Strong Enough

If you haven't heard the Matthew West Song "Strong Enough", you should go here and give it a listen. I have it on my ITunes and listen to it daily! The basis of the song is that we don't have to be strong in hard situations. We serve an amazing God who is strong enough for all of us. All it takes is our faith in him that he can carry us through tough situations in life. We have to learn to rely on him and not our own strength. How simple does that sound?? And yet sometimes it is so hard...

This past weekend we said "Farewell for now" to my Grandma. (Not goodbye, bc we know that we will meet again in Heaven!) The funeral was a great tribute to her life. The grandsons read memories from family members and there was a nice slideshow at the end.
The funeral home said it was the largest funeral that had been held there. What a great testimony to the many lives she touched! I never do well at funerals and just have a hard time with the whole "grieving" process; but somehow by the end, I was okay... I had literally prayed all week that God would give me a peace and be "strong enough" for me during what I knew would be a hard day. He is true to his promises :)

Rest in Peace Sweet Grandma! We will meet again!

"Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled"

As I mentioned in my last post, Stephen and his family made an unplanned trip down here for the 4th of July. Their reason was to see my sweet Grandma. About a month ago, she was diagnosied with cancer. Not just any cancer, but stage 4 cancer than originated in her bladder and has spread to other places. It has all happened so fast... She has gone down hill drastically and Hospice has said "She is on the last leg of her journey". A month ago, I could have never imagined this. Yes, she is 82, but she has always had fairly good health and I just never pictured it happening this way. You see this isn't the first relative we have lost to a battle with cancer. My mom's brother also passed away from cancer. It is brutal and not anything you ever want anyone to go through. While I am trying to find a peace in my heart, I am struggling with why it had to happen like this.... I know God has reasons beyond my understanding and will give my Grandma and our family the strength we need to get through this. My Grandmas is a strong, Christian woman. She has raised 4 kids, has 8 grandkids and 8 great grand kids. She has lived a full life and will always remain a role model to me.
Forgive my ramblings, but I wanted to write something and wasn't sure how to put it. I haven't really said much to many people because talking about it makes it seem more real. (I know, I'm a counselor and I realize that keeping everything inside isn't the most healthy way to deal with things!) Continue to keep our family in your prayers.

"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. " John 14:27

God Bless the USA!

4th of July Weekend always has a way of ending up to be one of my favorite events of the summer. This year was no exception! Stephen and family ended up coming down for the long weekend and although I don't like the circumstances that brought them here (I'll explain that in another post), we so enjoyed having them here. It gave us a great chance to visit with family and let the kids spend plenty of time playing together.

4th of July also gives a great excuse to eat way too much!



Cuties in their matching flag shirts
(and yes that's a bow on my SON's head, he kept wanting to put it on!)

Not sure what they're looking at....

Dinner with cousin Dane

Playing in the "rain"

Slip and Slide time!

Yummy Popsicles

I kinda like to make red, white and blue desserts ;)

Our great friends/neighbors at the fireworks put on by our church.