Change in the air....

    Have you ever noticed how the wind smells when rain is on it's way? Refreshing. Clean. Changing. Although it is not raining here today, I feel this scent in my very soul. I feel The Lord's hand of peace on my heart. Be calm, be still- I hear Him say. A peace that surpasses all understanding. I can not see a change in our future as is. I am not planning for one per se. But, I can not shake that feeling. Throw away the excess, pack it up, clean it out.....
  
       So, that is where I'm at these days. Looking on the horizon for any clue to as what could be coming. What is around that corner? In preparation of the unknown, I am cleaning out every nook and cranny... slowly but surely. I am reevaluating what is needed and what is fluff. I am questioning every. single. item. I am sifting through my things and my thoughts too. What have I been told that I believed blindly? What needs a firm foundation of The Gospel and what needs to go? 

    Maybe the change isn't in things, location or even schedule. Or maybe it is all three. Maybe the change is something bigger? Better? Or, maybe the change is in me.  Either way, no matter where this road takes me, I want to be prepared. I want to be clean, refreshed and eager for a new adventure. I want to find daily comfort in whatever is coming He prepared for me.......

 What are you preparing for today? Can you smell the rain today?

One year and Eleven

B at 5 days old

This past week I have been planning sweet B.'s 1st birthday party. We just do a family dinner party (grandparents and us), but I like to give the girls a chance to pick a theme/colors and that is how we decorate (balloons, paper napkins, paper plates for food, and cake decor that ties in too). I enjoy making it special for them, and they enjoy making all the choices. Well, B. is 1. So mommy got to make all the choices! *cheer*

B in awe that so many people were looking right at her! 

But, that is not all we (Jimmy and I) were celebrating on Saturday.

February 16, 2002 Jimmy asked me to be his wife. (Of course I said YES!) Little did we know that ten years later, to the day, we would be welcoming our fourth daughter into the world. Now another year later, our sweet baby is now a toddler and we are celebrating 11 years together! Wow! A lot has happened in those 11 years. We are blessed beyond what we could have ever imagined for ourselves.

"19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us"  - Ephesians 3:19-20

Something in the works....

I haven't been writing this week, I've been planning. Planning something big. Something that I PROMISE to share on Monday! I'll give you a hint it happens Saturday and it is actually two things in one..... Start your guessing now!

My Journey Part 2

I've finished Part 2 in  My Journey (click here to read Part 1 &2)..... Enjoy the next installment!

Part 2: 

Jimmy carrying E. to the car in his helmet

Jimmy returned from his year long deployment in April 2004. E. and I were SO happy to have him home. 

We tried to returned to a ‘normal’ routine, although this time it included a Daddy. It was rocky at first. I am a I-can-do-it-myself kinda girl and I had just done life alone for a whole year. I wasn't sure how to let him in to the everyday again. We tried to discuss expectations and needs but really we just went on. I kept doing a lot more than I should have been doing and Jimmy let me. I was running things, and I liked it like that.

 A little more than a year later his unit deployed again and we were transitioning out of the Army under a medical discharge. We moved back to Texas, near family, and thought that our new road would now just be in our home state with a bigger house, in a bigger city. What we weren't doing was budgeting or living within our means. We were just living everyday independently, without forethought to tomorrow.  We were trying to prove ourselves to everyone but the One who really counts.

Within that next year we lost my great Grama, my Dad was in a major motor vehicle accident and my grandparents’ health was beginning to fail. We began to realize that life was fleeting and we needed to live it to the fullest. We needed to plan a little better.

We decided that we were then ready for another (read: last) child to come into our family. We were pregnant by August 2006. May 28, 2007 my grandfather passed. The next day, while I was helping to plan the funeral I went into labor and delivered our sweet baby A. She was beautiful and we knew we were complete. It was an odd feeling knowing that within 24 hours we had completed our family, and I would never hug my grandfather’s neck again. It was so surreal. 

So much had happened in such a short time. Marriage, deployment, birth, death. I didn't know how to collate all the life experiences. I was just beginning to hear the Lord whisper, pointing me to seek the Truth. To seek how He views life and death; to really examine my priorities in light of Scripture. But, I pushed Him away still not understanding how to make Him fit into my life.

Shortly after birth we started seeing so many differences between A. and E. as a baby. Really there were too many to name here (I will expound on her story later). But, what I can tell you is something wasn't right. She was constantly fussy, and not in a I’m-a-fussy-baby kind of way. We began searching for a Pediatrician that would take my concerns seriously. That search led us to doctor after doctor who wouldn't get past what they saw when they walked in the door- a content baby.

 By the time A. was a year old we knew we needed serious help. Not help that a Pediatrician could give but help from a Specialist. She wasn't sleeping, let alone through the night. She constantly had a rash of some form. She was itching ALL. THE. TIME. (to the point of bleeding and screaming and then itching more). We had been told she had allergies and had been diligent to avoid them, all to no avail. We were all miserable. We just didn't know which direction to go in first.  

Our church was too large to really be very hands on supportive. They all knew her and would smile and ask how she was, thinking that we would finally give them the answer so they could cross her off their prayer list (Man, did we pray for that ourselves!). But, the answers never came and her illness seemed to be around for the long haul. I started seeking out alternative treatments. We were desperate, alone in our journey with her and without any answers- only more questions. 


{to be continued.....}
    

My Journey

I've updated the My Journey Page. It is the beginning of my story......

Reformation Day and The Scrolls

         So, we're being the 'odd' ones and not celebrating Halloween this year. I'm ok with that.

    I have been feeling a bit awkward for the past few years about our 'Harvest Festival' celebrations. I mean, don't get me wrong. I love to make cute costumes for the girls, and I love even more thinking about great ideas on what we all could be as a family (think themed costumes as a family!)..... BUT, if we are truly believers of Christ, then why are we celebrating a pagan holiday that encourages our children to go to a stranger's house and ask for candy or they will play a trick on them?! Or, if your one of the exclusive Harvest Festival kinda people (like we were the last few years) are we really redeeming our time while doing the same thing, just in a church parking lot?

      Now, please don't take this as me telling you what you should do. I am just telling you where we are at presently. I have however, have come to learn so much more about October 31 and what that means for the Church. It's interesting, and exciting to share with my kiddos! After reading this post and this one I decided to really teach some lessons on Martin Luther and the Reformation. I know my girls are a little young for a full on history lesson on the Reformation and the Church (well, and I don't know near enough about it myself!). But, they are odd enough to learn that we are redeeming October 31st and studying about a bold man that pursued the Truth even when it was difficult and unpopular. 

The girls 'nailing' the 95 Theses to the door!

     Unbeknownst to me when I signed us up for a docent lead tour of The Dead Sea Scrolls at Southwestern Theological Seminary, it would fall the Monday before October 31st. Praise God for such a timely field trip! So, on Monday we started the week with seeing The Scrolls and in the tour there are several Bible's from Luther's time and one He was given credit for translating. It was a great day to really see pieces of history that were from the time of Jesus. After the tour and looking at everything, there is a dig site set up outside. They created an excavation site and an actual spot for the kiddos to dig for broken pieces of pottery- from a real dig site in Israel. This pottery is really 1000-2000 years old! Awesome!! There is more of course that I could tell you about, but seeing it would be so much better! If you are ever near the Scrolls, I would encourage you to go. It was the best money we have spent on field trips in a long time!

  So, all in all this week has been busy, but good and we have learned quite a bit. Even though we didn't celebrate one day as many others did, we did redeem our time and learn some church history that we actually touched this week! *beam*

If you'd like more information about Reformation Day and Martin Luther here are a few links about them both:
    1. Mustard Seeds shares some activities and history
    2. Door Posts has a whole kit!
    3. Martin Luther's 95 Theses
    4. When You Rise shares her activities

 What did you do this week?  What lessons in history are you studying?

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday