Faith battling my Fears.....

 Well, since the new rental home has a pool (pretty small, but a pool nonetheless)- we have been taking full advantage of that this week.  Even though it was freezing until today....that doesn't stop our kiddos :)

 Matthew takes his squirt gun seriously!

 Could Abigail get any more beautiful?

 High flyin'

 Crazy action

 Cutie pie fun!!!  The cutest is that Jonathan never actually gets any water in his squirter because he doesn't get the concept of putting it in the water and pulling back- he he he, but he doesn't mind.  It's the idea that makes him giggle.

 Sarah....she has come a long way baby!!!!  Praising God for that!  And that smile is AMAZING!

 I know I am biased, but she is amazing :)

 And our little ball of fire Elizabeth is soo cute- just want to squeeze her.

 Stop- wait!

You see this sign- it was at a rest area we had our picnic at on the way to my nephew's baseball game last Saturday.  We thought it would come in handy for blogging...and I have to say it sums up how we are feeling.  You see.......he he he- we had a plan.  Yeah it's ok to laugh now.

The plan was to rent a place for a couple of months...wait for our tax refund......and put that towards a home to buy.  As you know.......most of us haven't seen that refund.  And may not for a while.  Hey, being as vague as the government here on this.

So we saved enough for the move, for the first few months of what we would spend.  BUT we did not plan on waiting so long to be able to move to a home.  Now, had we known it could take months we would have just rented a house for 6-8 months moved all our stuff there, but how were we to know?  Then the disastrous rental that we were at- that we lost a few thousand on....yeah....not good at all. 

You could see where our faith has been a little shaken.  Our fears are creeping in.  Why ......?  The list could get so long, and yet we know that God led us here.  We have been in "this spot" so many times.  We have encouraged others "in this spot".  We have let it roll off our tongue- the Lord will provide, but now we ourselves are "here again".....and it stinks.

So here's our sign: venomous snakes in area......satan tries to attack us.  Make us believe that we are wrong for trusting, making that decision to move closer to family.  That snake starts arguments over silly things in our lives.  Things that don't matter.  Well- EVEN WHEN IT IS HARD WE WILL NOT BACK DOWN!  NO TURNING BACK!!!  We are here for the long haul.  We are praying and keep standing firm on HIS WORDS OF TRUTH! 

Today Jason heard something on the radio from a pastor that talked about running.  He  said that runners will run hills to get the strength.  I remember doing that my senior year of HS as I thought it was a great idea to go out for track.  I remember thinking why are we running hills this isn't cross country?  It is for the strength.

So right now we are running that hill.  It is hard.  Our faith sometimes waivers.  We question ourselves.  We question our sanity.  BUT we are gaining strength- NOT OURS- from GOD ALONE!  PRAYING, READING HIS TRUTH, and HANGING IN THERE!

Praying your hills will help strengthen you too...even when you don't want to run them.

Visit from Bloggy friends

So August 25-27 we had this wonderful family come visit...loving known as the "Big D Family"....but to us they are friends.  Friends that we cherish and have come to love.  You see there are many things that tie a lot of us to each other like:  Love for Christ, love of children, love of homeschooling, love of adoption, love of our families (and for some it's the motto of the more the merrier - he he he), love of God's Church, love of molding ourselves to look more like our Saviour.  What a great time of fun and fellowship.  

We had plenty of fun as the days were really warm- and the camp's pool is still running.  We spent a lot of time swimming....chasing....talking......talking some more.....relaxing.....it was GREAT!!!!  You know as Christians- WHICH IS OUR MOST IMPORTANT LINK TO EACH OTHER......it is always great to sit down and enjoy each other as family in Christ.  

I don't know about you.  We live in a very very remote area.  I have talked before about our "island"- yep totally an island.  We have groups come to the camp...we go to church and Sunday school......we have phone and internet connections to others......and that is where it ends.  We don't have a life really.  Which for the most part is fine.  I am not interested in what most people call "a life" anyway.  

So to visit with bloggy friends on vacation and then again after we got home- PRICELESS!!!

So here goes the many pics of our fun...................  chatting of course in the kitchen with Laurel the mommy of 12 some younger some older for this trip she had the younger ones with her - Jason making waffles :)  YUMMY (love our new double waffle maker from Sam's of course).

Everyone should have one of these marble runs- they are a BLAST...and the boys loved it of course.  The girls in the above pic playing with barbie dolls of course...etc.

Praying you all had a FANTASTIC Labor Day Weekend....we did.  We did some more swimming, playing, cooking, and having fun as a family!  May You all Be BLESSED!!!!

Pics of Sea World and fun pool time

Doesn't need an explanation- except how could one baby be sooo cute?
Boys wrestling :)
Girls hanging out....sticking their heads under the cool water

Awww...cute new suit Joanna
Feeding time at Sea World.
Our kids take up the whole ride :) he he he he, and Andrew wasn't even on it.



Look not only do I have my mommy & daddy wrapped around my finger, but my big brother Andrew too.
I will try to post some more fun stuff about our Anniversary getaway soon....but for now cute pics of our babes will have to do. All I can say is I am married to the best man in the world, and I happen to have the cutest children....what more is there?