Max Lucado's "Outlive Your Life"

I had the privilege of reviewing Max Lucado's "Outlive Your Life" Thomas Nelson Publishing.  I have read many of Mr. Lucado's book and when this book came out I was very excited to review it.  As in many things, I received the book to review a while ago and life happened.  I finally had the chance to sit down and read it and I am thankful that I took the time to do so.

I will be honest, while reading the book I struggled to grasp the teaching of the book at first.  It took me until almost the last chapter to understand that he was using stories to teach us just how to outlive our own lives and reach people for God.  God loves everyone and so should we.  If we serve even the least for these, we are serving God.  That is the plan he has for each and everyone of us.  Pour out God's love through us onto everyone and bringing everyone into a relationship with Jesus Christ.  We have to remember that we serve an awesome God and that if he wanted to save everyone in one shout he could, but instead He has declared that those that say they are a follower of Him must go and make disciples.  With salvation comes and expectation of work, so outlive your life by sharing the gospel.  Go to a food kitchen and feed the hungry, stop by the beggar on the side of the street and give them money or better yet, give them a meal and tell them just how much you love them, because Jesus first loved you!

As I said before, I struggled at first to understand the teaching in the book.  His stories of past saints, were amazing and uplifting.  There is no complaint in his writing style.  After reading the whole book, I finally realized that each of those stories were the lessons and they were the mode of teaching because there was no way you could walk away from the stories without being changed.  Once I grasped the teaching method, the messaged hit me like a ton of bricks.  A book does not need to have a step by step this is how you do it method to teach you.  This book is one of those books.  I would highly recommend.

John Hagee's "The Power of Prophetic Blessing"

Each of us wishes for a day when we feel as if we are prospering to the best of our abilities.  We forget that true prosperity only comes from God.  Service to Him and faithfulness to Him gains you true prosperity.

I had the privilege of reading "The Power of the Prophetic Blessing"by Pastor John Hagee.  Pastor Hagee's writing was insightful and well thought out.  I would highly recommend this book to any Christian and non-Christian for that matter.  Its guidance could help us each live up to the life that God has planned for us. 

Pastor Hagee gives us a deeper insight into blessing those around us.  Parents today and for many years have failed to bless their children.  We may pray over them, but we never lay it before God what we would like to see for their futures.  If we pray for His guidance and will for our children, we will know what God's plan is for our children and the proper way to bless them.  The same can be said over the lives of our loved ones and those that are close to us.  Prayer is so powerful and faith can move mountains.  We just have to give our lives to God and He will lead our every step!

I highly recommend that everyone to take the time to read this book and apply its truths to your life.  You may be shocked at the blessings that fall upon you!

A little change to come!

I am thankful that I serve a faithful God.  We have a little life change coming up, but we know that God will be with us all the way through.  Never in my life have I felt closer to God than I do right now.  The road ahead of us will be difficult, but I know that God will be with us all the way through.  Sorry for the vagueness, but sometimes it is just best to say, "Thank you God for the challenges ahead!"  Everyone does not need to know what we have ahead, but they need to know that even with challenges and possibly stumbles ahead, we are in God's hands and we will survive it with a smile on our face and our faith firmly placed in God!  Man can kick us down, but God will always be there to pick us up! 

Philippians 4:19 - “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

Matthew 6:31-32 -“Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?“

Lord, thank you for loving us so much that you sent your son to die for us and that even in times of darkness we can see your light at the end of the tunnel!  God is good all the time!

"Faith and Other Flat Tires: Searching for God on the Rough Road of Doubt," by Andrea Palpant Dilley

The human condition is something that we all struggle with day in and day out.  No one likes to see suffering and many ask why?  God is bigger than it all and he can make it all better, but there is still evil, danger, pain and suffering.  So many people do not understand sin and free will to understand how pain and suffering can still reign supreme.

Andrea Palpant Dilley having been a missionary child experienced many levels of exhilaration and despair.  Faith and Other Flat Tires is a memoir of her life and her experiences through faith, the ups and the downs.  Andrea does not hold anything back in her dialogue about her own life.  She lays it all on the line for others to understand that with faith there are questions.  Some of those questions may never be answered and some we may not get the answer we were hoping for, but that is part of faith and growing in faith.  

I enjoyed reading Faith and Other Flat Tires.  It was well written and made me want to read more as I progressed further in the book.  Although I do no exactly agree with her conclusion, I understand how she reached that conclusion.

Faith and Other Flat Tires is worth the read and I would highly recommend others read it.  Although, I may not recommend it to those who are new to faith.  Andrea's questions and conclusions may be slightly confusing to those still seeking to understand God and His place in their own world.

Break Through by Tim Clinton and Pat Springle

Wow, where do I start. Break Through is a look into how people deal within relationships. We all have relationships, whether they are good or bad and Break Through wants to teach you how to move into healthy, happy relationships. We all have our fair share of good relationships, but with the good their always seems to be at least one bad. Tim Clinton wants you to learn that, you do not have to accept the bad relationship and through Break Through, he shows you how to heal your wounded spirit. Personally, I have had my fair share of bad relationships in my life, just like everyone else. For along time I thought it was my fault and that I would just have to deal with the bad in life. Now, to some extent, that is true, but there are people in my life that I have to keep at a safe distance because no matter how careful I am to not push their buttons, I always seem to do just that! Walking on eggshells is no way to live. I am very thankful that I had the privilege to review Break Through and I look forward to putting into practice what Tim and Pat teach through out Break Through!

Derailed by Tim Irwin, PH.D.

Although I am no longer in the corporate world, I thought that this book would have great insight into life in general. We all have character flaws that not only impact how we relate to co-workers, but those same characteristics can also roll over to home, church, any organization that you may participate in. Derailed gives insight into how those character traits can make you or break you. The six executives that were profiled were not monsters of the corporate world, they were simply blinded by ambition and unable to see how their personality and in the long run character affected everyone around them. Everyday people can have the same character flaws, not necessarily ambition, but arrogance or many other flaws that prevent them from seeing how their behavior affects others. Tim Irwin presents the idea that those flaws are not necessarily setting you up for failure or derailment, but you have to be willing to see yourself beyond the end of your nose. Derailed was an excellent book that I would highly recommend to anyone in leadership, but also to anyone who has to deal with others on a regular basis. Employees, church parishioners, moms and dads will benefit from the information found on those pages. It will make a person look in on themselves to see just how they interact with others and realize that the whole idea of being a bull in a china shop gets you nowhere. You get more bees with honey than vinegar, so we all need to soften our tone and think before we react. I personally gained knowledge into myself and will try to apply it to my everyday life. I am thankful that I received this free copy from Thomas Nelson for review. It was well worth the read!

The Sweet By and By by Sara Evans with Rachel Hauck

I recently had the privilege of reading Sara Evans The Sweet By and By. I have had the book for awhile and life happened. No better explanation of why I haven't read it than that. Sara Evans with Rachel Hauck took us to a place that I think many people sit in life. They take the time to tell the fictional story of Jade Fitzgerald. Jade's story could be any of our stories. She had a hippie mother and father who seemed to be as much a hippie as her mother. Sadly their lives go different directions and they divorce. Jade and her brother Aiden are along for the ride, as most children of divorce find themselves. The story moves forward to Jade finding love and eventually having to face her past to even think about having a successful future. How true is that for all of us? The old saying of life just happens is a hard pill to swallow for so many. With out Christ in our lives, life can seem like an endless journey of pain and destruction. I related to Jade in so many ways. I never had panic attacks as her character experiences, but looking back I can see a huge difference in myself before I became a Christian and after I became a Christian. I am definitely not perfect, but life has been greatly improved by coming to Christ. Jade's character goes through so many ups and downs throughout the story, which makes the story feel even more authentic. Sara Evans and Rachel Hauck created a fictional story that could mirror so many different lives out there today. The realism in this story not only makes you feel for the characters, but also draws in you and keeps you reading to the end. I happen to be a child of divorce, so I could relate on a very intimate level with the main character Jade and how she felt relating to her father, but you don't have to be a child of divorce to relate to the story. All of us have trials and tribulations in our lives and how we overcome those challenges is what strengthens us and makes us examples of Christ to the world. God never said that become a child of his would be easy, but he did say that he would be at our side through it all, even if we have not professed our sins and ask for Him to come into our heart. He is always there, watching over us and guiding our steps. I would highly recommend this book to all of my friends that love to read and even to those friends that may not be avid readers. The storyline flows along well and keeps you wanting more. Just be sure that you have a box of tissues handy as there are times you will need them! The Sweet By and By is an excellent book, that can help even the hardest of hearts to grow closer to Christ!

Open and honest

This past week in my bible study we were learning about pitfalls that get in the way of Christian women delighting in serving God and making that service feel more like a duty! I will admit that 90% of the time I delight in serving my Lord. I love to sing, I love the opportunity to work with my husband in the sound booth and I am so excited to work along side the ladies of the L.I.G.H.T. ministry. I have been blessed beyond words. During our study Tammie Head taught us a new way to look at Satan. She had a GPS that had a female voice that sounded Australian. Her and her husband lovingly named her Sheila. While on a trip to LA, Sheila steered them wrong quite a few times. Well, her GPS became our visual on how we allow Satan to steer us wrong. So, she taught us all to name him Sheila and work towards overcoming our Sheila's. Each of us wrote down a Sheila that has been plaguing us and shared that card with another lady in the study, so that they can pray over our Sheila with us. What a blessing it is to have others praying for your weak spots. This past weekend was such a blessing. Jason and I were able to be a part of the Inside/Out weekend at church. We had 5 boys and their mentor in our home for the whole weekend. Honestly, I pray that my children are as faithful to God as these young men are when they are the same age! I was on such a high all weekend. Unfortunately, my weekend did not end as high. Sheila stepped in and I allowed her to steal my joy! I prayed over the situation, but in my weakness, I allowed Sheila to kick me down. Needless to say, I have done a lot of praying since Sunday and I feel much better now, but I felt like such a failure for a few days because I allowed Satan to steal my joy! He knew I was weak and he walked all over me. I know my God stands right next to me in everything I do, but every now and than there are people that Satan uses to knock us down. I look forward to learning more tools through my bible study over the next few weeks to hopefully have fewer days like Sunday!

Letting God Lead!

I have been approached by the ladies of the L.I.G.H.T. ministry to become the Photo Journalism/Publicity Committee Head. I of course, willing accepted the possibility to get to know the ladies of the church. As a new member to First Baptist Church of Griffith, it gives me the opportunity to interact with more of the ladies, than had I just been a member. My first major task is to start interviews with approximately 5 ladies, hopefully more, for the ladies banquet on April 28th. The goal is to meet with all the ladies and interview them. I am a confident woman, but we shall see. After that, my priority is to advertise, advertise, advertise all of the ladies events! We hope to get more of the ladies in the church involved and to join in the fun that is L.I.G.H.T! I go where God leads! I love serving Him and watching Him work in my life! To God be the glory! May I just be a humble servant! I also learned this week what L.I.G.H.T. represents. Ladies Intentionally Going Helping Touching = L.I.G.H.T. AND Always remembering to do "Something for Him" and "Something for Us". Pretty awesome to be apart of a group that is focused on the Harvest as Pastor Scott is currently teaching us! Its amazing what happens when we let God lead us!

Mending

So after a week of illness in our home I think we are finally on the mend. Two weeks ago Jacoba started with a mild cough. Honestly, it seemed like her allergy cough she gets when her allergy meds are either not being taken or they are no longer working. This winter did not give her a cooling off period, since we have not had a traditional winter by Mid-West standards. The stuff that would normally die because of the deep freeze has not died because it really has not frozen! Great for those without allergies, not so great for those with allergies who look forward to the winter months and not having to suffer! So anyways, Jacoba started coughing back in December so we put her back on her cingulair to help get her back on track. All was good until about two weeks ago. Of course, the up and down of the temps does not help with her allergies either. It was not until she had the cough for a week that it became noticeable different. At that point she woke up last Sunday saying her belly was upset and of course that meant no church for mom. Later that day she started to run a fever. Monday I took her to the doctor because she still had the mild fever and the cough had gotten much worse. For those of you that may not no Jacoba had strep throat 5 times last year followed up with getting her tonsils out. The five times was in five months. She missed 32 days of school in all with all that sickness! So, when the nurse said, "Oh, well we will get a culture for strep and go from there." I laughed! I said well, I know its possible for her to still get strep, but we did get her tonsils taken out last year because of strep and she has not had any issues since. She smiled and walked out. Needless to say a culture later, we find out Jacoba has strep again! As Jacoba's doctor so lovingly put it, because of her allergies she has all those boogers in there and the drainage going on that just make her vulnerable to strep. So, he added yet another allergy med to her regiment, only to be given for a few weeks at a time when her cough seems to come back and than we can stop it once things mellow out. If the allergens are high than she has the added med, but try not to use all the time he suggest. Luckily she has spring break in a couple weeks and I can take her to get her allergy blood draw to see exactly what she is allergic too. Honestly, it would be nice to get her the allergy shots, but the kid is deathly afraid of needless, so I think we are a few years off from that.

Jacoba seemed to be on the mend and sure enough, I got sick. I did not get strep like her, but I think I would have preferred it. I had the whole body aches, cough, fever just leave me alone feeling! I was really lucky though. Thursday I felt the worst and Jason was actually asked if he wanted to go home since they had too many workers that day. He came home and I slept the day away. I obviously need the rest. Jacoba's cough is pretty much gone and mine is getting better. Thankfully God saw fit for me to be well enough to be in church yesterday. I missed all of my church family and being able to worship with them!

Ladies Transformed Retreat

This weekend I had the privilege of attending the SBC Transformed Ladies Retreat in Indianapolis with the ladies from my church. It was such a blessing to attend this event. I came back feeling rejuvenated and on fire for the Lord! It gave me a renewed passion for serving my heavenly father. The keynote speaker Tammie Head was amazing. She mentored under Beth Moore, an amazing woman in her own right! Tammie was so passionate about us transforming our lives to be a reflection of Christ to the world and doing with joyfully!

I was able to attend 7 break out sessions. The first session I attended was called Transforming your Thinking. The concept of the session was guarding our thoughts and how we react to those thoughts. She told us to be PACRATs. P stands for Pause, going back to James 1:19 where he says be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger. If we Pause, we can work through that slow to anger. A stands for analyze. Take in the whole situation before jumping to any conclusions. C stands for commit it to God. Pray over the situation and give it to God. R stands for respond. You are to respond in a loving Christ like way. A stand for and. lol Finally, T stands for thanking God for the situation, but most of all, thank God for being at your side and moving you through it to glorify Him!

My next session was Mercy in the Storm! Nicole Commer was an amazing woman of God! She was an missionary overseas with her husband for years and they felt lead to come back to the states as missionaries. They moved to Pontchartrain, LA in 2005. They had only been there for a few weeks when Hurricane Katrina hit and they were new parents living completely away from all of their family. They lost everything. Their church of 1200 was not 400 and they started questioning if they made the right decision or if this was God's way of saying that he wanted them elsewhere. It did not take long for them to learn that God had placed them right where he wanted them and through all of the relief efforts they were able to touch the lost in Christ's name! Nicole said that we as Christians need to learn how to persevere through the storms we come to in our lives. God never said that when we became Christians that we would be free of bad days, but HE did say that he would be there with us through it all. Its not a matter if we will come upon a storm, its a when we come to the storm and how we react to that storm which will either less God's glory or it will Glorify Him!

My next session was named Bless the Broken Road. The speaker was yet another amazing woman of God. As a child she had been molested. As many children who have been molested, she put the traumatic event in the back of her mind. Shortly after she got married she realized that she was a very angry person and she could not understand why she was so angry. She prayed over her anger for a long time and God finally showed her that she had never forgiven her offender and because of that she was not able to be happy in her life at that time. She worked through her anger and eventually forgave her offender. She said that if you are unable to forgive those that transgress against you, than God will not be able to forgive you transgressions. That does not mean that God will take back your salvation. Once you are saved in Christ's name, you are always saved. What she meant by that was any sins from that point forward will not be forgiven until you can forgive others. She also said that forgiveness is not a process, it is a decision. Getting to forgiveness is process, but once you decide to forgive, it a decision! Not forgiving lingers over your life and to be able to enjoy God's glory, you have to forgive those that offend you. One last thing she said was that just because you forgive, does not make the offense against you ok, it just allows you to move forward without that event hanging over your head.

At that point Fridays sessions were over. I felt so uplifted and excited. We went to dinner at that point and following dinner we had evening worship. We enjoyed uplifting music and great speaking by Tammie Head. After evening worship there were a few sessions available, but myself and a few other ladies decided to enjoy fellowship with each other.

Saturday started with a morning worship service. After morning worship I attended a two part session by Tammie Head called Duty or Delight? The session was geared around our service to the Lord. Do we feel that our daily service is a duty or do we delight in serving the Lord everyday? God does not want to be a burden to us, he wants us to find joy in everyday life and in serving Him. Tammie Head was an amazing speaker. She was an awesome example of how God can use anyone to spread his gospel. Tammie was from a broken home, like so many of us. She quit school in 9th grade. She was a mother at 19 and did not come to Christ until 21, like me! As she put it, in the eyes of most of the world, she is not an educated woman, but yet God is using her to reach the lost and to uplift those that know Him! So when you think you can't spread the good news, remember God can use anyone!

The next session I went to was Intimacy in Marriage by Amy Rardin. All of my sessions were inspiring, but this session was an eye opener and gave me a deeper love and respect for my husband. She had a lot of great points. We should think of our husband as a CEO of our home and we are the General Manager. We can give input into the decisions of our home, but ultimately our husband should make the final decision and we should be supportive of his decisions. We should pray for our husbands in everything that he does. We should build him up. One very important point was that we should never ridicule or diminish our husband in front of others. We should never do that ever, but men need their wives to respect them and uplift them and embarrassing him ruins that respect. Husbands and wives each have needs. I would highly recommend any couple wanting to grow closer should read together the book His Needs Her Needs. Average women need affection, conversation, honesty and openness, financial support and family commitment. Men need sexual fulfillment, recreational companionship, an attractive spouse, domestic support and admiration. Number one and two on the man's list can be switched. Number one on the list is pretty self-explanatory, but one thing that all women need to keep in the back of their mind is that no matter what, you should not deny your husband, because it crushes his spirit and if it happens too many times it could lead to your husband looking elsewhere. Infidelity is never your fault, but if a man finds himself rejected, it could lead to viewing of pornography or worse and extra-marital affair. Next is the recreational partner. Men want their wives to participate in things with them that the man loves. It does not meant that you can't have things that you like to do and that he can't have things that he likes to do, but you should find somethings that the two of you can do together. It makes your husband feel loved and that you are willing to put effort into him. You will be surprised that if you put in the effort to do that, he might put in effort in areas that you would like effort/change from him. Next is an attractive spouse, now this does not mean you have to change yourself. Hello, he married you for the woman that you are, but what it means is every now and than when he comes home from working a long hard day, make yourself up for him rather than sitting in your junk sweats and your hair up in pony tail! He wants to know that you care about him enough to take care of yourself for him! Domestic support is just as is sounds. In particular for stay-at-home moms, your husband wants to know that he can rely on you to care for the home and your children. That does not mean that he will not participate in choirs around the home or the upbringing of the children, but it gives him confidence in you that you will care for the needs of the home. Finally there is admiration. A husband wants to know that his wife holds him in high regard. I know, I know, many of you are probably thinking, I love my husband and I admire him as the Christian man that he is and I admire him as the father and husband that he is. When was the last time you told him? Men need reassurance. You need to make a point to tell your husband how much he really means to you. From there Amy told us to make TIME, T - ten to twenty minutes each day alone to strengthen your marriage. I - Invest in weekly date nights. If you can't afford to go out for a date, have a few hours without the kids at home. M - Make a monthly day away policy. Again, if you can't afford a hotel for a night way, have the kids stay at a friend of family members home. Finally E - escape quarterly for 48 hours away weekend. As the other dates, if you can't afford it, make a point to have grandparents or friends take the kids away so that you and your husband can focus on the two of you. Amy ended the session with the Marriage Golden Rule: Meet your spouse's needs as you would want your spouse to meet yours. That session had plenty of laughter, but you could tell that it touched a lot of women and it was so uplifting to see so many women wanting to improve their marriages in a Godly way.

My final session was success and failure. The speaker was teaching us that there are women in the bible who either succeed or failed. We have the right to choose to either succeed in Christ or to fail in Christ. We should choose to succeed in Christ.

We ended the weekend with another worship service. There is nothing like hearing a bunch of believers raising up praise to God! Tammie spoke again ending our weekend on just a high note reminding us that God wants nothing but the best for us and that we should live in the joy of the Lord!

I highly recommend if you have not attended a ladies retreat or a men's retreat for that matter, you should attend. Being with that many believers is just an awesome experience!

Valentine's Day

I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day. It was a great day here at the Babin's. Jason took the day off so that he could work a wedding tonight at church, so it was a nice break from the daily grind and time for him and I to enjoy time together. We are not the giving cards, flowers, chocolates or any gifts for that matter kind of people. Well maybe I should clarify that I am not much a of gift receiver. I know that Jason would love to give gifts to me to show me just how much he loves me, but I honestly don't need any kind of gift to know that my husband loves me. He shows me each and every day how much he loves me. If I were to get flowers, I would rather it be a special occasion in his opinion, rather than the card company telling me its a special day. More of a I was thinking of you rather than its your birthday or our anniversary or even Valentine's Day. I know, I am a spoil sport, but it is what it is!

I have never been one that received gifts well. I have personal reasons for why I am a bad gift receiver. I really just don't like surprises.

So with that, I hope everyone had a very nice Valentine's Day and just remember that God loves you every day, so we should love everyone every day as well!

God Bless!

Crochet

Back in about October a friend of mine taught me the starters of crocheting. Jacoba has wanted to learn how to crochet ever since she was about 3 or 4. She saw my aunt crocheting and she wanted to learn right than. My aunt showed her a few things, but she was 3 or 4 and could not sit still long enough for a full lesson. Plus she did not have any hooks at home to continue learning. Being that I am a homemaker now and you can only clean your house so much and honestly, TV is way to boring, I decided to pick up this new hobby.

My friend started me out making a pot holder. It was pretty cool because after a few hours I had a completed project. Yes, I said a few hours. As a beginner I am WAY slow, but it is fun and it fills my time, so I don't mind. So, once I learned how to make the pot holder I decided to make a bunch of them for Christmas presents. They were a big hit! Since I had the pot holder down pretty good, I decided to try a make something else. On one of my skeins of yarn there was an easy pattern for wash clothes. Ideal, I could give pot holders and wash clothes away as presents together.

First Crocheted Pot Holder



The pot holders I made for myself after all the Christmas pot holders.



Wash Clothes




From there I realized that I had yet to find a scarf for Jacoba. She is always cold and needed a scarf. I searched and searched for an easy pattern and finally came across one that actually have a video to go with it. Jacoba loves the scarf I made her. I also made scarves for my step-son and step-daughter. They live in Tennessee, so they probably don't need the often, but I did it anyways for the practice.

Jacoba's Scarf


Scarf I made for Matthew, its now Jason's because it did not match his coat. I ended up making him a new before we took the kids home.



From there I got a little brave. I decided to take on a baby blanket. My brother's girlfriend is a grandma, so I decided to make the blanket for her granddaughter for Christmas. I guess you could call Kami my great niece. Well Kami was going to be 9 months at Christmas, so decided to make a baby blanket, but make it more like a toddler blanket so she could have it for awhile. Kardeigh, her mom, loved the blanket. It took me way longer than any of my other projects, but it was worth it. I wish I had pictures of the finished blanket, since it was my first, but I forgot. I guess in the future I will have to make sure to take pictures and save them for later, even if they are gifts.

About two weeks ago I decided to start making my step-daughters afghan for her recently painted room. I can only work so long on an afghan because they take awhile, especially the size I am making it. It is going to be an afghan for a full size bed. Its a work in progress. I would say at the moment I am about 2/3 of the way done with it.

Chelsea's Afghan in Progress



I took a break from the above afghan and moved on to a few other projects. I made a few things that I will post at a later date. They are a gift, so I don't want to put them up until I give them away. Once those items are done, I will go back to the afghan.

Additional Recaps

I almost forgot that Chelsea and Matthew moved to Tennessee in August of 2011. Its been a crazy few years for all of us. Their mom and her boyfriend were experiencing the financial struggles of Michigan. In May she decided to move the kids to Tennessee because they were having such a hard time. Jennifer's parents have lived in Tennessee since 2005 and they had wanted to kids and Jennifer to move down with them at the time. We did not let them move because we knew we would hardly ever see the kids being that far apart. This time around we did not have a foot hold to keep them in Michigan. Our one requirement was that they meet us half way since they would be moving twice as far away.

That change has been one of the hardest we have had to deal with. We miss our friends and family dearly, but we miss Chelsea and Matthew more than most. We now see them for a few weeks over the summer and about a week at Christmas time. Its hard when we once use to get the kids every weekend and eventually we are reduced to a few weeks a year. We cherish our time with them, but we sure wish we had a lot more time.

We just remember that God has plans for us all and that it will work out in the end.

Just thoughts and recaps

Where to start? I feel truly blessed. Jason and I have been through a lot over the course of our nearly 10 years together. Wow, 10 years, where has the time gone. Lets see, maybe starting at the beginning would be the best.

Jason and I started dating in March of 2002. We got engaged in July of 2002. In October 2002 Jason had the first issue with work. He was informed that his plant was closing and that he would have to transfer. At that point they started having crazy work schedules. He would work two weeks and be laid off two weeks. Than he would be laid off a week and work a week and laid off a week and work another week. There was no consistency to it at all. Needless to say, keeping our finances in order was very difficult.

We got married in June of 2003. He was still at his first plant in Chesterfield at that time. The week before our wedding my car died. Needless to say, we had to buy me a new car on our honeymoon. August of 2003 we had that strange blackout. I was still working in St. Charles at that time, which was 2 hours away from our home in Chesterfield. We did not lose power in St. Charles, but we did experience a brown out. The day after the black out I was supposed to have an interview with NTA. I obviously could not make the interview and had to wait until Monday to make the call since their phones were out with the power. September 2003 I started working at NTA, that was such a blessing to get that job because it reduced my drive to work from 2 hours to only 1 hour. We would eventually fix that drive time. November of 2003 we found out we were pregnant. What a blessing that was for us.

In March of 2004 we moved from Chesterfield to Walled Lake. Mid March Jason transferred to the Dearborn Assembly Plant. He was at the plant for 8 days and than sent back to Chesterfield on his birthday. Dearborn decided that Jason had too many work related injuries at his first plant, so they did not want his. There were quite a few other people who had the same thing happen. A law suit was filled because they were trying to prevent them from working. The times Jason had injuries were caused by supervisors not using their heads. Jason had asthma and they kept putting in the building that had the foam was being formed into seats, which means that there is fine particles of foam floating in the air. People with asthma should never be in that building. Everyone in that building should have had mask as well, but that was not a priority. Jason started to panic because he thought all the plants would treat him the same way.

In May of 2004 Jason finally was notified that he would transfer to AAI. June of 2004 he was finally at AAI. What a blessing that was since our baby was due in July. Jason is enjoying the new plant and finally calms down. July 16, 2004 Jacoba is born. Jason had been on shutdown for almost two weeks when she was finally born. She was born on Friday of his second week of shutdown. Me being a first time mom was a little concerned that he would only be home with me for one night and than I was going to be alone when he went back to work. Thankfully Ford has a form of maternity leave for men too, so he did not need to go back to work until Wednesday. I was off for 7 weeks so that we did not have to pay for daycare for one week.

Things went on as normal for the next few years. Kids growing up and life as usual.

In January of 2006 we decide to try and buy a house. Beginning of February we find a home and put an offer on it. March 9, 2006 we close on our home. We are so excited and look forward to being home owners. We start a 4 week process of painting and prepping for our move. We were shooting for Easter weekend, but we started the move a week earlier because Jason was in a car accident. The accident totaled the Grand Marquis. The accident occurred on a day when it was raining so no ambulance showed up. Needless to say I rushed to pick Jason up and took him to the emergency room. The airbag went off and he had burns on his face and hand. It was also the first and last night I ever plugged my phone in downstairs. From that point forward it has always been on my bedside. That afternoon we started our move to the new house so that we could share the truck and have less distance to travel for work for both of us. We finalized the move the next weekend. We spent the next year or so just working on the house and living life.

March of 2007 we decided to try and have another baby. Mother's day weekend I started having complications. I contacted my doctor and they said I was fine. I had multiple ultrasounds and they could not figure out what was going on. They figured out that things were going wrong so they decided to do a D&C. I had the procedure on Thursday and the following Thursday I received a call that scared me to death. They said I needed to come in for yet another ultrasound and left it at that. That Friday I went in for the ultrasound and by that afternoon it was decided that I needed emergency surgery the next day. I had the surgery, which besides scaring me, scared my husband. Had we not done the surgery, my uterus would have burst and I could have died. The scary part of it all was that I was not having any pain, so I could have started to bleed internally and would have not know. After the surgery I was told I could not have anymore children. Jason was a wonderful husband and decided to have surgery so that we would never get pregnant again.

September 2008 came and the housing market crashed. The law firm I worked for had a client that was big into the housing market and work from them reduced significantly. January 2009 I was informed that I was losing my job. The day before my birthday was my last day. Not sure what to do at that time I started taking cake decorating classes. I did a few cakes over that summer and love the skills that I have now. Jacoba started school in September 2009. Her first day of school I actually had an interview. I was supposed to be interviewing for a part time job, just happened to work out to be a full time job. In October of 2009 our house went into foreclosure. We tried to work with the mortgage company, they just didn't want to work with us. Ultimately God had a plan for us. So in October of 2009 we moved from our home in Brownstown to Southgate.

In February of 2010 Jason was notified that his plant would be eliminating a shift. He unfortunately fell within the numbers that would have to transfer or lose their job. At that time we started to pray hard and working through our options. We knew that we could possibly be moving to the Chicago area or the Louisville area. We started to look at housing options and schools. We wanted to way all of our options before we made the final decision. The next couple months we had no new information. April of 2010 we found out that Kentucky was off the list. Jason finally had the opportunity to put in for the transfer to the Chicago plant. The waiting game started all over again. Finally in July of 2010 Jason was told when he was to report. We had very little time to move. We made the move over a weekend and Jason reported that Monday.

We have now been in Indiana since July of 2010 and know that we are where God wants us. I have enjoyed the past year and half being home for my family. It was always something that I wanted to do, but we never had that opportunity for me to be home. God has blessed us so much and we look forward to seeing him work through us. We have been blessed with a wonderful church home and a new home as of June 2011.

Jason and I and our family have gone through a lot in the last 10 years, but God has had a plan for us all along and he has taken us by His hand and walked us through all of our trials and tribulations. We did not understand why we had to go through those trials, but each trial made us stronger. We struggled at times trying to figure out why we had to go through some of those trials, but looking back we understood why we had to go through some of those trials. If we had not lost our home in 2009, we would have had to try and sell our home to make the move to Indiana in 2010. God has plans for us all and there will be times that we struggle with his plan, but in the long run we have to understand that he knows best and that he will get us through all of our trials. It may not be in our time, but he will get us through it all!