Category Archives: Life

How to play “catch-up”…

The mere thought of trying to play catch up is daunting and one that has paralyzed me from logging into my blog and even saying a quick “hi”, “I’m still here”, “The holidays didn’t actually kill me”, or a simple “HELP ME…”!  I know it sounds ridiculous… but with the amount of new things to write about, along with the speed in which they have been hopping on life’s train;  my head is spinning and my stomach was in knots!  A little too dramatic for everyone?  I’ll admit it sounds like it… but here is a brief summary of life since I last signed on:

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Christmas 2013 was one we shared with family and friends.  Our railing was lined with 25 stockings, and don’t forget Jake, Sammy Sosa, Chance, and Rudy’s too… the pet ones of course!  The richest blessings in our lives are these zany people that we are somehow related to.  Starting with “Happy Birthday Jesus”, paper shredding, 7 littles running around in pure excitement, a soccer game in the field (almost 60 on Christmas Day), yummy dinner bursting with lively conversations, our huge family photo shoot of the year, and more family coming and going for the next 10-ish days!  It was a wonderful time of really celebrating how blessed we are.  God is so good!

Bringing Lucy home to teach her is one of the best things we ever could have done.  She is re-gaining her self-confidence, beginning to enjoy reading again, believing that she is great at math, and enjoying that her history, science, and reading are Bible based and founded on truths!  I have known that God would ask me to school our kiddos at home for sometime now… all I can say is; He is so very Good and His ways are perfect.  Now, if I want to pull my hair out tomorrow and throw in the “teacher” towel… let me blow off some stream and re-gain my composure.  But I assure you, He is always good!

We found out that the kiddos have a water born parasite in their gut.   Our poor little ladies were really uncomfortable for two whole weeks.  Now the boys have this plague, though we are beginning to see light at the end (we think!)  I had mentioned to hubby man that buying stock in 3 year old undies would have been a wonderful idea as I could not keep up on the laundry… I have never seen anything like it.  But again, with two weeks of poop up to my elbows and sleepless nights on end;  I can confidently say that our God is always incredibly good!

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This last week let down the hammer…  Cory woke me up Wednesday morning after a work call and relayed that the Corporate office that he has worked in for these last 6 plus years was closing and he would be without a job soon.  Out of the blue.  No warning.  Not something we had even really considered.  For a job… this was the bomb-digity… we hadn’t imagined life without it… didn’t really want to try.  All I knew to do was pray.  The kind of prayer where it was raw, half empty of words, and yet a prayer of thanksgiving.  Thankful for the job, thankful for the adventure ahead, and thankful that my best friend, myself, and God were there together in that moment.  We are still wading through the questions, the possibilities, the opportunities, but are resting in the arms of the One writing the words of this novel.  A story that one day we will see beauty in, chapters that lead to life abundantly in Him!  While using the brains he has given us, we are also resting in His promises, waiting on His timing, seeking His direction, and knowing that He has “plans to prosper us, and not to harm us.  Plans to give us hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11  He is good time after time.

I feel God saying; “There is much beauty in this mess.”  And I choose to trust Him for He is good!

-Sincerely, dani

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Smile… It’s Dancing Day!

Every Tuesday morning at 10:30, I find myself in a constant smile.  A smile because my little peanut is the happiest little dancing princess I have ever seen!  She is focused, goofy, confident, timid, she is happy, twirling, giggling, jumping, pointing her little pink ballet slippers, and smiling because she was quite possibly born to dance!

It is the simple moments in life like this half hour I have the second day of each week that remind me to enjoy each moment just like my Grey Everly is.  It reminds me to count my blessings… count them one-by-one, count your little blessings, see what God has done… (is that how the saying goes?)  I have started to make it a point to do just that.  I stand at the windowed door and watch her in her sparkly, poofy, purple tutu and thank God for all the blessings that come rushing through my mind:

I thank Him for:

My husband who is a wonderful man of integrity, commitment, courage, diligence, strength, and faith.  A husband committed to me in our marriage covenant between God and us.  A son filled with a tender heart that hurts when others hurt, has an entrepreneurial spirit, and made me a mommy for the first time.  A “Squish” who is seriously the sweetest of all  girls with a passion for helping the needy, she is beautiful inside and out, and is goofy when I need to laugh most.  A little peanut that we were never supposed to be able to have… (doctors said I would die if I had another baby), this little one has a passion for life, and is so gentle.  I thank Him for:  Our home, these 10 acres of possibilities, a pond to float on and soak in each sunbeam, a barn and arena for Lucy’s someday horse, Mountains that literally look like they were placed out my front porch each day to stare at me… (I am still in awe each day I see them… God cares so much for each of us), the gift of photography that He has shared  with me,  and that I get to share this gift with clients who have become dear friends, Salvation He alone offers me freely, and my list just keeps rolling on…

This routine always leaves me feeling overwhelmed by His pure goodness that I did NOTHING to earn, yet He so freely shares in every breath I take.  Does that overwhelm you too?

So, tomorrow is another “dancing day” for Grey, and I cannot wait to watch her as her little three year old body dances like no one is watching and is once again bubbling over with joy… I pray that each of you takes a moment to count your blessings, no matter how little they are.

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Have a ‘dancing day’ filled with joy!

Sincerely, dani

My BeautyFULL Mess!

Sooo… I know I am not the only one that has a “messy life”.

I know that our family has been walking through a 10 year mess.

I believe with my whole being that God is soooo much bigger than any mess I may have.

I now know that although this mess is way too messy for my liking… it is a “beautyFULL mess”.

 

Health stuff can be messy to say the least… and after 10 years I have seen all kinds of doctors.  Naturopaths, MD’s, Sleep Clinics, Specialists of all sorts, Neuro-Link Practitioners, Nutritionists… you name it, I have seen it!   I have been  told very scary things leading to not being here to love my husband, raise my kiddos, and enjoy this journey with our families.  I have been scared silly for sure.  I still have NO diagnosis, and the decisions we must make are never easy.  Although this is BIG… hard… scary… overwhelming… and super duper messy, the reason I am sharing about it is because God has been showing me over these last seven months that this mess is marked with His beauty.

It is FULL of His beauty.

It is for His beauty.

He could step in.

He could stop it.

He could heal me.

He could take the weight of this mess off of my husband.

He could remove the stress from my kiddos.

He CAN.

He MIGHT.

He is ABLE.

I believe all of this and I still pray daily, sometimes each minute that He WILL… but I can finally say I am thankful that He chose me to for some reason to walk through this messy-messy battle.  It may not be fun, and only He knows how it will end… but I am guaranteed that His purpose for my life will prevail- Proverbs 19:21, and that He has plans to “prosper me and not to harm me.  Plans for hope and a future…”  Jeremiah 29:11-13  Do I want healing? YES!  Do I wish that I didn’t feel like this?  OF COURSE!  Are there moments/ days I feel like I cannot get out of bed, move, go on? UH HUH!   Is this the hardest thing I have had to walk through?  BOY HOWDY!  Will I continue to seek after my God and desire His will at all costs?  YOU BETCHA!  There is sooooo much beauty in this mess… it truly is a “beautyFULL mess” and I cannot wait to see what God has planned in all of it.  His ways are so often a mystery to me, yet they are so full of life and love.  And I choose to be thankful that He is using me as a vessel to bring glory to Him!  I choose today, to walk in a manner worthy of HIS calling!- Ephesians 4:1

 

“Lord Jesus, I thank you for picking me for this “beauty-full mess”.  I know you love me.  I know your plans are perfect and right.  I pray that you bring healing to my body.  I pray for strength for this journey, patience with this process, grace for each day, protection for my kiddos, and joy in our marriage!  You are sooooo good, and I am thankful that you alone hold the blueprints for this life you’ve given.  I ask you to keep me close to you, that you may do YOUR good work in me.
Amen”.

 

~Sincerely, Dani

choose joy!

Choose JOY today… it simply feels better!