Control Relinquished

My husband and I recently had a date night where we decided to do something completely different from our usual choices. We decided to re-visit something we had done back in youth group together: indoor rock climbing! I must admit, we almost chickened out. When we arrived at the gym, it was full of youngsters and we really debated about us "oldies" joining in. Plus, I am not a huge fan of heights, so it was stretching for me to even look at the high walls above me and think about climbing to the very top! But, we did. And I'm so glad we did! It was a great workout, a lot of fun and God opened my eyes to some revelations! If you've never been climbing before, first you put on a harness. Then, you can choose different walls or courses that each have a variety of obstacles or climbing patterns to follow. Each of these stations has a rope that goes all the way to the top of the course. Each partner hooks their harness to opposite ends of the rope. One ...

Sometimes God takes us down a path that is hard to understand. It can be confusing to us because we can't see the big picture or the end result. His ways are mysterious and sometimes difficult to explain. The last 4 weeks have been emotionally and physically draining for our family. Last month, just days before Christmas, we learned that our adopted son has a baby brother. We were asked if we would be willing to become foster parents again. It was a life-altering decision. The reality was hard to grasp. We thought we were done with the baby stage. In fact, we had sold almost all our baby items and clothes. It was a struggle to picture bottles, diapers, and sleepless nights again. But God made it very clear. We needed to say, "Yes." We slowly began to feel excited. Our kids were elated. We reorganized bedrooms and restocked baby supplies. In a matter of 3 days, I completed 9 months worth of nesting. We even took our "announcement picture." Then, sudd...

A few months ago, we captured this family picture at my sister-in-law's wedding in Texas. I love everything about this picture. Our smiles, our outfits, our poses. I know I am biased since it's my family, but don't we look like the perfect, happy little family?! But, I think we all know there is no perfect, happy little family that exists. Every family has their bad moments. We all have our ugly sides. Therefore, I will share with you this picture that was captured just minutes before: No, I am not worshiping the sun. I am throwing up my hands in exasperation because, seriously, that was the 5th time my son fell flat on his face within the same hour! I'm not sure if it was the loose stones or his new cowboy boots, but he KEPT falling. Every time a picture was in order, he'd take off running and fall splat on his face! Thankfully, my son...aka Mr. Smiley...recovers quickly and easily smiles again! In this day of social media and photo shopping...