Trusting through the hard times

This morning at church our pastor preached on being faithful through the hard times. He pointed out that its always easy to trust God when things are going well. However, its rare that we turn to God when times get tough. We take out or frustrations on our family and fail to turn to Him. He preached that though this may be a good time, trials will surely come that will test our faith. Throughout this message, I was thinking about how a few weeks ago my husband said we needed two new tires on our car. I had no idea where the money would come from so I prayed. God provided us with just enough extra money to get two new tires, an oil change, and an air filter. PRAISE GOD! I figured this was a pretty good 'trust' story. I was feeling pretty good about myself. We had a good Sunday morning....but I have to admit, when this message was preached, I was anxiously hoping for no more trials before we go home in July. I really want to be able to go and our finances are tight....if anything else happens that requires large amounts of money...our trip may have to be cancelled. Well, God decided today was the day I needed to start trusting again. When we got home from church our air conditioning was struggling to keep up...and still is. This may or may not require large amounts of money. Second, the kids took a bath and ended up pulling a huge chunk of tile off of the side of the tub/shower. This will definately take some money to fix....so it looks like we are all stuck taking baths for awhile so that we dont ruin the drywall while waiting for the money to come in. While I sit here and write this, my air is continuously running....and I am anxiously waiting for it to shut off. This would possibly mean that the AC is not broken....but just needed a new filter which my husband bought a couple of hours ago. However, after church this morning, it is quite fresh in my mind that my plans are not His. He may decide that our AC needs to break in order for my family to grow stronger in Him. There was an awesome song sung at church this morning called "The Potter knows the Clay". I will cling to these lyrics for the next couple of weeks knowing that through trials my faith is made stronger.

The Potter Knows the Clay

I know you are going through the fire

Its getting hard to stand the heat

But even harder is the wondering

Is God’s hand still on me

Its lonely in the flames

When you’re counting days of pain

Chorus

But the Potter knows the clay

How much pressure it can take

How many times around the wheel

‘Til there’s submission to His will

he’s planned a beautiful design but

it’ll take some fire and time its gonna

be okay‘cause the Potter knows the clay

Friend I just came through that fire

Not too very long ago

And looking back I can see why

And that my God was in control

But on the hottest days I'd cry

Oh Lord, isn't it about time

The long awaited photos of us:)

Here is a picture of the hair. I have been working forever to figure out how to cornrow....and this is my first attempt. Looks pretty good I think! (Excuse the messy background...hair fixing can get stressful at times:)

JJ's new favorite thing is reading. He loves to have books read to him or to read them himself:) It is so sweet. I want him to enjoy reading so I am super happy that he seems to have a healthy love for it already! Arent my men cute reading together?

Miracle and JJ enjoy playing 'nigh night'.
A few weeks ago, we took the kids to Paris Mountain State Park. While there, we got to go on a paddle boat ride. It was so fun aside from the diaper change right in the middle of it.

Sorry about the hodge podge of pictures, but I have needed to upload pics for a long time and had to put my favorites up:)

Happy Summer

I just spent over two hours taking out, washing, and blowdrying my daughters hair. My fingers hurt horribly from the tiny braids and then the hot straightener. It was all worth it though....she looks adorable with straight hair. Now I just have to figure out what to do with it for tomorrow....ahhh the trickiness of black hair:) Thank God I love her so very much or I would have turned around running after having to do her hair the first time. It has been over a year now and it has grown so much....and I am starting to feel alot less overwhelmed at the thought of doing it when it needs done. Thank God for progress! (Pics to come...I PROMISE:)

The joys of life

You know, sometimes its important to find the joys in life so that you can get through the sorrows. I have so many 'joys' that I often forget to enjoy because I am bogged down by the not so fun stuff. My favorite joys are JJ and Miracle. My children are playing in the hallway right now. JJ is talking about his 'soo' or shoe and Miracle is helping to dress him up all 'pretty' in her necklaces and dress up clothes. I hate that JJ is putting on girly stuff....but I love that he is having fun with his sister. I never have to worry about those two...they each have a best friend in each other. I know things will change as Miracle gets older. She wont want JJ in her room anymore, she won't want to share her stuff with him, and she will yell at him for following her around. The same will go for JJ as he gets older. He won't want sissy to put girl stuff on him anymore, he won't care to play with his sister all the time, and he wont want her to be in his room or touch his stuff anymore. This is all to be expected. The awesome thing about the relationship they are sharing right now is that they are building strong bonds with each other so that when they are older, though they won't want to play together anymore, they will help each other through hard situations at school, they will protect each other when it counts, and they will know that they always have a 'best friend' when they need it. They will watch out for each other because that is what brothers and sisters do. They stick together through thick and thin. They are each others advocates and always will be.

I am lucky enough to have this kind of relationship with my siblings. We are each others advocates. We are each others sounding ear. We are best friends, as we should be. I know my sisters do not agree with everything I do, and I know that they have their opinions about my life. However, the ties we formed as children are strong, and I always know that they are there if I ever need them.

I am glad that I have two children, possibly a few more some day. I am glad that they can be brother and sister and have the relationships that come from sharing that special title within a family. I have no doubt that Miracle will be quick to defend her little brother if he gets made fun of at school. In fact, I can see her stepping up to kick some butt if needed:) Also, I know that JJ will be quick to protect his big sister from dangerous boys and other things that beautiful girls have trouble with through the years. He is also shaping up to be one that will be able to give a good butt kicking if needed:) (I don't encourage this, but rule is: if you get hit first, you better hit back!) Overall, my kids will be fine when they are sent off on their own for school or other activities as long as they have each other around. That right there calms an anxious mommas heart....and makes it smile!