Happy Birthday

To my sweet Hubby!

He turns 45 today but alas

there will be no teasing about being half way to 50 cause by October...

I will have made it to 50!

Stinks!

"grin"

We didn't do anything special this year cause, well, we are broke and cause we are getting ourselves ready to bring these 2 precious gifts home

 

and they are the ultimate gifts!

How could I top that?

I do know, however that my sweet hubby has probably grown more in the past 3 years than in all of his 45 years on this earth.

 

There have been growing pains for sure but through it all, he stayed strong and found his true foundation.

He likes to laugh this sweet Hubby of mine and being goofy is one of his fav past times...

 

that along with thoroughly embarrassing his boys

You did catch that, right?  His boys!

His girls are a different story 

sorry for the old pics but Hubby is never here long enough to take pics - sigh..

I think if he could carry his girls on his shoulders for the rest of their lives, up from the "ugly" of the world, he would!

He thinks of himself much like the Grinch.

A tough as nails heart that grew 3 sizes and popped right out of it's tight little frame, the day he met me and started having all these younguns!

I know the truth, however...

 

His sweet Momma started that process loooooong before he met me!

This hubby of mine has had quite the journey here recently and I thank the Lord every single day for the struggles that brought us to this place, this place of trust, this place of letting go of control and this place of peace, not to mention this place of 5 going on 7 kiddos!

Those last 2 just don't seem to go together, do they?

Heh! 

If you had told me when we met that we would eventually end up with 7 beautiful children...

I might have run the other way...

screaming!

I think that is why the Lord only shows us what we need to see, day by day.

If we saw all that was ahead...

we might just get back in bed and pull the covers over our heads...

Hubby's other fav past time!

Hehe!

The Lord has certainly done a mighty work within Hubby's heart and tonight as I think back over the last few years, the sweet song, Blessings by Laura Story, comes to mind



We have had so many "mercies in disguise" over the last few years and I am so grateful to have weathered the storms and uncovered the mercies with this sweet man by my side.

He worries about the pounds that he wants to loose.

He worries about, ahem, his head out growing his hair...

but all I see is a heart too large to contain and an awakening of what this life is really all about.

I hate that he is there and we are here on his birthday but he is in our thoughts today and in our hearts everyday.

Happy (45th) Birthday my love!

Be kind in October!

"wink"

Waiting...

and preparing

As I sit here tonight waiting to hear when our consulate date is, I can't help but to think back over the last year and a half.  

So many things that just did not make sense are beginning to.

Waiting has never come easy to me.

Patience was something just out of my reach for most of my life.

Control was something that Hubby and I relied on to function and to feel "safe".

However, through this past year and a half of struggle and wait and lack of control...

We have arrived at a place of peace

a place of trust

a place of "bring it on Lord", cause we know that Your plan is always for our good...

even if it doesn't always feel that way.

He has really been showing me that being one of His children, doesn't come with a promise of a grand and easy life.

That is the lie of our fallen society.

To most in this world, being successful and happy means that you have wealth or power or position or fame or, simply a couple of kiddos, a nice, quiet, trouble free life with yearly vacations and a good, safe retirement.

However, what He has been revealing to me lately is that there is so much more and that true success and happiness comes in honest and utter submission to...

"whatever Lord"

Where is the glory in fame?

Where is the glory in our safe lives?

Believe me, Hubby and I are still working on this but we are closer today than we were yesterday and I pray that we will be closer tomorrow than we are today.

It is hard to let go of dreams, of expectations and of safety nets.

That last one is SO hard for me but He has been working (extra hard - hehe) on us, on reshaping our dreams and expectations and safeness. Still, some days we get it and other days, not so much but we are trying and tonight...

all I can think of is our two beautiful daughters waiting for us on the other side of the world.

All I can think of is the struggles they have endured, the heartaches, the fear, the loneliness, the good byes and the wait.

Yep, this wait has been hard on us but they... they have been waiting for almost all of their lives to feel loved, to feel secure, to feel like they belong and that just breaks this Momma's heart.

Nope, some things just don't make sense and may never make sense in this fallen world but the one thing that does, is His unending love for us and His promise of redemption, not the promise of a good life but the best life - the life to come!

There is a particular song that He has been placing on my heart lately.  It is "Whom Shall I Fear" by Chris Tomlin.

On many different anxious ridden moments, He brought this song to my heart but two in particular stand out as in each moment, I heard the sweetest little voice emerge out of the back seat of my car. 

 First it was my Emmeline sweetly singing, "I know who goes before me.  I know who stands behind.  The God of angel armies is always by my side."

and then on a completely different day, it was my Lizzie who was just as sweetly singing the exact same verse from this awesome song.

over and over

They did not know the words to the rest of the song but at that moment in time, they didn't need to.

That was all I needed.

Thank you Lord!

You see, it is not about this life but all about the life to come and I am being taught that I can withstand the troubles and the trials and I can do it in a way that brings Him glory.

I can have peace in the "waits" of this life and joy in letting go and while surrendering my life to Him might appear to be more trouble than it is worth...

what is worth more than everlasting life, everlasting love, everlasting peace?

I think I will happily endure the temporary struggle here for his promise of what is to come.

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 

So now we prepare our home and our hearts to welcome our two precious daughters whose wait for a family is almost over.

Thank you Lord - Lucy and Maggie are coming home!

OH MY GOSH!!!!!!

VERY SOON...

THESE TWO BEAUTIFUL GIRLS WILL BE JOINING

THIS CRAZY FAMILY!

I was just informed that our TA (or travel approval) is on it's way!!

Sorry for the short post but my head is spinning

I have so much to do

and so little time to do it

I have gifts to buy

and arrangements to make

and bunk beds to put up

and bed spreads to buy

and school supplies to gather

and a cat to find a home for...

PLEASE!!!!  Hehe!  

This is the latest stray that found us!

and and and!!!

Oh my!!!   

This is from my devotional this morning:

"Ask Me to open your eyes, so that you can find me everywhere.  This is not some sort of escape from reality; it is tuning in to ultimate reality.  I am far more Real than the world you can see, hear and touch."

"For we walk by Faith, not by sight."

2 Corinthians 5:7

 

We are walking, Lord!  We are walking!

 

Thank You for leading us through!

Sunday Snapshot - Edisto...

Should be Edist-ahhhh

 

this summer as every summer...

my sweet Momma made it possible for us to just sit back

relax

and just enjoy each other

there is no place on earth like Edisto for me

or for Hubby

he proposed to me there

right on this dock

Sadly, this may have been our last summer here

in this peaceful place

full of wonderful memories

I pray that one day, the Lord will provide the way for us to retire here

to end our life here on earth together at the very place that it began

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. 
Psalm 37:4

He certainly knows that Hubby and I desire this place, not now, but in His time.

For now, I set my heart on what He wants from me this day...

 and I trust!

To read more awesome Sunday Snapshots go to Stef's amazing blog, here,