The Holidays.....

As the holiday madness draws closer to an end, and a new year quickly approaches, I can't help but to reflect on the past year of my life. Our family has been through so much change in just one year it's absolutely amazing! We moved from our cozy little house to a small, very crowded Uhaul apartment, and I went from a stay at home mom to a full time working mom in a day. Then, Eric had the opportunity to move out up in the company, thus moving us out of "the hood." Now, we are living back in the apartment community we started out our marriage in. (A very humbling experience.) I am continuing to working at the MDO, where I get to fellowship with the most amazing Christian women two days a week, and I get to tell others about the Lord, and how incredibly amazing He is!(Could life get any better than that?) I am also watching a little girl 5 days a week, 10 hours a day. As if this was not enough stress and change, I'm continuing to peck away at my college education and should hopefully have associates degree by the end of the summer.....after many years of procrastination.

This year, we'd learned what it was to live beyond our means. We had a nice house in a very nice housing community, we had "everything." Eric had a "great" career making money we had never fathomed making in our entire life! The Lord taught us a very important life lesson though.....this stuff is not important at all! It can all be taken away in the snap of His fingers. Although we thought it would be *so awesome* to live that kind of life, we were sadly mistaken. Our marriage and family were never worse off, and we were more unhappy than we had ever been.

Moving to Uhaul, gave us the fresh start that we needed, and put everything into perspective for us. We were humbled this past year, and have learned the true meaning of happiness. Now it will be interesting to see where the Lord will lead us next. We made one of the biggest,hardest decisions of our life, and have begun to look for a new church home. One where we can not only serve, but have our whole hearts in it, and know 100% that this is where the Lord wants our family to be. It is so unfulfilling to go through the motions, knowing all along that this is not where we're meant to be, and trying to fit a mold that just doesn't fit. (No matter how long and how hard you have tried to make it work.) We LOVE everyone at Spring Valley and cherish the many great memories we have had there, it's just time for us to move on, and give our great God 100%.

Whoo! Please pray for us that we will continue to follow his will!

Gabbi's Christmas Pictures......

Gabbi's Christmas pictures turned out so stinking cute this year! The top picture is my favorite!!! I love this girl!!

To pray like a child....

Each night as we go to bed, we pretty much have the same bedtime routine. Bath, pray, and bed. We began last night the very same way. As Eric and I knelt by the bed to pray with Gabbi, she prayed for everything she normally prays for....mama, daddy, Lady, Olivia, and so on. Then, she finished up praying with "and justice for all. Amen." Eric and I had a pretty good laugh, and Gabbi just looked at us like we had lost our mind. I followed the laughter up with "Gabbi that was great. We should say thank you to God for justice. Good job Gabbi!"

That made me think....Wow, leave it to my 3 year old to thank God for something so awesome! Justice is something I definately take for granted, as well as many other things the Lord has blessed me with as an American. Last night as I prayed before bed, I also thanked God for "justice for all," and all of the people in our great nation who make that possible. Amen....