Some recent happenings

 Abbie has started gymnastics recently and is really enjoying it!  Here are some pictures from her recent demonstration.

 Lily is not in gymnastics, but that face is just too cute to not include in our pictures:)

 Balance beam time.

 Floor flips.

 We are SO thankful for Nana and Pap Pap.  Abbie and her first gymnastics trophy.

Timmy had his first Christmas show.  He was so excited to sing every song for me in the car on the way to the show.  Love him!!!

Christmas traditions

It is that time of year where Christmas celebrations are going on everywhere you turn. It is a joyous season, but can also be a season, if we allow it, to be too busy that we forget to slow down and find the real meaning in the season. Christmas is all about celebrating Jesus. For our family we have traditions we do each year like visiting Santa, playing in the snow, going to the Nutcracker, baking cookies, etc... Those traditions are fun and provide so many memories each year, but there are the simple things of just being with our family and having that time to grow with each other and spiritually grow in ourselves that are just as meaningful. Here's to a season filled with fun memories but also allows for the freedom for God to speak and grow within each of us as we take the time to on purpose slow down and enjoy the times of non planned celebrations just as much as the planned ones.

I am a good mom!

I am living in a time where it is imperative for me to tell myself good things about myself.  Things that are in agreement with God's word.  I am coming out of a season of chaos and whirlwinds and adapting to a normal life again has me searching for who I really am.  I can come up with all kinds of answers to that question, but the real question is who does God say that I am?  I happened to read a devotional today that talked about living a satisfied life.  It really spoke to me so I thought it would be good for me to write about it.  There was a quote from Benjamin Franklin that said "To be content makes a poor man rich, and discontent makes a rich man poor."  The devotional went on to take about being "Satisfied" can be defined as the sense of having enough or doing enough.  That led me to think about my year filled with chaos I was constantly feeling as though I didn't have enough or wasn't doing enough.  I know these thoughts are not true but just acknowledging my feelings.  When there are so many responsibilities on one person the demands can tend to eat at you. Of course the only way to get true satisfaction is to live with the true love, joy and peace of Jesus resonating in our hearts.  In order for me to get my heart on a healthier path, I am starting with taking a new perspective.  I have enough where I am at with Jesus in my life.  This doesn't mean that I am not striving for more, because we all have goals and should never stay stagnant in life.  However, I do not have to be everything to everyone at this moment.  I can rest in who I am in Jesus.  I will never do everything that I want to do, but I am always doing enough in Him.  I will never have everything that I want to have, but I will always have enough in Him.  I love myself and I am defending who I am in Him each day!

God is real

There are some things in my life that are really therapeutic to me.  Music has always been high up on that list but I have also found that writing or any form of self expression brings some kind of healing to my soul.  For whatever reason that is just part of who I am.  If you know me, I am kind of different from the average Joe.  Or in my case, Joa.  I am in this stage of life where everything I know has been kinda shuffled up like a deck of cards, and then half the cards were thrown out the window.  I lost my dad a few months ago.  You see my dad had dementia which along with some other health challenges that are common in the elderly.  My dad was a great person.  He was also raised Jewish.  I am not going to get into any religious debates here and I am quite the lover not a fighter personality and was not going to bring up Christianity to anyone who is not open to hear about it.  But, with that being said, there is a time for everything and when I knew I would be foolish if I waitied any longer to present the salvation prayer to my dad, I did it.  I had to just do it and I think my dad may have been surprised at what was happening but in no way did he seem upset or offended.  He understood I was coming from a place of compassion and wanting to see him in Heaven someday.  Infact, he easily received the prayer and agreed to say amen.  In my heart I still had questions that only God himself could anwser, but I had a huge confirmation when the Chaplin from his hospice team called me and told me that the nurse had just visited him and informed the Chaplin that my dad was in an awake but unconcious state.  I knew that this wasn't really true because that was common for my dad to seem like that but if there was someone there he wanted to talk to, he would and there would be no thinking he was unconcious at all!  So the Chaplin thought that he would get no response from my dad because of what the nurse had said.  To his great surprise, he was met with my dad talking and sharing all about his Jewish faith but he said he felt as though he was a Messianic Jew because my dad wanted to pray the Lord's prayer and was very comfortable using the name of Jesus.  Holy Spirit was at work and my heart was jumping for joy!!! The Chaplin said that his visit with my dad had made his whole day and that the energy that my dad showed when he was visiting was huge.  My dad was filled with greatfulness for the Chaplin and this whole story brought my faith a huge confirmation that my dad's spirit was getting ready for his transition to Heaven.  These events were great ways that God worked in my dad's life.  There were many other times earlier in his life where God had restored our relationship as well.  It has been on my heart to write this testimony out to remind myself of how great God is!  I have had to lean on Him more in this season than any other time in my life.  I am still in a transition period now as I grieve and SO need Him each day.  Praise God for giving us life where we don't have to carry our own burdens but we can cast them on Him because He cares for us.  Even in those seasons where it seems like no one cares and the burden seems SO heavy on you, you don't have to receive the burden.  May God continue to show me how to heal and grow.  Romans 8:28 has been my verse for awhile now.