Grateful~

God is amazing~  Never does He cease to not provide...emotionally, financially for our family.  I am here today to encourage you..that whatever present trouble you find yourself in...He is there.  Are you feeling alone in your present trouble?  I am here to tell you that He meets us right where we are......Last week my father underwent another amputation on the same leg.  God is ever merciful and I am telling you that the power of prayer real and alive today.  Even in his present state...my dad is a walking miracle!  His present state of mind is good..he jovial and still so enjoys visiting with his grandchildren.  Our church family has been amazing in their love for him.  They are lifting him up in prayer of course but also have made it a point to visit with him and love on in him person.  This really speaks to how the Lord wants us to be to one another.  I am so trying to remember this...it is so hard!  I am a work in progress...can't say that enough...I don't have all the answers and I never will.  I can only seek to live the way the Lord wants me to by staying in communication with Him.  Prayer to me is just a constant conversation with my Lord that continues throughout the day.  What this does for me is indescribable.  It gets me through the day and my days are not easy.  It begins before my feet hit the floor in the morning and this helps set my tone for the day.  I can tell you right now on the days that I don't do this....well~  it isn't pretty.
I can be cantankerous and than I need to step back and adjust.  Do I really want to be a walking testimony of cantankerous Christianity?  No.  So I must be thoughtful in how I approach my day.

Coffee talk~

Woke up again at four this morning~  haven't been sleeping a whole lot lately..but I have finally decided to stop worrying about it and just go with it.  So I spent sometime reading...thinking...reflecting and planning.  Tom is having a hard morning woke up with a migraine..gave him some medicine and made him breakfast and lunch for the day.  I am praying that he can make some much needed sales this week.  I praying about offering some classes out of the house once we get settled in for homeschoolers..it will bring in some income and bless our kids at the same time...and I love kids and teaching!  Have to continue packing this week~  How do you get teens motivated to pack?!  I'll let you all know should I find the answer~ ha ha  We'll be having dinner at my parents tonight as my dad has surgery tomorrow morning. So many transitions....each day seem to bring something but the Lord always provides strength to get through..there are time when I feel like I can't get up or I am in a great deal of pain and still God provides just what I need at that moment...He is ever faithful even when I am clinging....just holding on barely...He is there in the middle of whatever mess I find myself in~  Thank you Lord for your faithfulness...Thank you Lord for caring about my life...my family and for always providing what we need when we need it~

Early morning thoughts~

I haven't posted as late as I really have been trying to recuperate from the past couple of months...trying to process all that has happened~  well...still in that mode..and still finding it very hard to be without my beloved grandma.  I still forget sometimes that she is now with the Lord~  We had her memorial last Thursday and it was a beautiful, bitter-sweet time of memories...there was not many dry eyes but what came through more than anything was my grandmother's love for the Lord....what an inheritance for our family and what a testimony.  We'll be moving in a few short weeks and I look forward to it with anticipation and yet it is a closing of a chapter in our lives~  what this next season will bring I do not know but I believe that with Gods continued grace we will get through it~  My dad will be having surgery again on Tuesday he has been having extreme pain in his arm that has the fistula for dialysis and they need to go into the arm again and main artery to fix it. His amputation is not healing and we are praying for a miracle that way they do not need to amputate anymore of it.  The kids are processing all of these things and I just continue to point to the Lord for our source of strength~  I am so far from the woman that I long to be in the Lord but all I can do to press on and continue to pray and read and live....

A Day of Rest~

Tom is working again today...Praise God!!  After two years of not having steady work...he is working everyday.  I just pray that the Lord would give him strength as he is very tired...I pray for sales for him and provision for our family.  Got up with him this morning and sent him out the door with breakfast in hand and lunch.  Mandy is working this morning at church ..so blessed that they gave her the job..this is where she has wanted to work for years and the Lord has opened the door.  Austie and Gabby are sleeping in as they both have been having a difficult time sleeping.  I took out a great deal of chicken last night~  hoping to take it over to dad and moms today for Sunday dinner...not sure what I am going to do with it yet but I am sure that it will come to me.  Straightened up a little last night and after yesterday I am just spent..will have to pace myself over the next several days as I have been on the go now for the past several months and I don't want to slip back into a flare~  I've learned the hard way how to listen to my body and rest when I have too~  Will be getting Mandy this afternoon and than back home again..and off to mom and dad....So thankful for Sundays and a day of rest and relaxation~  Thank you Lord!

Saturday~

Spent the day going through photos in preparation for the memorial~  the kids helped me go through hundreds of photos...it was a long process but so healing for all of us to see all the special times we had...all the travels that we took with grandma...all the stories each of my children had about grandma..We were all so very blessed to have her~  Amanda had to babysit my niece Summer this evening so I dropped her off along with Gabby and got to spend some time with her...she is so precious!  Can't believe that she is eight months old already...time just flies.  Here we are into September with Fall just around the corner...my favorite time of year~  We are packing getting ready to move in the next couple of weeks....how do you pack a house that you've been in for ten years?!  My goodness all the things we have collected....the garage is full.  Time to bless some others with the many extra's that we have~  The girls are getting ready to share a room again...I know that there have been so...many changes these past couple of years and my Gabby is having a hard time thinking about sharing with Amanda..they are polar opposites!  Amanda is sloppy and Gabby is so neat..she is beyond herself.....but they will work it out somehow~  I will just need to put plenty of shelving in for all of Gabby's knick-knacks.....It will be nice to be in another environment with some outside space...I may even be able to have some flowers again!  God is good...always providing for  our needs and even some of our wants~