Today I'm thankful for......

2. My First Born

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Lately I've just been reminded again how thankful I am that God truly does "know best" all of the time. When Lydia was born, it was the greatest shock of my life. I was POSITIVE I was having a boy!!! I thought that I wanted a boy. It took me all of .0009 seconds to fall desperately in love with this beautiful little girl though.

Over and over I ask Lydia, " What would I do without you?". And I mean it! She is an amazing help and encouragement to me. Not only does she delight in taking care of her younger sisters and helping me do household chores, she also verbally encourages me so faithfully. Not a day goes by that I don't receive some precious gift, whether it's a lovingly made card or a bouquet of weeds.

Praise the Lord that He gave me this precious young lady. I'm so thankful for her and can't wait to see the amazing plans in store for her!

Don't Be Deceived!!!

James 1 :16-17~ Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.


I LOVE the second part of this verse. I think about it all the time. It helps keep me focused on praising the Lord for all that He has done. But I think the first portion is so crucial! "Don't be deceived!". James knew how easy it is for us to get distracted with life and to not realize or think about our "good and perfect gifts". Or even worse, we in our pride somehow believe that we have achieved or somehow deserve these blessings in our lives.

I know that I fall into the trap of being deceived very often. In an attempt to focus my thoughts on praising my Father of the heavenly lights for the good gifts that come from HIM, I'm going to begin a week of thankfulness, spending some time thinking about some specific things I am truly grateful for. This will by no means be an exhaustive list, or listed from greatest to least. Just a small smattering.

And when I say I'm thankful, know that it is not just a general feeling. It is an act of worshipping my gracious Father and truly saying "thank you" to Him!

1. My husband

I just have to start here. I was thinking about this all night last night as I couldn't sleep very well. I know that I talk about him all of the time. I'm sure that you've all heard our story (if not just wait until June!). We met when I was three years old. I was madly in love with him when I was thirteen. We finally married soon after I turned eighteen. Looking back, I don't even know why I was "so sure" that he was the man for me. But I am 100% convinced that he is.

My husband is an amazing man. I could write more than you'd ever care to read so right now I will share my favorite thing about him. He is a man who not only loves the Lord with His all of his heart, but also wholeheartedly takes God at His word. The Word of God is what he guides his life by, and because of that I can trust him and give him my complete respect. You single ladies who may be reading this, hold out for this kind of man. What more can you ask for, than someone who desires to conform to the Lord's will. Everything else you could want falls under that heading. Honesty, gentleness, hard-working, joy, humility, patience, amazing love all come with a heart to please the Lord.

I am very thankful for my husband!

Another Random Blessing!

I remembered today that I had failed to show off my very favorite baby gift for Ella. Soon after she was born, my blogging buddy turned real life friend and fabulous photographer, Alysun, offered to take some newborn pictures of Ella. Not only that, she came all the way out to our house to take them! I was completely thrilled!

If you are local and in need of a photographer, I whole-heartedly recommend Alysun. Not only are her prices fabulous and her photos gorgeous, she is amazing at working with kids (a mom of three herself!) and has managed to get good pictures of all of my silly girls every time she photographed us. Check out her blog at alysunpetersphotography.blogspot.com .

Thanks again Alysun for your amazing gift!!!

Coming up in March....

I can't believe it's March already!!! With the baby and the wedding, it feels like these first two months of 2010 have absolutely flown by!

March always feels extra long to me. It's not quite spring. You can't quite plant a garden or all the flowers I've dreamt of all winter long. We're all itching for a change and yet patience is required for at least another month.

I thought I would just take a minute to think of some of the things I'm looking forward to in March.

A very special meeting~ This week my brother-in-law is bringing home my future sister-in-law for us to meet!!! I'm so excited!!!! (More details to follow!)

Walking,walking,walking~ I'm participating in a "500 miles in 2010" walking challenge with my MOMYS friends. I love it! Lest you have grand thoughts of me treading gallantly out in the wind and rain, let me set you straight. I walk in my living room. I have a "Walk Away the Pounds" video that I actually enjoy. Feel free to laugh and poke fun, but hey! I've walked 103 miles so far this year! That feels pretty good!

Pain~ While walking has felt really good and has provided me with great energy and endurance, I've been chomping at the bit to get started on something that will more aggressively attack my left over baby fluff. Now that I'm at the 6 week mark, I'm starting on the "30 Day Shred". (Note~ attire and language is not very family friendly!) I just started it today and believe me, there will be much pain this month!

Great joy~ Everyday is such a blessing. My girls are growing up faster than I can believe, and every day molds them with more joy, grace and beauty than the day before. My husband is as always, the man of my dreams. God seems to have gifted him with the amazing ability of learning how to love his crazy wife better each day! God is so faithfully providing and caring for us, revealing Himself to us and drawing us closer to each other. Yes, whatever March brings, I know it will bring great joy!

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Being Found Faithful

Tomorrow is my daddy's birthday. He always said that I was almost his best birthday present as I was born only four hours after his birthday.

People are always telling me how blessed my life is ( a fact I readily agree to!), but I believe it didn't just happen by chance. David and I both come from an incredibly Godly heritage. We were both raised by parents who wanted nothing more for us than to love Jesus Christ with all of our hearts. We were trained for a purpose. And my dad had much to do with that.

My daddy has always been my hero. There was never anything he couldn't do. He always loved us boldly in word and deed. He provided for us, played wildly with us and took great joy in our interests. But there was so much more.

My dad prayed for us. Every morning for as long as I can remember, he was up at the crack of dawn, building a fire, reviewing scripture and praying for his children. I have no doubt of the power of those prayers in my life! My dad was also my pastor for all of my growing up years. Always he was a man of integrity, living just as faithfully before his family as he did anywhere else.

One of my dad's favorite songs is called "Find us Faithful" by Steve Green. The chorus goes,

May all who come behind us find us faithful.

May the fire of our devotion light their way.

May the footprints that we leave lead them to believe,

And the lives we live inspire them to obey.

Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful.

I love you Daddy! Thank you for being such a faithful witness to me all of my days, and for continuing to be one for my children. Thank you for inspiring my fire to love the Lord. I want to be just like you!

Just a quick......

THANK YOU!!! I once again feel very compelled to thank each and every one of you who takes the time, even just a brief moment, to stop by here and see what's going on in our life.

When I wrote out Ella Joy's birth story I was so touched (okay, maybe I was a little extra emotional those days!) by how many of you not only read it all, but also left comments.

I must admit, I am a sucker for comments! I first started my blog June of '08 and I had two blogging buddies. Thankfully my Mom stopped by from time to time as well. For 17 posts my record amount of comments was 2. And there were many, MANY just plain zeros.

Then a miraculous day came! Alysun found me through my friend's blog! " I actually read your blog a lot..." she said, and my whole blogging life changed! Someone who wasn't "bound" to come by chose to come by!

I don't know how the rest of you ended up here (although I know facebook was a great tool!), but every time any one of you leaves a comment, a note on facebook or just tells me in person that they read my blog, it is a huge encouragement to me.

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! You all are such tremendous blessings in my life!

Overwhelmed

How am I this morning? Completely overwhelmed. I've been sick for the past three days. Nothing too serious. Just the headache, sinus congestion, sore throat and stomach ache that makes you wish you lived under your down comforter! I feel like my house is falling apart, due to the fact of Mommy wishing she was under a down comforter for three days. Oh, also we have no money. That's sort of what happens when there is hardly any construction work for months!

That is not even a glimpse into why I feel overwhelmed though. In the last 24 hours I have had two of the best dates imaginable. The first was with my amazingly incredible husband. Even with things being a little tight right now, he arranged for our girls to spend the night at Grammy's house and whisked me away to spend some time with him. I haven't had a chance to say it yet today, so let me just get it out there. I LOVE MY HUSBAND!!! I realized the other day that I have been in love with him for over ten years. But never have I loved him more than I do now. I could write a book describing all the amazing things about him. Every day I am blown away by how blessed I am to be married to such a mighty man of God. We are lovers and best friends and I am so thankful to be experiencing how awesome God's design for marriage is.

We had so much fun talking about past, present and a future full of joy and excitement. It was wonderful having that time to just be together. It was a fabulous date.

David had to leave early this morning for his men's group that he meets with, so I was enjoying sleeping in with my precious Ella babe and no one else in the house. That's when I got the invitation for my second date.

Gently and tenderly I felt called from my bed to the chair down by the fire to spend some uninterrupted time with my first love. Jesus. It was beautiful. He is beautiful. And Good. And Awesome. And Faithful. I could go on forever, but thankfully there is a book written about how amazing He is.

How precious it is to be held in the arms of our Savior. Why would I ever want to be anywhere else? To know that He loves me more perfectly and beautifully than I could ever imagine. To know that everything I love or care about belongs to Him and is completely in His control. How could I worry about a house or food or clothes, when my Father who loves me has unlimited resources and absolute wisdom as to what is best for us? How could I complain about anything when I taste and see everyday how good He is to me. He gave His own life to purchase me, wash me and make me righteous. He has blessed me more than I could ever describe. Never have I lacked anything and always I am basking in the overflow of His provision.

Yes, this morning I am completely overwhelmed. And I hope I stay this way every day of my life!