Where am I?

Getting through another transition (school to summer)... Surrounded by laundry... Trying to ignore the state of the kids' bathroom... Looking forward to Mik and Toby going to VBS this week... Still searching for a renter for our condo... Thankful for all the great dads in my life... In love with my husband... On my way to bed soon... In God's hands and always in His sight.

Psalm 121 I lift up my eyes to the hills— where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD watches over you— the LORD is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore. He's got His eye on you, too. : )

Grand Finales!

What a week this has been!!! Thursday was Mikaela's last day of school and just in time, on Tuesday she made it into the Million Word Club at her school!!! That means she read over a million words this school year! Just to give you an idea what an accomplishment that is, the goal for 2nd graders is to read 75,000 words by the end of the year and only one other 2nd grader made it into the Million Word Club this year. (Yes, I am extremely proud of my little bilingual girl!!! Sorry, I can't help it!!!) Here she is getting her MWC shirt from the principal Wed. morning in front of the whole school:

With her teacher...

The front says: READ?

The back: I DO!

THEN, yesterday we all got to go down to the Fresno County Superior Courthouse and finalize our adoption of Timothy!!! It means he is officially, forever ours and we are so happy do be done with that part of the process. (We still have a few formalities like applying for his soc. sec. card and registering at the Thai embassy sometime, but the legal stuff is done! YAY!) After the court ceremony we celebrated at Timothy's Grandad and Grandma's house with lunch and lots of fun!

Waiting outside for our turn...

The Jury... : )

We're done! Our Finally Official Family!

Can't Find the Words

Well, there is a lot going on in my head and heart these days and every once in a while I think about blogging about it all and I keep not doing it because I'm not sure what to say. It's also probably because much of what's going on has to do with resting more and being still more. Sometimes that means blogging less. Hopefully soon I will have the words to explain some of what God is doing in my heart. But for now, I will just say IT IS VERY GOOD. You might remember that back at the beginning of March I talked (in this post) about the chaos that has been drowning me for so very long and how badly I needed God to speak and let there be light in my darkness and confusion. PRAISE GOD, He is answering my pleas and doing something DEEP and I hope PERMANENT in my heart and mind in this area. He is breaking through!!! Yay!!!

Genesis 1:1-4 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness."

: ) The light is GOOD. And the tide is coming in. : )

God is Still Good

“The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all...” Psalm 34:18-19 Sigh... This has been a heart-breaking week. I won't explain it all because it isn't my story to tell, but some dear friends of mine have had one of the hardest weeks imaginable - literally... I have been honored enough to sit with them through some of it and as I have prayed for them and cried for them, these words have echoed through my thoughts: "God is still God and God is still good." No matter what happens or how things appear, that Truth will never, ever change. The other night, I wrote the words to a song - for my friends and anyone else who might need it - for me when I need it. I hope they encourage you wherever and whenever you might need it, too.

God is Still Good God says He never changes His promises are Truth Even while the storm still rages And we’re searching for proof As faithful as the sun is to rise And the seasons are to change When all other hope is gone This eternal hope remains God is still God And God is still good When all you see is darkness Though your heart’s been torn in two You will find the strength to believe Walk by faith and not by sight In the middle of the winter And in the darkest night Hold on to what you know with all of your might God is still God And God is still good Even when you don’t understand His ways, His “hows”, His “whys” You can count on His love Don’t you dare listen to the lies God is faithful and He’s loving God’s Word is always true God is able, God is holy God is always, always with you He will hold you, He will help you He will quiet you with His love He will carry you, He will heal you His grace is more than enough God is still God And God is still good The sun is going to rise (and Joy comes in the morning!) And Spring will come anew God will give you strength to believe To walk by faith and not by sight His strong arms will hold you All through the darkest night Hold on to what you know with all of your might God is still God And God is still good You can trust Him because He loves you You can rest in His strength God is still God And God is still good

Written by M. E. 5.1.09

Bringing In The Tide...

Hello friends!!! As always, I have way more I would love to tell you than I am going to be able to right now. So for now I'm going to stick with explaining my new blog title/theme. : ) It all started a couple of years ago with an ice-breaker question. "If you were a sea creature what would you be and why?" I decided I would be a sea turtle because in some areas of my life I feel as free and graceful as a sea turtle in the ocean and in other parts of life I feel like a sea turtle plodding along on the beach in the sand. : ) For example, today was a day of life "in the ocean." I got to lead worship this morning at church, got to challenge and encourage people (and see them respond! Woohoo!), then spent the afternoon in a leadership meeting for church with people that I LOVE talking about what God's doing in our church. Today was just sweet. : ) Tomorrow, however, will be life "on the sand." My house is a mess. The laundry is piling up all over the place. The floors are sticky and crumby. And I have other things to try to get done aside from pulling the house back together. I have struggled through the years with housework, time management in general and have many times gotten overwhelmed by it all. One day as I was pondering the "sea turtle" feeling and how hard it was for me "on the sand" I heard God whisper to me to "Bring the tide in..." Ahhh... I knew what He was saying. Bring the spiritual stuff INTO the mundane. PRAY when I'm doing the dishes. WORSHIP when I'm folding the laundry. SPEND TIME fellowshipping with God throughout the day. So for me that's what "Bringing in the Tide" means... learning how to view everything from the perspective of bringing God glory, no matter what I'm doing. I'm still learning a lot... but you know me. I'll be back to tell you about it!!! : ) Bless you all this week!!! Remember Jesus loves you so much more than you have ANY idea or ability to comprehend... : ) Love, Melissa

UGGGHHH...

Well if you're reading this on my blog (and not in Google reader or something like that) you might see that things look a little different. I'm playing around with changing the look (and title!) of my blog and it got goofed up and I don't have time to do anything else, so for now (after I change just ONE more thing...) I'm just going to leave it alone and hopefully this weekend I'll have some time to work on it because I'll be at the coast with my hubby celebrating our 13th anniversary WITHOUT OUR CHILDREN and it seems very logical that I would spend some of my free ttime playing with my blog. Ideally, while I'm sitting on the beach listening to the waves. (Though I suspect the wind would blow sand into my keyboard and that would not be good... so maybe not on the beach.) Can I just tell you I can't wait????? Not to work on my blog... to get away! It's been a year since we've gone anywhere without the kids and while I love them dearly, I am really ready for a little time away - and I know I'll love them even more when I come home. : ) And I can't wait to spend some time reminiscing with my hubby about when we got engaged and stuff like that (b/c that's where we're going!) Maybe I'll see you there...