Happy Birthday, Teague

What a fast year this has been. Teague is an absolute dream!! He is so sweet and playful and laid back. He is everything we prayed for and God provided it. Only God knew what this first year of his life would bring and He provided!! He is so faithful. Teague has taken some steps walking, but I am still waiting for him to just take off. He watches Troy very intently and, just like Troy, he has to study how everything works. He is my little Teaguesters and I love him so much!

My devotional

I wanted to share my devotional from today.

"Waiting on Me means directing your attention to Me in hopeful anticipation of what I will do. It entails trusting Me with every fiber of your being, instead of trying to figure things out yourself. Waiting on Me is the way I designed you to live: all day, every day. I created you to stay conscious of Me as you go about your daily duties.

I have promised many blessing to those who wait on Me: renewed strength, living above one's circumstances, resurgence of hope, awareness of My continual Presence. Waiting on Me enables you to glorify Me by living in deep dependence on Me, ready to do My will. It also helps you to enjoy Me; in My Presencce is fullness of joy"

I love the very first line the most. Here is the definition of anticipate: to expect; look forward to; be sure of. If my future was not bright, God would not tell me look forward to it. That is exciting to me! Today I will strive to do less planning and evaluating and do more trusting and thanking God that He is SO big and SO good!

Best Friends

2010

I was able to enjoy some time with life long friends over the last weekend. Tanna, Tara, Laura and myself have been connected at the hip since middle school. We did everything together! The three of them even went to OBU while I went to Tech through college but that didn't separate us, and now we are all spread out over the state and with Tara in China, and that still cannot separate us! I am truly blessed to have these girls in my life. They are like sisters to me!
1998



I also got to spend some time with Jenna at her bachelorette party. We have also been life long friends starting in kindergarden all the way through being college roommates. We have had great memories and I can't wait to watch her walk down the aisle to add to our collection!

Being used by God

Here is the promo video for my church's upcoming sermon series. I am so humbled to have been used by God to touch others lives and maybe help others in my situation. The full video will come later in April, so stay tuned!!

Kite Festival

Today was gorgeous outside so the boys and I enjoyed for the Kite Festival after church. What I thought was going to be a few hours at the park turned out to be all afternoon and into the early evening! There were so many people and taking the shuttle alone took over an hour both ways! It was crazy, but we had a blast. Between eating our picnic lunch, flying Troy's kite, playing on the playground, and people watching, it was a full day!
Teague doesn't look too thrilled here!
Troy's shirt says FUNNY on it and Teague's says HUNGRY...and here Teague is shoveling in the pretzels!! :)

This is just a glimpse of all the kites. There were hundreds of them spotting the sky!

Troy found this spiderman kite he wanted to do himself, and he did fantastic. I would just throw it up and he did the rest! I was so surprised!

Mission Statement

My church did a sermon series awhile back concerning personal mission statements. There was a booklet with 4-5 different activities that all led to the writing of one statement. Your personal mission statement will answer: Who am I? Why am I here? What am I to be about? This one statement can answer all 3 questions. For some reason, I missed the very last sermon where we wrote our statements, so last weekend I put alot of thought into what God wanted my statement to be. I went back and looked at the activities I had done months before, and I realized, the mission statement I am about to write will be SO different then the one I probably would have written if I had finished this activity months prior. I am so different and my walk with God is so different and my goal in life is so different. I know I have said this before, but I am certain my greatest misery will become my greatest ministry. My mission statement is on my header so I can remember daily what I want from life, how God wants to use me today, and why I was created.

Get Real Mondays!

So my friend Tanna challenged us all to "get real" on our blogs with Get Real Mondays. I feel like I have been alot more transparent over the last 6 months with my postings, but over the last week I have heard several comments from friends about my lack of anger. So, I asked a few of my closest friends how they would view my blog if I didn't talk to them on a regular basis. The overall consensus seems to be that I am handling things really well and that I am stronger than the average person would be in this situation. This is so far from the truth. So here is where I "get real!"

I am daily struggling with my anger. In an average day here are the thoughts that bombard my mind:
~How does someone get so blinded to the devil's work?
~Why hasn't God stepped in and saved the day yet?
~How could a dad leave two sons?
~Why do I have to take the high road?
~Where is the immediate fruit from taking the high road?
~When will God's vengeance be laid down?
~Will I get to witness His justice being served?
~How is this fair for two young boys who don't deserve this?

I could continue but my blood pressure is rising just typing all of this. 90% of the time my mind and heart are focused on God and His promises for me, but the other 10% of the time the anger wells up so great in me I think I might explode. I call my closest friends and family to cry, scream, and yell. And the things they tell me are just what I need to hear. I realize my anger is natural and even ok, but it's what I do with my anger that sets me apart. To be honest, some days I fear I may end up in jail, but as they talk to me I hear them holding me to God's standards of a mature Christian woman. I can choose to let my anger control me or I can take that anger to God and see what He can do about it. And, truth be told, my anger is usually AT God. "Where are you? Step in!! Protect me!!" But He IS doing all those things, just in His way and in His time.

For me, the anger is best released through exercise. I love to exercise, running primarily, and I have noticed this is a great outlet for me! One day I ran so long and hard that I had bleeding blisters! I guess I lost track of time, but I felt better because running is where I hear God the clearest. I came across another name God uses for Himself, El Roi - a God who sees. This name for God conveys so much. I don't have to worry about my reputation or what others are getting away with because my God sees! And I find comfort in that.

I hope for those that read this blog and feel like I am handling this well, please know God alone has given me strength, forgiveness and self control, otherwise someone might be having to post my bail! ;)