My Story

I sit here. Dad and Mom are out to dinner with friends. Josiah and Sarah are reading. Elijahs playing a game. The radio is playing in the other room. And i sit here typing out a blog post. I dont know where this post is headed, but im ok with that. I could talk about how sad i am that summer is coming to a close or how school starts on wednesday. I could tell you all how excited yet worried i am about taking 2 classes at the high school this year. I could tell you all about our camping trips these last 2 weeks or how im going to miss some friends that are going off to college. 

But instead im going to ask this... do you ever wish something in your life didn't happen?  or why God would let this happen to you/your family? Cause i do. I ask God why he wont give my dad a job. And why does life have to be so hard sometimes?

 Sometimes i wish that life could be the same as it was for me 5 years ago. I was almost 11, had lots of friendships i thought would be life long, went to a school for homeschoolers, had 9 siblings, helped in kids church, and i didnt have a care in the world. But im not. Im here almost 16, have friendships i hope will be life long, start public school for the first time in 3 days, have 11 siblings, at a new church(sense april), and i have lots of cares in the world. Now dont get me wrong I wouldn't trade my family, church or friends for anything. But what it took to get here, its been hard. 

First we adopted,  i LOVE Sarah and Rachel dearly and wouldn't trade them for anything, but as any adoptive family can say its hard. 

Secondly we stopped going to the homeschool school, and with that i lost some friends i thought would be my "BFF's". Some i still talk to occasionally but we're not as close. 

Thirdly my Dad got a job as a pastor in the San Juan islands. Then we moved to the island for 8 months, but our house never sold so we had to move back. After 18 months of Dad going to the island on weekends(thursday-sunday/monday), our house never selling and it being really hard for us with him being gone most of the time he quite the job and "moved" back home. 

You now find me in January 2011, im 14 years old, at a new church, dont have many friends, my brother jeremiah is married and due to the fact that my dad hasnt been really living at home the last 8 months and now doesnt have a job, life is hard. The next few months life goes up and down, one day its really hard and the next we think we see the light at the end of the tunnel. My mom finds out shes pregnant, but then has a miscarriage. July comes around and both Josh and Cassie get married. School starts and life goes on. Im in the musical and then run track, making friends along the way. 

Spring break comes and goes and we find our selves at yet another new church, this one with a few people i already now. School ends and summer begins, all the while making new friends at church. July comes around, i go to Tennessee and Rachel moves to a boarding school of types for adopted kids that need more help then their families can give. (thus why there haven't been many pics of her this summer) 

I now find myself in the present, August 26th 2012.  The last 4 1/2 years have been hard. They have been filled with tears, broken relationships, loneliness, lost friends but also new friends, learning, new churches, marriages, changes and transitions, memories, lots of prayers, new ways of life, unemployment and hardships but also happiness. But even though all the sadness and all the happiness its been worth it. If they hadn't happened i wouldn't be the person i am today, I wouldn't have 2 amazing sisters that i love oh so much! I wouldn't have learned so much. I wouldn't have made the memories iv made or the friends iv made. 

So all though i sometimes think i would like it if the last 5 years hadn't happened because of how hard they have been, im oh soo glad they did! They have shaped me into the young lady i am today. 

Now that the kids are in bed, Dad and Mom are home and you all know the true me. Not the me that is always happy and just shows you pictures iv taken. Tell me about the true you. Whats your story? 

A Love Story {Guest Post By Jennifer Blair}

First of all I want to thank Hosanna for having me guest post on her blog! Isn't she so sweet! I wasn't quite sure what to write, so I thought I'd share a little bit about our love story. Who doesn't love those right? I thought I'd share a bit of advice on dating and God-scripted love stories. I can’t tell you exactly the formula that will work for you, but I can share how God led me.

Well, let me take you back to where it all started…

Silently I sat on my bed by the window, clutching my bible and Passion & Purity by Elisabeth Elliot in my arms. “Daughter, I never promised that you would get married.” I heard Him whisper to my heart. After several months I realized that if God was asking for my dream of getting married, then He had a good reason to do so. So I gave that dream to Him – which sounds a lot easier than it really was for me. How do you really put into words what it means to surrender?

The rest of my highschool days pasted without huge struggles about being single. But soon those days were over and I found myself at a small Christian college. It was here that I struggled a lot with the desire for a relationship. Sometimes my heart ached so badly that I thought it would break from loneliness. It was a season of waiting. There were a few guys that I met on mission trips and various events and I’d ask God, “what about him?”

This is where I advise you to be very careful. Our hearts can be very deceitful. I can’t tell you how many times I thought “I could marry them” or “If they asked me, I would date them”. Don’t let your desires skew your thinking. Seek the Lord and He will reveal the right time. Lots of times He said “no” by never allowing me to see my crush again, or I found out they started dating someone else.

I met Jonathan the Spring semester of my sophomore year at a Bible study where he led worship. He had it all – he was tall, dark, ruggedly handsome, funny, outgoing and played guitar. I liked him more than anyone I’d ever met just from that first encounter. Even so, I didn’t pay him much attention the first few weeks. (He later told me that he probably wouldn’t have been as interested in me if I had. He didn’t want someone who just came to a Bible study to meet guys.) The next few months were spent getting to know each other at the Bible study.

How did I know he was ‘it’? Well, the first sign was our similar passions. Pretty early on he asked me where I thought the Lord was leading me in life – I had never met someone whose God-given passions were the same as mine. Exactly! Second, was the way he pursued me. He was careful, respectful and intentional. Some of the first questions he asked me when we started “talking” were about my salvation and views on the Bible (which made a big impression on me). I knew he was serious about me. He wasn’t just playing around with my heart – he told me that I was the kind of girl he prayed God would give him one day.

Once it became clear that it was almost time to move on to dating, we spent 2 weeks apart with no communication in order to seek the Lord. It was an agonizing 2 weeks for me. In my heart, I knew that I already loved him. Even so, I gave all my hopes for this relationship to the Lord. I didn’t hear a “no” this time. I felt at peace with moving on and I knew that Jonathan was a man that I could trust with my heart. Sure, I had a few doubts here and there as we dated, but they were mostly in regards to the real person I found. I knew that I could not change him, so I had to ask myself if these were imperfections I was willing to live with for the rest of my life. Time and time again, I said yes and fell more deeply in love with this wonderful (and yet very human) man.

Was it scary and overwhelming at times? You bet. Still, in those moments I knew that the Lord was leading me. I had no doubt that I had sought His guidance and He had led me to this man. He chose me and I chose him…and we’ve never looked back.

The things of the heart are deep any mysterious. I don’t know where you are or what your past looks like. I can’t tell you anything but to seek the Lord. He knows our hearts and He knows what we need far better than we do. Trust Him, wait for Him. Your heart may break. Your dreams may shatter. Your soul may ache. Mine did. But there is always a purpose. The plans He has are far better than we can ask or think. 

 Hi, I'm Jennifer Blair - a photographer based in South Alabama. I'm a Christ follower, wife, musician, and a dreamer. I'm addicted to cute leather notebooks and I carry my camera everywhere. Here you will find my photography, tidbits of my life in the South with my wonderful husband, and my journey in the pursuit of Christ. I'm glad you're along for the ride! 

Go check out her blog HERE!

Duck Duck...

Once upon a time 

there lived a mother duck 

who had six little ducklings.

 One day they decided to go on a walk

over a great.

But when they got to the other side

there was only one duckling :(

I thought you might like a little story to start your day!  

Well im off to church.

Have a Happy Sunday!!!!!

PS.  Pictures i got from a friend, who got them on F*ceBook

The Life of Chocolate Man

foodI would like you to meet The gingerbread Chocolate Man....

Here is his family... Dad, Mom and sister.

One day he decided to go out and get a tan by the pool.

 

 Then he decided to go for a swim.

But he fell and broke his head.

He lay headless in the hospital.

With his family around him.

Watching him slowly dissolve 

 until he was only crumbs.

 Thus ends the sad life of Chocolate Man.