Friday, April 29, 2011

Woven Threads & Brush Strokes

Awhile back, we had an interesting thing going on in worship at church. The arts were used to demonstrate different forms of worship (poetry, painting, music, etc.) I love worship music, but outside of that, I'm not real "artsy" & wasn't sure I was going to get much out of this experience.





Boy, was I wrong. I had one of the most beautiful moments in my faith walk as a young man got up to paint. His work on that blank canvas began to parallel my life in so many ways.





At first, the brush strokes were confusing, sometimes even kinda ugly. Ooooh, but then, I began to see something wonderful emerging from what really resembled, well, a mess.





But here's where my eye for the beautiful collided with the eye of the artist. Just when I thought the picture was amazingly complete, that dude was reaching for more paint. No!!! Don't do that...it's good. Don't mess with it.





He did it anyway.





And he totally knew what he was doing. With each new stroke of color, whether I liked the color or not, this painting became more beautiful, more alive...it was breathtaking & completely unexpected.





Sounds like this life that God has been weaving together. From my perspective, it has seemed a mess at times. But for the most part, it seems just fine.






And then He weaves a new thread. Oh, my heart is so full.



But He wasn't done yet. Another dimension, another thread.




Oh, how the Lord has blessed my life.

And then He brought us a son. How wonderful. We are complete. It is good.







But He chose to weave more threads into this tapestry.







And then He began weaving threads that threatened to break my heart. Sometimes I felt completely tangled & wondered what was happening. I think He was breaking my heart to change the pattern of my tapestry, which was really never mine to begin with.




But this new pattern & tangled threads actually strengthened the fabric of this tapestry...His tapestry.




But He still was not finished.







And when it seemed that we certainly couldn't hope for anything more beautiful out of this tapestry, the great Artist has even more.

I've realized that this journey of God weaving the threads of my life, my faith, my marriage, my family, & my friendships into something of beauty is an ongoing process. There are knots, there are broken threads, there are some that go together in ways I never would have expected, but they are all working together. The term "beauty from ashes" has taken on new meaning as He continues the work with a perspective that is beyond me. I don't know what things will look like tomorrow, next year, or twenty years from now, but I look forward in hopeful expectancy of what He will do with each thread & every brush stroke.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Adoption Day


KENDI
"The Loved One"

HOPE
"Expectation; Belief"

HAPPY FOREVER FAMILY DAY!!!

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

*~Six Months~*

Six months ago today, Kendi came into our family.

I'm not gonna lie, I've been pretty emotional the last several days.

************

Maybe it's because I think how close I came to missing out just because I started to let the doubts & fears of this world creep into my heart.

Maybe it's because I think of her birth mom & am so in awe that she CHOSE to give this little girl life when this world says you can choose something else.

Maybe it's because when I look at her, I see the love & trust I have for my husband. He loved me enough to tell me "no" to Ethiopia because God spoke to his heart & said something different. And I trusted him enough to let him take the lead.

Maybe it's because of the special bond she has with each & every one of her brothers & sisters.

And maybe it's because she's my daughter, she's 6 months old, & I just love her beyond words.













Kendi Hope, you are an amazing little girl, & we love you!!!!

Monday, April 18, 2011

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Lots of Life

Basketball, basketball, & more basketball (Kam & Kade).

New apartment (Kaelee). Tears, but happy for her...this is what she wanted to do for her last year of college.

Rugby (my crazy KiKi).

Need to get to some shopping for Kyler...holy growing up!!

A bit of warm weather & sunshine, so little people have enjoyed some play time.

Husband working hard in his doctoral program.

A certain little "tunky-taters" has cut two teeth!!

And a busy Mama, loving life, but just too busy lately to put forth coherant thoughts in limited amounts of time! I do try to check in on many of you, though, because that's easy to do one-handed! ;o)

Be back, hopefully sooner vs. later, with some pictures!