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...

I know Christmas is over and perhaps many of you have moved on to thinking about the New Year and other things. But today's post are thoughts I continued to reflect on and decided to share anyway. This is a photo I dug from the archives! Ten years ago, I served a mission term in India and spent 5 life-changing months there. The church we were involved with organized a Christmas play and I was asked to play the role of Mary. It was a stretching experience, but I felt so honored. The scene pictured is the portrayal of Gabriel appearing to Mary and telling her she was going to give birth to the Messiah. Hopefully throughout this past month, God has revealed something new and exciting to you from the familiar Christmas story. This year, I really found myself identifying with Mary in a new way. These qualities caught my attention: Her obedience to God's call even though it didn't match up with anything she ever imagined.  Her willingness to accept God's...

I can remember being inspired several years ago, sitting at my church's Ladies' Group. The speaker was commenting how much money she has saved and the special memories she has made by choosing to make her kids' birthday cakes. Years ago, my grandma ran a successful cake decorating business and from my own childhood, I had special memories of my mother making all our birthday cakes. I decided this was a tradition I wanted to continue. My first attempt for my daughter's 2nd birthday: I kept it simple and just made cupcakes and arranged them in the shape of Elmo's face. In the years following, I've made many cakes ranging from Dora, trains, butterfly, Barbie, monkey, owl, football, cat, and Elmo. Over the years, it's been a real thrill to watch my kids enjoy their cakes. Sometimes, their requests have been challenging and I confess that lots of sweat, time, and tears have gone into them. The most recent birthday in the family took ...

Yesterday, I had the honor and privilege to lead a Christmas orchestra at our church. It's been several years since this tradition last took place and I've been excited for the past year as I dreamed and made plans for this to happen again. The many hours spent finding musicians, copying and organizing music, and leading practices was well worth it to see and hear the end result! I was blown off my feet with how flawless and beautiful our two performances sounded. I was beaming from ear to ear when the final notes were played. I was so proud of their dedication, hard work, and ability to master some pretty difficult songs. And it wasn't just the music that was beautiful. The orchestra was made up of many parts...24 to be exact. The ages of the participants ranged from elementary school all the way to middle-aged. Each one was gifted with different abilities. Some played a woodwind instrument, others brass or strings. The piano and percussion helped t...

" Your needs and my riches are a perfect fit...I never meant for you to be self-sufficient...I crafted your longings and feelings of incompleteness to point you to Me...come to Me in your neediness, with your defenses down." These words from my devotional jumped off the page at me earlier this week. I was a big, needy mess. My family was a big, needy mess. Kids were sick with colds, coughs, vomiting, earaches, and pink eye. I had a gnawing, persistent pain in my chest that doctors were having trouble diagnosing. I was worried. I was discouraged. I was overwhelmed.  I had emotional needs. I desperately clung to the promise that God will meet all my needs. (Philippians 4:19) I rested in the promise that even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I do not need to fear, for God is with me and comforts me. (Psalm 23:4) I found strength in the promise that God would uphold me and give me the strength I needed. (Isaiah 41:10) My world fel...