I am sitting here and a storm is approaching. There are warnings on the TV and the different colors on the radar displaying the varying sides of this storm. Sometimes I feel like this is our life. We are having a wonderful day when all of the sudden up pops a storm; only in life there is often no radar for us to forsee how bad the winds and damage will be. In the midst of these storms it is easy to get nervous, scared, and want to hide or turn to comforts of this world to save us; it is easy to forget God in the midst of the storm. Once the storm passes though and there are only blue skies in the forecast it is easy to remember, "There is a God." Once we come out of our house and assess the damage we look to the skies for help to guide us through rebuilding. And of course God does just that. Sometimes after a storm in my life I look back and while I was scared, emotional, and upset, God was with and working it for his good.

Usually when I go through a storm I seek comfort in the wrong places and sometimes I even revert back to my past behaviors. These are "comfortable." However, once in awhile when a storm passes and I decide to dig my heals in and trust in God through it all it is very rewarding to look back and see how my faith was stretched, my hope was expanded, and my trust was renewed.

The last time I wrote we had a placement of four in our home. Although we always knew it would be a temporary situation, it did not make it any easier when the four went home last Wednesday after being with us for five weeks. A lot can happen in five weeks. Five weeks did not previously seem like a very substantial amount of time to me before, but it really is. It is enough time to develop a bond. So of course we were very sad to see the children go. It was hard to handle to go from 2 to 6, but even harder to go back from 6 to 2. While I love my husband and the time we have had to develop a great relationship, and he is my best friend, when you take care of someone day in and day out it is impossible not to grow attached. Our house is quiet. There is no Cody farting and making us laugh. There is no Kaylee asking me to paint her nails and brush her hair. There is no Ian trying to make us laugh. And there is no Alia crying and wanting to cuddle. I was sad to see them go. But Kaylee told me she was going to ask her grandma to take her to church and the last thing I did with the kids on the way to take them home was to sing "Jesus Loves Me," with them chiming in with every word.

And now Shawn and I are working on staying on track with the Lord. We are going to take this time alone again to reflect on what we have learned, and to get back involved in our foundation, and church. Sometimes the quiet after the storm is a good time to do these things.

And so it is interesting to look back over the last year full of storms, good ones and bad ones, as a storm being anything disruptive in life, sometimes needed like the rain is essential to the growing of crops. Through each storm we have reacted differently- sometimes seeking God and sometimes not. However, from this point looking back I can see a definite plan being worked out that got us to this point. God has brought us from point A to point B, and in His way. Now I can see the times when I have been upset and lost, and thought there way no way this was going to work------it did. It is cool to see how He has, and will, work out everything for the best way to form our family!

I feel peace and I am excited about the future.

We had a fun weekend :)

My cousin and her husband came this past weekend to visit. They got here last Friday night very late....or very early Saturday moning depending on how you look at it. On Saturday my wonderful cousin bought the kids water guns and a large water fight ensued. Shawn had been sleeping and we woke him up with a spray in the face. After that is was on. We turned on the sprinkler and had a fun time with water guns. Then later that night we packed everyone up----kids clad in their PJ's and we went to our local drive-in theater. We watched Shrek 4 and then while the kids where sleeping we watched Robin Hood.

On Sunday we went to church and then came home and relaxed. The guys grilled out for us and cut up the veggies (thanks Mark) and got out the chips. After a filling lunch we relaxed. Then my cousin and I took two of the kiddos plus the baby for a walk while Mark and Shawn took the youngest fishing. They had a fun time!

My cousin left early Monday morning and then we went car shopping----we had been doing that for the past five days to no avail. After a lot of searching and dinner at McDonalds....and five days from when we started we finally found a car which we LOVED! We ended up buying a NEW Ford Flex with only 54 miles on it, and it was within our price range. So now we have a new car that we love instead of our van which we were upside down in!

It was a fun weekend :)