Spring is HERE!

So the flowers have started to bloom, the trees are getting green and the little squirrels are out.  I LOVE SPRINGTIME!  It's always a renewal for me.  I love to get out more, exercise and reorganize! Spring to me is like a relationship with Jesus.  God will wipe the slate clean, which is so amazing.  I think this time of year is a new beginning, a fresh start, a time to go forward.

Last week was Easter.  My sister, her husband and their daughter Everly came to town.  We had a good day!  Mom made a yummy lunch of ham, veggies, sweet potatoes, and our aunt Kim's strawberry salad recipe.  Then we went to hunt eggs and Adam's parents house.  The message of the day was that we will never be good enough to get to Heaven.  We need God!  And it's by His grace only that we are saved. It was our first Easter here in the states as a family.

Lately, our family has been discussing our options of where we will go from here. We know that God will provide if we are called to be "sent out ones" again. There is only so much planning and preparation we can do on our part.  The rest is faith.  I think and hope that we will leave this country again because I think that's our hearts.  It's not easy.  It's not a vacation.  But Lord willing we will be on a plane again. I have to remember that I am temporarily permanent.  Being in America is tough because it's easy to get wrapped up in this idea that we all deserve "The American Dream."  There's nothing in the Bible about that, haha.  I just finished reading CrazyLove.  Now I just started reading the Christian Athiest.  Good stuff that stretches your mind.  But really it is affirming what is in my heart.  I think we're all just scared to go there. Believe me, I'd love to stay here and live comfortably in a nice house that we've put our sweat equity into.  But I also know that we can downsize into something minimal and put the money toward missions.  There are so many options in this world.  Sometimes I don't like too many options.  Just narrow the choices! But anyway, I was just updating.  If you read this leave a comment, because I have no idea if anyone even reads this! :)

Catching up!

OK, so I'm not very good at blogging. I admit that!  Christmas was great!  Nic woke up, I told him good morning...he lay his head back down...then I told him it was Christmas morning.  His head shot up and his eyes opened wide. "Now we can open our presents!"  It took longer than usual to get to my in-laws across the state line.  The roads were still iced over (no thanks to the city salt trucks).  It was a typical big morning with lots of presents and chocolate gravy.  Our family was in from Nashville, LA and OKC.  When my sis- and brother-in-law got in later (bc the roads were bad on I-40)  they had special C-mas cards for us.  We had to open them all together.  On the front was a verse about good news coming from a foreign land.  We opened our cards to find the words "It's a Girl"  We all at once cried out and jumped up to give hugs.  Kevin and Andrea have waited so long to adopt from Ethiopia.  She is such a beautiful baby girl named Abigail.  She was born last May and should be in the States before the summer..hopefully sooner.  They brought out an even bigger pic of Abigail and Nyle started to kiss the photo.  It was the sweetest thing ever.  I was full of tears and emotion the whole weekend. After that we hurried to the movies to watch Aaron in his movie debut, "It's Complicated."  We did see him, but it was so quick!  We are all proud.  We did the usual thing of playing games with family and friends.  Also, we went to see grandparents in Stilwell.  It is tough when you are married with kids bc you really have to divide your time btw families when there are close in proximity.  I also got to hold baby Everly who is growing up fast.  My sis and her husband how live only an hour away.  So that is good.  We spent the New Years visiting our friends in Texas and going to IKEA.  We finally got beds!  I am very excited, but now I have to put them together.  When I got back, I was faced with a job opportunity.  I had a job interview on Monday...then a callback for a second interview on Friday.  It is with a former employer.  So just to be considered is a wonderful thing.  It is in God's hands.  I will just have to wait.  The open position actually turned out better than what I thought it was.  Adam started his new job on Monday.  He commutes an hour out of state.  It's not so bad.  Hopefully we will create some structure in our house soon.