You be the judge:

Grizzly Adams
Do I really look 45?????? :-)

Hacking down the beard with a hedge trimmer!
Not quite there yet!

Do I look like Tom Selleck?
Carrie said NO and the mustache had to go!!!!

Reverend Baby Face Mauldin
Do I look 10 years younger?
I was wondering, 10 years younger than what exactly? :-)

Thought this would be good for a laugh! This is for you Mrs. R!!!!!! She has been telling me for years to lose the beard! So, as long as I work for ADC, she will get her wish! :-)

The new job is just moving us one step closer to our goals and dreams. I'll stay with my Dad during the week and drive in on my days off till we close on the house and get moved. That shouldn't be more than two or at most three more weeks! I can't wait! Can't wait to see so many of you and get started serving the Lord together in Texarkana.

Pray hard, Satan continues to attack at every turn, he and his minions stand against the Lord and His will. Our God is greater, He is able! Perfect love casteth out all fear! Our God is a God of perfect love! I'll close with these scriptures:

"Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets. But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also. Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again. And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil." Luke 6:26-35

"What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?"
Romans 8:31

To God be all glory and honor and power!

In His Service,


Micah

Good News on the House Front! (both of them!)

Our Home in Denton

Good news all around!

We have been approved on our mortgage for our new house in Texarkana! All we are waiting on now is the paperwork to go through and get this thing closed. The mortgage officer thinks it will be the end of May or just in to June. Can't get here soon enough for us! We are excited!

We have a signed 12 month lease on our home here in Denton! They came by on mother's day and signed the lease and put down the first month's rent with deposit. We feel real good about this family and are confident this will turn out well for all of us. They may even be interested in buying it in a year!!! :-)

I'll be starting my new job on Monday, May 18th. I'll be driving back and forth on my days off for at least a couple or three weeks. That stinks, but is a necessary evil. Finances require it! One good thing is being in town I'll be able to work harder on getting things going with the new church. The whole family is getting excited, we can't wait to get there and go to work! God has shown us He is in this in so many ways. It really is a New Beginning all around! God is wondrously good!

Your many prayers are appreciated! God has shown His watch care again and again, thanks in no small part to your prayers. So, if you will humor me, pray just a little longer! We are almost home!

Love you all,

Micah

Hey Daddy, how much longer till we move? I can't wait!

Thank God for Air Conditioning!!!!

Daddy getting some pretty awesome snuggle time!!!!

After almost a week with no A/C, we FINALLY have a new unit installed! God blessed considerably during the time with no air. Most of the days were unseasonably cool, with only the last day or so getting pretty rough.

Poor Samuel was getting a pretty bad heat rash. We let him go with only a diaper for most of that time. All of us were getting pretty tired of it before it was over. My muscle pain and weakness were pretty bad, I still don't hold up to heat very well. Kind of sends me down the tubes. But, by the grace of God we made it just fine! Thank you for your prayers on that.

I told my Dad the other night that if any body DESERVED to go to heaven on merit alone, it would have to be the guy that invented air conditioning! I'm kidding of course, but almost not kidding! :-)

We continue to move forward with the house buying process. Lots of I's to dot, and T's to cross. We still have a few hoops to jump through. Between starting a new job and having our house in Denton still, even having great credit still leaves a few hurdles for us. Just keep us in your prayers till we have the keys. We don't doubt we'll get the house, we just have to work with the lender closely to meet all of the requirements.

Praise report from our friends, Scott and Alicia Stevens. If you haven't heard, their 17 year old son Adam was hospitalized last week. He was an extremely sick young man. It took the doctors a few days to figure it out, but the final result was Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Yep, another tick borne illness! He finally made it home and is continuing to improve. I can vouch for the fact that those little ticks can pack quite a wallop! Praise the Lord for answered prayers. Hope he continues to improve!

Thanks to some of our folks in Texarkana for the work they are putting in trying to narrow down a meeting place for the new church. With hard workers like that, it sure makes everything still needing to be done seem a lot easier to pull off. Hopefully, we will have something nailed down real soon.

Keeping this short today. Love you all. Here are some recent pictures:

Bubba, you make a really good pillow! You just gotta read this book!

Can we PLEASE get the A/C fixed???
This is all the energy I can muster!!!

You don't really think that barrier will stop me, do ya?

Man Daddy! That is one hairy leg! :-)

I'M NOT SLEEPY!

...really, I'm not sleepy....

....zzzzzzzzzzzzzz....

OK Bubba! This town ain't big enough for the both of us!!
(cue western gunfighting music!)
Looks like the gunfight at the no A/C corral!

Update, Rumors, and Prayer Requests

Them Mauldin Boys are really hard to beat!
(click on this one to take a closer look)

Update

What a month!!!!

After more trips to Texarkana than I care to count, untold job interviews, house looking till we were sick of it, it FINALLY looks like things are coming together!

I have a job, that I will try to start in the next couple of weeks. I'll be driving back and forth for a couple of weeks (on my days off), but I really need to go ahead and start. Strike one prayer request off your list.

We have a contract on a house! We have agreed to purchase a home at 2218 Grand, on the Arkansas side. It is a nice little house, in great shape. We like it a lot, and hope to close before the end of May. Modify your prayers on this one, just pray everything will go smoothly and quickly!!! :-)

Our house in Denton isn't sold or rented just yet, but we have had a lot of interest and at least one for sure who really wants to rent it. SO, pray a little more on this one. We would like to have some folks to pick from before we commit to a renter, though we like the family who is for sure interested. Of course, a sale would be even better!!!

So what does this all mean? Barring some unforeseen catastrophe, hindrance, hold up, or snafu, we should be in Texarkana by the end of May / first of June! It will be about two months later than we had hoped, but God is on His throne and certainly knows best. Your continued prayers are greatly appreciated!

Rumors

In case you haven't heard, I'm supposed to be dead. The rumors of my demise were greatly exaggerated! Apparently a couple of weeks back, somehow / someway, the rumor got around that I had died. If this is dead, it feels pretty darn good!

I don't know a lot of the details, but apparently someone heard that I had died of an overdose of medication. If you only knew how little medication I actually have to take anymore, you might laugh. If the thousands of pills the doctors shoved down me for nearly six years didn't kill me, the tiny amount I take now is beyond laughable! I am down to a single Lyrica (for neuropathy and burning), antibiotics (for Lyme's disease), a booster for my thyroid, and a host of natural supplements and assorted nasty tasting vitamins. I take pain pills every now and again for really bad days or the occasional kidney stone. That's it! Nope, I'm a big big man! The little dab of medicine I take now couldn't even phase me!!! :-)

Life hasn't been this good in so long, I can barely contain myself! I have a great life, a great wife, two great kids, and a hope and looking forward to the future that wasn't even imaginable this time last year! God is good, I'm not dead, and we are moving to T-town (Lord willing)! Just thought you all might like to know! ;-)

Prayer Requests

We have already had so many prayers answered, that I feel selfish asking you to keep praying, but selfish I will be.

Continue to pray for my new job, our new house to close without a hitch (and quickly), and for a renter / buyer for our house here in Denton.

As a new prayer request, pray for our finances. We had set aside enough funds to carry us through April, hoping to be moved by the end of that month. As the weeks have drug on and the prospect of another month in Denton, money is getting tight. Our business is in a protracted slow period, and without starting the new job, things will get tight before this move is over. We have enough money put back for the new house, but every day that goes by, our funds are being eaten away, so your prayers here are sure needed.

As a side note, our central heat and air unit (the air portion) died today. Going to cost us $2,500.00. Right now, I'm typing this in a very hot and muggy house! :-) Going to be next week before the new unit is put in! UGGHH!!! Pray for cool weather through then!!! Seriously, heat takes a toll on me physically with my health, so real prayers are being asked for here! Thanks!

Closing Thoughts

Today, Carrie asked me if my real name wasn't Murphy, of Murphy's law fame! With everything that has seemed to hit us lately, all of the attempts to make this move happen, and so much more, she was beginning to wonder!

For example, three houses we were either trying to buy or were real interested in have been scooped up right out from under us! The one we finally managed to get a contract on, had an offer put in just minutes before we were going to try and make an offer! Carrie was almost in tears! We managed to get the owner on the phone, and he said he hadn't accepted the other offer yet, because he wasn't able to get hold of his wife! We asked if we could see the house again, and I did my best to make him an offer he couldn't refuse! Ok, maybe it wasn't that good of an offer, but we made what we thought was a fair and strong offer, and found out today we got the house!

I have to admit, that was the first GOOD news we have had in a while. This has been an exercise in patience for us. Lots of frustration, hold ups, let downs, almosts, and barriers. There have been those moments, that we have looked at each other and almost find ourselves doubting if we have misread the Lord's will. Through it all, when we relax, step back, and catch our breath, we have been able to either see the Lord's hand in this, see the enemies road blocks, or understood that God has a plan with perfect timing, and more than enough grace to see us through it all. We are confident that God has shown His will, and that is for us to serve Him again in Texarkana. We are coming, quick as we can, ever more certain that God is in this. Can't wait to see you, can't wait to get started doing what we are called to do, can't wait to see what God has in store for us! God is good, all the time!

Love you all,

Micah

PS Samuel had his one year check up the other day. He was 33 inches tall and weighed 27 lbs, 11 oz! Doc said he was in the 95th percentile in weight, and off the charts in height! Based on his current height, and the curve of his growth till now, the chart says he ought to be at least 6'4" tall when he is grown! Where do you think that could come from? :-)

Zachary is already 5'10" or real close to it. He is getting all muscle bound. God help us!!! :-)

Getting my one year check up!
Do you like my baby hospital gown?

Daddy, I did better than this with the chocolate cake!!!

I want this shirt off!!!!!!!!

Ok, I give up, but can I get a name brand shirt???

I'm Baby Sam!
(we ask him where's baby Sam, and he points to himself)
Yes, the boy is a genius!!!!! :-)

Visiting my Granny Bryan at the nursing home!