Family Evangelism

It's been almost five years since we moved into our house in the heart of Cordova after leaving our 2 bedroom apartment shortly after addy was born. We have such a great Neighborhood! Sadly, I wish we could say we knew more of our neighbors. It seems like we always have the best intentions of doing some type of outreach or heck just knocking on the door to introduce ourselves but it always ends up falling through the cracks.

For Christmas this year we planned ahead of time to bake cookies, order some good solid gospel tracks, and include with it all an invite to our church Christmas service

With everything all ready to go I could feel some nervousness rising up in me. I'm not even exactly sure why. Maybe it's the fear of the unknown. Who will open the front door, will they be accepting of you, will their looks be one of kindness or rejection, will they receive your gift or not...

those thoughts can consume me if I'm not careful and cause me to begin to fear what I know The Lord has put in my heart to do. I was blessed to have a phone call with a dear friend who prayed over some things going on in my life and this outreach being one of them. Praise God for conversations like that!!!

Everything ready to go ;)

Our neighbors :)

 

Proverbs 29:25

"The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trust in The Lord is safe."

Lord, let NOT the fear of man cause us to shudder back from making known the love of our Savior! Whether its going around to our neighbors or going to the ends of the earth keep us faithful to you, for it is you working in us for your good pleasure.

Psalm 91:1

"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, will abide in the shelter of the Almighty."

Ahhhh I LOVE the words dwells and abides. We dwell in his shelter, we abide in Him our king!! What shall I fear??

May we find our strength to build his Kingdom in his everlasting love for his children.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

 

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Our trips and birthdays!

So we have some pretty awesome friends who even though they live about 6 hours away from us we try to seize every opportunity there might be to get some time with this family.

This is them :)

we love us some time with the Barker's! Allison has a wonderful blog where she post about all aspects of her life as a mommy, wife, sister, friend, and daughter of Christ. Its so great! Her website is www.afterhissmile.com if you would like to swing by there sometime.

At the beginning of this month we went up to Nashville to meet them and some other dear friends to celebrate their son Jude turning 4. Instead of going in to detail all about the trip I snapped a collection of pictures of our time there, (doesn't quite sum it all up) we were there just a day In a half but we very much enjoyed it :)

NASHVILLE + FRIENDS + LOTS OF LITTLE ONES = QUITE A FUN & BUSY TRIP!

 

Then there is this man.

My guy!!

On December 11th the kids and I put together something pretty simple for Jared's birthday! Just the way he would like it. "Keep it simple" that's his motto for just about everything :) he is without a doubt one of the greatest blessings I have received from our gracious Heavenly Father. I pray The Lord gives us many more years not to just celebrate birthdays together but all of life's joys, hardships, and victories. He is our rock and leads us in the way of The Lord sooooo well.

Psalm 50:1

 

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A new Christmas Tradition with our friends the Gales :)

Thank you Don and Megan for being such dear friends! We absolutely love your whole family!! I love how our children play and laugh together and the crazy games they make up (Mary and Joseph last night) :) you guys are so special to us and we hope to continue this fun little tradition each year at least until God moves one us away..the question is who will be first ;)

BEAUTIFUL HOME! So much love here!

The events of our evening...

Getting ready to do Advent

Kids getting ready to listen to the story and sing together.

A moment of silliness between me and my man :)

 

Megan putting up with my craziness..but look at that belly it's so cute! We love you little Henry

Opening gifts next that the kids gave to each other.

We all got pictures made by the little artist Eden

Uncle Jared opening up his

I wish I remember what Eden was saying right here

One of my favs:)

 

But we all know Jared couldn't stay serious for to long :)

 

 

 

 

Owen getting his first Spider-Man toy!

 

Decorating cookies

 

Such a great evening! So much ahead for our family in the next two weeks. Busy Busy!!

As this month draws to a close may we keep our hearts close to the one who came into this sinful broken world to redeem us and make us His. May your Christmas with family & friends be a joyful one in The Lord.

 

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Adoption, potty training, trips & birthday's

So that's a mouthful for a title huh!? There is more I could probably add since its been so long since my last post :( it does make me sad to think about. Yet sometime busyness and distractions just happen. Hey, it's life :) I have to say it does feel really nice to be sitting here on the couch ( while being serenaded by my beautiful daughter with the words "my God's not dead he surely alive he's living in the inside roaring like a lion") feet propped up and just typing! So where to begin...

Adoption. What a word that is! What a journey it is to be a part of! What a struggle it can be prior to the actual traveling and coming home to the new changes of life with your new child! We are currently # 3 on the waiting list at the home. As of now (and anything can change in the blink of an eye) we should Lord willing be receiving a referral this month! I try not to become disappointed as each passing week goes by and nothing has changed. There was a little bit of disappointing news this week and some personal set backs with trying to get health insurance for our family. It was the first time I can remember in these 2 years feeling so very sad and discouraged. There was no hiding it either nor did I want to. What I needed was to spill it out on paper. While journaling The Lord quickly brought Proverbs 3: 5-6 into my writing.

"Trust in The Lord with all your heart lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and he will make straight your paths." Easy verse to recite, hard verse to actively walk out and believe for your circumstances. It stayed with me all night. The one I put my trust in isn't something made by human hands, or someone buried 6 feet under. It's my GOD! He is good and faithful, he is alive and personal, he cares and sees. We will remember your promises from of old! He is good and His timing is never late! Each day I am having to remember and believe his word.

In the middle of all my struggling I did get inspired to do one thing. With Isaiah's soon to be arrival I decided it would be really nice if we could have Micaiah potty trained before he gets here. I also felt like he understood and would be ready. So on Monday it began. With a nine pack of Spider-Man underwear, a little motivation, and a clear schedule we were set!!! And it just delights my heart to say he is doing soooooo well! Seriously, such a big boy! Even today we had to take addy to school and run some errands right after and I just bit the bullet, ditched the diaper and kept the underwear on. No accidents! not one! It's so cool to rejoice and take part in theses small (well I'd say potty training is a big one) stages in our children's lives! Taking one day at a time & embracing each moment!

Ok. I'm going to go ahead and tie things up right here. Seems like a good stopping point. The trips and birthday will have to come later. :)

Happy Tuesday Friends

"Out of Zion the perfection of beauty God shines forth." Psalm 50:1

 

 

 

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