Blessings.

Peace of God be with you all!  I love it when Paul says things like this in the New Testament.

Today I wanted to Praise and Thank God for some blessings in our lives.

Children!  Amanda turned 19 yesterday and is on her path in college to try to become a nurse.  I will be an exciting time to watch how God works her path in his plan.

Noah turns 11 today.  Our focus has shifted in our home to really raising up Godly young men since we have 3 of them and they are all still in the home.  Noah has grown by leaps and bounds in the past year and I do believe he will be baptized soon as he has started to talk more about it.  Understand I had all my children baptized as infants when we were within the Lutheran Church.  I now have a more complete understanding of this and the meaning and look forward to a new baptism made by choice and knowledge and growth on his part.  How exciting!

Joshua will be 7 in 2 months.  School has not been easy with him.  Some days it is all I can do to get him to sit for 5 minutes.  He is starting to take more initiative and has shown fabulous progress.  I have prayed over this a lot and even though I don't mind delaying learning for a child who is not quite ready the Lord has had to work on my heart knowing that I want him to do it all now.  He is always smiling and brings such laughter and energy to our home.

Micah will be 5 in 2 months.  We are still struggling with potty issues with him and ask for prayer.  Micah is such a smart young boy and even though we have tough days he is such a cuddle bug.  He loves to sit up with you and snuggle and what could be better than that.

Twila has been gone almost 8 years now.  Having her here for such a short time is a reminder of how fragile life is and that we must accept God's calling when it is time for us to go home.

I have so much more I want to say about provisions and blessings but I will leave that for another day.

Many blessings in our lives.

Have you ever really thought about the many blessings God gives us? It really is amazing!  I am reading the book 1000 gifts by Ann Voskamp.  She reminded me in there that the key to joy has a lot to do with thankfulness.

Thankful when your kids are sick or healthy. 
Thankful when  finances are bad or good. 
Thankful when your have reached your limit or not. 


I have really been learning this lesson the hard way.  I honestly have a really stinking attitude at times and sometimes make the choice to stay there.  Instead of replacing the lies that satan wants to put in my head with solid biblical truth I choose to stay in that lie.  Not all the time everyday but when I choose not to leave it then I am choosing to stay in that place.

Have you every talked to someone and had them say , I am not in the mood to talk , I am crabby today.  Well we really are choosing to remain in that spot.  We are letting satan win by not replacing the lie he told us to make us "crabby" with the truth that God has for us.

I have been working through many things while we try to navigate a clear path to where God wants our family to be in a biblical place, a financial place, and a physical place.  I have had to calm down, give thanks and wait on the word of God.  It is funny now that I have resolved myself to some of that how he is opening doors.  Life is hard.  I do know that as well as anyone and more than some and less than others.  Finding God's peace is only coming through a practice of thankgiving and understanding that I fall under his protection. Not protection to never have discomfort in my life or unpleasantness but protection of his grace.