Trusting GOD

So, we have been INCREDIBLY blessed these past couple of weeks. Baby sis came to join us and OH MY GOODNESS, she is a tiny miracle disguised as a baby. Our adoption of Hannah was finalized!! God is good! People have been blessing us with money for Christmas, toys for the kids and stacks of diapers! We are humbled by the generosity of our friends and family. Please know that we are constantly thanking God for you.

In the midst of all the blessings, Satan is coming on strong trying to discourage us. A couple weeks ago I felt like God wanted me to fast and focus on the fruit of self-control. I was successful for part of the fast. lol I did find some great scriptures and teaching on self-control though. Now it is easy to see why He laid that on my heart because I have really needed to use some self-control the past few days when it comes to DHS and other people involved in our sibling case. Just like the fast, I have been only partially successful in my self-control and have yelled at and hung up on a caseworker this week because of decisions that they are making that are clearly not in the best interest of the children that I have taken care of for the past year. After that incident, I passed all communication between DHS and our family to Seth, who is much better at remaining calm in the face of adversity than I am. I had to pull out one of my all time favorite books, Trusting God, by Jerry Bridges, to refocus. It reminded me that whenever we face trials, God is always trying to teach us something. He never wastes adversity. There is so much good info in this book, I cannot recommend it enough. "If God is going to use you and me, He will bring adversity into our lives so that we, too, may learn experientially our dependence on Him." -Jerry Bridges

Please lift our family up in prayer. I have so much more to work on when it comes to my parenting, my relationship with Seth, and especially my relationship with Christ. All I want is for God to get the glory for all we do and I feel like I fail Him so often. God uses us to do great things because we are so imperfect, so that He can get the glory. I am so weak in so many areas, that it just continues to boggle my mind that God can use me to inspire or encourage others. I am so thankful though that I have grown in my faith enough to turn to Him during these times, because even a year ago, I would never have thought, "What is God trying to teach me through this? How is He using this to make me more like Him?" I am growing and can honestly say that I am very close to "considering it all joy when I face trials of many kinds, because I know that the testing of my faith produces perseverance!!" James 1:2-3

I want to end this post with gratitude and pictures from our adoption of Hannah - SHE IS SO WORTH THE TRIALS WE WENT THROUGH!!

With our amazing caseworker, Amanda! So blessed by her!

With our good friend, Jessica. Such a blessing to our family!

Judge Kirby is awesome!! 

Hannah Grace!!! 

Forever sisters!
Giving the glory to GOD! Thank you JESUS!
 *Pictures donated by Allison Wheeler at Poetry and Prose Photography

Popular posts from this blog

Saying Goodbye to Judah

Image
On January 20, 2020 at 7:15am, I said goodbye to my youngest child, my “forever” baby, my Judah. Seth woke me up by gently shaking my shoulder. I startled awake as he tearfully said, “I think he’s about to go.” I couldn’t believe it. How did it happen so quickly, why didn’t he wake me up earlier?? Seth said that his color changed almost instantly and his breathing drastically slowed while he was holding him in the living room while I got a few hours of sleep. I took Judah from Seth and climbed back into bed and told him to wake up everyone quickly. Owen sat next to me with his hand on Judah’s chest as we cried and told him goodbye one last time. Everyone hugged and kissed him as we listened to Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus and he took his final breath. The sobbing was audible and painful. I kept most of his face covered for the next two hours because I wanted the kids to remember him with his rosy red lips and beautiful complexion. Our heaven-sent hospice nurse came and pronounced him de
Read more

38 Years Young

Image
My goal for my 38th year is to quiet the negative self talk and begin to embrace my gifts and my strengths instead of focusing on my weaknesses. With that thought, I decided to write myself a reminder using the same grace I would with a friend. Happy birthday Elizabeth! I know it is so hard to believe that you are 38 years old. Last year was tough, but in the midst of all the trials you saw so much beauty from ashes. You grew in your faith and your roots deepened as you saw God come through time after time with unfailing faithfulness. I think it is fair to admit that life is difficult right now, considering all of the needs of your 8 children. It would be difficult to manage a family that size without one of them being terminally ill and another with severe attachment issues. You really are doing a good job. I know that you see the faults more than the successes, but you are an inspiration. You encourage others to seek after God first and obey the scary things He asks them t
Read more

Judah is 2!!

Image
I've been trying to come up with adequate words to describe how I feel about Judah turning 2. I don't think it's possible, so I will share the thoughts that have been running through my head. Judah's birth mom was encouraged to abort him. He wasn't expected to make it through birth. He came to live with us at 6 weeks old after circumstances that no one could deny God's hand on. The first 9 months of his life were filled with anxiety, little sleep and lots of funeral planning. We almost lost him more times than I can count. When he was 9 months old, by the grace of God, a water pipe melted and prevented our house fire from spreading to his room. The room next to his was 400 degrees and full of smoke. He had no smoke inhalation or any issues afterwards at all. After that trial, I begged God for a break and to keep Judah healthy for awhile. For more than a year now, we have only had one close call, where I thought it might be the end. God is so good to have gi
Read more