Our Story

I decided to start journaling again, so I thought why not try blogging. But please, if I bore you, don't waste your moments reading (it is mostly for my benefit anyway).  I am a wife, mother to six, Mimi to two, daughter, sister, neice, cousin, friend and servant.  Blessed beyond measure by a loving Father, that finds joy in our family's journey!

Some of you know our story, some may not, so I will try to give you a brief snapshot.  This journey started almost 17 years ago. (Wow...that is hard to believe!)  We knew we wanted a family, but God found His joy in how we would become a family!  God laughed as Aaron and I invested time, money and emotions into 3 years of infertility.  God laughed as we worried and fretted over our nephew's turbulent life with his mother.  God laughed as we just knew we wouldn't be able to afford adoption.  Isn't it amazing how much joy He finds in our trials...in our journey!  He knew all along...that having biological children was not how we would become a family....that our nephew would one day be our oldest son...that He would provide when we adopted our daughter.  He knew all of these things, because this is His plan!  Our family consists of our 23 year old son (that began as our nephew), our 22 year old daughter (that actually adopted us as her family), 12 year old daughter (private adoption at birth), 10 year old son (fostered and adopted at 3), 9 year old son (fostering now), 5 year old son (fostered and adopted at 14 months) and 2 beautiful grandchildren.  His plan is more beautiful than I could have ever imagined and I plan on doing my best to thank Him each day for this beautiful life!

Sometimes... during the noise and our daily mess it is so hard to see the joy in our journey...and even harder to see His joy in our journey!  But according to Bible Gateway, the King James Bible cites the word 'joy' 155 times and the NIV version of the Bible has 244 instances where joy is mentioned in some form!  I would say that means 'joy' is pretty important to our Lord...which means it should be pretty important to us.  How do you find your own joy in life?  For me, it usually comes in the form of a little voice asking me to sing Silent Night...or from seeing my son give his sister the last breakfast bar, just because he knows she wants it.  It is in the little moments, on this bumpy road we call Life's Journey, that bring complete joy to my life.  This is our family's journey...and how we are finding joy each day and thanking our Lord for all the possiblities!!