Our Ordinary Life

This is my first year in review with pictures. I don't think I can stick to just one picture a month but I will try. I think this is a really good way for me to look back thru the year and remind myself of all the good, bad, fun, stressful, and really how good God has been to us. If you remember last year at this time, I wrote a blog about a word I was going to focus on- GRACE. You can read that blog  here . And truly it was. I'm continuing to learn how much Grace is woven into my life and I'm sure I will never have a complete understanding of it, that is just how awesome it is. And even as I'm constantly reminded of it, this is a new year and a new focus.   January Our whole family was involved in a friend's wedding. Bryan was one of the people who gave the charge at the wedding, I was the Matron of Honor, Daniel was the ring bearer, and Aaron was the junior groom. The boys did so well, and it was a fun day. Tho the boys didn't last the entire day, it wa...

Let me just begin by saying, I love being a child of God!! Wow, just with that phrase, so many things run thru my mind. Lets hope I can communicate it well :-) Being one of God's daughters is the hardest thing there is, only because i fight my flesh every moment of the day. I battle thru all the things I desire to do right, verses all the things my flesh wants to do to serve myself. How is it that Paul expresses it in Romans 7:15-25 "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do..." (v.15 NIV) That said, being God's daughter is the greatest gift/blessing/honor. Because I'm His daughter, the love he bestows on me is unconditional and never-ending!! He gave me the gift of His Son, to come to this earth, to die on a ugly, cruel cross and take all my sins on Himself, to raise again to new life, just so that He can make an new person out of me and I don't need to live and die in my sin--FORGIVENESS!! He has given my the gi...

Dear Juli, I have been wanting to write you a letter to express things that I feel. Every time I go to write, I break down in tears :-) I remember thinking when we were younger what life will be like when we grow up and what we will be doing. You have always had a heart for people, caring so much and investing so much in helping and praying, even when you were little and they were imaginary. So I knew it would have something to do with help and investing in people. Never could I have imagined how God would work out and take your heart for people and lead you into what you are doing now. I remember the day you met Scott and how you told me after a couple of conversations with him, you knew he would be your husband. It took a little bit for me to understand him (Love you, Scott! :-)) but there was never mistaking the desire in both your hearts to serve God and love people. It was not hard to see you two were meant for each other!! As the years went by and life began to happen, it b...

Everyone is born with one mother. Only the ones who get married, are the ones who then have two mothers. Everyone knows this. I want to talk about the mother that i gained through marriage. Now, I know I need to be careful. You see, it's important to me that my real mother, my birth mother, the one who gave me life, not feel less, or unimportant, or like i love her less. For she IS the one that gave me life! She has taught me everything there is to know about life. She was my teacher in school, She taught me everything from walking to balancing my checkbook, from eating solid foods and talking to how to handle disappointment and failures. And SO MUCH more!!!!! She pointed me to CHRIST!! For she is MY mother and even more than that, in recent years, she has become my friend! I also think she had a harder time in that she had to leave her home and live in a foreign field, teaching her kids both cultures, Ecuadors and American. She was/is an amazing woman and i always say that if i co...

My sister did this kind of a blog a couple months ago and kind of passed it on to me to do on my own blog. I had been meaning to get on a lot sooner to do this but, hey, at least I have time tonight to work on it. For my friends out there, I thot this might be kind of a cool way to get to know me a little better :-) Hope its an enjoyable read! Old School Blogging: 1. What were you doing 10 years ago? - I was a freshman in college at Northland Baptist Bible College (thats what it was called back when I went there), on my first spring break, not having a clue what I wanted out of life, and heart broken over my first breakup. 2. What are 5 things on your To-Do list? -Do the dishes (never off my list!!! :-() -fold laundry -vacuum -find a new shirt for Bryan for Easter -go grocery shopping tomorrow for Easter dessert 3. What are 5 snacks you enjoy -popcorn -jellybeans -chips and dip -fruit -trail mix 4. Name some things you would do if you were a millionaire? I...

This has been a big year for us. In February we made the big decision that we could no longer stay at the church Bryan was working at, but didn't actually leave or resign till June. We wanted to wait till the end of the school year, wanted to give the church sometime to get ready, and Bryan wanted to finish the work on the youth room that he had started a couple of years ago. Those were some hard months, knowing we had to leave but since we were asked not to make it known till we resigned, we had to make it normal. The months that followed our resignation were the hardest as many rumors and things/conversations got twisted, causing my heart to harden, become bitter, and question lots of relationships.  Also, June was when Bryan went into business for himself. He had started a business about two years ago and had it just as a side business to help make ends meet, but after we resigned he went full time doing Residential Remodeling, pretty much he can do everything. You can find h...

This won't be a long blog, my head is jumbled, struggle nailing down my thots. But the message yesterday, Sunday morning by Pastor Ritchey was so good. Nothing added, just the story in Luke 1: 26-38. He is doing a Christmas series as most pastors do during this time and yesterday it was about Mary. This passage and really the Bible doesn't say much about Mary's character when the angel, Gabriel, came to see her. She was probably only between the ages of 13-15 when she became pregnant!! She was betrothed to Joseph and in an engagement period. She was from Galilee, kind of the slums of the Jewish nation. The fact that the Bible doesn't say much about her character, I think, says a lot more than if it did :-). There is so much going on here in this passage! I just start to think about what that must of been like for Mary. She is 13/15 years old, trying to keep up the Jewish laws and get ready to marry Joseph, when all of a sudden an angel appears and tell her she is favore...