An apple a day...

Current state of mind:  OVERWHELMED!

I once read a quote that went like this "We make plans, and God laughs."  God must get alot of laughs out of me and my life.  Nothing ever seems to go the way I had hoped.  Circumstances are constantly changing and curve balls are being thrown from every direction.

I'm Back!

Life can be hard.  Sometimes, a girl just needs an outlet to vent frustrations.  This blog is one of my outlets.  I'm not sure why I waited so long.  I tend to be the kind of person that keeps things, emotional type things, tucked away... then as time goes by, and the "things" keep piling up, I start to become a crazy person, trying to mimic the resemblance of a sane person :/


In my more than 6 month absence from this blog many intense family issues have popped up...


*we are starting to homeschool
*Roo has chronic kidney disease
*my mother in law is gravely ill
*my niece Lilly got diagnosed with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis
*the engine in our 2nd vehicle blew
*a break up, and then a make up with a best friend
*my teenage daughter lost her mind for a few days


and lots of other things in between.  BUT, God is still good, all the time!  He loves me passionately, He pursues me relentlessly, and He blesses me extravagantly.

I will overcome, by the blood of the Lamb and the word of my testimony.


Angy

Catching Up

When life throws me a curve ball, the last thing on my mind is blogging... but I started to think of how long it has been since I've blogged, and I began to wonder if I needed to just dive back in, and more than likely it would end up being cathartic anyway right?

To catch everyone up on our life, one of the most

Inspired

Today I was reminded by special little boy, that life is far too short to be wallowing in the pool of bitterness, anger, jealousy, doubt  *insert your word of choice here*...

Roo doesn't filter things the same way everyone else does.  Does he get angry? Is the incredible Hulk green??? Of course he does.  Does he sometimes let stuff just fly out of his mouth? yup- sure does.  But guess what else he does? Immediately after he feels like he's hurt someone, he runs up to them, most times sobbing, and throws his arms around that person and begs for forgiveness, all the while telling them how very sorry he is for hurting them.  WOW.  And then, he just moves on.  He doesn't really carry grudges, or throw junk back in your face after its over with, he just goes on and keeps on living.

I want to be like Roo.  He's just a child, but because God's gifted him with these supernatural beautiful qualities, It is I, his mother, who is constantly learning from him.


Are you hung up on self pity, or doubt, or anger or bitterness, or even unforgiveness?  Let it go- letting it go takes away its power and eases your burden... soothe your soul- come on get happy...

theCanvasStory

I have a dear friend named Heather Marshall.  She's the kind of woman that those sappy friendship movies are made of.  She's tough, and funny, smart and loyal, kind and stubborn, generous and silly, and boy does she love Jesus.  


She's decided to make a difference in this world.  Some of us donate to food pantries. Some of us volunteer at shelters. Those things are important and desperately needed... but then there's Heather-  She's decided to take on the fight against human trafficking. God laid it on her heart to do something extraordinary- something more than she thought she could- He challenged her to step outside of her own little world  and OBEY.  And she did. And she is. And she's making a difference.  


Please check out her website and get inspired. What is it that God has in store for you? Stop thinking about it and just do something.  Heather did, and now the world will be a better place because of it.


 http://thecanvasstory.com/

Living

So yesterday at church, one of the most amazing things happened.  A woman walked up to me, said she had heard we were looking for a second car, and that she wanted to GIVE us one. I looked back at her and said "what did you just say?" She just smiled, and I burst into tears!  She said her daughter was blessed by her grandparents with a brand new vehicle, and she would like for us to have her 2002 Hyundai.  I just kept crying, and I've cried off and on ever since.

My God is good.  Not just because He gave us a car. He just is. We've been praying about what to do about needing a second vehicle... we thought about going to a dealership, but we didn't want the debt. We've looked on craigslist, but nothing jumped out at us... we felt like God's answer was "sit tight, and wait".  Not my favorite answer- that one's a hard one for me.  But we waited, and now we have a car, no debt attached to it, driven by a church family, well loved, and now its ours!

We were so blessed to have been given a car to drive in the mean time by our dear friends the Burton's.  Words can't express the love I have for these people. They opened up their home to us for 2 weeks while we were house hunting here, and they have continued to be so generous and kind to our family. They are a huge piece of my heart.

God is slowly unfolding our life here in Florida... and its magnificent.  He brought us to the most amazing ministry and we are honored to get to be a part of the team there.  He's surrounded us with friends and mentors who love and challenge us daily... He's given us a beautiful home that we constantly get to use to glorify Him.  He has settled in our children, and they absolutely love their life here now.

We are living out our happily ever after.  Thomas and I are incredibly blessed to have the life we do.  God has touched us with so much favor and blessing, and we don't take that lightly.  We aren't perfect, but we love our Lord and we strive to be a reflection of Christ's love wherever we go.  We are so thankful to be living this spectacular life that He's given us.

Psalm 67:1-2
May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.

Welcome to Holland

A friend shared this with me and I wept.  I wept like i haven't wept in a long while.  I needed to be reminded of the beautiful blessing i've been given with Roo- and the amazing task I've been given by God to raise my special little boy... 

WELCOME TO HOLLAND

by

Emily Perl Kingsley.

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.