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Showing posts from December, 2016

Christmas 2016

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Except for a few of us being sick, we had a great Christmas. Gingerbread houses were decorated, over 70 presents were wrapped and squeals of joy were had by all. As I edited all the pictures, I had a mixture of feelings. Thankfulness for God's incredible providence, joy from the memories we made in this new, yet temporary house and sadness thinking about how this time next year, we might be somewhere else. We strive to hold onto things loosely, so that if God asks us to give them up, we can do it with minimal hesitation. Admittedly though, it's tough living without a sense of permanence, but it's part of the sanctification process that the Lord is taking us through right now. We are grateful for these trials, because through them, we are becoming more like Him. "For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come..." Hebrews 13:14 I am proud to share that even before we could mention it on Christmas morning, 3 of our ch

My First Year as a Special Needs Mom

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I've been hesitant to take the title of "Special Needs Mom" this past year. Maybe because we CHOSE to adopt a severely disabled child or because for many months, Judah's behavior was somewhat age-appropriate and it wasn't obvious to anyone else that he was disabled. I haven't walked the path of many mamas who have to constantly fight with their insurance company or advocate for therapy or special equipment or spend weeks in the hospital. I am so thankful for that, because honestly, I don't know how we would have managed with our 7 older children. When God called us to this, I didn't know what it would look like, I just trusted that He would work it all out and He most definitely has. Currently, Judah is weighing around 13 pounds at 15 months old. He has 4 teeth and working on a few more. His diet will consist solely of formula until he is 2. His new specialty feeding bottles are great and he averages 5-6oz each feeding when he's not teething. Hi

God is Faithful

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"To the faithful You show Yourself faithful..." 2 Sam. 22:26a I read this scripture this morning as I finished up 2 Samuel and it rested heavily on me. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we have strived to trust in the Lord and glorify Him this past year no matter what trial we encountered and HE has rewarded us greatly. Truly, there are no words that can express our gratitude and awe of what God has done over the past few weeks. Earlier this year, my mom's side of the family began planning a family reunion in Florida. We prayed that if it was the Lord's will, He would provide a way for us to go. It did not come and we saw the Lord's wisdom in that as the date for the reunion came closer. We lost our home in a fire just one week before the reunion happened. Had we attempted to go at that time, we would have had to cancel all of our plans and lost who knows how much money. Less than 6 months later, we received an incredibly generous and anonymous offer to s