2008

I cannot believe that 2008 is almost over.

ONLY by God's mercy and compassion are we able to look back on this year and smile now. There were so many tears this year, especially at the beginning.

My relationship with Mike would not be what it is today had it not been what we went through. I would never and will never go through that again. However, if 10 years ago someone said "would you marry Mike if you knew that he would be a strong, faithful believer in Jesus Christ, the spiritual leader in your home, love you and your children like God intends in 10 years after a VERY difficult year, would you still marry him?" YES. It took 13 years of prayer for Mike to become a believer. We are married today only by God's grace. This past October was 11 years. But 1 year with Christ as the foundation. That foundation makes all of the difference in the world. I am a different person than I was last year, Mike is different, the girls are too.
We made many positive changes this year. In January we turned the TV off. The girls get to watch DVD's and Saturday morning cartoons. We spend alot more time talking and developing relationships with each other. It has been awesome and we do not miss the tube at all. I got a M-F job and am home every evening. That took a little getting used to because I did the three 12 hour shifts/week. Now I love having the evenings, weekends and holidays with my family. We sold our boat, sold our rent house, we are involved in 2 lifegroups, we went on our first mission trip, we got started in BSF and are learning so much about Moses ( in fact we are on a 3 week break and I miss Moses) we started to go downtown and help give sandwiches to the homeless and pray with them. I am also best friends with Esther right now (in Beth Moore's study, the life of Esther, It's Tough Being a Woman)

We want to live our lives for God, we want to go where God wants us, not just invite Him where we want to go. That is hard. So many days I pray for God to "be with me", instead I should be praying for me to be with God.

We are so thankful for the many friends we have made this year. Special people who God brought into our
lives. We had dinner with Sheila and Gary last night. It was so much fun to fellowship with them. They have raised their boys and now have grandchildren. I want to emulate their relationship with each other, God, their family.

This year I don't want to indulge in things for myself. I want to give more, to be rich in deeds like 1 Tim 6:18 says "Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share".

This year I want us to have a spiritually centered one with the values that are laid out for us in scripture.

This year I want to be a woman after God's heart, to be God's friend. In Exodus 33:11 it says that the Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Wow! I have these Holy Scriptures in front of me, I want God to speak to me like He is speaking to His friend.

Happy New Year!!!

Christmas Eve dinner was prime rib that Mike fixed. It was superlicious!

This is the first picture with mom and dad (even though they both have their eyes closed) together with us in many years. Katie was having a moment in another room behind a chair because she didn't want her picture taken.

We went to the 9:00 pm candlelight service at church. We brought mom, Patrick and Faith with us. Faith really wanted to play, so I played with her in the nursery.

I love my family so much. It was so fun to get up this morning at 0615 and see what Santa brought. Lisa got an art easel, Katie got a new bedspread and they both received Wii outdoor, which when they opened it Katie said "Santa must have gotten this from Costco." Yes, I am quite sure he did and glad I know that since we are going to have to return it since it is not working.

They both got a Razor, (skateboard thing with a handlebar) from Aunt Cindy. I jokingly told Cindy she would have to pay the first ER copay for the girls, however, I have a lovely shin bruise from the thing and ALMOST totally wiped out. Thankfully 8 years of ballet payed off and I "gracefully" kept myself from doing a face plant into the pavement. My days of riding on the Razor are over. Actually, I was only on the thing for like 1 minute, so my "seconds" riding on that thing are OVER!

We are in the midst of moving. Boxes are being packed, chaos and disorganization are our themes now. We are closing on January 9. Moving is very stressful for me. I do not thrive well in chaos and disorganization. We are very excited about our new home

Almost Christmas

I can't believe that next week is Christmas. We have had alot of things going on this season. We delivered Prison Angel Tree gifts to two families this week. We are making stained glass crosses to give as gifts to our lifegroups. We are doing the Jesse Tree at dinner and have the advent devotions.

This is the best Christmas season I have ever had. On top of the hussle of this season, we have been looking at houses in Shavano Park and have found one that we are in negotiations with. It is kind of stressful, more for Mike than me. The thought of moving is stressful for me. We are thankful to God for His blessings.

Thankyou Lord for all that you have blessed us with. May our hearts overflow with your kindness and mercy.

A quote to think about

Very interesting quote, this has made me think.

"I have to learn that the aim in life is God's, not mine. God is using me from His great personal standpoint, and all He asks of me is that I trust Him, and never say - Lord, this gives me such heart-ache.... He simply asks me to have implicit faith in Himself and in His goodness. Self-pity is of the devil, if I go off on that line I cannot be used by God for His purpose in the world. I have 'a world within the world' in which I live, and God will never be able to get me outside it because I am afraid of being frost-bitten." - Oswald Chambers

How often do I not trust God? How often do I want to be in control of everything? How often do I get in the self-pity mode?

Just something to think about.

Giving Thanks.

As we rapidly approach this Thanksgiving Day, I am trying not to get caught up in the busyness that this season brings. I remember hearing that when the Pilgrims arrived to America, they had 5 kernels of corn rationed to them for the day! That was their first Thanksgiving. But they gave thanks to God for providing to them.

I give thanks to God for Mike. We went to the Weekend to Remember 2 weekends ago through Family Life at La Cantera. It was amazing! We learned so much-Mike is my gift from God and I love the gift and the gift Giver. My spouse is not my enemy. Oneness like God intended. We renewed our vows at the end of the conference and even got a certificate. It was definitely a "weekend to remember."
The girls got the privilege of staying with their Aunt Cindy. They had a blast and came home with lots of stuff. They went to Build-a-Bear and came home with "Goldie" the penguin for Katie, and "Rabbit" the rabbit for Lisa. We have been fortunate on stuffed animal names-pretty much we state the obvious: "Puppy dog", "Dolphin", "Kitty","Snakey" "Tiger". Lisa has a red beta named "Blaze". Surprisingly, he has been alive for a long time. Katie had a beta named "Smokey". Now a beta who is gray when you buy him (thank you Aunt Cindy), probably does not have a long life expectancy. "Smokey" died and is buried in the back yard. Mike gave a great eulogy. The cats watched from across the yard, licking their chops.
Today is half a day of school. We are getting Grandmother for a couple of days. It will be nice to stay at home and focus on my family this weekend.
Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! 2 Corinthians 9:15

Something New

I have decided that I want to chronicle our family life. I have always loved scrap booking but am about 4 years behind. I get overwhelmed just thinking about it. We have a digital camera with thousands of pictures on it and I would like to do something with the pictures and to tell the story of our life. So I will start today.

Today Lisa and Katie are in 2nd (Lisa) and 1st (Katie) grades. We all attend BSF, studying the life of Moses. I am also doing Beth Moore's bible study on Esther, It's Tough Being A Woman. Mike is involved in a study on 1 Timothy. We are loving learning about God. He is gracious, compassionate, slow to anger, rich in love. Mike and I would not be here today if it were not for God's abounding love.

The above photo is from our mission trip to Mexico in June, 2008. We were in the Huichol Indian Village in the mountains of Mexico. Those are my very loving, absolutely joyful, kind of loud, and super dirty girls. There was not any running water or electricity in the village, so no bath, only a wipe down with baby wipes. We were in the village for 3 days, supporting a missionary and his family who live there. We built 4 shelters in 3 days. Hard work!! Lisa and Katie were perfect-which in and of itself was a miracle-Thank you God!!