She Was Watchin'

I got the Mark Schultz "Broken and Beautiful" music book today and have been playing those songs. I had forgotten about this song and cried all over again when I listened to it today!

Mark Schultz "She Was Watchin"

(turn off the music on the right hand column of the page so you can hear the song!)

Here's a poem I wrote in response to this song.... (Dad, i hope you don't mind that I posted this.... :) I'll take it off if you want me to! You were already asleep when I wrote it!)

Walkin' With You

Walkin' with you
hand in hand
Your strong fingers in mine
Form an unbreakable band

Your lap is still
the perfect place to sit
I'm all done growing now
So I think I'll always fit

I'll always be your little girl
Your princess, little bear.
You always do what's best for me,
showing me loving care.

Someday, daddy,
when I look for my prince,
I'll be thinking of you,
Thankful for your significance.

Walkin' with you
hand in hand
You will give me away
To some wonderful man

When you hand me off
I hope you'll be proud
Proud of who I am
Proud of me as I take that vow.

Thanks for being you,
A Godly man, husband, father.
Thanks for loving me,
and growing me further.

I love you Dad!!!

Molly

Sweet Book

For all of you ladies who love stories of purity, and saving your first kiss for marriage, I found this sweet book the other day and I recommend it! It's actually a children's book but I found that even so, it sums up my heart!!!

It's called "The Princess and the Kiss" by Jennie Bishop. Here's the summary:

"A loving king and queen present their daughter with a gift from God, her first kiss, to keep or to give away. The wise girl waits for the man who is worthy of her precious gift. Where is he and how will she ever find him? The surprising answer in this marvelous parable will touch the heart of parent and child alike."

It was just really sweet and I plan on keeping it on my bookshelf and giving it to my little girl someday. Meanwhile, I'm sure I will pull it out once in awhile to remind myself of this treasure, because i still have several years still of guarding my "precious gift."

Christmas Pics!!

I hope all of you had a wonderful, relaxing Christmas day! I have so many pictures I have no idea how I'm going to decide which ones to post!!!!

We had a great Christmas day. I woke up before everybody else for some reason so I got up and decided to curl my hair and style it in an up-do- just for fun, since I never take the time to do anything more than straighten it!! After everyone had woken up we had a great breakfast of coffeecake and casserole and proceeded to open stockings:

Then, we opened eachother's presents! Mom with the quilt that I made her!!! :)

My new car stereo!

Tonight, we had our big Christmas dinner with the fam!

Merry Christmas 2008!!

It is Christmas Eve again! We're snuggled up in our family room watching "Miracle on 34th Street" eating popcorn and Christmas cookies, our annual tradition.

I want to wish each and every one of you, whether I've met you or not, a blessed Christmas! May you bask in the greatness of God's PERFECT and BEAUTIFUL gift of sweet baby Jesus.

We had our annual Christmas Eve service. As usual, I jumped around the sanctuary from the choir to the piano to the choir to the keyboard to the piano and back again lol!! These services keep us musicians bouncing around! We LOVE them but breathe a sigh of relief when the last chord is played. The music was beautiful and it was a delight to hear our amazing choir. It has grown so much in the past year and it's amazing to see how much talent God has given our church!

Our annual Christmas eve picture:

Merry Christmas!!

My Sweet Sweet Brother

My brother Noah is so sweet. A couple of months ago he wrote that note on the hood of my car in the dew. Today, my brothers and I were outside for over an hour scraping all of the ice off of our driveway. I was working at the top and didn't realize Noah had a project going on down at the base of the driveway. He'd carved me a message in the ice!!! Take a look:

Noah, you are going to make a GREAT husband to some lucky girl someday!! You are so sweet and thoughtful and I know you will treat your wife with the same love and care that you do me. You go out of your way to make me feel beautiful, valued, and loved. Thank you!!

A Question....

I know that alot of my readers are passionate about orphans and adoption. I have a question for y'all. There are some days when the burden of the orphans is consuming. Sometimes I miss Claudia and the other kids so much that I just start crying. My sorrow for them and the desperation that I have to help them overwhelms me. Do any of you ever feel this way?? I am so thankful for the Word, for it gives me hope in knowing that God is their Father, and that He doesn't even let the sparrow out of His sight, much less a precious child of His! Yet even that does not completely take away this feeling!! And I suppose it can't/shouldn't. If God put this fire in our hearts then it won't be easily burnt out! Anyway... just seeing what you all have experienced. Let's get a conversation goin! :)

The fam's here!!

Our aunt and uncle from New York arrived on Monday night! We're thankful they're not one of those people that are still sitting in the airport waiting to fly out!

We went out for breakfast with them yesterday (Jay hadn't gotten there yet. Sorry Uncle Jay!)

Lots more pics to come from tommorow's Christmas celebrations! :)

The Ice Took Over

We had a big ice storm on Thursday night and..... the ice took over. We lost 4 HUGE branches in our yard. We were totally fine all Friday morning but then at 12 we lost the 4th branch. It came crashing down, twisted the power line, and brought down the power box with it. How kind. So we just got power back this morning!!

I saw again a beautiful display of the body of Christ when we were immediately invited to spend the night at our friend's house. I feel so blessed and loved. People were so eager to take care of us and make sure we were comfortable. When I came home I just felt like sitting down and crying. When I walked into the house and could flip on lights again, feel the heat coming out of the vents, check my email, I realized just how incredibly blessed we are. It was such a good reminder to be thankful, that not everyone has life so easy. It's overwhelming. But I know that because of the past 24 hours, my Christmas week will be full of more thoughts of appreciation and thankfulness.

here's some pics from the weekend!

My Christmas Girl

Here's some new pics of my Christmas girl:

It is with a smile on my face and tears in my eyes that I post these. How crazy is that??!! It's so bittersweet. My heart leaps when that monthly email comes, yet it breaks when I see her beautiful face smiling at me. She's so beautiful and just takes my breath away. It's so sad to see her baby fat gone from her face and that "little girl" look blossoming. Mothers are always saddened when they see their "babies" becoming big kids but it is even sadder when you know these kids aren't with their families- they are growing up 1000's of miles away. And.... this is a really depressing post lol. So I'm going to stop!

Catch Up!

Whew it's been a long time since I've blogged!! I have been incredibly busy the past week and feel like I am just now getting to catch my breath!!

Here's some pics from the past week:

Holding newborn Ella Kate- a HUGE treat!! I LOVED holding this sweet baby!

The two cuties I babysat tonight.

Our annual gingerbread house! :)

A Wow Moment

Have you ever had one of those moments when you kind of sit back for a second and realize all that your life is??? Whenever I do have those realization moments that my life is SO incomprehensibly blessed, I have a loving family, I'm living in a country of plenty, my heart just towards thankfulness. I am moved to tears in those moments when I realize my sheer selfishness, my ungrateful heart toward the Father who has given me EVERYTHING!!! He has not left me needy and His love is more than I could ever ask for. Have you stopped recently to take in all that God has done in YOUR life??

I will remember the deeds of the LORD;
yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.
I will meditate on all your works
and consider all your mighty deeds.
Your ways, O God, are holy.
What god is so great as our God?
Psalm 77:11-13

Thankful Thursday

It's time for another Thankful Thursday!! You might groan but I like thankful Thursdays!! :)

So here we go!

1. I have spent more time on the piano in the past 2 days than I've spent playing this past month. I decided tonight that the best way to describe it is that I've fallen in love with the piano again. I was slowly losing my motivation, but praise God I am not feeling that anymore. I was even practicing some potential songs tonight that I could sing and play for offertory maybe... if I don't chicken out.

2. I'm almost done with my first Spanish college class (yaay!) and i've completed 31% of my Chemistry course. I am counting down the days until that class is over with. That will be the lowpoint of my school year lol!!! I really dislike that subject. But the school year is going by fast and for that I am thankful!!

3. I am too tired to do anymore lol!!!

At Home

For the first time since we've moved, I finally felt like this was home. Why?? We got a piano!!! A REAL piano!! I've been playing on my keyboard for past year and a half since we've moved and I was fine. But it truly isn't the same as a real piano. So today the piano was delivered. I got home from work and played a couple of chords but was in a hurry so I didn't really take in all that had been given to me in this gift. After I finished my homework tonight, I sat down with my worship music and i felt at home. My hands glided across the keys (not plastic keys!!) as the beautiful songs of praise flowed from this instrument into our home. It was a sweet time of worship for me and I feel so thankful and humbled right now. Music is such a beautiful reflection of our Creator. As the harmonies flow I just think of our lives and how perfect God blends everything together.

I want to thank Mom for the time she spent lining up delivery services and tuning. Thank you SOOOO MUCH to the family who used to own this piano! You have no idea how thankful I am.

And... though you never thought you'd hear this.. drum roll please..

Mom and Dad,

thank you for pushing me on in piano. What a gift it has been to be able to play and serve at church with it. Thank you for encouraging me in those tough spots that I went through and wanted to quit.

Blessings,
Molly