In HIS hands

 

 O LORD, you are our Father. 

We are the clay, you are the Potter;

 we are all the work of your hand.

Isaiah 64:8

I spent a little time ( and I do mean a LITTLE time) researching some information

on pottery clay. I found it interesting that the Lord chose to use this in Isaiah and wanted

to see for myself why I am so drawn to this verse lately.

You see, while my year has been filled with amazing highlights

there have also been several things that I would have preferred to not go through.

I know that the Bible tells us that God is working all things together for good to those who love Him. I trust that with all of my heart. As believers we are NOT kept from the heartaches and pains of the world.  We live in a fallen world and we are a fallen people. I stand in amazement of God's grace that He consistently shows me.

I believe that is why I was so taken by this photo. The idea that we are all a work of HIS hand is overwhelming to my frail mind. I can not fathom a love so great and a creator that would desire to continue molding and shaping me. 

Back to my 'research' on pottery clay.
I was so drawn in by the explanation of what clay is and how it is made. Basically we are told that clay is made of  fine grained minerals and is formed over time due to chemical weathering and hydrothermal activity. They ( whoever THEY are) said that clay is plastic when wet and firm when it dries. This is not for a science report so back off :)

This description gripped my heart. The scripture came to life for me in that moment

I see that I am a composition of many things

SELFISHNESS

PRIDE

ANGER

( the list could go on but I will let those few things soak in and spare you the rest)

The Father is soaking me with grace, drenching me with mercy and

gently shaping me with HIS HANDS

The times that have caused such hurt and heartache are those times when I can simply collapse into His grace. There He holds me close and continues spinning the Potter's wheel. The times when I turn from Him and choose to reject His love...

He never leaves me nor forsakes me...

He continues spinning the Potter's wheel. 

 I choose today to stand in awe of WHO HE IS

He is the Potter that is taking my weaknesses and using them for His glory

He is using the hurts in my life to shape a heart that understands grace

The end result of clay is that it becomes firm. It is SET and ready to be put on display

That is where I pray I will never be

You know where clay things are right?

shelves, end tables, flower beds

I pray that I always remain fully aware of the work that I am. I am not complete

I am also not a lump of useless clay

I am a masterpiece in the making!

HE is molding and shaping me and will continue doing so until 

I reach my HOME in Heaven

Who wants to be a SET clay pot on the shelf of their TEMPORARY home

Mommies don't get sick RIGHT?

Well, this mommy has been WIPED out 

Sunday night I started feeling bad and by Monday I had a pretty yucky fever

They thought I had bronchitis and sent me home with some medicine

I ended up running a 103 fever most of the night so headed back in

Tuesday only to find out that I have pneumonia!

 BOO ON THAT 

So, no updates from this mommy because quite frankly, 

I DON"T FEEL WELL :)

Pleasant surprise

I was able to watch a precious video of the children at our little one's orphanage today.

I can not tell you what a pure blessing that was to this mommy's heart!

Chloe was in there quite a bit. I was able to hear her sweet little voice and watch her 

interact with the other beautiful children around her. It was so precious. She just picked up

her little dress and seemed slightly shy. Her tiny feet were attempting to walk in some very over sized

pink slippers. She looked happy. I can't say I saw her smile yet but she still looked very happy...

UNTIL

We saw her in a few more minutes after she was clearly pitching a FIT in the dirt. All of the other

children had run quickly to look at themselves on the camera. She is one of the youngest and it appears that she felt like she wasn't fast enough so just just throws herself face flat into the dirt. Hands out body completely down for the count. She was devastated ( 2 year old style) Then her 

sorrow turned super two year old. One of the men attempted to pick her up to stand and she began arching her little back. We then saw that this had also made Eli cry. He was not about to let her get all of the attention. 

I can not tell you how much seeing them meant to me. I have longed for just a piece of their life. I ache to know something. The video showed a little more of where they live and also several of their precious friends. All of the children seemed so happy and full of life. It was such a reminder of how the Lord has protected these babies and how He has such an amazing plan for lives. 

In a few weeks the family that has our care package is going to be heading to Congo to pick up their little girl. I am so thrilled that Chloe and Eli will finally see our faces. It may mean nothing to them for now but it does something great to my heart just thinking about it.

The Color Run...or MY DEATH

Yes indeed!

It is that MOST AWFUL time in my life again 

when I am talked into participating in a race.

I thought being part of the HUMAN race would cover it but NO

Some people out there feel that actually running with others is fun

and encouraging.

If any of you have been following my crazy life for a while..
you may remember my running history.
For those of you that haven't...you can read that HERE

Sitting at dinner with my family one night, my brother in law Matt
pulled out his phone and showed us a race that he was participating in.
Watching the video I was immediately taken to a world without three children and 

high school abilities. I had said yes before I even thought about it! 

I went on my first run a few weeks ago and within the first FIVE miles ( oh, I mean MINUTES)

I knew that I had signed my life away! The reality hit when I thought I was running like this

For a while there I really felt the wind blowing through my hair,

my pulse was pumping and I was flying by every car I saw

Then something happened. 

The wind stopped blowing, the light turned green and my heart actually began feeling like 

it might explode. The light pumping that I had felt earlier was quickly taken over by a HARSH POUNDING...which basically was my body sobbing at this sudden desire to move faster than normal

I soon realized that i was no cheetah but instead

an OLD OLD lady

All I know is that so far my prep experiences have been less than ideal.

I took out to run the other night which ended up being LATE. So, I called

my brother in law and he said he would take me. No creepers for me!

So, we went downtown to run. 

Immediately upon stepping out of the car, we heard the first quite clap of thunder.

It wasn't horrible and Matt laughed and made a comment about how we better hurry

Well, as you found out above...my translation of hurry is not everyone elses :)

We had gone about 1.5 miles when the rain, thunder, lightening and WIND came down!

Something i HATE is wind. I know...that might be stupid but I really hate it. So, now

my fluffy self was running downtown, in the sideways rain, thunder and dodging lightening.

We had to head into a parking garage..were the security guard yelled that we should be running on the sidewalk NOT in the garage. ( Im pretty sure he was kidding) Then we made it to an ATM machine where we stood for a few minutes hoping the rain would decrease. IT ONLY GOT WORSE! We then sprinted ( and that for me is anything more than a jog) to the next inlet which happened to be a staircase. Standing there for a minute things got a little crazier. We then saw a man run by with only socks on. We looked down the road to see our next hole to duck into. It was a bank. We ran and stood there for a while. We still had 5 blocks or so to go. The wind was picking up and it wasn't getting better! There was a security guard standing inside and so Matt decided to leave me there with his phone ( that I didn't have the code for) and he sprinted and got the  car. I stood there like a baby scared to DEATH, praying, tearing up and shaking. The security guard came close to the door at one point when the wind picked up but then went to sit back down. Ahh...then, MATT SHOWED UP!!!

So, this LONG story to say. This race better be worth it! I am hopeful that it isn't the death of me. I have been working hard and hope that I won't end up leaving in this

Only time will tell friends!

My thighs are worn out just thinking about this.

Ahhh...but there is hope 

Does this book ring a bell :)

 Just sayin!

WD-40 Gets the rusty out

I believe that I came to this journey with rusty armor

I truly felt that I had a pretty good grip on myself. I was so arrogant in thinking that! I knew that the Lord had called us to bring a little one into our family but when I got the green light from my husband, I took off running FULL FORCE, armor lumped in a rusty pile on the floor.

It was foolish of me to feel that I could walk/RUN into this journey with SELF shining.

I do such a pour job of humbling myself and daily asking God to help me walk this journey in the way that I should.

I feel that so often I get caught up in signing the next paper, making the next payment or waiting for the next email. I forget that there is an enemy that is walking around like a lion..looking for someone that he can devour. I have to remember to turn my life..EVERY part of it over to the Lord. I have to put on the armor of God. I would never walk on the battle field without the proper gear so why would I ever begin such a journey of faith with half of my armor hanging off. 

WHO KNOWS?!?! But ladies and gentlemen...I think I did

I think I've recovered

So, I thought that signing on for teaching Sunday School in the youth department would be JUST that

TEACHING SUNDAY SCHOOL

Oh, no ladies and gents, that is not it AT ALL

I have now signed up for kickball, blacklight dodgeball and now..

a LOCK OUT

It has taken me a few days to write about this because quite frankly 

IM OLD and its not easy to recover from an all nighter

Well, we started the night at our church's gym at 9:00pm

stayed there for a few minutes going over a few rules

( that I don't remember) 

and then we headed out to the movie theater to watch Spiderman

We went from the theater to Partyville which happens to be a local inflatable FUN FILLED place owned by some great people at our church. Whew, we were there from about 2am-4am which was WAY past my bedtime. Then, we went back to church and played some four square and basketball

By WE...I clearly mean NOT ME! I was not participating at this point. I was simply trying to stay awake and not fall over. The students then played a few games of hide and seek ( or sardines) and then it was time for their mommas to pick them up.

Oh man, I am just now recovering but my sleep schedule is still 100% off! 

The thing I will say about this is that I had a great time. I am so excited about all that God is doing in and through the students at our church. They are amazing young people and have such amazing hearts. I continue to be impressed with their desire to love the Lord and others. It is an honor to be around them and walk through life with them.

They see my CRAZY and are TOTALLY not bothered by it :)

You gotta love that!

Put Your Hands UP

We are heading to ATLANTA in the morning!!

Our biometric fingerprint appointment is bright and early 

9:00am 

That is obviously NOT early if the trip was right down the road...

HOWEVER, we have a good 2 hour drive or more to Atlanta, so we are going

to be getting up and hitting the road early!

We were going to attempt to make this our 10 year anniversary trip but that is NOT happening!

With our appointment being so early in the morning..and us having to leave SUPER early it just wasn't looking promising! Our families are always AMAZING to watch the kiddos but this IS the middle of the week :) My sister has a commitment that is NOT child friendly but would have been able to watch them tomorrow afternoon. My mother in law could watch them all after 11 and my mom was working but would of course be wiling to watch them after work. They were all scrambling to try to help but in the end we just didn't see how it was going to work. My mother in law went ahead and let Alyssa stay with her and she is taking her to a sewing/quilting group tomorrow. The boys around sewing machines is NOT the best idea :)

So, all of that to say...we are going to enjoy having our sweet boys with us. They are actually very excited about going OUT OF TOWN. They think that is the coolest idea EVER. Little do they know we are having an appointment that may require them sitting for quite some time. We are excited to make the very best out of it. 

So, it looks like no BIG 10 year celebration in the way that we thought. 

However, we know that traveling to Congo and picking up our sweet babies is the BIGGEST celebration we could have! We will make it somewhere...sometime. Just the two of us ;)

Ok, the ten year post is coming...just been TOO busy and that one is going to take a WHILE!

OH...WE GOT Eli's BIRTH CERTIFICATE this week!!! Not the one with our names on it...just his precious name! HOWEVER, I LOVED IT!!! Made me cry, smile, and flip out a little!! We didn't get Chloe's and our agency said...it is somewhere out there..so FOR NOW...that is good enough!!

Have a WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY everyone! If you think about our family today..please say a prayer for travel safety and a great time!!

Singing In The Rain

Happy 4th of July from our crazy crew!

We all had a great day at MiMi and PawPaw's house

No rain was going to stop these cousins from having a good time!

Alyssa, Bryson, Karlee, Caleb and Cooper! Our little stair steps :)

My sister, her husband Matt, my parents and ALL five kiddos were able to enjoy some wonderful family time. My poor hubby had to work today but we saved him some BBQ so I think that made him

feel a little bit included :)

While we all had a wonderful time playing and enjoying each other's company, we were so aware that not all families are together this 4th of July. Our hearts turn to the MANY men and women that have sacrificed SO much to defend and protect the freedoms that we hold dear.

Thank you for those that are serving or have served our country!

GOD BLESS YOU