Faith, Hope, and Believing

In February, Jeff found out he was no longer going to have a job at the end of the month. Wow! "IT" was striking our family now. We had been watching and praying and reaching out to our friends and family that have lost jobs, but now it was going to be our turn. How would we handle it? Would we handle it with the hope, faith, joy, and peace that we have seen so many of our friends handle it with? We are sure trying! March has brought applications, phone conversations, and interviews but not the job God has in store for Jeff. Yet God continues to provide!

The biggest irony in this is that I still have my job. Why is that irony you might ask? For the last two years, my job has been on the verge of being eliminated due to one thing or another. The summer of 2008 I spent training my replacements and was told I would be done that September. I was ready to go, ready to move on . . . yet God had other plans. In 2009, it was said that by year end all remotes would be gone. I kept getting dates of my departure off and on. But December 31,2009 came and God had other plans. I still remain as a remote employee for my company that I have been at since 1999. I believe God has protected my job for such a time as this. For two years, I joked about when I would get fired, and what I was going to do, and now here I am thanking God that I have a job that will provide for us during this time.

So as we continue to have faith, hope and believe in what God is doing with our family - it is still nice to have visual reminders from Him. Reminding us who He is!

Last Thursday as we had a night off due to the rain - we sat at our kitchen table eating dinner and was able to catch this full double rainbow right in our backyard. Yep, God we get it! You are still here . . . before the storm, in the storm, and after the storm!

And if a beautiful double rainbow isn't enough to remind us . . . I can be certain that I am a princess of the King and I have the attitude to go with it!

Sophia-ism

Here is a good logical comment from Sophia the other night:

I bet Australia is such a big place so they could fit that whole name on it!

Too Gone for Too Long

WoW! It has been almost a month since I last blogged. I am sure the two of you missed me! Sorry about that. I have been running crazy with this family of mine and all their activities and mine. I hardly have any new pictures to share. Last Saturday, soccer games were cancelled due to the large amount of rain we had been receiving and the girls were putting together puzzles and insisted I take their picture with Dora. . . so ta da here they are . . .

It seems our next few months will be marked with saying good byes to good friends. First was Mr Tim. He is off to a new adventure living in Florida and doing his ministry from there. We will miss his amazing voice, crazy stories, and infectious laugh. Most of all, Sophia will miss the naps she would take with him on lazy Sunday afternoons. She believes that someday she is going to marry Mr Tim despite the age gap.

And soon we will be saying goodbye to the founder of the SustaHood and her family as they head off south to Chattanooga for a new job and a new adventure. Then sometime this summer our Racing BFF's are moving a few hours to the west also for a new job! The perk of having friends in other close cities is it gives you a reason for a quick weekend getaway and also a party with everyone when they visit 'home' again.
Our home is also in a state of transition as Jeff is currently not working and is looking around for his next career adventure. Keep him in your prayers. I know many have been in this same situation, and we have seen God provide and know that He will do the same for us. We know there is another great amazing job out there for Jeff.
Let's see what sort of trivial information might I share with you . . . Brandon is just two months away from graduation. The invites are sitting here by the desk ready to fill out and mail. The cap and gown came home the other day. So I guess this is really happening. My baby is growing up and graduating. On a good note, some friends of his have decided to also attend ETSU in the fall so he won't be alone. Although that might mean he won't be coming home as often either.
Gracie is in potty training mode. She has been very successful at the task. Next will be mastering overnight. Yikes!
Sophia is growing like a weed! She seems to be taller and taller everyday. Unfortunately she seems to be having growing pains also. We started her on some children vitamins and mentioned they would give her some extra punch and help her not to hurt so much - she ate one and said "I don't feel any different". :-)
Dawson is getting his grips still on middle school. He would prefer to spend his time on his IPod looking at silly YouTube videos and cackling like a crazy child. But occasionally we ask him to join the real world and talk to us.
Alright . . . enough rambling . . . that is the blog update . . . hopefully I will find more time to blog and more to blog about. Until then . . . Keep Smiling, it makes people wonder what you are up to!