Closing Blog Follow Me:::

I'm closing this blog, it's just too hard to keep up with three different blogs. If you care what I have to say :) follow me at my regular blog over at Live With Laughter. I'm during at 30 thankful blog. I am posting the ideas of this blog there too. Thanks for following (all 5 of you), please visit me at LWL. Thanks!

Acting on Thoughts

So I'm not allowed to tell you about all the wonderful people at my Bible Study. I love these women and it's so nice to have a safe place as my friend explained over at Simply Complicated. But there was a sentence uttered that got my brain whirling. "If there's a thought you can ignore, a tugging on your heart, it's probably God" Or something similar to that. When our sweet A girl left, we decided not to do foster care for awhile.
     To be bare bones honest, I had a break down. I had anxiety attacks for over a week. I had two EKGs (one in the ER). I was put on Xanax and Paxil. Three doctors and one ER trip, and one therapist later, I had isolated anxiety. It was scary. My best friend, Brandy, had come down for the premiere of Harry Potter and ended up basically babysitting me for the week. (we did eventually get to see the movie) It was right before Thanksgiving and I have never in my life felt so sad and hopeless. I didn't have the desire to do anything, not Harry Potter, not the DVD release of Eclipse, not church, not Black Friday Shopping, not praying, not watching tv, not reading, nothing. I was such a feeling of emptiness. Thanks to the meds and a new doctor who is a friend, I was on the mend after that horrid week. The therapist contributed the attacks to the severe anxiety over having to say to say goodbye to another foster baby and the fact that I wasn't feeling horrible sad about it. She was the cutest baby in the world and so sweet. But she had the worst temper and didn't like me very much. She loved her "dada" I wasn't really all that sad to see her go and that made me feel worse. Okay, feelings in check now. Hindsight 20/20 and all that jazz. Paxil is a miracle drug and we'll move on with the story.
     So after she left we decided I needed a break. We all did. The kids took two back to back leavings really hard. After much prayer and talking, we decided to adopt. You've all heard the story. So as of now, we're waiting for a waiting child. A child that is legally free for adoption, and needs a home. To be honest, I'm getting a little frustrated that we haven't had any leads. I know there are over 123,000 waiting children. Why hasn't one been put in my home. All that to say this. I went to a foster care training and a new couple had gotten their first placement. A five year old girl and a three year old boy. It was like a punch in my stomach, I knew without a doubt that if I had stayed in foster care, then these would have been my children. I'm not doubting the other couples ability to take care of them or anything, I just felt sad.

   I had been thinking in the back of my mind that we should open our home in the mean time. Maybe the waiting child we are waiting for is actually not a waiting child yet. Maybe they are in foster care and we'd be able to adopt the next child in our home. Or maybe because we have a foster child, we wouldn't be able to accept the placement of our waiting child. It's just a jumble of thoughts right now. I just can't shake the feeling that we should be opening our home again. That that is how we'll get our forever child. Thank you for reading my rumblings. I guess I'm just thinking out loud today. Or err..typing out loud.

Happy Birthday Jackson

Oh, those cheeks!

Always a smile.

My darling son is 7 years old today. I can't grasp how time has flown so quickly. I love babies, all of them. They are so sweet and cuddly. Jackson came racing into the world at 10 pounds of pure baby fluff. He was a chunkster until about 2 years ago. I loved those baby cheeks so much! I'm so thankful for my blue eyed baby. With all his quirks and his out of the box thinking, he's such a daily joy! We love you Jackson Tyler!

My friends painting over at www.hattire.etsy.com

One of my favorite quotes!

Dancing with God

Our church is blessed with an amazing husband/wife team as our musical directors. They are really talented. I love the wife's voice. I get so excited when there's a solo. I could literally cry sometimes. She has the most beautiful voice. This couple has three beautiful little girls. I think the girls are so lucky to hear that voice sing them lullabies. Two of the girls are old enough for "big church" they sit in the front with their grandparents and an assortment of little friends. When the choir sings, they dance. They do ballet. They whirl and twirl and swirl. They don't talk, they don't giggle, they don't interrupt. They just dance their hearts out to the music. I love to watch them. The choir loves to watch them. You can tell by the smiles on the faces looking towards the left. The girls seem to be lost in the music.
They are dancing with God. I'm certain God is there, dancing with them. He's their partner in the music. While they are lost in the music and the moment, God is there holding their hands and guiding them. I can almost see it. I can almost see colors and ribbons floating in the air. It's such an amazing thing to watch. These little girls, with no inhibition, not yet concern what people will think, dance their little hearts out.

I pray God watches over them always. That they never lose that spark, that joy for dancing with God. That they always bring a smile to the people around them. And one day, when they are older, I hope I get the chance to tell them, that I see God in them.

For this child...

Thank You Lord for this child. May he always have a heart of gold. May he always think to bring the woman he loves flowers. For his jello stained face, can't dress himself to save his life, backtalking, adorably loving self. Thank You!

Live For Today.

I borrowed a CD from the church library and there's a song called "Live For Today" it's by Natalie Grant. It's an upbeat song. I love the chorus. "I'm going to live for today, going to follow in Your way. I'm going to let my little light shine like there's no tomorrow. I won't worry about the past, I know my future is intact. So I choose to live my life in one way, I'm going to live for today." I love that. I made that my status on facebook. I, however, have to sit back and think. Do I really live like that? The honest answer is, no I do not. I'm not a worrier. I'm a thinker. I think think think about things. I think about things that would probably not happen. I think about what I should have said in that conversation. I think about what I will say in a future conversation (again, that may never happen). One of my favorite Bible verses is the good old "

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."~Mathew 6:34

I have to think this often. I also love the verses that come before this:

  “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?  So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."~Mathew 6:25-34


Can any one of you by worry add a single hour to your life? How amazing is that. No amount of my worrying or over thinking about the future or about the past can add a single second to my life. Why should I waster any of my precious seconds/minutes/hours/or even days worrying or over thinking. I know I'm going to be provided for and taken care of. 


As Natalie sings. I want to "live for today" I want to enjoy the moments right in front of me. I want to shine and be happy where I am and happy do whatever it is that I'm doing at this moment. This applies to my prayer life. I drift, I start thinking about other things, then I start imagining those non-existent conversations again. All the while, I see God waiting patiently and thinking "Ahem, you were having a conversation with ME." I want to be involved in the moment. 


I know there are future things one should think about. But not worrying. Worrying can't add a single hour to my life. So here's to living life for today. I'm going to give it a shot.

YSALLMN

I think that might be our new license plate. YSALLMN or HNDSFUL or HRTSFUL. Or maybe I should just have a shirt made up. I did get a new one today "Looks like you're feeding an army!" :) Oh I can't wait for the looks when I have one or two more.

Why Adoption?

In a loving response to the question "Why?" It's a perfectly natural question. Yes, I'm aware that I've been blessed many times over. I have three perfectly healthy, perfectly beautiful, perfectly perfect boys. I'm in awe at how lucky I am. I read so many blogs where women just can't have babies, or have to spend thousands to have one. I'm lucky, mine just came. Sometimes when I planned it, sometimes as a surprise. But equally without work or cost. So, why are we spending money and going out of our way to get another child, when we already have three kids.

I realize in today's society having more that 2 children is cause for stares. It's cause for "You have your hands full, You know what causes that?, Are you done?, Better you than me, Are they ALL yours?, and the occasional stare. I have three children, I personally don't think that is over the top at all. When we had foster babes, we had 4, that was cause for all kinds of stares and comments. But we want more. So why adoption?

That story begins in 2006. I had three boys, all under 4 and none that were potty trained or slept through the night. I had major hip and back pain. I was exhausted. The doctors told me that if I had more than my hips wouldn't allow me to walk. I was scared. I was tired. Did I mention tired? So we decided to "take care of things" My husband had the surgery and we were done with babies. Fast forward 3 years. I was not done having babies! I realized that maybe if I had just given my body a break, maybe my hips wouldn't hurt, maybe my kids would have been potty trained, maybe they would be sleeping through the night. So we decided to look into foster-to-adopt care.

Well two years after that, we've had two placements and no permanent baby. Now don't get me wrong, I loved my foster babies. That's what made it even harder to give them back. Especially Baby J, we thought for over 6 months that he might be adoptable. Baby A, we knew pretty early on that she wouldn't be ours for long. So we decided to stop foster care for a minute. In the mean time I realized that I really did want another child.

I feel that I was meant to be a mother, I could never imagine doing something else. I feel that the surgery, done in a time of tired panic, took that opportunity away from me. Now, we've been asked, "Why don't you just reverse it?" We did consider that, but after doing foster care, we had our eyes wide open to the thousands of children already here, in need of a home. This was our personal conviction. (not a put down to anyone who's done a reversal) Our personal conviction to bring home one or two of the children in waiting.

We looked into all forms of adoption, foreign, domestic, infant, older children, and waiting children. We decided on waiting children. We came to this decision pretty quickly. As foster parents we're aware of all the waiting children in the USA, over 123,00! Also, as our youngest is 5, neither of us were certain we wanted to "start over" with a newborn or infant.

So in honor of our coming 4th child, here are four reasons why we're adopting:

1. We love children. We're a family household that thrives on activities, noise, controlled chaos, dreams, painting, cooking, laundry, dishes, playdough, Garfield, football, Nascar, large cars, extra freezers of food, and all the fun and joy that comes with a larger family.

2. "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." Proverbs 22:6 We feel convicted to adopt and bring one or two of God's children home to a forever home. We have more room and more love to give.


3. "Children are a gift from the LORD; they are a reward from him." Psalm 127:3 Children are a gift. When we had the surgery, we took that gift away from our family. While we're choosing not to have more biological children, we hope that God sees fit to bless and reward our family with more children.

4. Why not? Our house is loud and so joy filled right now, why not add some more to the mix?

Yes, it's scary. We don't know what child will be entering our home. It's hard to let go of the easy life I have at this moment and "walk out of my comfort zone, into the realm of the unknown" (to quote some song, I can't remember who) But we know that there is good waiting for us, more blessings, more smiles, more hugs. There is a child who needs a home, who needs loving parents and siblings. We feel that we can be that family! So for all these and many more reasons. That is why we're adopting!

2/16/11

There is an amazing couple at my church. They cannot have children of their own. I don't understand this. At all. They are so loving and caring. K runs the Awana program, both P and K work in Kidz Worship. They even take care a a 12 year girl. They have been raising her almost her whole life. She doesn't live with them, but I can't imagine where she would be without them. She's truly a lucky little girl to have two people care so much about her. For the life of me, I don't understand why God wouldn't allow these two people to have a child. They have so much love to give. Well about 11 months ago K's stepsister became pregnant. I don't know the whole story, I only know that she wants K and P to raise the baby. They took her home from the hospital and have been taking care of her ever since. And by taking care of her, I mean loving her within an inch of her life. There's nothing more precious than seeing P hold his daughter. He's a huge teddy bear of a man and Baby G is so tiny and looks minuscule in her daddy's large hands. He has a hawks eye on her when he does allow someone else to hold her, which is rare. It's beautiful to watch, these two who wanted a child so badly, to have one to call their own.

This is where the story turns sad and frankly, pisses me off. The biological father of Baby G is fighting for custody of her. He wasn't around for the whole pregnancy, the birth, or her life until this point. A prayer request came across our church email to pray for them. If I'm to be perfectly honest, I'm having a hard time understand God's plan right now. I know He has a plan and this is part of it. I just can't wrap my mind around why they have to now fight for this baby. She's so safe and loved where she is. This "father" to me seems to be fighting out of spite. It makes me so angry that they have to go through this. If anyone could just see K and P with Baby G for just 30 seconds, you could see how much see is loved and wanted. Any judge in the right mind would give Baby G to them. But a father has rights. I can't stand the thought of them losing her. It breaks my heart.

So I pray. Father, please allow K and P to keep their baby. Please, let all this mess just go away. Please soften the birth father's heart. Allow him to see that this is what is best for his child. They are so wonderful people and Baby G couldn't be better off anywhere else. Lord, please give K and P comfort and peace during this trial. Lord, wrap them up tight and let them know it will be okay. I know you have a plan, but from an Earthly human perspective, it's hard to see and harder to understand. Please, let this work itself out quickly and allow them to be the family that they so richly deserve to be. Amen.

2/14/11

Happy Valentine's Day! If you've never heard, there is a great event called Women of Faith held all over the country. I went last year and it was so amazing and refreshing and encouraging! I signed up to go again this summer. It's actually the day after my hubby and I's 10 year anniversary. So it was kind of a choice, but he insisted that I go and enjoy myself. During the end of service yesterday, the leader of the WoF group, gave a little presentation on it. She was discussing how some women can't afford the trip and that they always try to make a way for anyone who wants to go to be able to go. She was also talking about giving the trip as a Valentine's Day gift, in case any husband forgot. My hubby waved at me from the choir :)

My thoughts immediately went to the family sitting right behind me. This amazing women, lost her husband last year to cancer. She has three fairly young kids. Two boys and a girl. I thought, I hope she goes, she needs to get away. Then my thought process said, who's going to watch her kids so she can go (mind you this was a very fast thought process, as my thoughts run away from me) Sitting there, I thought, well if Johnny can watch her boys, maybe she can find a place for her daughter and be able to come. Now, I hadn't discussed this with Johnny yet, but I said a quick prayer about it and heard "Do it, do it" It sounded just like my voice, but I don't use that phrase often :). So as soon as service was over I crawled over to face her. I said "I'm going this summer, if you want to come, Johnny will watch the boys for you and you can find a place for your daughter" She just stared at me for a moment. Shook her head and said "She wants to come" Her daughter had just asked her if they could go and she told her, the obstacle was finding a place for the boys. She said they would pray about it. Not two minutes later, I was in in her face saying Johnny could keep the boys. So she and her daughter get to go and have a girl weekend, and Johnny gets to stay home with 5 boys, but her boys will get to have some male bonding time for the weekend! I love how God is in the details!

2/13/11

A few days ago I was writing in my journal/prayer journal. I was asking for protection of all my pregnant mommy friends and their unborn babes. I was going through my head trying to remember them all. A certain friends name kept popping into my head, we'll call her "X". I didn't write her down, because X wasn't pregnant. She just had a baby this fall. I couldn't stop thinking about her for the whole prayer. I wrote her on facebook and told her I was thinking about her all during my prayer time. Well today she emailed me to let me know she is in fact pregnant and hadn't told anyone at the time of my prayer. She just told her family and decided to tell me as well! I'm over the moon excited for her, but at the same time, I'm excited for myself. That feeling in my heart was God telling me to pray for her. She has difficult pregnancy and it was important to pray. So while I didn't follow his guidance for a prayer for pregnancy, I did say a prayer for her safety. And now I know why! So yet another baby is coming into the world around the same time as my best friend and another close facebook friend. It's going to be a busy fall!

Delightful Dishes

I have to start with a bit of a back story. We've been hosting weekly/bi-monthly dinners at our house for the past few months. It's to get to know our church family a bit better in a more relaxed environment. Since we've NEVER hosted a sit down dinner, we've been short on place settings and silverware. Basically the kids eat first and I wash up their setting pieces so that the adults can eat. I mentioned this to someone and for the life of me I can't remember who. I may have even posted it on facebook. I've been planning to hit up thrift stores to fill in the missing pieces, who cares if they match or not. Okay, so now on to the story. 

So yesterday was a very busy day at church. It was Scout Sunday!!! The Cubs ran the service, as far as passing out the bulletins and taking up the offering. Then we hosting a lunch for the church. We were loading up a ton of stuff, as there were lots of leftovers. Johnny wanted to take some to the homeless people that he's been helping. (along with some other church members) So we loaded them up with a hot lunch and desserts. As we were going back and forth to the truck, I noticed a box appear on the front seat. I didn't pay any attention to it, since I thought it was something Johnny put there. When it was finally time to leave Johnny asked what the box was. I told him, I thought he put it there. He denied it. The box had dishes on it, but I really thought it was full of food for the homeless. Nope, it was full of brand new dishes. I searched the car for a note. I searched the box for a "from:". Nothing. Someone heard my conversation, or read it on facebook. (like I said, I don't remember who I told) and left us a brand new set of dishes, including silverware on the front seat of our truck!!!!

My eyes welled up with tears and this simple, yet amazing gesture towards our family. I cannot believe that someone took my ramblings to heart and felt the need to buy this set for us. It's so thoughtful and heartfelt. And then to not leave a note, to not want to be recognized. It's just so amazing! If I can't see God in that act, then I might as well be blind. I really touched my heart and made my day. So to whoever it was, thank you so very much!!!

2/3/11

The kind and generous words of my friends, family, and unknown blog followers. It's amazing how many people are happy about our big news. You all have shown such love. It's going to be a long journey, with a wonderful ending. So thank you all for the support. We love all of you!

The Big News!!!

Ok, so here it is! We've been making a decision for a few months now. Since Little Miss left our home, we've been agonizing about whether to continue foster care or not. Most people didn't know this. Most people assumed we were just waiting for our next placement. I have a deep passion for foster care, but as great at Little Man's exit was, was how awful Little Miss's was. I loved both of these children as my own. Little Miss's exit was unsure, unstable, and dragging. I knew she was getting ready to leave, but the dates kept changing. Her family wanted her with them, it was all just a mess. Even after her family got her, it still wasn't over. So we were deciding what to do next. As a family, we feel strongly about helping children, but at this point, we didn't think it was right for our family to have to say goodbye to another child. So we started talking. And talking, and praying, and talking, and praying and talking. Well, you get the point. So what is our news? Get to it already.

We have decided to adopt!!!! We prayed about it for weeks. We came to the decision to adopt pretty easily, it was the from where that was the major question. I was set on international, Ethiopia to be exact. Johnny wasn't keen on that. I wanted a baby, he didn't want to 'start over'. We looked into adopting a multi-racial child from a domestic agency. My friend had used them and at the time, they only charged fees for home studies. Sadly, they have changed their fee schedule and it was more than international. I couldn't get over the fact that it seemed like buying a baby.(this was this particular agency, and not a shot at anyone who adopts domestically) At least with international, the fees make sense, the flights, the hotels, the foster program, you're supporting the orphanages and such. But these are just American mothers living their lives. None of the money went to them, so I couldn't figure out where the "placement" fee was going to.

So after a lot of thought and prayer and talk, we decided to look into waiting children. They are mostly older kids. We have decided to add to our family from these children. As of right now, we do not have a particular child in mind. We are talking with our social workers about in-state children, and then we'll learn more about out-of-state.We are considering 1-3 children, as sibling set. We're looking at no older than 9. There are so many children available for adoption. We're excited to be adding to our family. We're looking at a girl, but will accept a sibling set with a boy in it. The boys were excited and definitely wanted a new brother over two sisters :) We talked to our amazing social worker to find out all we need to know. We have to write a narrative about our family and she's going to send it around. As of now, we are officially an adoptive family! In meantime we will be working with social services as a respite family. I'm happy to still be in helping foster families while we wait. As for how long this could take? We're not sure. We're in the lead already. We've had two foster children, we have a valid home study, and all our background checks have been cleared. So it's basically just waiting for the right children. They will be foster children for 6 months, according to the law. And then there's an additional 1-3 month wait for the official paperwork to come down. We can't wait to get started! We're grateful for any good thoughts, prayers, and support while we wait for our forever child or children. . God has blessed us beyond measure and we trust in His timing to bring us the child or children meant for us! 

The big news blog...

The big news is coming tonight! There should be a blog around 8pm. I actually already wrote and saved it. I can't wait until my meeting tonight to be able to share with everyone!!!! <3

1/27/11

I think we found our arrow!!!! We'll know for sure after Monday. Sorry to be so vague, but we agreed not to say much before we were sure. I think we're 75% there! Thanks for hanging on with us!

1/25/11

I feel like such a slacker for not writing. The truth is, I've been looking hard. Too hard maybe. The goal of this blog was to see without having to search. We're in the middle of a major life changing decision. The decision is basically made, but we need clarity about which direction to go. I've been reading a book called When God Winks At You: How God communicates with you through coincidences. So I've been on the look out for a God Wink. I'm pretty sure I've heard from Him a few times through "coincidences" but it's not making the decision for us. We want a big flashing neon arrow, saying ANDERSON'S OF GLOUCESTER, THIS WAY PLEASE. Maybe with our kids names too, just so we're sure it's us. But, in the mean time, we're still looking and praying hard.

I haven't been blinded.

I promise, my eyes are open now more than ever before. There is a HUGE blog coming soon with a HUGE decision, but I'm not releasing it just yet. There's a few more days to wait and a few more prayers to pray, but it's going to be good! Stay tuned, I promise it'll be worth it!

1-17-11

My husband is off today and once again, I can see God in my family. It's too easy. Today, I told the kids that we only had to math and Narnia. Johnny took them upstairs to do school!!! I found them doing Bible as well. It's amazing the difference that God and church has made in our lives. There was no miracle, oh we're all perfect now, things are easy change. But it's been nice, a bit more peaceful, and more loving. I love seeing my kids want to do charity work, they donate toys easily (for the most part), and they really enjoy learning about God.

1-14-11

All I have today is a solid prayer that I sent up. Asking nothing for myself, only for the protection of two little souls that are near and dear to me. I can't really go into detail. But two sweet girls need a bubble of protection around their bodies and their minds and mostly their hearts. A solid honest prayer, a prayer that I know God has heard. A prayer is about all I can do for the moment. I'm thankful that I am able to do that.

1-13-11

So we're reading a book called Crazy Love for Bible Study. I wrote a blog about it HERE. Right before reading a particularly tough chapter about lukewarm love for God, I wrote a prayer. I asked to hear God's voice over my own, to know it's Him and not my own desires. I don't want to use the phrase "I'm called to/for" when it's really just what I want in the first place. Just because a thought or an idea popped into my head, I don't want to jump to the conclusion that it was God's idea. Anyway, so this chapter was really tough. I highlighted 3/4 of the examples of what a lukewarm love looks like. Even wrote an "ouch" next to one particular paragraph. So the whole point of this was, I was praying and grabbed my Bible. I opened to where I had left off (2 Sundays before, another sign of lukewarmness) and after reading just a few passages, I stumbled upon these verses: (well, I probably didn't stumble so much as was thumped in the head with them)

"The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord thunders over the mighty waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is majestic, the voice of the Lord breaks the cedar;the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon." Psalm 29: 3-5

"The voice of the Lord strikes with flashes of lightning. The voice of the Lord shakes the desert; the Lord shakes the Desert of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord twists the oaks and the strips the forests bare. And in his temple all cry "Glory!" " Psalm 29: 7-9

So since I've starting keeping this blog, I've come into contact, TWICE, with Bible Verses pertaining directly to what I've written in my prayer journal. Now, I'm sure this happens to other people, but it's never happened to me before. Maybe, because I'm asking to see and hear, much more than throwing my wish list of requests at Him. I'm certain He doesn't mind my requests, but I'm in serious need of just listening more during prayer. And the two times that I've been quiet and I've tried to ignore the thoughts of grocery lists and the dates on the calendar, I've gotten a Bible verse as an answer. I'm quite impressed and amazed at this. So here's hoping I can see or hear more and even have another blog from today.

1-12-11

I'm inspired to write about standing in awe of God. We're doing a Bible study of Crazy Love and it was one of the questions raised last night. There were many answers, mostly sunrises :). The birth of children, just existing. The first time I remember REALLY standing in awe of God, was while I was in Forks and La Push. It was so beautiful and so quiet. The first morning when I went to take an early morning walk, I was greeted by this sight!

I mean, how amazing it that! It was also cool knowing that this same sun had come up in my town three hours before! It was just so amazing. Later in the day when we went through the woods to walk to the beach, I was so silent and so amazed. I just loved it there. It was the only time, that I know that I heard the voice of God. That I was being told to slow down and drink it in and enjoy it all. This was my first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean!

I am just in awe of this whole area. I can't wait to go back. I had really hoped to take the peace of this place back home with me. And taking the time to journal and pray more. I was so connected to God there. Of course, I had  no chores, no kids, and no responsibilities at all. So, yes, it was easier. I just wish I could get back to that state of mind.

In the amazing woods!

Just before the sun came up!

The prayer tree at 2nd Beach.

My feet in the Pacific!

1-11-11

Babies abound! In the last month, 4 have been born, and in the last week, I've learned of 4 new pregnancies. My friend has a particularly happy blog over at A Nest Near the Alter. You should read it. To quote Cold Tangerines "It makes sense to me in a new way that God chose to wrap his divinity in baby bones and baby skin. I always thought maybe it was to demonstrate vulnerability, or to identify fully with each phase of humanity, but now I think it was something else. I think it was because babies make up believe in the possibility and the power of the future. It's genius that the Christ, the Messiah, came as a baby, not because of his helplessness, but because of the possibility every baby holds."

1-10-11

I've already had a blog topic this morning. It's something random. I was reminded of something very sweet this morning. I was reading a blog and there was a picture of a husband and wife with a caption that read " My Beloved is mine and I am his." And this reminded me of a sweet story from a few years ago. We were all out at Salsas for a birthday party and the table behind us was having a party as well. Soon we heard a commotion coming from their table as they were getting ready to leave. An older lady had lost her ring. She was flinging her hands around and it had flown off. Soon the whole back section of the restaurant was on its hands and knees looking for this ring for her. She was getting rather frantic and no one was having any luck. We were picking up chairs and searching under the booths. We had all just about given up and she was so upset.

Finally she put on her coat and there in the seam of the coat was her ring. She was ecstatic. She came over to thank us for helping and to show us the ring. She said I got this 50 years ago in Israel. It was a simple gold band ring that was inscribed. "I am my beloved and he is mine" in Hebrew. She said her husband had a matching one and they had always worn them. A friend sitting next to me said "See that gives me hope" and then whispered, "that's why I love old people" :).

So seeing that quote this morning reminded me of that story. We don't know how long we have with our loved ones. This woman had had a very long time. I've had nearly 10 years. My parents, over 30. But it could end today, tomorrow, in 50 years. I don't know. But, I plan on trying to show my love to my loved ones more everyday. So I'm thankful for the reminder of that story this morning.

1-9-11

Once again, all to easy today. My son, Jackson, went forward and proclaimed Jesus as his Lord and Savior. Pretty amazing morning. Watching my little guy make that walk. I got to hold a brand new innocent soul in the form of baby Austin. His sweet new baby smell is nothing less than a miracle. Listening to Sam giggle hysterically while playing "tornado ball". Listening to our guest pastor alive with passion. Hearing the story about those with little giving to the church. The beginning of talk of a homeless shelter. Learning of a new baby being born in the overnight hours. God's blessing and signs were all around today.

1-7-11

 For this man, this marriage, this family. I don't have to look very hard to see God stamped all over it. I've been blessed with an amazingly hardworking, loving, kind, and generous man. He's a great father and husband. I'm so thankful!

1-6-11

 I didn't get the chance to write this last night. So, for yesterday, I saw a chance come over my youngest son. Sam came yelling the other day that his neck hurt. So of course, my first thought was meningitis. Thankfully, he had no fever, and Shane told me that he was jumping from the table unto the couch. (this kid hurts himself doing things he shouldn't all the time!!!). Anyway, the next day, it still hurt him. So we prayed that God would make his neck feel better. Within hours, he was proclaiming his neck healed. It was so cute. We talked about it calmly. I asked him if he thought God heard his prayer. He said "yes, and the medicine helped too" It was just a great moment to share with my youngest boy.

1/5/11

Though I didn't see this with my own eyes, I think it still counts. Yesterday there was a prayer request on facebook about a little girl. She was going for a CAT scan and needed prayer that the doctors wouldn't find anything scary. I'm not sure of the history of this little girl, but this morning, it was stated that her scans were clean. There was slight swelling of her spine, but they seemed to think that this was okay and nothing like the bad junky stuff they were expecting. So for today, I'm seeing God in the power of prayer and the health of this sweet little girl.

1/4/11

Seeing a group of people show up for a new Bible Study. Seeing people on fire for God, ready to change and learn and grow. It was all too easy to see God today. I'm anxious to get out more and start to see God in the things outside of my church and my family. But, for this moment, this is where God has placed me and I'm seeing all that is in front of me.

This is our new study!

1-3-2011

 Today is a big nothing day. It's my favorite kind of day. We are sitting and relaxing and doing a lot of nothing. I got some movies from Redbox. We're watching Toy Story 3 and Where the Wild Things Are. The kids each picked a snack for this afternoon. Johnny has to go back to work tomorrow and school starts again tomorrow. No one is really looking forward to that. However, in the midst of the quiet and the bursts of giggles from both my kids and husband. I know that God had this day planned for us. One more day to enjoy as a family with no to-do lists, no chores, and no work. Also the animals seem to be enjoying having all of us sitting still and petting them.