Closing One Door & Opening Another

Mike plays guitar and sings on our praise team at church. This morning before church started, Mike pulled me aside and handed me a folded up piece of paper and said, "Open this note after we start playing, and not before." Right after that he joined the rest of the praise team and went up on the stage. As soon as they started playing, I unfolded the note and read it. It said "I wrote this song for you." I teared up, but with a giant smile on my face.

Here's the song Mike wrote:

Through the down times, I trust You to provide
Through my troubles, You'll be there by my side
And the path may not be clear
And the journey will be fierce
But Your endless grace will ease all of my fears

More than gold
More than silver
More than anything this world has in store
I want to serve You
I want to please You
The treasure you hold is worth so much more

Through my failures, Your grace will help me cope
Through the heartache, Your love will help me cope
And I know You know what's best
And by that I can confess
That it's only by Your Son that I am blessed

More than gold
More than silver
More than anything this world has in store
I want to serve You
I want to please You
The treasure you hold is worth so much more

All You want is all of me
Let me be an offering
Lord please take my days
Use them only for Your praise

More than gold
More than silver
More than anything this world has in store
I want to serve You
I want to please You
The treasure you hold is worth so much more

A little background on the song: The last month or so, I've had a lot on my heart about my work situation, not knowing if where I am currently was where I was supposed to be, or if God had different plans for me. Mike and I prayed... a lot... and we finally decided that God did have other plans for me. Mike wrote this song about the prayers we said and the final decision that we made together about me taking a new job and leaving my current job. While closing one door and opening another, the opportunity to serve God through my soon to be new employer is exciting. I can't wait!

Thank you Mike, for such a beautiful song. I'm so excited that we can open this new door together! I love you!!

The Moon

I went to let Catie and Riley out back tonight and looked up and thought, "Oh my! I need my camera!" So as soon as the dogs were done, I ran and got my camera. I didn't have time to mess with the tripod, so this isn't crystal clear (sorry) but I just couldn't get over the clouds around the moon tonight!

"Give It All Away"

It's been a long weekend for me - and not because of the holiday weekend. (Although that was the enjoyable part of the long weekend!)

I've had sooo much on my heart and mind this weekend that I've spent a LOT of time on my knees and in prayer. I've been praying for some answers from God and once again he spoke to me through music - two times this weekend with two different songs. But the one that has really left me thinking, I had never heard before. I was looking for a completely different song on YouTube and this song came up first. Coincidence? No. Godcidence.

"Give It All Away" by Aaron Shust

"Search my heart, search my mind, search my soul
Make me clean, make me new make me whole

All of my plans, all of my dreams, I lay them down before Your feet
All of my time, all that was mine, I now submit to Your design
'Cause You are the one who can make my life complete
You are the one who can give light to my feet
You are the one and only one who dared to give it all away for me

You are my strength, You are my God, you are my King
You make me laugh, You make me dance, You make me sing

Everything inside, everything outside, I give it all away
You never change, but You rearrange my heart more everyday"

I don't think God could be speaking any louder to me than he did through that song. Wow! Thank you God, Thank you!

"No Wonder"

Tonight, all of the kids from our church put on their Christmas musical called "No Wonder." ALL of the kids did an excellent job, and Mike and I were so thrilled we could go watch.

One of our good friends son played one of the 3 Wise Men in the musical. He was so cute because his crown wouldn't stay on straight. Here's a photo of while they were singing and one of him after the musical. He's just so cute, I had to share this :-)

Sam

Yesterday would have been Mike and I's nephew's 3rd Birthday. We love and miss Sam more than words could ever say. We know he's one of the angel's that has been watching over all of us the last few years.

In honor of Sam's 3rd Birthday, his Mom (Mike's sister) made this video tribute to him, and I wanted to share it with everyone:

The Picture Says It All

Mike and I were doing 2 photo shoots on Saturday (when it was a whopping 40 degrees outside) and after the 2nd shoot, I told him I wanted to get some pictures of him. I'm always taking pictures of everyone else, but I didn't have any good ones of him. So after some convincing he finally let me take his picture. Here is my absolute favorite picture:


I look at this picture and think of our first dance after we got married and the song that played:

"The smile on your face
lets me know that you need me
There's a truth in your eyes
sayin' you'll never leave me
The touch of your hand
says you'll catch me if ever I fall
You say it best
when you say nothing at all"

But the funny thing? This picture says it all.

I love you Mike!

He did it again...

I've got this cool relationship with God. For some people, he speaks to them through scripture. For others, it's through prayer. For me, it's through music. I've had a lot on my heart this week, and Mike and I have been praying quite a bit. Well, God did it again. He let me know he was there and heard our prayers through music.

Driving home from the station tonight, I was channel surfing on the radio and a song came on that I hadn't heard yet by one of Mike's favorite bands, Kutless. The God-cidence of it all was where i heard the song, when I heard the song, and who was signing the song. The part of the song that stands out the most to me is the 2nd verse:

"It doesn’t matter what you’ve heard
Impossible is not a word
It’s just a reason for someone not to try
Everybody’s scared to death
When they decide to take that step
Out on the water
It’ll be alright
Life is so much more
Than what your eyes are seeing
You will find your way
If you keep believing"

God listens to our prayers. Sometimes he doesn't answer them immediately, but he will answer them in his time. After a conversation with a friend today, and now hearing this song, I know God heard my prayer. He just wanted to answer it when he felt it was right.

You can listen to the song here:

Ellen Loves ChaCha!

We had a nice surprise at work on Friday - Ellen Degeneres talked about ChaCha in her opening monologue! We had NO idea she was going to do this, so it was a wonderful surprise. Here is a small snipit of her talking about ChaCha:

Tuttle Orchards

On Saturday, Mike and I went to Tuttle Orchards with Matt, Sarah, Phoebe, and Joey. Earlier that morning, the weather was tricking us into thinking it would be a nice cool fall afternoon. Not so much. It ended up getting into the mid 70's and we were all pretty hot, but besides the heat, it was a lot of fun!

We all picked apples (ate a few apples while picking them) and had fun with the other activities. Later that evening, Sarah made some delicious homemade apple crisp with the apples from the orchard. Yesterday, Mike and I made homemade applesauce with the apples we got from the orchard. I think we're going to be going back for more apples!

Here are some photos from our trip to the orchard:

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