Sweet Life in the City

Five years ago this summer we moved to Chicago. We started making our plans to move here almost 7 years ago. Many of you prayed for us, supported us, cheered us on in our successes, and wept with us in our struggles. We uprooted our family from TN almost five years ago to plant a church, but two years ago we felt God was leading us to a different mission. It was devastating to us to realize that the reason we moved here (to plant a church) was not going to be fulfilled. We never doubted one time that God had called us to this city, but we found ourselves wondering what was next after a failed church plant. Two years ago next month God allowed us to purchase this home. He then led us to The Brook. He then led us to MCA. Leaders from both of these places have made the comment to Jeremy that we were the answers to their prayers. Our lives look nothing like the prayers we prayed, but, wow, we rejoice that His plans are always better than the ones we have made or what we could even dream u...

The word for this week is tired. I have been so very tired this week. My fibromyalgia has been flaring a bit. I haven't been in a great deal of pain thankfully, I just have been so tired. I have been out of Diet Coke since Tuesday and I have been too tired to go to the store to get more kind of week,  We had the day off of school on Monday. I was able to sleep in a little, but then I decided that I was going to clean and organize every room. Not a good idea. I managed to destroy every room and then only have the strength to put two of the rooms back together the way I wanted. Tuesday I somehow managed to get through the day. Tuesday night is usually my "clean like crazy" night because we have community group at our house on Wednesday night. This past Tuesday I didn't have the energy to really care what my house looked like (absolutely unlike me). Wednesday I came home from school and tried to clean as much and possible. I did put the kids to work too. Despite how bone...

45  Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!” Luke 1:45 In January 2016 I wrote a very difficult post. Honestly I think it was the only time I sat down and prayed before I wrote a blog post. My cousin was hurting, our family was hurting, and I wanted to make sure that my words would be helpful and not add any more heartache to their lives. You can read the full post here  , but my precious cousin and her husband had to say good-bye to their baby boy only a few months after he was born. Oh how our hearts hurt for them. They have been bathed in prayer over this past year. So many prayers that God would be glorified through them. I only thought it would be fitting to give thanks to Jesus in a post that a son has been born for them. I could not leave their story with one of despair, but one of joy. They have been in the adoption process for a while now. On Valentine's Day a baby boy was born and they were chosen to be his parents. They met...

 It's crazy how 9 years can seem like 6 months. It's crazy to think that it has been 9 years since we returned home from Korea with our beautiful daughter Emma. I remember the events of that day so vividly. Jeremy and I had actually officially taken custody of Emma the day before. Once again, you can browse through older posts if you want more details, but the bottom line was that the exchange of Emma's foster mother giving Emma to us was nothing short of heartbreaking. We had been at the adoption agency. Emma and her foster mother came. We exchanged some gifts. We got her and all of her belongings. We left this small room in the agency with Emma still in the arms of her foster mother. We stepped on the elevator. The social worker holding the button to keep the door open. The foster mother and Emma are outside of the elevator. Emma is handed to me. The doors close and wailing (yes, wailing) is heard from the precious baby in my arms and the precious woman who had loved and ...

Happy Valentine's Day! I really like Valentine's Day. I am not a super romantic or expect lavish gifts on this day. I just have liked this holiday since I was a kid. I think I remember Valentine's Day parties at school more than any other parties. There is something exciting about going to the store and picking out the perfect Valentine cards. Then there is the creative,  fun time making your Valentine box for school. The day of the party is filled with red and pink ( my favorite colors), hearts, candy, and those sweet little cards that your classmates have given you. It's the one day of the year that kids get to read sweet messages (even if the sender doesn't mean it) and feel like they matter. There is something so encouraging looking at those sweet puppies or kittens or whatever new cartoon character is around and reading "You're "pawfect" Valentine!", "Bananas for you!", "Crush the Resistance, My Valentine!" (Star Wars...

You lie in bed staring at the ceiling. You check the clock over and over and try to will it from happening. You ponder how you can stop it, but you know like clockwork it will show up. You know that the only way to stop it from happening is that Jesus comes back or He takes you home. So you finally close your eyes and wait for it to return. You know it has arrived by the blaring alarm going off on the side table, 6:00 Monday morning has once again reared its ugly head. You closed your eyes Friday night, and wham, open them to Monday morning. Did I dream cleaning my house? (That might be a possibility after going downstairs ☹). We went to church Sunday, right? The last 48 hours is now a blur.  Maybe a little dramatic, but not too far off from the struggle that takes place every Sunday night (except before a Monday holiday 😍) and Monday morning. I started a few years ago whispering a prayer each morning before I get out of bed. Nothing fancy, just thanking God for another day of lif...

I have been emotionally off the last week or so. It all started last Friday when I got a call from Chloe's teacher letting me know that Chloe wrote a prayer request asking for prayer for her mom who was pregnant. At first I thought my disappointment and anger was because she had made up something that was not true, but the real reason for my anger came out as I was talking to Chloe about lying and tears flowed as I told Chloe how hurtful that was to me. I would never be pregnant. I was surprised at how much this affected me because Chloe is obsessed with pregnant people and we have similar conversations about this topic (not the actual process 😊 ). The other night I got on FB and I saw that a link was shared about a house in TN that had just been placed on the market. I recognized right away that it was our house from TN. I flipped through the pictures and a sadness came flooding over me. It didn't make sense. It might be natural response to feel a little sad looking at the pl...

I cannot believe that I have not blogged since last April! I guess the main reason I have not blogged is because my mind and heart have been pretty well at ease these last 9 months or so. When I look back over my posts they usually weigh heavily on conflict or things that have been keeping me up at night. When I was staying home I had all the time in the world to overthink everything in my mind and then write about them. There is also the fact that my kids do not do too many cute things these days :). The last 9 months have included my children growing like weeds (no, seriously, they are HUGE), we have become truly rooted in our city (it only took 4 years) with our amazing church family,we took a beach vacation with friends, the kids are thriving at their new school, I am working full time doing what I love, and in case you forgot my beloved Chicago Cubs won the World Series in November. Those that know me know that I have been a Cubs fan forever! It really was a dream to actually ...