Together for Life

    Ever have that season in life where you feel down and out, but then you get encouraged and feel better, and then something else comes along and knocks you down?  That horrible, repetitious pattern that seems bent on destroying all happiness, all contentment, all confidence, or any feelings of joy you may have.  Times when everything BUT your response careens out of your control.  Of course we know that God is really allowing things into our lives to train us, use us, make us more like Himself, molding us into the Image of His Son, but sometimes it feels like a little more than you can take.  One can know the truth in his head, but sometimes, it's when trouble eclipses the good feelings that we all of a sudden seem blind and think, "Yes, God fought for us THAT time, but will He do it THIS time?"  That's where I find myself today.     On days like this I am reminded of many verses, but in particular Hebrews 13:15-16 which says, " By h...

      This pregnancy has been rough, not gonna lie.  Although puking daily is a thing of the past (Hallelujah!), other discomforts have reared their ugly heads; the sleep deprivation is one of the biggest issues, due to the heartburn, insomnia, trips to the fridge, trips to the bathroom, can't get comfortable, etc., etc, and of course my blood volume has increased drastically, which in itself leaves my feet dragging.  There are a million and one things I'm "supposed" to be doing, but can't find the mental, emotional, or physical strength to accomplish it all, or honestly even half.  Sometimes I catch myself wondering, "What does it feel like to NOT be pregnant?"               Perhaps the most frustrating part of it all is my desire to reach out and be a blessing to others, but not being able to have enough presence of body or mind to do so.  The baby-brain fog runs thick, and thanks to raging hormones, I of...

    As I'm sitting here beside my husband, the both of us enjoying a lazy, snowy day we are also working up the mental and physical fortitude to clean up our home.  It amazes me just how quickly a house can go from clean and organized to disaster, and we don't even have a toddler yet!  The thing is, we both were struck with a nasty flu this week.  At the same time.  So things are just a tad out of sorts at our place.  But thankfully, things are slowly coming to some sense of normalcy!     Though I'm so overwhelmed with about a million things to do to prepare for the birth, get our house ready for our baby, and hey, catch up on Thank-You notes from our wedding (Did I mention life has been crazy?), there are also several things Joel and I are thankful for and excited about!     First of all, because Joel and I are aiming for a natural birth, there are so many things to do to in preparation; books to read, classes to attend, exercis...

  I know pretty much everyone knows this already, but Joel and I are expecting a sweet little addition to our family this April.  If all the Facebook statuses hadn't given it away, my belly sure would have!  But between morning sickness and, well, morning sickness, I never did give anyone an update from the last blog post I wrote about going back to school (not that I really need to, I don't think, but it would at least keep my blog up-to-date!  And, I just enjoy blogging and needed something to write about, so here 'ya go).    School never happened.  Not that it wouldn't have been absolutely amazing, but we discovered Baby right before I signed up; and although it was hard to say "no", I ended up being glad I did (Pregnancy is not for the faint of heart, especially that first trimester!).  It is so funny how something can be such a perfect opportunity, seem SO God-directed, but in fact He has other plans, other things He wants us to accomplis...

    nce upon a time, long ago, in a land far away, lived a young girl; a college student.  She loved school, but decided to work instead of study for a living when she was about 22 years old. So she worked, and worked, and worked; life was full, she was busy, and she never dreamed of going back to school again.  The end.     .....Okay, the land wasn't THAT far away; and it certainly wasn't THAT long ago!  And just kidding, she DID dream of going back to school, but knew that it wasn't God's timing based on the fact that while she was trying to find a good college, her handsome prince waltzed into her life and stole her away.  Funny how that worked out, huh?  And you thought I was launching into a romantic fairy-tale story.     In a nutshell, Joel's and my pastor announced last month that in August, Grace College would be using our church as one of several campuses in the Detroit area.  Our church happens to be located acro...

    It's funny how attitude really is everything.  Much to my chagrin, I would have to admit that when Joel and I found out we had a couple's retreat to attend this last weekend in June, I was less than thrilled.  Of course, it was really a very silly thing to have my knickers in a knot about (who wouldn't want to go on a retreat with the most wonderful man in the world and meet other wonderful, encouraging people along the way?!). This is all just proof that I truly am a work-in-progress.     Come to find out, the place we were going to be staying at was going to be called "The Shack".  Okay, I'm sure several of you know exactly the spot I'm speaking of and may be able to guess where I'm going with this.  I had no clue whatsoever about the place.  All I could picture was a dinky little Super 8 motel.  This of course did not exactly help my attitude issue.     I truly have to laugh at myself; as we pulled up to The Shack, lo ...

One year ago today, my stomach was in crazy-tight knots because I knew that that evening, a very special gentleman was picking me up for our very first date. Nope, the knots did not go away once he came up to the door. Yup, there WAS some comic relief in the course of our evening (the waiter at the diner we went to asked us point blank if this was our first date!), and yes, there was some major confusion for us as, on the way back home again, he asked me without hesitation, "So, was this our first date?" (You see, in my mind, it wasn't supposed to work like that; he was supposed to take me home, where I was going to sit and wait the rest of the week to talk to him again, and hope and pray that he would ask me for another date.) I was more than a little taken aback, and my response was a little too nonchalant.... Oops... so my seeming lack of enthusiasm made him wonder if I really liked him.  Obviously, however, we got things straightened around, no small thanks t...