Our First Family Blog

Well here it is....our very first family blog. I only thought about doing this for at least a year! My hope with our blog is to share with others what God is doing in our lives and how our family is learning to trust in Him more as we travel this journey of life.

I was always one of those people that said "I don't have time to blog," but since losing my job the week of Thanksgiving, I am finding more time on my hands and I really felt the desire to share with others our journey. You see I was the main income for our family and when I suddlenly lost my job it was a complete shock for our family. My husband Robbie works for our wonderful church and we have a 3 year old little boy and a brand new additon, a 2 1/2 month old little girl (all three the joys of my life!) So here we are one month before Christmas, a new baby and me still trying to recover from having the baby and we lose almost all income and insurance. As you can imagine I was devistated! How would we survive? How would we pay our bills? How would we get healthcare for our children? We have been through every emotion you can imagine in trying to process why this happened, but one thing I can tell you is that we are now in a position where we have no other choice but to be completely dependent on God. I am not saying that I am good at turning everything over to God- I am kind of a conrol freak when it comes to finances, so this has been really difficult.

God does and is providing! Our family and friends have been so wonderful over the past month. We have even had people that we have never met write letters of encouragement and God has allowed people to bless us through this time. As I was wrapping some Christmas presents last night, I was sruck at how God has provided and blessed us already. We have had no money for Christmas for our kids and here I am somehow wrapping gifts for my kids! Needless to say the tears began to flow when thinking of how God knows the needs of our small little family and has provided not only a few gifts for our kids, but also enough to pay our bills for the month.

God has also brought so many supportive people into our lives. I have been so humbled by this experience and learning how to accept help from people- something that is not easy for me. We are usually the ones helping others and it has just been so emotional to accept the gifts of others. I cried the other day just putting a check in the bank from my parents (God bless them for being there!). We have decided that once God brings us through this time, we want to be the most giving people in the world! Going through a job loss and not knowing where money to pay your bills is going to come from the next week or month has really opened our eyes to the number of people hurting and in the same situations.

So, now that you all know where we are coming from, I am expecting big things from this blog. I am expecting big testimonies of God's grace and what He is teaching us through this and I hope to share how God works in our lives. The bible says" For I know the plans I have for you, decalres the Lord, Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future" Jer. 29:11. We are claiming the promises of God and we are excied to be able to share how God fulfills those promises in the months to come.