Another year older, and hopefully wiser

As I reflect on my birthday I think about some of the big changes that have come through this year.

In December we lost our precious girl, Jubilee Belle.  I miss her often and though I don't cry as often and it is easier to remember that she is with Jesus and doing better than I am, it's still difficult every once in a while. I see Zoe playing with her baby doll constantly and can't help but think, she should be playing with a real live baby instead. However, God saw fit that Jubilee join Him instead and we rest in that.

We've been able to use Jubilee's death as a witness many times in the last year.  Sometimes with family, sometimes with friends, and most often with the boys.  I've been able to talk to the boys about the importance of staying strong when they want to collapse and doing what they need to do even when it's hard sometimes.  I've stressed that the best way they can care for someone who is hurt back home is to work on getting their life in order while they are here. Ironically, my emotions have sometimes taught our youth to be empathetic.  They will often ask what is wrong if I'm on the verge of tears.  Not that I do it often but when I do it is good to see they are learning empathy.

It took a few months, but we found out in June that we are expecting again, and what a blessing that is!  I'm so looking forward to baby #3.  My biggest struggle is not to worry about the birth.  I'm trying to just trust that Jesus will provide the strength I need to trust Him despite my temptation to doubt.  Things are going well so far with this pregnancy for which I'm very thankful.  I can't wait to meet our little one this March!  It's hard to believe that I've been pregnant 3 times in 3 years.  I'm so thankful for the opportunity.

We moved yet again this year, another amazing opportunity!  We are working for a new Director who is a much better fit for us.  Instead of 8 boys, we now raise 10 and they are WAY more immature because they are the younger kids.  They want to do things with us though and that is a blessing.  Unfortunately the program is run so tightly that it's hard to do a lot of the fun things we would like to do with them.  We have to conduct three one-hour groups a week plus all of our normal stuff, it cuts out a lot of the time we would have for playing games and doing projects.

My husband had a "definitely-not-30-party".  I'm so blessed by having my husband.  He treats me so well and I'm very thankful he's willing to clean.  Haha it's probably my least favorite thing ever but I've been much better about it.  He's been very supportive through all of the rough times this year.  In fact, he's supported me in starting my own business.

I've been wanting to be a Compassionate Entrepreneur with Trades of Hope since Zoe was born.  We never had the funds to do so and so when an opportunity presented itself, I'm so glad we were able to say, "YES!"  The heart of this organization is what always kept it in my mind.  The fact that they are changing one of their taglines from "Shop. Host. Join" to "Join. Host. Shop" says a lot about the mission of TOH.  My trainer told me that we have many more groups coming to TOH saying that they have heard of how much TOH has helped others that they are hoping to sell their goods with TOH also.  Unfortunately, with less than 1,000 CE's nationwide, TOH has had to turn down some of these groups.  So I'm so thankful to be working with a company that wants to be the Hands and Feet of Jesus.

Those are the biggest changes we've experienced this year.  We pray that Jesus keeps working to keep our hearts turned toward Him and helping us to trust Him every step of the way.

I leave you with a cute video of our precious girl.  (Well, I suppose I should leave the "cute" adjective out, that's for you to decide.)

A family photoshoot

Thanks to my mom-in-love we did 6 month family photos last Sunday. We had planned to go to the Wintergreen gorge for pictures but it rained too much.  It was POURING so we decide to take photos inside at PSB.  It turned out to be a fun afternoon. 

And at the end we got some nice weather.

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I'm so thankful lately for the Sabbaths that Aaron, Zoe & I have been enjoying the last few weeks.  We;ve been trying to use our Sundays to focus more on the Lord.  Jesus tells us to seek first His Kingdom & His righteousness.  That is what Aaron & I have been trying to do lately.  We've been listening to great sermons by Paul Washer (Recovering Biblical Womanhood, Do You Really Desire God?), RC Sproul, John Piper, John McArthur. 

We've watched Pilgram's Progress and a movie on Tyndale (translated the Bible into English & was burned at the stake for it) & Charles Spurgeon.  

We know that we are not saved by doing these things but because Christ saved us how could we not want to honor Him?

Hopefully in the future we will go out to handout tracts and engage people in conversation yet. 

Thankful Thursdays

This wasn't as hard as I had anticipated it would be for this week.  Here are some things that I am thankful for this week.  Please be sure to link up!

1. God's grace, mercy, faithfulness.  I'm trusting Him so much more in this matter than I ever have before.  Why I feel such a great peace about this I just don't know.  He's sooooooo good to me.  I mean, I should have peace about it, but I'm still suprised because it's not like me to be this calm.  Thanks Lord for Your peace which surpasses all understanding.

2. The sunshine/warmer temperatures.  How about you?

3. Spending time at the library reading to the girls.  My goodness how they love it.  We've come to know most of the librarians by name.  Today in the car, 2-year-old was singing, "Mr. Bob, Mr. Bob, Mr.  Bob, Mr. Bob."  I said, "M, what are singing?" She said, "I sing a song bout Mr. Bob."  He's her favorite librarian after he copied a princess picture for her to color.  He calls her princess every time he sees her.  The girls are just smitten with him.  It's too cute!  They love all of the workers there though.

4. God's miraculous provision.  We received, almost EXACTLY the amount of money that we needed to be able to pay our taxes on time.  I think we have to pay about 50 out of pocket.  How's that for God's awesome provision???  Thank you Jesus for using Your Church to help us.  God is sooooooo good.

5. I get to visit my family this weekend.  I'm very excited to see them as I haven't spent any real time with them lately.  This also comes with a request for prayer.  Most are unsaved.   We desire that they come to know the Lord.  Please pray with us. My great-grandmother is not doing well.  This may be the last time we see her.  My grandparents on my dad's side are getting a lot older and may not be around much longer either. Please pray that God prepares the way for us to share His Word.

6. The support of friends.  My friend Melanie came over on Tuesday (when I found out my job will be ending) and just talked with me and took me to the mall to get my mind off of things for a little while.  I've also gotten phone calls and emails from friends and it's so encouraging.  Thank you for all of your prayers.



What are you thankful for this week??? Please feel free to share through the weekend as well.  As you can see this is going up late this Thursday.  I just didn't have time to type it up before now.

Please link up:

You Give and Take Away

In August of 2009, I was about to move back to Pittsburgh, I had spent most of my savings living in Erie while still trying to find a job.  Nothing seemed to be happening.  Maybe one week before I called my landlord to let him know I'd be moving out, a family contacted me about a possible nanny position.  I was so thrilled.  I got an interview on a Thursday (or Friday, can't really remember).  When I pulled in the driveway, the truck had a WCTL sticker on the back.  A great sign to me that this might be God's leading (WCTL is the gospel music station in Erie (I don't say Christian because music can't be a "little Christ")).  I met with this wonderful family.  I found out Friday evening I got the job and started the following Monday.  What a huge praise that was.  I've watched the youngest girl grow from 5 months and not even rolling over yet, to become a talkative 2 year-old.  I enjoy having deep conversations with the 10 year old (or at least relatively so).  Oh middle child, you are God's way of teaching me patience, that doesn't mean I don't love you because I absolutely do, but I think God is using you to prepare me for kids of my own someday!  You are strong-willed, determined, incredibly intelligent, snuggly, sweet, and just very, whatever you are at a time you are very that adjective.  I will miss you.  That's right, I will miss them.

I love this family so much, but do to many difficulties, unfortunately my job will be ending in June.  I found out yesterday.  I cried, a lot.  Mostly because I don't want to miss out on the fun things that I get to do with the girls, the cute things they say, they do, the way they act, singing "the Haitian song" with them in the car, "playing shapes" with the 2 year old, dancing to Ga Guys, etc.  I will miss the fights over brushing hair, the snuggling up while watching movies, baking with the girls, the trip to Port Farms where we all had a fantastic day despite my losing my keys for a bit of time.  Mostly I've loved teaching them about Jesus.  The 2 year old will always remind me before lunch we need to "pay" (pray).

Aaron and I would appreciate prayer very much.  Right now we are living solely on my income as he's student teaching.  We're going to take a week to pray and see where God is leading us before rushing into anything.  We're not sure where He wants us.  I know He keeps putting orphans on my heart for a reason.  LORD, please show me!


Job 1:21 And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.


The Lord gave me this job, and He has also now taken it away. I'm just praying He would show us where He wants us.  What He wants us to be doing.  Lord, if you want me to step out of my comfort zone and move I will, just show me!  I need your guidance everyday!

The past two weeks in crafts! (pt Zwei, that's two in German)

So, the last post was getting pretty long and had lots of pictures.  This post will probably be equally as long.  Hope you're up for that God has called us to be stewards of this Earth, so I've been trying to reuse the things that I have right now instead of buying more fabric.  I have plenty of fabric here that I can use for various things.  YAY!!!! I'm so thankful for Free Cycle also.  I got a glue gun and some glue sticks from Free Cycle, Praise God since I can't find mine anymore.  I've looked and looked, no luck.

Without further ado here are some more of the crafts that I've whipped up this weekend:

I've made this group of bracelets, (again, only from used t-shirt material and some hot glue).  Let's separate those and get a closer look. 

These are the blue set.  

Red set

Two different perspectives of the green bunch. 

Pink and a random blue one that I forgot to put in with the other blues for some reason. 

I don't know what to do with these yet.  I've made them, just not sure if I'm going to turn them into hair pieces or pins or maybe headbands.  Just not sure.  Ideas???

A bowl of mini rosettes.  I didn't want to throw out scraps so I made these.  They are just waiting to be turned into something.  :) :) :) 

And then there is this bobby pin.  Isn't it cute???

I love it! 

I also made this pin. . .

to go with this skirt.  I couldn't get a good picture by myself and hubby was doing homework.  Sorry guys!  The top was from a skirt I bought at the thrift store to make a purse for my sister.  And the bottom is from quilting scraps leftover from that same sister's quilt I made I think in December '08.  

A few more things:  I might think of starting to sell some of the things that I make (not sure yet) but would you be willing to purchase any of the things you've seen on the blog??? If you are what would be a good price range?  I just have no idea yet.  Please help me out.  We are trying to trust God right now with our finances, but it looks like I might not be able to have my job much longer if we can't get tax stuff figured out.  Right now, I pay about 15% of my income to taxes.  It's a bit rough when I didn't realize half of that would be due now since I paid estimated taxes already this year.  I'm not worrying thought, Jesus promised to provide for our needs.  We have food on our table, a very nice apartment to live in, and are able to pay our bills.  God is good.  I leave you with this passage (emphasis added): 

Proverbs 31:10-31

 A wife of noble character who can find? 

   She is worth far more than rubies.
Her husband has full confidence in her
   and lacks nothing of value.
She brings him good, not harm,
   all the days of her life.
She selects wool and flax
   and works with eager hands.
She is like the merchant ships,
   bringing her food from afar.
She gets up while it is still dark;
   she provides food for her family
   and portions for her servant girls.
She considers a field and buys it;
   out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.
She sets about her work vigorously;
   her arms are strong for her tasks.
She sees that her trading is profitable,
   and her lamp does not go out at night.
In her hand she holds the distaff
   and grasps the spindle with her fingers.
She opens her arms to the poor
   and extends her hands to the needy.
When it snows, she has no fear for her household;
   for all of them are clothed in scarlet.
She makes coverings for her bed;
   she is clothed in fine linen and purple.
Her husband is respected at the city gate,
   where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.
She makes linen garments and sells them,
   and supplies the merchants with sashes. 
She is clothed with strength and dignity;
   she can laugh at the days to come.
She speaks with wisdom,
   and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
She watches over the affairs of her household
   and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children arise and call her blessed;
   her husband also, and he praises her:
“Many women do noble things,
   but you surpass them all.”
Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
   but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. 
Give her the reward she has earned,
   and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.