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Thursday, November 29, 2012

Thankfulness=Joy

Thankfulness. Gratitude.  Eucharisteo.

Although Thanksgiving day has already made its visit this year, it is crucial that we do not pack our thankfulness away with our fall decorations.  For it is only through thankfulness that we find true joy and it would be a shame to only experience that joy in our Novembers.  No, I want that joy day in and day out.  And it's right there for all of us to grasp no matter our circumstance.  I'm tired of missing the forest for the trees.  Aren't you? So will you join me in focusing on the blessings right in front of you instead of what is on your Christmas wish list?

Here are just a few of my blessings:

1) a little red-head named Elijah who loves mommy, pacies, sweet peas and yogurt
2) my Josiah Bug who loves cheese, counting, singing his ABCs and playing outside


 
 
3) my husband who loves me unconditionally and works hard for our family, our church and for God
 



4) my dad-our big teddy bear who loves our boys dearly



5)my mom-the best Gammy in the world to our boys and also a great listener to her daughter in need

 
 
6) Paula- the Lord sent Paula to me as a friend when I didn't even realize how much I needed one! My boys have also fallen in love with her and her husband Rob.
 



7) The gift of family...what a blessing! I love my family so much and I think I would miss them even if I had never met them!







"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God."

Colossians 3:16

Sunday, November 11, 2012

it ain't always pretty...

It has been over a month since I last blogged.  And for good reason.  The truth is, I needed the break....from writing my own and from reading other women's blogs.  I love writing and documenting our family life, but when it is done via something as public as a blog, it's easy to leave out the hard, messy details.  But sometimes  I think the messy stuff is more encouraging to women like me.  I need to see that you struggle just like me and that God's grace is the only thing that gets you from day to day.  I need to see that your kids aren't perfect and your house is messy more than it is clean.  And I disovered this past week that other women need that from me to. 

I was given the opportunity to speak at a women's luncheon in Cason, Texas this past week. I spoke on the biblical portrait of Christian womanhood from 1 Peter 3:1-6 and I gave my own testimony of the last 4+ years that Jordan and I have been married.  I was completely bare in front of these women and I shared things with him that only my husband knew.  It was hard and I felt very exposed.  But you know what? When I looked into those women's eyes, I saw the tears and the hurt and the understanding...I saw that they too had their fair share of pain in this life. I realized then that just being honest, raw and real with them did way more good than if I would have gotten up there and painted a picture of how I wanted them to see me. 

With that said, when I post pictures here on my blog, please realize that my life is FAR from perfect.  My main reason for blogging is to document my boys' childhood and not to paint a picture of perfection.  I may not go around taking pictures of all the messiness that happens around here, but just know that there is plenty of that to go around. 

Below is a slew of pictures from the past two months.  And yes, God has blessed me abundantly.  But please note that "messy life" also took place in between these pictures and during them.  : )


September:















October:





















So who's ready for Thanksgiving? : )