snapshots

 We love to have the music cranked...

 

 Our arms around each other... holding each other close...

 while dancing to the music... (Levi is a great dancer by the way... he loves it!!!  It is hilarious!)

Those sweet special moments... 

 between brothers and sisters...

are snapshots I try to sear into my heart....

 

If I am honest, which I like to be:)... the snapshots aren't always nearly as sweet at the above captured on film.  Our kids are just like most others... they bicker, get on each others nerves at times... but love each other like crazy too...

 

Our home is almost always messy... piles of laundry can usually be found clean but waiting to be folded... messy counter tops laden with snacks and crumbs... I do not pretend to have it all together or to have the perfect children, family, or life... That just isn't reality...

 

But what is reality and what I treasure continually in my heart is how far the Lord has brought us... only by His grace...

 

I remember dark dark days... lonely days filled with so many tears I thought my eyes would be permanently damaged, and my heart would be unrepairable...

 

But God was so faithful to lift me out of the mud and mire and give me a firm place to stand... He put a new song in my heart, a hymn of praise to our God!!!  Psalm 40:2 

 

I am so thankful that He has restored my joy... Honestly, it is miraculous to me...

Do I still have sad moments... for sure...

Do I still miss my son... absolutely...

 

But the Lord has done great healing and continues to... and amidst that healing He chose to do beautiful things and bless us in ways I could not have imagined...

 

I love the snapshots He gives me into the past, where my heart has been... and into the future... where our hearts  are going... 

FAITHFUL GOD!