Romans 15:13 (New International Version, ©2010)
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
It was only fitting this week that the day of grandpa's funeral my devotions were on "hope." It talked about how people think hope is "wishful thinking." " Nothing could be further from the truth. This hope keeps you spiritually alive during dark times of adversity: it brightens your path and heightens your awareness of My Presence. My desire is that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." (Jesus Calling devotional)
Obviously we are all sad grandpa is no longer with us here, but what an amazing reunion he is having. We have hope that we will again be with Him. I am even amazed at the hope our children have. The way they pray, grieve but always turn to our eternal hope that this is our temporary home. I take it for granted that this is how I grew up. I was given the gift of hope at an early age, and I am attempting to give my children the same gift. However there are so many people out there that don't have the peace and hope this Christmas. I've seen some of this 1st hand, and it's SOOO unsettling to me. I feel like I've been in my little bubble (which I have been) and haven't seen the others hurting and not even being aware of the peace and hope of Jesus. That gives me a goal. Something to strive for this Christmas. I am so blessed that I was given the BEST gift, I pray I can pass it on. HOPE!!

I pray everyone has a blessed Christmas week. It's so easy to get caught up in the busyness and schedule. We have to remember we are in charge of our schedule. We make it! If it's too much, change it! Focus on Him :)

Surreal

Well, we did it! Miss Brooke got better, we met with the MD's and then we left for Florida. It was ok to leave. The girls did good and it was fun to relax. The weather was 60's to 70's, which is perfect for Steve and I am good with that. The highlight of the trip was going fishing and going to eat at the Crab Shack! I LOVE crab but it's not something we get out to eat. So Steve took me out and I was on cloud nine!! I savored every bite. Then we took a boat about 15 miles out and went fishing. There were 17 people on the boat. It was unreal how many fish we caught. The minute we put the fishing pole down the fish were biting. Steve ended up getting the biggest fish on the boat, a 20 3/4 " grouper. We were all a little sad because that meant he got the $ pool, but at least we got to eat the prize and it was YUMMY. We got back today and it is WONDERFUL to be back and hug the girls. We missed them SOOO much. I realized so many things. 1st.......I am spoiled. I have been told this for years (from my husband, and I have not denied it :) but he is spoiled too. My parents moved into our house and took care of 5 kids for 7 days. Drove them all over, cooked, cleaned, went to concerts, loved them and tucked them in every night. Steve and I got to go to their condo in Florida with friends, hang out and have fun. We came home and I cried when I saw the girls. I missed them so much!! When my mom and dad left the girls hugged them and clung to them and my mom cried. They are SOOO loved, spoiled and BLESSED! That was the other reminder I had this week. How blessed we are! I was excited to go away but I can't say we needed to go away. We are so blessed with our life and God has brought us down such an amazing path. By being able to go away, I was reminded how richly God has blessed us with 5 amazing kids that are full of love, by jobs that we love and work well with our family, by family that work with us and care for us and that God brought us together so young that we get to be on this journey together, hopefully for a long time. I can't imagine walking this path without each other.

Steve's big grouper! Look at his friends behind him. jealousy :)

My blow fish! What a funny fish.
With all that said, we are all rejuvenated, even the kids. Grandpa and Grandma will recover this week (just kidding, they looked good) and we are excited to get back into our routine. Unfortunately Steve's grandpa passed away on Friday. The girls were so sad when we told them today. Grandma passed away 3 months ago, so they are together. We have hope, we believe and we know they are in Heaven together. God Bless you Grandpa! Thank you for all the smiles, love and hugs.

Grandpa and Grandma Together! Love you Both!!!!