Just a story...

Well, so much for consistency, right? :) Every night for the last 3+ weeks, I've been falling asleep thinking of all of the things I should be doing... folding clothes, cleaning somewhere, organizing something, writing a new post on here. Pretty much every night, sleep won. The benefit, however, has been all of the time I've spent thinking about what to write next. And so, I'm going to tell you a story. It starts waaay back... well, it's "way" back to me anyway... nearly 11 years ago...

I was a senior in high school. I knew everything already, so I had no further interest in school. Only by the grace of God (and the "gentle" prodding of my mom and then-boyfriend) did I finish and not just quit. There's basically no logic behind my attitude toward school. I just didn't want to be there anymore. I was ready for something new and exciting.

So, less than a year after graduating, I married that boyfriend. He was a few years older than me and had already been married once. The blessing from that is the two beautiful babies that tagged along behind him. They were 1 and 2 when I met them, and not much older when I was blessed to become an extra mom to them. Our newlywed stage wasn't exactly your traditional newlywed stage. (But then, when has anything in my life been traditional?) Anyway, we were married only 6 months when we were given custody of those two sweet babies. So, "new and exciting" here we come...

Being a wife and a mom are two of the most rewarding and fulfilling jobs I've ever had. Not to say it has always been easy or even pleasant at any given moment, but I knew from the start that I had found what God had made me for - or at least part of it. :) So, after a couple of years, we decided to ask God to grow our family. At only about 8 weeks, our first pregnancy was probably the most widely announced for being that far along. But, Jesus had other plans for that baby, and we miscarried that child. After a few appointments with my doctor, I was told it would be very difficult to conceive naturally. (Boy, have we proven them wrong! lol) So at that point we began to consider adoption.

A sweet couple in our church were foster parents and were fostering the most precious little baby. They were "older", by the government's standards, and although they had a great desire to adopt that baby, it was questionable whether or not they'd be approved. We all prayed about it, and my husband and I stepped up to be next in line, should they be denied the privilege of adopting him. In the end, they were approved, and we could not have been happier for them and the sweet baby. A couple of years after our miscarriage, we were blessed with a healthy baby girl... then a healthy baby boy... and then another healthy baby girl.  :)

Over these past 6ish years of having babies and raising children, my husband and I have grown up significantly. We've learned a lot from people who have been in our shoes, and we've learned a lot from our own mistakes. But, either way, we've ended up learning a lot.

After several years of having our oldest two kids at home with us, we agreed to let them live with their mom. More recently, we felt like they needed to be back with us. We pursued that through the legal system - all the while, feeling very sure that we were following God's will. After all, we were wanting to do a good thing for them. So that must be God's will, right? Well, after about a year and a half of working through all of that, we felt God telling us to back off of it. I won't say I argued with the Lord, but I certainly didn't understand His logic.

Then another situation even more recently was regarding a house. My husband and I had looked at a house that I fell completely in love with. It was a beautiful old home with incredible character inside and huge pecan trees outside. It was smaller than what we're in, but I just considered it "cozy". There was even a "secret" path from the backyard to my mom's backyard. It seemed to be perfect for us. But then it fell through. I was sad, angry, confused. It was a perfect house.

Well, nearly 3 weeks ago, I received word that a dear family friend had died. The shock from such sudden, unexpected news was indescribable. However, not at all to minimize his death, my first thoughts went to his sweet son, the little baby boy that had been adopted by him and his wife years ago. It happened that my husband and I had been named guardians of that little boy waaay back when they had finally been approved to adopt him. So, our family grew once more. :)

They say hindsight is 20/20. There may be some truth in that. I believe, based on Romans 8:28, that our precious Jesus will always bring something good out of every situation. Now it may not be the "good" that we would understand. It may not be bringing two of your kids back into your home, or a pretty little house in a great neighborhood. It may be that He is preparing you for the unthinkable. He prepared us. His ultimate goal is to receive glory, and it happens that my goal is to give that to Him. I am beyond blessed and humbled to be chosen by God to step into this sweet boy's life and minister to him and raise him up in the Lord. It is simply amazing to think about how God has prepared us for years for this exact time. He is truly amazing.

One more thing! Our youngest daughter was born with dark hair and dark eyes, just like the rest of the kids and my husband and me. But after a few months, her hair became blonde and her eyes a bright blue! One of our earliest family pictures with her in it has this dark-haired family with this tiny blonde baby girl in the middle. Well, I'm pleased to announce that even the color of my baby's hair was all part of His plan. Our new sweet boy has the blondest hair and the bluest eyes you've ever seen. :)

My God is good. That doesn't just describe Him. It's who He is.