My life in one word...

If anyone were to ask me right now how I was, I would tell them that I'm blessed. More than any of the things that are going on, I think of and remember the blessing of God's hand on my life and on His faithfulness. The Bible is full of the testimonies of men who followed the Lord earnestly. Whether they were rejoicing during plenty or weighed down by the trials of life, they all testified to the goodness of the Lord. These men did not follow God because they were forced to against their will or because they were afraid of Him (although the world should be afraid, and all righteous men fear the Lord); they followed Him becasue they knew that no matter what they were going through, they had been given more than they deserved. What do we deserve? Death. Punishment. Hell. What do we have? Life. And not only life, but life abundant. We have the hope and joy of knowing that we will live forever in perfect communion with the One who saved us. Is that not something to rejoice about and fill us with awe and reverance for the rest of our days?

This is what has been on my heart of late.

And this is what has been happening in my life:

Four months ago my family was blessed to be a part of a church plant. The Lord has been gracious to us as we have gone on this journey, and I have learned so much from the experience. I am blessed every week by the godly men and women we fellowship with, and I am continually refreshed by the teaching and worship we are a part of. The Lord's hand is clearly visible, or as my mom likes to say, "I've seen the wind."

In January we celebrated my dad's big 5-0! We had a wonderful party and I know my dad thoroughly enjoyed the evening which was filled with good food, friends old and new, and many sweet prayers and encouraging stories.

Later that month we got to have the Romer children stay with us, which is always such fun (I have to keep myself from suddently breaking forth into my Brittish accent whenever they're around). We made cookies, snuggled on the couch with books, went for walks, and had an all-around marvelous time!

In February, Miss Anna McFarland and I got together to test out our flower arranging skills (I love Kroger's "sale flowers" section =D).

We also had a Valentine's card-making party.

And, of course, I've been working on aprons:

So there you have it! My life in one word, and just a few too many pictures =D