I have written a post on our foster blog, Love Each Child, in honor of our daughter’s birthday—She is 2 today!!

We are thrilled to be able to spend this day, the day of her birth, with her. Two years ago we did not even know she existed–2 years ago we were starting our homeschooling journey–2 years ago we celebrated Steve’s adoption of my son–2 years ago we celebrated our 2nd anniversary in Galax, VA, spending two years hoping for a biological child and then being led a year later to the idea of foster care. Wow, what can happen in a few years’ time!!

I hope you will go check out our latest post—we are in definite party mode!!

I posted a few weeks ago about the photography class that I am taking online, Through the Lens: Digital Photography 101.

The first assignment was a challenging one—reading the camera manual. I am definitely a “learn by doing” type of person, so reading directions and then attempting to follow those directions isn’t exactly my chosen learning style. But, I have to say, I am glad that I did this assignment. I did learn much about my camera that I was not aware of and this helped me to approach my picture taking with a little more thought, instead of just setting it on Auto and then attempting to “point and shoot”.

The next part of this assignment was to take pictures. Anything that interests me. hmmmm. I take pictures of my family all the time… I love taking pictures of my family. I also have been wanting to take better pictures of the jewelry that I design. So, I am going to focus on photos of my jewelry (maybe I can learn a few things about placement, lighting, etc.)  And I’ll probably post pictures of my family as well–just because it makes me smile

So, here are a few photos of a pair of earrings that I designed ( I changed the background and positioning):

The next photos are of my family from various events this summer:

Let me know what you think about the photos–especially the photos of the jewelry–hopefully by the end of this online class, you will see a noticeable difference!

Today is a special day. It is a day to celebrate another year of marriage to my wonderful husband–four years, in fact.

Our story is one of God’s grace and love. Steve and I have been through much in our early adult lives, but through God’s eyes, He was able to see through what the world would describe as unworthy and clear the way for our paths to cross. Through His grace, we were able to connect and we immediately began seeing the hand of God on our lives together. Many would question whether God could bless our life together, based on our past experiences, but we chose to listen to God’s voice instead of the voice of fear. And we have been blessed because of it…

We are amazed every day at God’s provision for our lives—not just material things, the things that money can’t buy, the things that matter most to us and touch the very core of who we are.

So, today, I express my love for my husband, the one chosen by God to complete the rest of my life on this earth. And I express my love and endless gratitude to God, for taking one so unworthy, yet seeing what could be accomplished in these two lives together.

It is truly a honor to be living this life with you, Steve.

All my love,

Well, here I am, once again, beginning a new journey. It feels good, but somehow not quite complete. It is only in the beginning stages, literally hours, but still a little surreal.

I ended my time working as a teacher in the school system today. It was a decision that has been in process for several years now. When we decided that public school wasn’t working out too well for our son and we decided to homeschool him, I began thinking of changing my path as well. So, two years later, I am at that “jumping off” point. I know it is what I am to do, for myself and my family and most importantly, it is what the Holy Spirit has led me to do. The feelings that I am having at the moment are a little like I am walking away from my identity as a “teacher of children with special needs” and walking toward completely embracing my identity as a “follower of Christ”.

I think the natural feelings I am having right now are just that, “natural”. They will pass soon and the picture of who I am and who I am going to be will begin to look much clearer to me. My family needs me—all of me. And I need to be completely surrendered to my Father, who has many wonderful things planned for me and for my family.

There is freedom in following the leading of the Holy Spirit. There are also unknown experiences awaiting. I like that….I like knowing I can totally trust my Father with EVERYTHING in my life and know, have confidence and be assured in his love for me.

I already see things a little clearer by simply writing these words…

Hey, everyone. Steve here abusing my administrative login to Christy’s blog to say:

Happy birthday, sweetheart!!

I love you so much, and am so glad that we are on this journey of life together. I hope your day is at least half as special as you are to me.

Your adoring husband,

steve

Just a word to let you know the current standing with our foster/adoption journey. Thank you to those who have been praying for us through this adventure. It isn’t quite over yet, but we are so very close to our dreams becoming a reality!

http://www.loveeachchild.com/2008/02/18/a-breath-of-fresh-air/

“Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed and overflowing with gratitude” Colossians 2:6-7

As I am reflecting on this day of Thanksgiving that was spent with family and an overabundance of food and fellowship, my mind has drifted toward all that I am thankful to experience in my life.

I have a beautiful family.

I am blessed with all that I need.

Each day I am encouraged by at least one person.

I have a desire to love those around me.

And I am loved by those around me.

I have a very talented son.

I am surrounded by the beauty of the Father’s presence every day.

I have the most incredible husband.

I pray that your Thanksgiving Day has been an encouragement and a blessing to you. As you reflect on your day, may your focus be on the Giver of life and may you be thankful for all the great things He has so freely given you.

In Gratitude,

If you would like to find out what we have doing lately, go read this… and then read this.

Life in Christ is so good!

I feel like I have really neglected this blog. It’s not intentional… I don’t have any reservations about writing, no desire to take a break from it…..it has just turned out to be on the lower end of my list. I also have other blogs that have been gathering dust as well. Our family blog, my homeschool blog, our foster adoption blog….all are being neglected at this point in time. It also is not that I don’t have multiple thoughts running through my head at any given time… they just end up being either thoughts that stay in my head or thoughts that I share with the person closest to me…and that is where it ends. So, if for some reason you have been waiting for me to share my thoughts, I am sorry the posts have been sporadic. I also thought I would share what is taking my attention at the moment:

In August, Steve and I made the decision that I would return to work half-time. I had taken a year off from my teaching job in the school system, so that we could homeschool our son. I had a desire to be with our son at home and a desire to use the skills and talents that I have acquired over the years with other children as well. So, going back into the school system half time seemed to be able to fill that desire. I could work in the morning (while Steve is teaching a few subjects to our son) and I would return after noon to complete the remaining subjects (when Steve started his day at ASU). Sounded great in theory, but it has actually been a hard schedule to accomplish. We’re doing it, but we are also exhausted. I had forgotten how much of your life is invested in the people you spend time trying to help. A half time teaching job doesn’t really exist. It does on paper, but in reality, I have brought work home with me many nights since August.

The other aspect of this schedule is that we don’t want our son to get shorthanded. We want him to be fulfilled and know that he is important. So, with this schedule, we make sure that we are spending time together. We’re taking a pottery class together and spending weekends as a family going on trips…it seems like we are always going somewhere!

So, this should explain my absence here on the blog. It is not wanted but it is needed at the present time. I am sure that life will begin to balance out soon for us as we adjust to new schedules and possible changes in our lives. I may have time to blog and yet I may not….and for now that is the reality of my live right now.

In all this we know that God’s love for us is real. He is showing us new opportunities and is blessing us all the time! I will look forward to sharing all that He is doing in our lives very soon. We continue to look for opportunities to love and bless others as we have been blessed by God. Sometimes it is a hard task, but looking for those moments of sharing the love of God with others is really what drives our thoughts and actions.

I really would like to continue writing about life in Christ from an artistic standpoint. I am reminded every day of the creativity of God. Hopefully, you will be reading a post about this soon!

Be blessed in your walk with Him,

I was reading an article this evening that disturbed me. It is written about a church in PA that has created a Sunday school class specifically for special-needs children. At first glance, this doesn’t seem like a bad idea. In fact, you may see the idea as one that takes into consideration the needs of others. Give the child something they can do while mom and dad are able to worship without interruption. A few quotes from the article state:

“We have been finding that more and more families who have such a special child are not attending church because most churches do not have a program for them to attend”

Hmmm…

“Parents find themselves spending more time trying to redirect behavior,” “They are not really getting anything out of their weekly visit to church.”

To me this seems to be a problem of structure, not the child’s behavior. Why are we taking a child with special needs out of a situation that potentially would make us uncomfortable? And why did a whole different class need to be created for them? Were they not welcome in the typical Sunday School class? Why do parents of special needs children feel they cannot gather with believers?

Maybe the answers to these questions would be best left to the individual to decide. And honestly, this issue hits a bit close to home for me, as my child was asked to leave a Sunday School class because his behavior did not fit what was acceptable in the class. This left me feeling like the one place that I thought my child would be accepted was not a realistic desire on my part.

My thoughts are these: Give the child the love and compassion of Christ. Help him or her to feel accepted as a worthy member of the body of believers. If you have to change the structure, then do it. But don’t make the child feel that they are not welcome by separating them from their peers and the rest of the body. There is so much that a child with special needs can offer the church as a whole. They can encourage us to grow in ways that were not possible before. Don’t deny them or yourself the joy and the privilege of what God can do through them.

Read the article and let me know what you think……

Matthew 19:13-14