6/15/15

I go to seek ...


{"I go to seek a great perhaps" ... Francois Rabelais}

This was the saying Taya chose to put on her graduation hat and today, we sent her off on her first  big adventure! 

It's so hard to believe that the little bundle they put in my arms 18 years ago is all grown up and headed to a missions trip in Slovakia {via Georgia for 2 weeks first to catch up on the previous trip training she missed out on!} I'm so ecxited that she has been given the opportunity to make this trip, and not only to make the trip but to be doing it with her sister Tessa, Uncle Tim, Aunt Rochet and Addie too! 

To have been blessed with three daughters is an amazing gift and a daunting responsibility!  A responsibility I'd never have been able to take on without their amazing Daddy who loved them with all of his heart and would be so proud of them! I'm so thankful for the Godly legacy he left for them! I'm also thankful for both sets of grandparents who came alongside of me to love and nurture them as they grew into the amazing young ladies that they are! We were further blessed with loving aunts and uncles, a supportive church family and most recently, a step-dad who has loved them as his own. All of the credit for who these 3 young ladies have become goes to God, I'm just thankful that I was the one chosen to be their mom!

Taya will arrive in Atlanta before we get back to Wallace tonight! We covet your prayers through Taya's {and our} travels today, during her 2 weeks of training and Tessa's last 2 weeks of training and their preparing for the missions trip! We'd for love you to cover them in prayer as they travel to Slovakia on June 27 and while they minister to the people of Slovakia during the 2 weeks they are there!

Because Taya's trip was unexpected and she had a very short time of planning, she is still working on raising support for her trip {the total cost was $2,650}. Would you please pray that God would provide the needed funds before they leave for Slovakia on June 27?! We believe that even though the time is short, God will provide exceedingly abundantly above anything we can ask or think!

Tessa and Taya, as you leave on this trip, I pray that God will become even more real to you and that you will see Him every single step of the way! Kajsa as you head off to Lake Lundgren for LDC, I pray the same for you! Being your mom is the biggest blessing in my life and I am so very proud of the beautiful young ladies all 3 of you have become! I love you with all my heart! 

6/14/15

death is .....

I've started a couple of blogs in the past couple of years, and then come back here and posted too which is very confusing!  

As I have prayed about if I should blog and where I should blog, it has come to me that though I started this blog as a memorial to Rickey and a place to journal my thoughts regarding losing him and seeking God's "new plan" for my life, it is still a blog title that is applicable to each day of my life as each step I take is on the journey that God has pre-planned for me. God has a plan for each day of my life, a "new chapter" in the book of my life, so why a whole new book {blog}, it's still all a part of the same story! Getting re-married and moving forward did not change the past, it did not start a new "book", just a new "chapter", so really, there is no reason for a new blog! Moving forward and continuing to live life {because I did not die on 11/5/11} is o.k., it is part of living life and trusting that God knows more about the book of my life than I do!

Yesterday, I read this on a friend's Facebook and really liked it ...  Written by Henry Scott Holland (27 January 1847 – 17 March 1918) was Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford:


I understand that this might not be completely "theologically sound", but I did like much of what it contained!  Rick has lost ... all of his grandparents, his dad Bucky and his 10 month old son, Joshua.  I've lost, all my grandparents, Rickey, and most recently we said "good-bye for now" to Papa Buck {along with many other friends and loved ones}.  Death changes life. Death changes our perspective on life.  What once seemed so important suddenly doesn't.  What we held on to, we can more easily let go of as we have learned that life is fleeting and we need to live each moment as it may be our last. I believe I have learned {and am learning daily} to love better, forgive quicker, and remember to cherish moments! We live life differently, we have a hole in our hearts where our loved ones were, but the lives we shared with them really is untouched, unchanged.  Those memories are ours to hold on to, they do not change because death has come. We speak often and easily in our home of those we have loved and lost, just as this writing says to do ... and we believe with our entire beings that those we loved who loved Christ and put their trust in  HIS saving grace truly are waiting for us ... just around the corner in Heaven and because Christ is the author and finisher of our faith, all is well!

So, I will continue to blog, as the mood strikes me, as I have thoughts to share or that I need to "unload".  It may be often, it may be infrequent, but I will blog {here|} as I miss journaling my thoughts, I miss using writing as a creative outlet for my feelings ... writing is healing and therapeutic for me!  Join me as I re-start this blogging journey if you wish, as I continue to follow the journey that He has planned for me!

So many changes ...

We like to tell people that we love Chattanooga so much we moved here twice! Since my last post in 2020, we spent eight months in Michigan...