Blessings

I seemed to have forgotten to add all of the continuous blessings through all of our struggles in my last blog… BUT, since there are so many, I guess they can just have a blog post of their own!

Starting before Christmas time… the blessings of money were just unreal! We knew that we were not going to be able to buy Christmas presents for the boys this year… Being on such a tight budget and not having a job lined up, we knew that we needed to cut out some of our expenses. First thing being Christmas presents. We knew that just with our family and the love that surrounded us, that we would be okay without having to buy any new toys that our children didn't even need!

I remember posting a little comment on Facebook about how even though we didn't have a single present under our tree, our love that was in our home would get us through!

That little comment, about how blessed I was to have such an amazing family with so much love and joy, changed everything! Someone very near and dear to me decided to take a step out of her way and ask if her and her husband could buy presents for Ashtyn and Parker this year. We accepted her offer and had never felt more blessed! I could not believe that someone actually wanted to spend some of THEIR hard-earned money for our children, so that they could open presents on Christmas morning!! How amazing is our God!! This couple has blessed us with so much!! And the joy on Christmas morning when our boys got to open presents was almost more than I could handle!! God is so good to us!

This wasn't the only blessing during Christmas time! Not only were people willing to help us with our children's Christmas presents, but people were willing to give so graciously to us in other ways!! We walked into to church the Sunday before Christmas, and were handed an anonymous $250 gift card to Wal-Mart/Sam's Club. Just in time too. Seeing as my list for Sam's club that day was almost a mile long… God knew exactly what we needed. And, He was going to take care of it, when we needed!

These types of things do NOT happen by CHANCE. These things happened to us because we have a loving relationship with the One and Only Jesus Christ! He knew what we needed and when we needed it.

Monetary things were not the only blessings we got around Christmas time! Christmas Eve, we were invited to Jeff and Erin's house for an amazing dinner and family time! These people have taken us in as if we were their family. These people have given so graciously to us and have given us the greatest friendship! After dinner, they sat down to open presents… and Orville and I saw that there was one for us… AND one for Ashtyn. WHY on earth would these people want to give us something like this… we are not even family… and we've only known each other for a little over 2 years! But they did. Gary and Sherry gave us a gift as if I were their 4th daughter… and gave Ashtyn a gift as if he were their very own grandson! These people love us so much! And why… Because of God! Not only were we invited for a Christmas Eve dinner, and given gifts, but also for Christmas morning breakfast! All because of Jesus Christ our Savior!!

The blessings do not end here. After Christmas breakfast, we headed to Celina for our BIG family Christmas. We were so excited to spend time with everyone and enjoy being with most of my sisters! When we got there, to our surprise… my sister Rachel was there. I could NOT believe it… it was such a surprise!! I hadn't seen her since my wedding, a year and a half prior to that! WOW!! I was completely shocked. I dropped my stuff and gave her the biggest hug ever!! Then I took a step back and just stared in awe that my sister from Arizona was standing in my dad's living room!! HOW AMAZING!! The best part about it was… a few months before Christmas, I was listening to K-Love, a Christian radio station… and they had this thing going on, and it was called, Home for the Holidays They were flying people to see family that they hadn't seen in years, or fiancés that were overseas. I thought to myself, how amazing would it be if my sister Rachel could come home for Christmas?! So as soon as I got home… I got onto K-Love's website and submitted our entry, so that we could have a chance at seeing Rachel for Christmas! See how God works there?! See how amazing He is?! I didn't win the contest… but she got home anyway. Think that's a coincidence? NO!! That is the power of God!

Orville, Ashtyn, Parker and I have been so blessed these last few months. Things like this do not happen to many people. We were given so much joy and love. We have been so blessed by so many people! I cannot explain the gratitude I have for everyone who has touched our lives in some way or another! But these people do not do these things for any other reason than because God lives in their hearts… and they know that God is a gracious God, and he never leaves anyone astray!!!

GOD IS SO GOOD!!