Family Update

I thought I should do a family update since I have not done one recently. However, my beautiful wife posted an update blog on her myspace page, so I'll let her do the talking this time.

Shelly's Blog

Beyond Blessed

Someone asked me a few weeks ago about the hard time we were having. I had to actually stop and think about it. I really didn't know we were having a hard time. Things can always be "better". But we are so undeservingly blessed. Gas prices are high. Grocery prices are high. Vehicles break down. Our house is small. Money is spent before it is even received. Yet I have an amazing life that makes all that seem so miniscule. I admit I do stack up the hospital and clinic bills for a few days before I open them.

But I am deeply in love with my husband. I anxiously wait for him to get off of work. I love just being around him. He is and has always been an inspiration to me. He loves his God so much that I can't even begin to describe his relationship with Christ. A lady I talked with several months back after church put it in these words, "I just love listening to Pastor Paul pray, it's as though I just walked into a conversation that has been ongoing and will continue when I leave."

Then there are my boys. If you could see my face right now, you'd see how big my smile is. Everyone knows "Children are a miracle"; "Children are a gift from God". But you don't understand. I am NOT supposed to have them. My body was created without the ability to conceive a child. And I have TWO of them. It blows my mind. Years of taking infertility pills and self injected shots and God entrusts me with my boys. I know it sounds odd, but until you go through to many to count negative pregnancy tests, and results that continue to show that your body doesn't respond to fertility medicine and all the violating testing and procedures that are done, you don't understand. Not your fault, and I'm glad you can't relate.

Elijah's first year of life was a bit of a whirlwind. Yet he has outgrown nearly all of his allergies. He hasn't been hospitalized in 6 months. He is almost completely off of his reflux medicine. And the tracheomalsia has been something we can handle at home. A dear friend of mine has a child who is close to Elijah's age who has medical concerns that I can nowhere near relate to. You have no idea how humbling it is to talk to this mother. If I ever once had a poor attitude last year, Shame on me! We have no idea what it is like to have a sick child. We know only a fraction of medical bills that other people know.

Then there is my relationship with Christ. I have a Savior who is sovereign, who gave me the ability to know him through his word and though the Holy Spirit. A God who I am not worthy to even speak his beautiful name. My daily prayer is Philippians 4:10 " I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing his sufferings, becoming like him in his death." May God shake up my world. May he allow me to fall deeper in love with Him, that I may always pray and speak with thanksgiving about everything, the great, the good and the "hard time".