Friendship

Today on Easter I am reminded of how amazing our God is! When I think of the cross and what He did for me there is nothing I can do but rejoice! No matter our situations, no matter our trials, the trials we are in today mean nothing. There is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in the entire world that can change WHO He is and WHAT He has done! Stay focused and keep taking steps towards Him so He can take your life wherever He wants to.

I am still so surprised at the path that I am on. But as we celebrate the incredible gift of eternity that Jesus blessed us with,I am again reminded of His love for us. He loves us so big, and we don’t need to look hard to find the ways. This beauty is one of my dearest friends. I am so blessed and so thankful to have such amazing women in my life. My plan was to be home this week…. But my timing is not His timing so I will enjoy the moments of joy and sunshine in this valley. Thank you for being willing to spend Easter with my family instead of yours, for being willing to juggle all the things this week and for loving us so big.

FriendS

I am so incredibly grateful for the friends my God has given me. My sweet friend Chantal flew down the night before surgery with the plan that she would take care of me for those first few days at home. Sadly she is at my house and I am here. This is our pre-surgery picture

This is the post that Chantal wrote on Facebook tonight:

Certainly not the week we thought we would have when we took this “pre pic”.
With all this “rain” I know your rainbow 🌈 will be bright and worth it!!!
You have got this and I might not be close still but I am always here!!!! Positive mindset and lots of prayer!!

This girl of mine who has been with me through all of life’s challenges since we were thirteen flew down to be my own personal nurse. Obviously, once they started realizing all the significant deficits that I have post operatively, it was made apparent that I wasn’t headed home as much as I wanted it. This girl came up here and took care of me, washed me, brushed out my hair (dear Lord I am going to need some HELP with my hair), helped me move and repositon, kmade sure was stretching moving and flexing all the things I can’t move on my own. There are no skin issues, no sores, no foot drop…. I was so disappointed that we didn’t get our “girls movie night” at my house. When she left the hospital last night I was still unable to do do just about everything, and she has since said she felt so guilty leaving me. Tonight we faced timed and I showed her my miracle movement, and we ugly cried together. I am praising God for so much tonight.

Thankful

So often we get caught up in the mundane things of life. The laundry, the dishes, the cleaning. The kids arguing and complaining, the homework, the sports practices, the music lessons….. sometimes there are phases of life with illness and surgeries that just suck the life out of you, sometimes we just are going through this life and we forget what a blessed life we are living. Sometimes its so easy to complain about how tired we are, how busy we are, how overwhelmed we are. Believe me I know! I am right there with you. Here lately I have found myself feeling so overwhelmed, so tired, and even actually sad. Feeling lonely, feeling anxious, feeling frustrated. And I get frustrated when I am feeling them. Frustrated when someone asks me how I am, and the only thing I can come up with is “tired but ok.” “frustrated, sad or scared.”

I hate when the devil gets under my skin, and uses my current circumstances to get me feeling unhappy, overwhelmed, scared, sad….. whatever. Since my Sophia has been struggling so much since December, I have just been so burdened, so worried about what the future holds. So anxious about what the next doctor appointment or result is going to be. Today at church, a wonderful Godly woman prayed over me and spoke life into my weary heart. She spoke peace and strength. She spoke joy. She spoke rest to my weary soul. I can’t even begin to tell you what her prayers have done for my spirit. I can’t begin to tell you how gracious my God is. That He sent this woman to speak to my weary self, to encourage and strengthen me. To love on me when I was feeling so overwhelmed. He is just so good.

You never know what those still small voices will do for someone. When you allow God to speak through you, you may bless someone beyond your greatest expectations. And that is what has happened for me. I am sure that Jessica has no idea, what her words affirmed in my spirit, she doesn’t have any idea what joy and peace and comfort she brought to me. She doesn’t know that I was feeling so weary, so burdened, so alone. But what she did know? That God wanted her to pray and she was willing. She was willing and able. My prayer is that I am always willing, that when that small voice urges me on to do something that I listen and do as He asks me to. Thank you to those that hear Him and listen to His voice. Thank you for being His hands and feet to those that are hurting. Thank you for loving on people who are walking through difficult overwhelming things. Thank you for being Jesus to the world!!!!

A brand new year of possibility

I am one of those mom’s who loves my kids, loves having them home and is sad when they have to be gone all day long…. this summer has been full of great adventure and lots of happiness. This summer has also been incredibly bittersweet. Knowing that all of my babies would be staying at school all day. I have lived this crazy chaotic life of working overnight and coming home and taking care of my kids while Matt is at work and trying to juggle taking a nap and watch the kids. I have closed all the doors to a crawler in the living room and just laid on the floor too exhausted to move and just been a jungle gym for them. I have stayed awake for more than two days when we didn’t have a sitter to watch them so I could nap. But truly? I wouldn’t give back a single moment. I do wish I could have stayed home and not worked, and been able to enjoy all the moments when I wasn’t tired. But that was not a part of God’s plan for our life. So here we are embarking on a new journey. A journey where I have no preschoolers! A journey where I can come home from work and go to sleep and sleep until I wake up. A journey where I have time to be me. It has been twelve years since I brought Sam home. We have had a crazy wild roller coaster ride. And I love my life. I am sad that this phase is now behind me. I am sad that the schools have my kids longer awake than I will.

But I am also excited. Excited for the friendships that will be made. Excited for the learning that will occur. Excited for the adventures, sports, art projects, concerts, and growing up that they will do this year. I am excited to see all that 7th, 5th, 2nd and kindergarten has to offer. I AM EXCITED TO SLEEP 🙂

But I am also concerned. Concerned for the children who are raised in loveless angry homes. Who come to school bitter and angry. The kids who haven’t been taught to be kind and loving and respectful. The kids who have never received love or who don’t know how to love. I am concerned for the teachers that are tired, that are burnt out and don’t receive the support and supplies they need from their district. I am concerned for the parents who don’t parent their children, and don’t correct poor behavior that will affect other children.

But you know what? God knows! God knows our hearts. God knows our needs and sees those who are broken hearted. As I sent my babies to school this week my prayer has been that God will literally shine through them. That when they see kids that are struggling that they will be the nice kids, the kids that help and support and encourage. We spoke about bullies, and we spoke about how bullies probably also are hurting, and that bullies don’t need people to be mean to them, they need people to love on them and be kind and most importantly to pray for them. So that my friends is what I ask you to do. If you are reading these words. PRAY! Pray for our kids, our teachers, our administrators. Pray for the education system in America. Teach your kids to be kind and loving to everyone. God will be with them. God will go before them. God speed my beautiful babies! I love you more than you will ever know! May this be an incredible year!

Crusaders for Christ Camp

didn’t even know what to do with myself this week. My children were blessed by our church, and were able to go to summer camp this year. They had never been to camp before. Sending them was a little nerve racking but I knew that they would encounter God in a different way. And they sure did!!!! The three younger kids went. Sam will go next week. The girls were together and Preston was with our small group leader from our church so he was with people he knew.

Each day the kids has praise and worship, times to pray for each other and others. They raised their hands and they praised God! This just blesses my heart to no end. Knowing that my children are “getting it”. Getting that God is not religion, that God is life, God is love, God is relationship. Blessed so blessed that they got to go.

At the closing service the children who had made a profession of faith or who had made a promise to rededicate their lives to Christ were invited to write their names on the cross

There was typical camp stuff as well. Swimming, horse back riding, crafts, hiking etc. They had a wonderful time.

My Happy Place

e have the privilege of having babysitters that love our kids like they are apart of their family. The Creech family, has loved on us basically since we moved to North Carolina. Even when Matt was still up in Massachusetts they went out of their way to love on our family. Well their oldest Morgan celebrated her birthday the other day at the farm where she works. We had so much fun! My girls are truly animal lovers, and are thrilled whenever they get the opportunity to be around animals. We had so much fun. The farm is a rescue for animals that may have been bought by families who have decided they are no longer wanted, or animals that need some extra TLC. Yes that is a baby kangaroo!!! He is the sweetest and I can’t even begin to tell you how soft his fur is. His name is Hamilton .