Merry Christmas 2018

Merry Christmas 2018

This has been a very full year for our family.  We have had many blessings this year, some wonderful and some hard.  I say it like that because I believe anything that brings us closer to our Lord and Savior is a blessing.  The wonderful blessings are ones that make us cry for joy and thanksgiving, the hard blessings are the ones that feel scary and bring us to our knees in prayer and submission.

  We have had an abundance of both of these this year.  

 I can truly say #blessed!

 I would call this a "moving" year. We have moved from Oregon to Montana and many of our family and friends have made moves this year.  The nice thing about all this moving around is you can get rid of things that you don't want to keep dragging around.

  Things inside and outside, it's been a bit cleansing.  

The hardest and greatest part of all this moving around is I have watched my kids have to readjust and make all these changes at such tender and formative years.  They have all been amazing overall, even though it has been super challenging. We have hit some hard bumps in the road, but every single time, they bounce back and overcome.  I tell them often that this is the year that will grow them in many ways.  They will be stronger and more flexible and learn more about who they are and what they believe.

God has given this family so much this year, and yet I feel stripped of the securities and support we have spent so many years building.  The routines and habits and friends that have been there for so many years are so far away. 

 Charlie is still commuting back and forth between Oregon and Montana,  so that has been a challenge and has forced me to put on my big girl pants and do some things that were hard for me even in the comfort of my old familiar stomping grounds.  Charlie has been away from us most of the time, but we have felt his presence and leadership more than ever.  The way he has provided and protected and supported this family thru so much sacrifice and generosity have been above and beyond. 

God has blessed us GRANDLY, in double portions this year!  We have been overjoyed to be ALL HANDS ON DECK with the GRANDS.  I remind myself on the hard days of this very "moving" year, that if everything else in our lives seems crazy and out of control, that all the changes and all the adjustments are worth it to be near these GRANDS

 (and their parents).  

One of the top 3 #blessed additions to our lives this year has been my amazing

 daughter- in-love.

  We hit the jackpot with this girl! 

 I love her like my own

AND 

we have the same feet. 

 This is a big deal to me...nobody understands me quite like her, because when you can walk in the same shoes, there is a bond beyond titles or DNA.

I get to have lunch or coffee with grown daughters and daughter-in-love on a pretty regular basis! 

 #blessed

We never know how long this season is, as the more we grow, the more things change, but I know for right now, this has been one of the biggest blessed seasons of my life!!!  

#blessed

Anyone who knows me knows my favorite number is 333.  It a fun little reminder when I see it that God is with me. There is no power in the number itself,  It's just a fun little wink from God everytime I see it.  There has rarely been a day lately that I haven't seen it.  God has been winking his face off at me, it's like He has something in His eye.  

Psalm 17:8 English Standard Version (ESV)

8 

Keep me as the apple of your eye;

    hide me in the shadow of your wings,

 It must be me He has in His eye.  Look at what He has done.

 

 And look at the army of men God has given to my man!  These are men that are fun and fierce, they love and fight for what matters.  A few years ago Charlie preached on David's mighty men and he talked about how important it is to have men in your life that will back you up, and call you out and keep you humble and build you up in all the right ways.  God has done that for my man!  

Christmas is a season to celebrate our Savior and to acknowledge how He broke into this world to save us and be with us every day in every way.  If we save this celebration for only once a year we are missing the point of life.  May we stand in awe and thanksgiving

 every.single.day.

 thru every wonderful and hard blessing in our lives.

Isaiah 9:6 English Standard Version (ESV)

6 

For to us a child is born,

    to us a son is given;

and the government shall be upon his shoulder,

    and his name shall be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.