the sweetness of God

My very nice in-laws took 5 of our six kids home with them today and so Randy, Malachi, and I are hanging out in our VERY quiet house! These kind of things are great when they're planned, but I think they are just DELIGHTFUL when they just spontaneously happen! I'm sure they're having a wonderful time with Grandma and Grandpa - we'll stress about make-up work from school later! :)

Tonight I was thinking about the faithfulness of God as I finished decorating for Christmas. (I'll just warn you, this is probably going to be a bit "cheesy" - I'm feeling sentimental and thankful.) The kids decorated the tree the night before we left for Thanksgiving - it's one of their favorite parts of Christmas and is becoming one of mine because it is full of remembering. About 3-4 years ago we had nothing on our tree that wasn't specifically about Jesus so we have some cool ornaments that lead to discussion about Him (like our loaf of bread ornament reminding us that He is the bread of life, etc.). And then we have lots of homemade ornaments that the kids made in preschool. We even have a few that were mine growing up - we actually have a salt dough ornament that I received in 1981 in second grade that finally broke in two this year (I'm going to try to glue it back together). But I cried tonight as I examined the two ornaments that are pictured in this blog. My sweet mom gives us a family ornament every year with the names of our family members on it and this year she had to actually "tie" two together in order to fit everyone! Ha! That's the one on the right. The one on the left is the back of a teddy bear ornament that Randy gave me in 1988, which was our first Christmas together when we were high school sweethearts. He told me he loved me for the first time that year (and his mom wrote it on the back of the ornament - otherwise, no one could have read it :)). Anyway, I was just overwhelmed by the goodness and faithfulness of God while looking at this 20-year-old ornament next to the one my mother gave me a few days ago. We've walked through a LOT in the last 20 years and I wouldn't trade one moment. I won't go on about my husband right now - I'll save it for our 15 year anniversary in 30 days - but let's just say that I am more convinced than ever that I am married to the most wonderful man on the planet!

I've been reading Psalm 89 a lot in the past week. Here are verses 1-2, 5-6, 8: "I will sing of the Lord's great love forever; with my mouth I will make Your faithfulness known through all generations. I will declare that Your love stands firm forever, that You established Your faithfulness in heaven itself....The heavens praise your wonders, O Lord, your faithfulness too, in the assembly of the holy ones. For who in the skies above can compare with the Lord? Who is like the Lord among the heavenly beings?...O Lord God Almighty, who is like You? You are mighty, O Lord, and Your faithfulness surrounds You."

He is weaving together stories everywhere - all for His glory. I was struck again by this faithfulness when we heard Byron's story this weekend (he and his brother, Royce, went home with us for Thanksgiving) about his escape in hurricane Katrina. Royce, Byron, their aunt (who couldn't swim), and their mom had to swim the equivalent of several blocks to the second floor of a church (Royce was 12 and Byron was 10 years old at the time). Their mom was a former life guard and so she had recently taught Byron to swim, praise the Lord! Their mom, Tarita, swam that whole way with her sister on her back. Everyone had minor injuries from hitting fences, etc. while swimming that they couldn't see because the water had already covered them. They spent one night in that empty church and then were rescued by the police because someone nearby shot a flare gun. They could hear the cries of others pleading for help and there was nothing they could do. They were taken to the Superdome where they spent 5 days (I think). Byron saw children raped and who knows what else. In fact, one of his friends was almost a victim, but the boy's mother fought off the attacker while a military guy with a gun stood by doing nothing. They were taken on a bus to Mesquite, TX and then to Fort Worth. Tarita ended up getting a job at the Como Community Center and that is where she heard about Opportunity Camp. Byron went to our first camp, was chosen as a Mighty Man, and is now a follower of Jesus and the best leader we've got! We love both these boys (and Tarita who is now also a Jesus-lover!). God in His sovereignty is ALL over this story and millions of others like it. I LOVE how He works things out for His glory! These words sound so WEAK to describe what I'm talking about. It's actually bigger than I can put my mind around - maybe I'll be feeling more eloquent later, but all I can say now is that my Daddy is a GOOD KING and He is 100% trustworthy!

more later,

Anda (accidentally signed in under Randy)