Out With The Old. In With The Faith.

I realize that I haven't posted in two weeks. And to be honest, I really don't have an excuse other than just not getting around to it. I promise to do better though. Scouts honor.

 

Since October, we have moved twice. The first time was from Oakdale to Kingston. The second was from Kingston to Kingston...about 5 minutes down the road actually. It's a long story as to why we've moved twice in such a short period of time but we're not going to get into that right now. Since we've been moving and since we're about to move AGAIN, this time to a completely different state, we have been going through our storage unit and weeding out a bunch of crap that we should have gotten rid of a long time ago. We had tons of clothes, household stuff, a few small pieces of furniture, toys...you name it. We decided that we weren't going to take it all to Goodwill (nothing against it or anything) but instead to a church store called the Clothes Closet here in town. They take the money they make from the store and put it back into the church. Donating to a local church just seemed like the right thing to do. Not to mention it was within spitting distance from our house whereas Goodwill was a good 15- 20 minutes away. Any who, Justin and I cleaned out this huge pull behind trailer that was FULL of crap that we had accumulated over the past 5 years and took two truckloads of stuff to the church store. After we unloaded the last load, I got to talking to the guy that ran the store. I had seen him there every time I'd been in there browsing but we had never really talked other than just small talk. As Justin and I were looking around, I got to talking to this guy a little more in depth. We'll call him Bob. So, Bob and I got to talking about the store and he was telling me about all of the things that the store does other than giving the proceeds from the store to the church. Then, he started telling me his testimony. It was such an amazing story that I just can’t keep to myself so that's why I decided to blog about it. I know I'm going to leave some things out but I believe I can remember the high points of his story....well, the parts that stuck with me anyway. It goes a little something like this...

 

Bob had been living in Ashville and running his own business that he had built from the ground up. It was a remodeling company that worked for banks, fixing up and cosmetically repairing foreclosed houses and getting them ready to sale. He was a wealthy man with what seemed to be a seemingly perfect life. Big house. Nice stuff. Beautiful wife. He even had his masters degree in business management. All the things that most people only dream about. But then one day, his life fell apart and he lost it all. His long time friend and business partner took the company's entire client list, emptied the bank account and took off to start his own business, leaving Bob to fend for himself and pick up the pieces. As you can imagine, he lost his business and was broke. Almost immediately after losing his business, he got very sick and was admitted to the hospital for two weeks. When he was discharged, he went home only to find that his house had ironically been foreclosed on and he wasn't even able to get inside to get any of his belongings. Obviously, his things had been foreclosed on as well. In the midst of his life crumbling, his wife decided to leave him. This poor man had nothing. No business. No money. No house. And no wife. Nothing. Things became so bad that poor Bob became homeless. He was living under bridges and staying in homeless shelters here and there when he came across one. Bob's brother lived in Clinton and also didn't have much. He did however, have an old, run down car that he gave to Bob that became his home. He was always looking and asking for spare change so he could buy gas and food. One day, he came through Kingston (where the church store ministry is). And like I said, I can't remember all of the details, but somehow he came to the church store. They gave him something to eat, a clean change of clothes, and a warm place to sleep. In return, Bob volunteered at the church store since it was mostly ran by older church ladies and was on a volunteer only basis. He started attending church with them and they eventually gave him the manager position at the store...the only paid position there was. They helped him get back on his feet, helped him get into a low income apartment just minutes down the road and furnished it with donations from the store, replenished his wardrobe from donations, and helped him become financially stable again. This church and its ministry saved Bob's life.

 

I'm sure you're probably wondering why in the world I decided to post about this man's life and thinking that it's not even that big of a deal. But I haven't told you the best part of his story yet. The entire time he was telling me about the tough road he has been on for the last two years, he kept a smile on his face. He would tell me about something bad that happened, but directly after, he would say "But I knew God was with me". When he started telling me about how he came to be with the church and how they had helped him get back on his feet, he kept saying "God is just so good". So, the entire time I'm standing there listening to this man's amazing testimony, I'm thinking about how amazing his faith in God was during it all. After everything that poor man had been through, he never gave up. He kept his eyes on the Lord and had faith that he would be taken care of and that God would provide for him. And that's exactly what He did. God knew what he was doing when Bob's business went under and he lost everything. Bob's life may have been hard for a while and went in the exact opposite direction that he had planned, but the path that God put him on lead him to right where he was meant to be. All the hard times, all the heartbreak, everything that Bob had been through was all part of God's plan and he had faith in His plan the whole time. His faith in God never faltered and that's what got him through it all. He could have very easily given up. He could have turned to drugs and/or alcohol, or even worse, he could have given up completely and tried to end his life. But he didn't. Instead, he trusted to Lord.

 

The point that I'm trying to make is that if more people in the world had the trust and faith in God that Bob has/had, the world wouldn't be in the state that it is in today. If we would stop trying to fix things ourselves and stop going down our own path and just let God take the reins, maybe things wouldn't be so bad. If we would stop letting the devil interfere in our lives and let God come in instead, I know that the world would be a better place. God gave his son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross to save us from our sins and to keep us from spending eternity in a sinner’s hell. The least we can do in return is trust Him. When things get hard, it's easy to lose faith. It's easier to just give up instead of saying "Okay, God. Things are hard but I know you're in control. Just help me to keep my faith strong and to know that you're in control". Easier said than done but once you do, it's worth it. I have been working on strengthen my faith and becoming closer to God and I feel Him working in my life and heart every single day. Things that I use to constantly fret about and try to handle myself, I hardly give them a thought now. I'm not saying that my life is perfect by any means. I'm just saying that since I've given my heart to God and put my full faith in Him, I feel as if a weight has been lifted and that I can conquer the world with Him on my side. Wouldn't it be nice to always have someone on your side all the time? Someone that will never leave you or steer you in the wrong direction? You can. Just trust Him and know that he loves you enough to die for you. He is the best friend we could ever ask for. All you have to do is trust him. If God is for you, who can be against you? Think about it...

 

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

So, today is a bittersweet day for me. Well, more sweet than bitter. Today is Silas' second birthday! Ah! I can't believe my 10 pound, 22.5 inch baby boy is already two years old. It doesn't seem real. Seriously, where does the time go?! It feels like just yesterday that I saw two pink lines pop up on that pee stick! Not to mention going through such a hard time in the beginning, being pregnant in the Okinawa heat and humidity, and enduring nearly 26 hours of labor. It just doesn't seem real that it's already been that long.

We had his birthday party this past Saturday. I invited all of our family and a lot of friends. But the weather was super cold and yucky so the majority of the people (minus family) ended up not coming. Understandable, I guess. I had been planning his party for a few weeks because A) I wanted everything to be perfect and B) I'm an OCD planning freak. The "theme" of his party was all about Silas...just as it should've been. I didn't do a character theme this year like I did last year because the only real characters he is into at this moment is Toy Story and Cars...and I didn't want to do either of those because I'm SO sick of them both. AND themed party supplies are way too expensive!! So I just did lots of bright colors and pictures of Si. It turned out so cute and not to mention, I got all of the party decorations at the Dollar Tree for under $28! Score!!! The day of the actual party was a bit stressful for this OCD momma. I waited till the last minute to order a cake (so not like me, by the way) because I was trying to compare prices and get the best deal. FYI...CostCo has the best prices on cakes and they are absolutely delish! Any who, I went to Knoxville to get the cake. Came home and got ready while Silas napped. Went to Food City to get chips and dip (per Justin's request) and balloons, then headed to the community center to start setting up. And this all took place before 1:00! (Now do you see why I was a bit stressed?!) Thankfully, my Gee Gee (my grandma) met me there to help me so I didn't loose my entire mind! She actually helped me plan the whole thing. She's the bomb! We set up the food. Hung decorations. Hung Silas pictures all over the wall and were ready to party down. Things seemed to be coming together perfectly. Until I realized that it was almost 2:00 and the photographer that I hired (just a local photographer. Nothing professional) hadn't shown up yet when she was supposed to be there at 1:30. She was at Si's party last year taking pictures so that that was one less thing for me to have to do. It worked out great so I asked her to do it again this year. I just thought she was running a bit late...until 30 minutes into the party and she STILL wasn't there. Anyway, long story short, she didn't show, didn't call or anything and I didn't get the pictures that I wanted. Oh well. Thankfully, my Grandmother, who takes awesome pictures, was there to take a few snapshots for me. Other than that little unprofessional incident that I am still pretty ticked off about, his party went off without a hitch. He got lots of goodies and cute summer clothes and got to have all of his favorite people in the same room. It was so heart warming to see so many people come out to share this special time with us and show how much they love Silas. Seeing him run around laughing and smiling made the stress of planning it all worth it.

Even though today is his actual birthday, the date that's on his birth certificate (March 4th), we kind of celebrated yesterday on the 3rd as well. Why you ask? Well, he was born at 4:45 am on March 4th in Japan, which was actually 2:45 pm on March 3rd in Tennessee. So, he technically has two birthdays! Well, not really, but it gives us a reason to celebrate for another day!

Today, his ACTUAL birthday, Justin and I took him to the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga. We left around his nap time so he slept the whole way, about an hour and a half. So, thankfully when we got there, he was in a great mood! We got there and got our tummies full, then spent two hours admiring the "sish". Silas had a blast! We all did! On our way home, Silas fell asleep again so we had another peaceful car ride home. Now, we're laying around watching Cars and playing with his new monster trucks (such a little boy!)...a perfect end to a perfect day!

I sometimes look at Silas in utter disbelief that he is actually mine. We made that. He's ours. Forever and ever. How blessed am I?! Thinking about the past two years and how our lives have changed so drastically, I just sit back and smile because that sweet little blond hair, blue eyed boy sitting in the floor playing is the reason for all the wonderful change that's happened. It just makes me sad how fast the past two years have flown by. I know this may sound like a huge cliche and every parent may say it, but I honestly do not remember what my life was like before Silas...nor do I want to remember. He is my life. He is my world. He is my happiness and strength. He completes me. I think God every single day for blessing me with this amazing, sweet, handsome, sometimes too smart for his own good little boy. God has given me more than I deserve...and sometimes more than I can handle!! Just kidding!! :) I wouldn't change a thing!

To all of my friends reading this that have just had a baby or are about to have a baby, cherish every single second of being pregnant and their babyhood. Sleepless night and getting crapped and spat on may suck now, but trust me, you will miss it one day. Do not take one single baby snuggle for granted because before too long, they won't sit still long enough for you to snuggle them. Enjoy the time you have with them while they are bitty babies, but also look forward to things to come. Having a tiny baby is great, but when they get to the talking running, playing stage, it gets even better. And SO much more fun!! But like I said, don't take a single baby moment for granted and cherish every moment with them as a tiny baby. Because in the words of Darius Rucker, "It wont be like this for long".

Happy Birthday my sweet boy!