Walking in the Shadows

Ecclesiastes 3:1-3 "To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;" Time seems to be slipping away from me, and here I stand at the end of yet another year. My three young children aren't as young as they were last year, they are each growing up, one year at a time. Before I know it, they will be adults making their own decisions, living their own lives. Am I doing enough? No. I'm surely not. Is HE enough? Yes. He surely is.  There is a time for everything, a season especially for each year, each life event, each milestone. This year, I was disappointed and I no doubt disappointed others. This year, my eldest son became a teenager, just one step closer to a man. This year, the Lord provided food, gas money, air conditioner parts, and a brake job...

I'm going to try to post a couple End of Year blogs, today is our year in pictures. Hope you enjoy! We took a vacation in January to Gatlinburg, TN and had -0 tempratures and a good bit of snow. It was a great way to start out 2014. Here is Jason and Ethan on Jason's birthday in February. It actually snowed the day before his birthday and the roads were all icky. We managed to make it to Olive Garden for a birthday dinner. Ah, my little Free Spirit turned 4 in March. What a little firecracker she is, love her. This is our Easter picture, my three kiddos with their Great-Grandfather! Speaking of their Great-Grandfather (my Grandfather of course), he turned 80 years young in June!  August came and I celebrated 15 years of marriage to this handsome man. Where does the time go? I swear it was just yesterday I said "I do."  My Ethan turned 13 on September 7, seriously, a teenager! It was an airsoft war for him, n...

  See that mess? It's not very beautiful, but this was my view Wednesday night when I was out of commission due to pain and such. The boys went on to church and I assured them I could handle the little one as I reclined with the heating pad and pain medicine. I looked at the messy room and wanted to jump and fix the mess, I wanted to stop looking at it, the mess was affecting my rest.   And wham! Right in my face, the Lord gives me a very important lesson. You've heard the saying "a beautiful mess" (I think there is a book called that too)? Yes, me too, but until I was looking straight at it, I had never really seen it. I have three wonderful, noisy, happy, homeschooling kids. There is a LOT of beautiful mess in my house, but sometimes I'm just too busy to see it.  But on this night, I saw it, every bit of it, and it was beautiful.   What must my Lord see when he looks at me? A mess? For. Sure. Yet, he sees something he wants, something he desi...

I can hardly believe it is Thanksgiving week! I love Thanksgiving, I believe it just may be my favorite holiday of the year. It is the one holiday that man has yet to ruin with a lot of stuff and stress (unless you count Black Friday which seems to be Black Thursday this year, boo). It is a special time, set aside, simply to be thankful. Last year we begin a Thankful Tree one week before Thanksgiving Day. Every day, each member of the family wrote on a leaf what they were thankful for that day. So, we continued the tradition this year and what a blessed tradition it has become. Addison has reminded me every night "don't forget the leaves" and so after Family Altar we each write down what we are thankful for that day. The Lord has been so kind to me personally, as well as to our family, this little exercise seems so small, but what a blessing it is to take time to be thankful! It is amazing how easy it is to be thankful even when life is in chaos or turmoil, we h...

I've been praying for pain, I know it sounds crazy, but I've been in pain a while now and still haven't been able to walk through the pain with joy. So, I've been praying for it, praying for it to continue while those who love me pray for it to cease. Don't get me wrong, I want to feel relief, I want to be able to run with my kids, clean my house, kneel in prayer, and weed my garden without having to take a pain pill, truly I do. But more than that I want joy! Real, true, joy. I am a happy person, the Lord has given me so much, I have more to be thankful for then I have to lament. I also have joy, true joy, until the pain comes. Then something happens, it's like I can't control the way I am feeling and just lash out and find myself walking around in a pile of self pity. That is NOT joy. I have written in the past about my weakness and HIS strength, but it is a lesson hard learned and I believe joy goes right along with resting in HIS strength. I have ...

II Chronicles 12:14 "And he did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord." Ah, these days we are living in! We are hearing all sorts of horror stories on the news, and the internet is even worse, if we aren't careful we will be afraid to leave our house without a hazmat suit. Can you picture it? My little family of five leaving the house for church in hazmat suits?? Okay, I know it's not that funny, but seriously some days I'm tempted to at least don a face mask. II Chronicles 12:14 isn't talking about being prepared for the end of the world, but actually has more value for Christians than making sure our pantry is stocked to feed our whole family for at least 30 days (and I'm all for that). The word prepare means - In a general sense, to fit, adapt or qualify for a particular purpose, end, use, service or state, by any means.  Wow, looks like we've got lots of prepping to do! The verse in II Chronicles is talking about K...

Oh Savannah, what a beautiful, historical place! Before this weekend, we had never been to Savannah as a family (me and the kids had never been). I fell in love! It is such a beautiful city. I could have sat in front of the river for hours (or days) and just taken it all in.  We traveled to Savannah on Thursday and on Saturday traveled on to Pembroke, GA for a preaching engagement on Sunday. So, without further ado, here is our trip in pictures.  All excitement after a four hour drive in the car! First time we have stayed in one hotel room with all five of us in a very long time, it was quite an adventure!! Big brother carrying little sister along the river front downtown Savannah. The large ships on the river were absolutely ginormous, it was quite a sight to see. Gorgeous sunset with the bridge and ships as a backdrop. It really was spectacular! Addison and Chandler posing in front of one of the many monuments downtown. The enti...