Keep talking

So yesterday I posted about fear and how the world makes us uncomfortable when we follow after God, and today I draw my sword (the Word) and fight back. "Show me a sign for good, That those who hate me may see it and be ashamed, Because you , O Lord, have helped me and comforted me." Psalm 86:17

Happy Father's Day, Daddy

Daddy, we thank God for you everyday, and we are so proud of the way you love the Lord. Thank you for your desire to love and protect us. And we thank God for your heart that wants to extend a great legacy that our Father's and their Father's Father started.

Fears

Today was the first day of our new commitment to truly seek God's will for our lives (see post below). It was a great day. Everything I did seemed to bring my mind to our decision. I am sure I have wore out my husband with everything that came to my mind today. I was so excited and overwhelmed. When Breisch and I took Gage (our 8 1/2 month old) to run a few errands today, I was looking out the window saying "God, what is it. What is this unsettling feel you have given me. And Lord, please give us the strength to walk through those door when you reveal it to us." I mean He can be calling us to so many things, and there are so many things that I am so scared of doing. The thing is, right now my life is comfortable; it is easy. To think that God is calling me to something out of my comfort is a little uneasy on my heart, but "God has not given us a spirit timidity, but of power and love and discipline." 2 Timothy 1:7. My prayer today is to not anticipate what God is doing in our lives, but to continue to pray, and seek His direction through His word. All day Satan created doubt in my mind, and all day I kept saying "Lord, help me to follow through when the time comes."

Tonight I feel better about where I am on this journey. I felt like my fears where getting the best of me, so tonight, Breisch and I sat down and made a list of all the things we would be scared of if God called us to do them. Some of the fears were: Living in a different culture, moving out of the country, giving more than the standard gift, adopting, being foster parents, and relocating to another state. After I wrote them down, we made a decision to pray. Pray for God to open our hearts and pray for God to break these fears. And the Journey continues.

"The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seek him." Lamentations 3:25

Delight in following HIM

I started this blog for the most part to share our family moments with our close friends and family. Most of the time, that simply meant I just post pictures, because to be brutally honest, I truly dislike writing. Why I am sharing that with you, I will never know. If you visit this blog at all, you already know I am not a fan of writing. I am writing now because I feel like something needs to change in our lives, and as I read some of my friends' blogs tonight, it has encouraged me to seek even harder for what that might be. I am confident that God is about to show Breisch and me something great, so I thought I would share it before this journey (whatever "it" is) begins. There are a couple of reason for this. One is so that you can pray for us as we seek out whatever it is that God is starting to unveil to us. I also thought, by posting what is going on now, it would be fun to look back and see where God has taken us. Accountability is the third reason. I hate to admit this but the "follow through" is definitely not my strong suit, which is why I married my husband because he is so good at it.

This all started at the beginning of 2010 year. I felt the Lord calling me to serve in the preschool area. I knew the preschool area needed help and knew my heart wanted to worship the Lord in way of serving there. Although I love my two-year-olds, my heart is still unsettled. Going forward to spring, our small group, along with many other groups in our church, read the book "Crazy Love." It is a great book and very convicting. If you really want a model of a true follower of God, I encourage you to read it. Through this book, Breisch and I felt God pulling us, but as bad as it sounds, the world's noise was detracting us from seek HIM. Breisch and I realized we were not in a place to hear God's word, so we started to pray for the desire to want God's plan for our lives. Man, how the world pulls us! We prayed all spring and nothing or so we thought but God does not unfold his plan in our timing. It is and will be in his perfect time.

In May, we went to a marriage conference by Family Life called a "Weekend to Remember." It was a great refresher on the role of the marriage in God's eyes and what a special gift and awesome power God has given us in marriage. This conference is where God started to stir up something in both Breisch's and my heart, but WHAT? At the conference, God led us to our next small group study that begins in the Fall. We will be leading a completely new small group, and we are so excited about the confidence we felt God has given us in the Home Builders Study, which is based off the "Weekend to Remember" Conference. We also felt God still telling us that there is something bigger. During the weekend, Breisch and I went to the meeting to possibly work for Family Life to see if that might be what God is calling us to do. We did not really think God was calling us to change our jobs, but we also did not want to close any doors either. As of right now we are still praying for our desire to seek after Him, and we hope through our community, prayer, and studying his word that we discover our next steps.

So here we are in the middle of this journey not sure where God is going to take us but know there is something special just around the corner. Right now we are asking for prayers.

Prayers to continue on this journey without fear of failure and the unknown. Prayers for patience and prayers for our eyes to be open to WHATEVER God has in store for us.

"Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight." Psalm 119:35 (My sister shared this verse with me in my mother's day gift and it has been a verse my heart has just clung to.) What a great example of how God works in the little things. Thanks, Lizzie.

6 month pictures

Here are some pictures we had taken in February. He was almost 6 months old here. I have had them about a month now, but May has been so crazy I am just now getting to share them.

Eat your heart out Uncle LOU LOU

Happy Father's day

I am so glad father's day is on a Sunday. As I worship my heavenly Father, I am also thanking Him for the amazing men he put into my life. First there is my dad, who has believed in me and encouraged me my entire life. We have such a special relationship. We are so much alike, and our minds always seem to go in the same direction. He has the biggest heart for people and has taught me so many wise lessons in life. What a God fearing man! I love you daddy!

And I have my Pop Pop, which is what I call Breisch's father because that is what the kids call him. He is such a great example to Breisch and me and is an amazing servant to everyone. I am so blessed to have him in my life. He might not say a lot, but he is a great listener and is always thinking about something. I wonder where Breisch gets that from???

Finally you have Breisch my sweet sweet husband. Who says he is not a father yet because I am doing all the work. But just want you to know that he has encouraged me and supported me every step of the way. He has been the best father any body could ask for. I cherish everything about our relationship, even the bad. Lord knows our life is full of both the ups and the downs, and so far we have lived through them all. I love you Breisch, and I praise God everyday for what you stand for and who you are to me.

Car Shopping for my mother....

Shopping for my mother's care was an ongoing event. If anyone knows our family, the first thing they would say is we know how to hold on to our money. (Ha ha) My mother or should I say father has been looking for a car for my mother for 6 months. They have been down here twice in search of the "greatest deal". Well, today my mother and I set out on a mission to find our GREAT deal. We got up and left at around 8:30 started in Brandon and worked our way back to Madison. I have to say it was a long HOT day, but at the end of the day we got our DEAL. And we are so proud of ourselves. We made a great team, and I love the time we got together. Below are two pictures of our oh so very proud moment. I know we do not look our best but you have to remember it is in the middle of June and you cannot Car shop inside. Ha.

The Godwin Wedding

Breisch, my mother, and I went to Lindsey Melton now Lindsey Godwin's wedding this weekend. It was truly a sweet wedding. I am so very excited for them. She was beautiful. Below are some pictures of her big day. It was so great to see everyone.

My Mother and I

Wow, everyone is now married. Below is a picture of all the girls in my small group before Breisch and I got married. I am so blessed to have shared my life with them.

Pinelake's VBS

This year I was lucky enough to get to help with VBS. I had so much fun teaching K5 with Kimberly Shape. I have to admit at first I was scared. I have never been a teacher so of course that made it treaty. I mean how do I talk to 5-old-year kids. Well, come to find out talking to them was not hard for me at all. I act more like a 5-old-year than I thought. (ha)

The theme was "Imagine 2009". Below you will see a stage full of painting. On Monday (sorry I did not get a picture on Monday) the stage was completely white. The fence was white, the canvases were white, and the cross was white. Each day we have people painting on stage while we worshiped and praised the Lord. On Friday, the entire stage was covered in beautiful paintings and word of praise. We really had a great time as you can see below.


Our Class during story time with Mrs. Kimberly.
Large Group during praise and worship.

One of the paintings I really liked.

Missing Lizzie, Steve, LB

Oh how I miss Lizzie, Steve, and Laura Beth. This is my favorite picture of LB. When she says Gigi (that is what she calls me) I promise you after that she can ask me for anything and it will be done. I cannot wait to go to Forth Worth, TX and see them. I love you guys!!!! Hope you are having fun!

New Blogger in town....

I have to admit I was starting to get a little sad because I did not think I was going to have anything to blog about today. But when I got back from lunch I received an email from one of my dearest friends, and to my surprise she has starter a blog. Yes 'mam, Kellie Berry has bit the bullet and started a blog and not just about the Berry's but about the entire Burnham Crew, which is her side of the family (for those of you who do not know). Please go check them out and welcome them into the blog world!

Still working on our house...Before and After

It has been a year since we have moved in our house in Madison, and as I look at these pictures boy has things changed! We have put in gutters, French drains, pulled up bushes, painted shutter, and line the flower beds with concrete curbs. It really looks different. Check out the before and after pictures to see our progress.

Before

After

Granted, I have not planted the plants in the flower beds closest to the house. But it is starting to look more like home to me.

A neat wedding idea...

This weekend Breisch and I went to Little Rock, AR for Adam's wedding. Adam is Breisch's long time friend, but since we have gotten married Breisch and Adam have not spent a lot of time together. It was really fun to finally get to meet Abby and hang out with both of them together. I also wanted to say it was one of most creative weddings I have ever been to. It was really organized and very personable. I am only sorry I did not take more pictures. To the left, is a picture of Breisch and I at the reception.

For those of you planning a wedding, here is a creative idea! The picture on the left was one of the focal points of the reception. The two dresses are their parents' wedding dresses and the pictures displayed in the middle are of the bride and groom's parents at their weddings. She also had other focal points such as the cakes and a wall of frames with pictures of them. The decorations were intimate and creative. You can tell that a lot of thought went into prepare this wedding.