Redefining "Normal"

So what is normal anyway?

My normal, if I could define "my normal" would be most other people's "insane."

At least that's how I always feel.

But then I remember that we're all people. Normal people.

And I find fleeting encouragement in that thought. That we're all normal. That is, right before I hear another squall from one of my kids, or notice the puppy's peed in the kitchen, or realize the meat for dinner is spoiled.

But these are all normal things. Right?

Yes, right!

I saw this today and immediately loved its message.

Moments after seeing this image, I was reading a blog I've been following for several months now and the message repeatedly being pounded into my tender heart was yet again affirmed.

The writer said, "Does life stand in line behind the young and the needs, take its turn after their hungry souls? Are my children deeply nourished?"

She's asking if we put them first, before chores and entertainment and EVERYTHING. And I must confess. No. I know I don't. So, without wasting another moment writing to you, dear friends, tonight. I return to my sweet calling: my husband, my children, my precious family.

Much love.

When God says "I told you so"

So we knew last Fall that our path was being redefined. We knew God was shifting our direction. And we were eager to follow.

I used to think we were called (to a certain extent) to be a nomadic family. I rationalized that it must be a calling because I tend to love it and hate it all at the same time. And, now that the kids are getting older and have well defined friendships and academic expectations, it is certainly getting harder with each move. 10 moves in 12 years can jade a person.

But then we see a glimmer of God's hand. And His movement. And we are stunned in amazement. And we quickly follow. Probably too quickly, but the urgency to chase God's will is overwhelming and inescapable.

In our haste we endure an emotional roller coaster: grave internal turmoil with fear, worry, constant recalculation, unending cycle of "what ifs," momentary elation and confidence, fleeting encouragement.

Despite me getting my job, Pat getting his part time job at Apple, us finding All Saints Church, the kids settling in at their new school, us finding a great apartment that we could afford, we still worried. We still wondered if we made the right move at the right moment.

All until that one moment when we know without a doubt, that we are squarely where God intended us (despite our ignorance and unavoidable tendency to screw things up), God punctuated our worry with the finality only He could provide, encouraging us beyond measure.

Dear friends, this past week held that moment of affirmation.

God gave Pat a new job.

A job where Pat will be surrounded by men of God. A job where Pat will be able to serve constantly in ministry, supporting the leadership, membership, and community of All Saints Church. A job where Pat will have consistent hours, enabling him to better support our family and freeing us up financially for ministry. A job where Pat will have more time at home with our family. Serving the church and serving the Lord - it is Pat's passion, it is what God made him for.

God is amazing. And good. And we will continue to serve and worship He who is worthy. Thanks be to God! If it weren't the season of Lent, I'd go ahead and cry out "Alleluia!"

Well, I guess I already did! 

Lent. A new perspective for me.

Lent. What is it and why are people always "giving something up" for it?

My husband has taught me well that fasting is a matter of the heart. And when we claim to eagerly give up chocolate or sweet drinks or meat as our great sacrifice for lent I step back and immediately question the motivation behind such proclamations. I believe the Lord does care that we are healthy for His work, but I doubt he cares much at all about you looking good or losing that last five pounds. So, are you doing it for Him or for yourself?

Why are we reluctant to "give up" the significant things? Deceitfulness. Selfishness. Bitterness. Perpetual dejection. Because it actually does require something of us? Because it makes us feel? Makes us uncomfortable? It gives us the chance to grow (if we let it).

Instead of "giving something up" for lent I'm considering "putting something on"and I'd love to hear your comments and suggestions about such ideas.

I'm horrible at making eye contact (deep-seated insecurities buried in the dark places of my heart) so I was considering "putting on" self confidence with the motivation of fostering more genuine relationships. I don't know when I initially realized this about myself. It's been years. And no matter how I've tried in the past, I struggled to maintain eye contact during conversations. I'm quick to look away, look down, fiddle with something just so I don't have to look up.

There's just something about eye contact that I find immensely intimidating. There's a lot of hurt and pain behind those eyes that I want to keep hidden, fueling my fear of judgment, acceptance, and self-preservation. It's been a hard lesson to learn that my attempt at self-preservation leads to consistent disconnection with those who love me, friends who want to get to know me better, friends I want to get to know better, and so on.

So I'm going to do something about it. With the Lord's help. For the glory of God. That my desire to abandon my fear and embrace who He wants me to be may be fleshed out with intentional action.

I encourage you, too, to brave the upcoming season of Lent and make an impact on who you are in Christ. Be free. Glorify God.

And back to the what and why of Lent, I graciously defer to those smarter than me.

Find good suggestions for lent here. And guess what, there's an app for that!

The pain within. Happy birthday to the son I"ll never know.

Happy birthday to the son I'll never know.

I never had the chance to tell you how special you were to me.

I never had the opportunity to hear your voice.

I never was able to get to know you in any way.

But, I know you were loved. I know you knew you were important because I chose life. And I know you knew exactly who you were in Christ.

And yet, in a moment of deep dispair, you made a decision that will forever shape who I am and all those around you. And I grieve.

And yet, there is hope. And God is glorified. And people grow closer and love deeper because of you.

Rest in peace, sweet Jeffrey.

Psalm 103:8-17

The Lord is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He will not constantly accuse us, nor remain angry forever. He does not punish us for all our sins; he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve. For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west. The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him. For he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust. Our days on earth are like grass; like wildflowers, we bloom and die. The wind blows, and we are gone--as though we had never been here. But the love of the Lord remains forever with those who fear him. His salvation extends to the children's children.

Valentine's. A year of redemption.

Each year when Valentine's Day comes around, I find myself pondering deep thoughts of all the different "loves" in my life. I bet many of us do this.

My "loves" encompass everything from my adoring husband to my precious children to talents God's entrusted unto me to our church to our family, our friends, and more.

I revel in how blessed I am. And I am humbled.

I revel in how God's love is evident in every aspect of my life, even when life is hard. And I am amazed.

-Last year I don't even remember Valentines.
-Two years ago my world was upside down and I didn't even know it.
-Four years ago, God surprised us with Johnny.
-Twelve years ago, I was as giddy as a schoolgirl, planning my wedding... (okay-I WAS a schoolgirl planning my wedding!)
-Today, I eagerly profess my "loves" and find the affirmation of God's love peppered throughout my very existence.

Here's a poem I discovered from a fellow blogger:

I Love Because I'm Loved

Oh, how I'd tried to love You Lord

In deed, in word, in praise,

But all had failed to satisfy

Until You'd changed my ways

You'd told me I must drop it all

My efforts won't suffice

Then face Your love, with an empty soul

That's stripped of all disguise

With love, that cannot be described

By any words of men

You'd filled my soul, erased my fears

Each longing satisfied

And in my heart as a response

There rose a tidal wave

Of passion I could not control

For God who longs to save

I see not love comes not from me

It only passes through

You're the beginning and the end

Of all the love that's true

We can do nothing without You

No need to plead or fuss

We're only able to love You

Because You first loved us.

Friends, you are loved.

And there's more love than you could ever imagine just waiting to burst out of you.

Who am I and what am I for?

What has shaped me? What have I experienced that makes me who I am? Hardships, joys, love-these are all powerful things which have a great impact on developing who we are. So who am I and what am I for?

I am loved. I am appreciated.
I an wounded. I am weak.
I am patient. I am impatient.
I am a servant. I am selfish.
I am still learning. I am a teacher.
I am an example, not always a good one.
I am a child of the Most High God.

I was made to learn to love like God loves. And though this may seem very simple, it affects every part of who I am and I have a lot to learn and a long way to go.

Children DO Grow Up!

My beautiful children are growing up right before my eyes!

This weekend we had the opportunity to spend Sunday afternoon with a family we actually lived with for almost a year. Their boys, now 10 and 13, have always been very close to our Jimmy, 9, and even Julie, also 10. With the school holiday today, we had the boys spend the night to give them all more time together and it was amazing to just watch their maturing interactions.

After watching an evening tv show together, I began getting the little kids ready for bed and, without fussing about loosing the play space the bedrooms provide, they simply asked to go play cards at the dining room table. I was shocked but immediately approved their request and they proceeded downstairs while I finished the bedtime routine with the little two.

When I arrived downstairs, I watched amazed for the next 90 minutes as they played Uno Attack like a group of ol' buddies without the bickering, fighting, yelling, and fussing I've been used to since they met 6 years ago! It is amazing watching my children grow up through all sorts of different, challenging, weird, never-ending, and wonderful phases into the people they're designed to be. I'm so thankful for our four children and for all their friends.

Home Sweet Home

It has been 21 days since I last made time for and remembered to blog. Guess that's no surprise considering all that's happened since last I wrote:
12/16-Pat graduated
12/16-We moved
12/16-18-Pat's nephew, AJ, and his expectant wife and 2 boys spent moving weekend with us helping expedite the  resettlement
12/18-19-Immediately followed by my mom coming for a quick overnight to deliver the Christmas tree and the first load of our possessions from "storage" (one of mom's spare bedrooms)
12/24-25-My parents both coming for a special, unplanned overnight Christmas Eve
12/25-Christmas!!
-And, now, almost new years!

God is so gracious and we couldn't be happier with our new home. We're completely moved in and unpacked, shy 2 or 3 boxes. We managed to get the tree up and fully decorated just 2 days after moving and had a perfect way to display our stockings on the mantle of our fireplace. Now, after such a short, understated, partially appreciated season of Advent in our family, the decorations are coming down and the new year is upon us. We are glad to be settling in in Durham and foresee this being our home for many years, but we certainly feel our eagerness to move compromised our ability to appreciate Advent the way we should. We are well motivated to fully create the space needed next year to appreciate the season like never before and hope our children are ready to be fully vested in the experience as well.

So the holidays have come and are almost gone, we have established our family's footprint in Durham and are eager to begin opening our home to our friends through dinners and, if I can talk Pat into it, an open house (but I doubt it!).

So here's to a very Happy New Year to all our friends and family. We hope you had a wonderful Christmas as did we.

Workin' 9 to 5!

Ok, so maybe I'm not exactly working 9 to 5 (8:30-5 more like) but it's whipping my tail! Who knew going back to a full time out-of-the-house job would take so much out of me. And it's probably not the work day but the 45-75 minute commute twice a day that's doing it.

That's where the excitement comes in. 8. Count 'em. EIGHT days to moving day!!

We are all super excited. The house is in boxes. The moving truck is reserved. All the deposits are paid. The utilities are all scheduled for disconnect and connect. Friends are lined up to help. And the cleaning schedule for move out is bouncing around in my brain.

It's a good thing that all this move-related chaos is coming along because the daily keeper of the household related chaos is a disaster. I can't tell you who has bathed this week, or the last time I cleaned the toilets, and I even forgot to cook Pat dinner tonight!

But despite me being one frazzled female, Pat and the kids have been amazing! Doing dishes and folding laundry and grocery shopping… even Julie wrote a grocery list for me! Meanwhile, Pat is steadily making headway toward the conclusion of his education at Southeastern, graduating next Friday (moving day).

Please continue to pray for us as we prepare for God's new direction.

Praise God. Alleluia.

Reflections on Thanksgiving

Dear friends and family, Happy Thanksgiving!

This year we celebrate the profound way God has directed our path and the sweet ways we have grown individually and as a family. We have so much to be thankful for I get speechless just thinking about it all!

After 11 years, this is only the second time since getting married that we have done Thanksgiving dinner at home! Pat prepared an amazing prime rib roast and potato salad and I fixed a small ham, collards, baked mac-n-cheese, ham rice, baked potatoes for the kids, corn bread muffins, deviled eggs, and two pumpkin cream cheese pies! It was heavenly and we're all stuffed.

What an amazing way to kick off the Advent season. If we venture out tomorrow it will only be to buy candles for our Advent wreath!

We are blessed beyond measure and wish each and every one of you a wonderful Thanksgiving!

We're moving WHEN?!

So if you've been trying to keep up with us (which is hard enough for me to do these days) you'll know that Pat and I have landed great jobs in southern Durham and that Pat's in the early stages of discernment for ordination at All Saints (an AMiA church a.k.a. conservative Anglican in Durham). So God's obviously leading us to live, serve, and for all other purposes BE in Durham. But when? That's the question that we've been entertaining for months!

At first we assumed Pat would need to find some third shift security job or some other not-so-appealing gig. We were wrong. Then we assumed I wouldn't find a job quickly or easily, that I wouldn't have a job until the spring, and that we would move in June when the kids' school year ended. Again, wrong on all counts. So we're striking out with our assumptions and God's replacing them with His assurances. Wow.

I couldn't care less about being wrong so much. It's very freeing!

But with all our miscalculations, we realized we needed to "move it" with our final assumption and move. So I hit the internet and started hunting. It was a dream hunting on my iPad and I am now an expert with all the apartment and rental apps out there! We ended up finding our apartment listed in only one place (which-if you know apartments-is a freak occurrence in and of itself!) on my HotPads app (HotPads.com which I have never heard of until now). I called and, wouldn't you know, they had a 3 bedroom (also another freak occurrence) available to move in January 14! We couldn't get to Durham fast enough!

So all the paperwork has been done, deposit paid, and all the chaos in my brain of unanswered (move-related) questions has already been silenced. So much for June.

Praise God!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ADDENDUM-November 12, 2011

Just when you think you have it figured out, guess again!

Everything has been worked out for our benefit and we're going to be able to move Saturday, December 17, the day after Pat graduates! This is great because the kids are tracked out the whole month of December and will start in their new school with everyone else in January.

We think this will be a much smoother transition for everyone and will eliminate the extra month of driving the long commute, spending more money on gas, and having less time together as a family. We're ridiculously excited.

We now have the task of finding someone in Durham to watch our precious 3-year old Johnny full time. Any takers?! Please pray for that to be smooth, too!

Ready or not… when God moves fast!

Many months ago we started praying for Pat to find a new job. One that would allow him to protect his back and knees and be more closely aligned with his experience and training: technology and communications. We were excited when a friend at Apple recommended he join the team there and shocked when he landed a job after a few short days and started training almost immediately!

Around the same time, we started praying for God to pave the way for when I head back to the corporate work environment in the Spring. Little did we know He was already doing just that and practically overnight-okay literally overnight-I interviewed and was offered an amazing opportunity with a company also in Durham minutes from Pat's!

We are stunned and humbled by God's provision. It's undeniable that God wants us in Durham; who are we to stop Him! Obviously we were off when we thought it would be June 2012.

What a way to kick off November: the "thankful" month! Our thankfulness is outpouring from our every thought.

Eat to live?

Over a year ago, I was diagnosed with osteoarthritis in both my hips, significantly worse on my right. Osteoarthritis (OA) is where the joint's cartilage breaks down and can even get spurs in the socket so when the ball rotates it literally scrapes bone against bone or bone against spur. Needless to say, it's rather painful and slows me down quite a lot when it flares up.

My question has always been, what causes that flare up and what can I do to prevent it? Like a good doctor, mine gave me a prescription for pain management but who wants to take meds for the rest of their life?

I'm sure someone, somewhere, at some point told me about the potential impact diet has on OA, but it wasn't until this past weekend a new friend re-introduced me to the concept. She was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis over a year ago and her doctor gave her the option of (1) pain management or (2) trying a specialized diet. She, like me, is not fond of meds for life so she eagerly tried what many refer to as the caveman diet. Basically, it's fruits, veggies, nuts, and meats, though not too much red meat. Obviously, there's a few major things missing: carbs, sugars. Oh, my. And night-shade veggies are known to inflame joints and aggravate arthritis so I'm avoiding tomatoes and peppers, too!

Now, today is only day 3 of this major lifestyle overhaul but I feel GREAT! No pain, plenty of energy, well focused. I don't know about my resolve long-term but I have the amazing opportunity to choose every day if I want to be in pain or not and I can't think of any better motivation!

In all my research online in the last few days, I came across some additional, intriguing information promoting eating according to your blood type. As crazy as this sounded at first, the more I read the more it made sense (at least for me and my blood type). And it is incredible how much one's blood type is credited with personality type. So far there's no published research supporting eating for your blood type but the recommendation for me, with type O, is practically the same diet I just started!

I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences as I explore and experiment with my diet to find if it does help my osteoarthritis or not.

Before we started a family, I thought I'd never...

I have fallen in the self-laid trap of making promises I should have never made (especially to our kids) but I’m not one to often say out loud that "I'll never do" something.

However, in my head there is always a random list of things I think I'll never do. I'm just one that won't promise it. It's an important distinction that I need to learn better since my kids have a tendency to keep me honest and have the memory of an elephant!

Here is a list of things that, before we started a family, I thought I’d never….

1: Watch iCarly when no one is home and actually like it.

2: Have to keep my kids from discovering Home Alone for fear he would learn too much.

3: Buy a Nerf for my kids let alone participate along in pretend battles– and then take joy when I got him.

4: Allow movie watching with a little language (like Goonies or Shrek) just because they are too good to miss.

5: Offer my son my t-shirt for him to wipe his nose.

6: Think playgrounds and parks would be a more important deciding factor than speed and convenience when picking a travel route.

7: Love playing with Legos.

How about you? Spill it.

Featuring... Us!

About two weeks ago, we were invited to introduce ourselves to our friends at All Saints Church via their blog and we are honored! It has been wonderful meeting so many amazing people and we are excited to see how God is working through our new relationship with ASC.

Check it out!

Supplementing Public Education?

Over dinner last night, Pat and I were having normal family conversations with the kids when I said something about how it is already snowing in parts of the country. Julie and Jimmy started asking questions about where and immediately revealed their completely distorted understanding of basic geography. Two nights ago, we ran into similar disappointments in another area of their education.

Wow have our eyes finally been opened. I think we both have known that we should be doing more at home to ensure our children are receiving the richest education possible, but, like many, we have been relying wholly on the public system hoping it was doing enough. Additionally, there is no doubt that the instability in their education thus far (changing schools almost every year due to us moving) has had a huge detrimental impact.

Homeschooling is simply not an option for our family so what do we do? I have begun scrutinizing the free resources available online to find some ways to supplement at home and already ordered a world globe from Amazon. We would love to hear how other families bridge the gap. Thanks in advance for sharing!

Welcome home, Julie! (At Biltmore?!)

Julie experienced an amazing week with my parents and had the opportunity to learn some sewing basics. I love the fact that my mom is (again) trying to pass down this talent through the generations. Thankfully, Julie has a great appreciation for style and fashion and the life dream of becoming a fashion designer!

We met my parents in Asheville (at the Biltmore themed McDonald's) and spent the day exploring parts of the Biltmore Estate. There is so much to see and do we will have to go back and do the rest! My parents bought us 12-month passes for almost half price so we are already planning another trip in December to see the Christmas decorations and hopefully again in the spring to see the beautiful gardens!

It may have only been 5 days but Julie was very missed by all. I don't know what we are going to do when our kiddos are all grown and out of the house!

Thank you to my parents for being so amazing and continuously blessing us! We love you!

Weekend with Nana and Donnie's Ordination

This weekend was a whirlwind but, oh, so amazing!

My mom arrived Friday evening and the kids were ecstatic. We were able to have birthday time for the "4 Js" Saturday and they all opened their presents from Nana & Papa. I was shocked when we realized she hadn't been here to visit in almost a year! Thankfully we've been to visit them a few times.

Sunday we spent the day in Chapel Hill/Durham area and it was exhausting but such a sweet time together. We were blessed with an amazing worship service at our new church, enjoyed a scrumptious lunch at Chili's (thanks to Nana!), drove around for a bit checking out neighborhoods and apartment complexes, then explored the Duke Gardens.

Duke Gardens is amazing! It's a picture-perfect kind of place to enjoy feeding the ducks at a beautiful pond, letting the kids run free through grassy, open space and throwing a ball or frisbee, and admiring the beautiful vegetation throughout the gardens. We had such a great time!

We ended our day attending the Ordination to the Sacred Order of Deacons at All Saints Church where our close friend, Donnie McDaniel, was ordained. We were honored to witness such an amazing event and excited for what is to come for him, and the others ordained, in their ministries.

_Moose Tracks_ (Theological opining)

I've had a friendship with Donnie McDaniel since the fall of '99. Someone once said that it is very difficult to count the number of friendships on one hand. Wow, is that so true. Despite the current social networking phenomenon (like Facebook) happening in our world today, "friends" are not that easy to make. Now we may have many acquaintances, but friends are a different story. When Christ was fulfilling his ministry, he had many so-called "followers," but there were twelve that he considered to be close to, and of those 12, Scripture seems to portray that Jesus had an even closer friendship with 3: Peter, James, and John. Indeed, one could argue that maybe the Lord didn't really have friends, at least when one looks at how they left him during his time of accusation and crucifixion. Nevertheless, Jesus called them his friends. And after Pentecost, those friends (apostles, except for Judas Iscariot) were loyal to Jesus until their death proclaiming him as Lord and Messiah.

I have several friends and am thankful for their friendship. Indeed, it would be very difficult to deal with the struggles, temptations, and victories in life without friendship. Aristotle, in his Nicomachean Ethics, points out that true happiness (of the wholesome account not necessarily pleasure seeking) comes from a virtuous friendship. A virtuous friendship is one where two people have a friendship based on the virtue that each one possesses in order to always promote the good of the other. In other words, it is friendship that is unconditional. One is not using the other to attain anything for their own selfish gain. Aristotle even claims that "Anyone who is to be happy, then, must have excellent friends."

We weep with our friends. We rejoice with our friends. Last night on Sep. 18, 2011, I rejoiced with my friend as he was ordained to the diaconate in the Anglican Mission in America. Donnie has a servant's heart and desires to serve the Church through many ways. He will do well since God has enabled him and is making him into a virtuous, godly man, even conforming him to the image of Christ. What is amazing, is that as friends, we have noticed how God is taking us along the same track, the same journey so to speak. It's hard to believe that 12 years ago we would be where we are today. Donnie is an excellent friend. I thank my God for the friendship that I have with Donnie McDaniel. He has sharpened me as I hope I have sharpened him and it is great to see how God is blessing and using him for the kingdom. Value the friendships that you make (outside of Facebook, as well as through Facebook) and see how God uses your relationships with others to make you more a virtuous and godly person.

Still Running,
Moose

How Did We Get Here?

Pat and I have known each other for about 12 years, been married since 2000, have 4 children, and moved nine times bouncing around six different cities in the Carolinas. So how DID we get here?

Well, as our history has shown, "here" is revealing our belief that home truly is where the heart is. Our journey started out as newlyweds living with my parents in Rock Hill, SC who quickly had one then two beautiful children. In December 2002, we hastily packed our little family up and moved to Wake Forest, NC for Pat to embark on an education to prepare him for ministry. We didn't last long and after three short months we were spiritually and financially strapped and we ran to the first open door: a tiny little non-denominational church in a tiny little town in SC. We served there for a year, saw God start working, and that door was slammed in our face so we skirted across the county line and served in a little bit bigger southern baptist church in a little bit bigger town.

God richly rewarded our ministry there, grew the church, and gifted us with many opportunities to grow. Two years after arriving there, God drew us to minister to a church split just over the county line again so off we went and God birthed a new little southern baptist church and another beautiful addition to our family. It wasn't long before we realized that, though we were serving God, we were skirting around his ever-present call to education so, after a year serving and watching God grow this church plant, we packed back up and headed back to Wake Forest, NC for Pat to continue his then half-completed education.

Fast-forward from then in 2007 to now and God has brought us, with much support, through spiritual, emotional, and financial devastation. Jobs came and went for both of us, we have been blessed by one last beautiful addition, our marriage withstood much stress and strain from finances, relational distance, and more, but God saw us through it all and has restored us to be steadfast, humble, faithful servants of God and each other.

By the grace of God, Pat is on track to graduate in December with his Bachelor of Arts in Christian Studies with a minor in History. Praise the Lord. So now we have the fun job of discerning what's next and we're excited.

_Moose Tracks_

Wayne Stiles wrote a little devotional book entitled, "Going Places With God." Well, as noted above, my family and I have gone places--a lot of places. Often, people will ask me, "Pat, why have you moved so much?" Honestly, I don't have an answer that satisfies many who ask the question. But the answer is and always has been, "wherever the Lord leads, we'll go." Some of my friends that I have attended College @ Southeastern with are serving right now all over the world: Turkey, Malaysia, France, China, Thailand, Kazakhstan, Czech Republic just to name a few. These friends of mine have gone all over the world to serve God because they believe that He has called them to go and they obey the call on their lives to serve.

Though there has been continual change in our lives, there has been one constant: The Lord God is with us and He has never forsaken us. You could say that the presence of God has been the fuel to our fire to stay faithful to Christ and His gospel and to keep following wherever the Lord leads. Through all of the moving, there has been doubt, anger, frustration, worry, fear, marital struggles, financial struggles, and physical struggles, etc. Yet, there has been new friendships made, victories over sin, miracles witnessed, lives changed for the glory of God, and a peace that surpasses all our comprehension. God has indeed been and still is with us! For that, we rejoice evermore. So, even after I graduate in December, my answer will still be, "Wherever the Lord leads, we'll go." It's worth being in His presence. Amen.

Noodle Brain gets explained

Click here for elaboration on my "noodle brain" reference... hilarious!