Us Today

Wow, I have thought of the blog from time to time, but thought I was locked out.  Something in me this morning said try it again.  After 4+ years of even looking at it or even posting, I was amazed I found it!  I am so excited to start to write about us again.  So much has changed, yet remained the same.  The kids are getting bigger by the day and I see our time together all the more precious.  It is such a joy to watch them grow in the Lord.  I thought today would be just a quick recap.  Isaiah 16, started PSEO this fall, plays keyboards regularly at church and basketball.  Gabriella 12, just started 7th grade and is my preteen who loves Jesus and others dearly and dances.  Isabella 9, dances and plays basketball and still is our spunky little one who adds spice and a little bit of sass to our everyday life and keeps our family fun!  Both girls make jewelry and have raised money for children in Africa.  Our summer was full and a trip of a lifetime to Alaska was our highlight of the summer.  So much beauty!  Every time we turned there was new beauty to behold and I kept asking God, I thought the last view was the most beautiful view ever.  He out did Himself time after time!

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Some Days are Just Tough

I was having a hard day today and my two girls who are constantly interrupting me whether I am working on the computer, cleaning the kitchen, doing laundry, going to the bathroom or taking showers....today they caught me in tears and interrupted my sadness with their sweet sweet concerns over their mommy being sad. A moment they don't see often and it took them by surprise. They made me cards and lavished me with lots of hugs, snuggles, kisses and smiles. God you are so good. Thank you for providing these precious little starlings to me.

Faith Like A Child

There are moments where being a mom, I honestly don't like. It is anytime when one of my children are sick and I don't know exactly what is wrong with them. Today, Isabella woke up with a fever and she didn't look like she felt very well at all. She was trying so hard to feel good because she wanted to go to her cousin's birthday party. Even after a dose of ibuprofin she struggled to put on a smile. So despite several pleas from my other kids to go to the party, we opted to stay home today. I went to lay her down for a nap and as we were rocking in the chair, she asked for me to pray for her and sing one of her favorite hymns. Now this is faith like a child. She gets it and she is only two years old. Precious moments even when I cannot stand that she is sick.

2010 Reflecting Back a Decade

Not only are we saying goodbye to 2010 but we are saying goodbye to the last decade and hello to another new decade. I remember the Y2K scare that made many people I know change plans or stock up on food and generators over the fear of what would happened to our highly sophisticated world we live in by being so dependent upon computers. I could argue today may be even more alarming when we look ahead to what future holds for our country's economic outlook may be.

Ok, Ok, enough of the gloom....that is not why I write today. I write today as a I feel so grateful for all the blessings the Lord has blessed us with these past ten years and all the wonderful adventures he continues to bring us on.

Top 10 in the last 10 years......

1. John and I celebrated 13 years of marriage this past summer. God has truly blessed me with a hand picked Godly man who loves me in ways I cannot even begin to comprehend sometimes. Some of the sweetest quotes from him recently....a cab driver asked us why we were on vacation in Hawaii, John replied, "so I can date my wife." Another, "I love you more than the day we were married, and I loved you a lot then", one I am still trying to figure out the meaning to or why..."why do you have to put on make-up and do your hair? You are one of those women who don't need makeup, you are beautiful without it." Fortunately he sees me more without it than with it! LOL! We are still each other's best friends and we still love being together and laugh a lot!

2. Year 2000 started off with a bang! No Y2K scare! We moved into our house we built and a few months later, we find out we were pregnant with Isaiah! He was truly the best pleasant surprise ever! God is so good! I can hardly believe he turned 10 in November! God has great plans for this child as you see through God's intricate embroidery he has so tenderly stitched in his heart. There is no greater joy than to see your son love and worship the Lord the way he does through music and the words of wisdom he says to me after reading His bible.

3. 2005...another miracle and gift from the Lord. Gabriella Grace! Again, all I can say is that God has mighty plans for this girl. Only God through his sovereignty and purpose is she here with us today. After finding out I lost her "twin" and that I was no longer pregnant, days later after a follow up ultrasound looking at my ovaries and seeing nothing in my uterus, the practitioner was just ending the scan and about to remove the probe when I said, "wait, what is that?" She responded, " I don't know, I think it is a blood clot from your surgery." I said "it looks like a heartbeat", she responded, "no, it is not, but if it is, it is too slow to be viable.". She barely made it alive out of my tummy and we were told during my pregnancy she didn't have a nasal bone which could mean a number of possible issues concerning her health. I could go on and on about the countless times in how God has proven himself to us and how he has a strong purpose in her life in these precious last 5 years. I am so excited to see what more He has in store for her and how she will bring Glory to God by doing what he has willed for her life.

4. 2008....another beautiful creation and gift from God. Isabella Grace. She is the sweetest little thing ever. She continues to bring us so much joy, love and laughter to our home, I cannot imagine our life without her. I think by being the baby and the third child you have to have some spunk in you. She has that and more! Thankfully she has a healthy portion of it and it brings balance to the family in more ways than one. I love watching her try new things and say new things. I am excited to see the plans God has for her as well. She adores her big brother and big sister and wants to do everything they want to do! Her most recent quotes have been..."Here you go mommy", (she hands me something in my hand), I look down and ask in disgust, "what is this", she says.."I don't know, it came from my nose". And then yesterday she had another bu gar in her nose that I tried getting out and she protested saying, "why do you do that?" I said, "what do you mean?", she says, "you keep taking things out of my nose and I don't like that."

5. We have been blessed to travel a lot over these past 10 years. Thank you to John's travel perks and his parents being so gracious with their timeshares. There is no way we would be able to do even a fraction of the traveling without those two perks! Some of our best trips recently....Hawaii, Washington D.C., New York City, Florida, South Carolina and South Dakota. The airline perks are great, but our most recent travels to South Carolina made me re-think if they are worth it after a 16+ hour commute....ahhh, yes they still are well worth it, even on those days that are that long. The kids thankfully are some of the best little travelers ever!

6. Family...we have become aunties and uncles to all of our family with all of our nieces and nephews who have been added to both sides of our family. It is so much fun to see how they have all grown these last years and how their relationship with each other as cousins grow and change.

7. Good Health...after having some years of just plain "weird" things health wise happen to me over the years, we are all so thankful and grateful for each day we are healthy! I had numerous surgeries and blood transfusions, but thankful that God brought us through those desert like times, oh so thirsty for His Living Water and for the Great Physicians healing touch. Gabriella also went through a weird escapade last summer where the doctors were puzzled at what was going on with her and started to give us to worry there could be something more serious than the flu. Through a constant faith and prayer, God healed her almost overnight!

8. Homeschooling...these past few years, God has laid it upon our hearts to homeschool. It has put our faith to the test in many ways, but out of obedience to the Lord we are seeing the fruit of it in more ways than one! Even to the point of feeling like I am redeeming an education I had no idea I even missed out on!

9. Fun Family Moments....from swimming with the kids, water and snow skiing with the kids, fires on the porch playing I spy, family game night, reading together as a family, morning snuggle times, family movie night all snuggled on the couch together eating popcorn to worshiping the Lord together around the piano or guitar as John and Isaiah play praise and worship songs. These are all moments in life that I would not trade for anything.

10. God...my relationship with Him has changed and strengthened over these past 10 years. I am so thankful for the journey he has me on. Through studying His word and gaining insight and knowledge of Him in ways I didn't even know were possible, I can truly say God is good. He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. I am excited to see how my relationship with Him will strengthen even more and I hope that I will be able to serve Him in ways that I know he has destined for me to serve in. Still waiting for my little ones to grow a bit more! :) But I am willing!

Christmas 2010

Wow! What another busy time of the year. The most amazing gift ever given to us was God's son and as I reflect upon these past few weeks leading up to His birthday, I question and wonder to myself is this how God would want us to celebrate His son's birthday? A piercing question that pulls at my heart. As my convicting heart ponders the last few weeks I call out to the Lord.

Here in America we so easily are caught up in the alter of commercialism, materialism and plain old "busy-ness" that is associated with Christmas we not only minimize His birth but we get caught up with the distractions that pull us away from Him. How do you find balance? Is balance even what God would want? These are questions I will continue to talk with the Lord about, but in the meantime I do want to share some of our highlights in the last few weeks.

John and I were able to escape to Hawaii for a wonderful time together and with friends. We were amazed at the absolute beautiful world that the Lord has made and were in awe at the beautiful mountains and of course the force and beauty of the ocean. We came home and the hustle and bustle of trying to get gifts for everyone was about to put me over the top! I am a procrastinator by trait and I did do a few things prior but of course saved mostly everything for only days before Christmas. We have been bringing the kids skiing every day that we can this month and have been thoroughly enjoying every minute of it. Both Gabriella and Isaiah have improved greatly since our first time out this year. Gabriella had a lesson 10 days ago and they said she is doing great and doesn't need anymore as she has seem to master the lifts and the hills. Isabella is begging to start skiing, maybe at the end of the season? In the meantime, she enjoys hanging out on the slope with us playing in the snow, snacking in the lodge and she has even made some friends in the ski school!

It was really neat watching the kids' expression opening the gifts and that is what I love. One thing though, their expression dimmed as I watched them open more and more presents. It is just too much. John and I say that every year, but why do we feel like we still have to give them that super cool gift(s)? My only answer is that we are guilty of getting caught up with the materialism and commercialism that inudates our society. Something that will have to change for next year as my heart has been thoroughly been convicted.

One thing we did do this year was read, as a family, Jotham's Journey. It was a great story that really brought us on a journey with Jotham along with the sheperds and Magi to the stable in Bethlehem. It painted a picture in my mind that has pierced my thoughts this holiday season. The kids looked forward to reading it every night before bed as we would light the candles and read. Our Christmas morning was beautiful. We enjoyed reading from God's word and singing and worshiping the Lord as Isaiah played piano, shared in a wonderful breakfast and of course we opened gifts. We were saddened that John had to go off and work, but again are very thankful he is blessed with work.

God is so good! Thank you Lord for giving us the best gift of all and help us to not get caught up in the wrong reasons for celebrating. Keep us focused always up to you!

Blessed Be The Name of the Lord! Part II

We had a wonderful weekend visiting some dear friends down in Charleston SC for a long weekend. The commuting down was one of the worst I had ever experienced with standby travel. What should have taken a 5 hour commute took over 15 hours from door to door. The kids truly amazed me and I had a peace and joy about the whole day that could only be summed up by the Lord transfusing abundant peace, patience and joy in the midst of one our most chaotic start of a get away we have had thus far. This was one of those moments in my life that on the outside it looks like a horrible day but on the inside it was so amazing to feel God's presence with me the whole day...THAT, I would not trade for anything. Thank you Lord.

On Friday we were eating food at the airport and Isabella is belting out "Blessed Be The Name of The Lord" so that everyone could hear. She has such a sweet voice but she can also be very loud when she wants others to hear and boy did she want others to hear. It was such a precious moment. Then today she was belting it out as we were one the airplane delayed for sometime due to a mechanical issue and the whole plane was relatively quiet and she sang so everyone could hear and look!

Today was such a precious day with the kids. Despite the rush rush from gate to gate at the crazy busy Atlanta airport and Isabella having her "two" moments! They are so much fun to be with and we laughed so much together today. These are priceless moments that warm my heart. This afternoon we came home and schooled for 3 hours and I was amazed at how attentive they were considering we woke up at 4:30 EST. Gabriella is reading so much now and after dinner tonight she read to Isabella for about 30 minutes and Isabella was completely captured by her big sister reading; full of life and gestures. Gabriella has made leaps and bounds these past few months and today she has finally mastered her head stand for a prolonged period! The girl has been living on her head for the past few weeks! I told John tonight, Isaiah always has a ball in his hand of some sort and Gabriella is always tumbling or on her head!

In ending I would say...Blessed be the name of the Lord! Every blessing He pours out I will turn and praise Him!