faithfulness

i'm sitting in my room right now listening to patty griffin and thinking about what to write. i had to turn the lights off in here so i wouldn't have to look at the mess. beth is my motivator to do anything, and she's gone so i figure that i'll worry about cleaning when she gets home. tim just walked in to give me some tea that dad sent up for me, and on his way out the door he paused to look at beth's new dart board and said, "oh my gosh. beth is so dead. i am so going to beat her at darts." so...maybe we won't be cleaning tonight after all. :)

it's hard to believe the year is almost over. exactly a year ago today the slaughters drove away to virginia. i can't believe they haven't been here for a whole year. maybe that's because i've been up there several times this year, but still... a whole year?
2005 was a year of a lot of heartache and pain for our family, so i was happy to put that year to rest 12 months ago. but 2006 has been a year of healing and starting over and i'm sitting here so thankful for the way the Lord has mended what was broken. as i think back to this day last year and how a certain level of despair hung over me, my family, our church, and our friends, and now to look at where we all are today is incredible. we've seen the Lord work in such amazing ways and bless us in ways that we thought were impossible last year. God has graciously taken away much of the physical pain this year for me, mom, samuel, and others in the family. He has united our church and restored many broken and wounded relationships there. He has given us new friendships and allowed to us meet and get to know some of the extended family. He has strengthened bonds and relationships within my own family, and created new dynamics to those relationships that we had never known. He has seen all of us through many days of change, has been patient with our own stubbornness to accept those changes, and as we watch His hand at work He continually reminds us that His ways are perfect.
one of my struggles throughout the last 2 years has been keeping perspective. it's a hard thing to grasp in the middle of any kind of suffering and it's been difficult for me to raise my head up out of our circumstances and look at the larger picture. i'll never master it, but it helps to think back to last year and know that if we hadn't gone through those long months of uncertainty and brokenness, we wouldn't have been able to really experience the Lord's healing and grace this year. we still have a long road ahead of us and i'm sure we'll be met with difficult situations again, but i hope that when that happens, i'll always remember this year and be reminded of God's great faithfulness.


all the way my Savior leads me, what have i to ask beside?
can i doubt His tender mercies, who through life has been my guide?
heavenly peace, divinest comfort, here by faith in Him to dwell
for i know whate're befall me, Jesus doeth all things well!

all the way my Savior leads me, cheers each winding path i tread.
gives me strength for every trial, feeds me with the Living Bread.
though my weary steps may faulter, and my soul athirst may be,
gushing from a Rock before me, lo, a Spring of joy i see.

all the way my Savior leads me, oh the fullness of His love!
perfect rest to me is promised in my Father's house above.
when my spirit, clothed immortal, wings its flight to realms of day
this my song through endless ages, Jesus lead me all the way.

eve

it's christmas eve and it actually feels like christmas here in south texas. this means that aubrey and i don't want to get out of bed unless we can take our down comforters with us.
we've enjoyed having our cali family out here for the week. lyric and some of her brood came out to spend christmas with us and it's been fun having a crowd in our "empty" house.

this year was the first year that i caught the "last-minute" disease that seems to plague native san antonians every december. i actually did all my christmas shopping on the 22nd and 23rd...and i don't recommend it.
we have stayed busy this month with christmas parties and gatherings and family traditions and driving around looking at christmas lights. mom and us girls went to a christmas tea last week which was wonderful. i think abby had the most fun because it was her first tea party. she got dressed up and aub put some faint makeup on her face and she was in heaven. we probably have pictures somewhere...maybe i'll put them up one of these days. we also had a church advent dinner on friday with traditional tamales and mexican food. we've had some new families join our cozy little church recently and we all had a good time. i don't think i was the only person there who was thanking God that night for our church and how He has blessed us and grown us and carried us through more than a few very rough days. i think this is our third christmas together and i am amazed at how far God has brought us from that first sunday. our little congregation truly is proof of God's great grace and faithfulness.

i have been feeling stable for a few weeks now and am so thankful for the extra energy this month. i've learned how to work every day without having to show up late or leave early, but at the same time i'm so grateful for a boss who understands when i can't work and won't hate me for it the next day. :) the couple i'm working for are getting ready to open a third store on the other side of town (well, my side of town) and want me to manage it. my boss and i went over there to look at it a few days ago and i loved it. the previous owner basically abandoned it and left everything she had. well, everything except the cash. we looked. :) it will probably take me and whoever i can bribe to help me between 8-12 weeks before i can open it. i'm really excited about it and can't wait to get in there and get it running. i will need about 5x the engergy and strength than i have right now, but i know that God will give it to me when i need it.

alot of friends have come back into town for christmas so beth and shelley and i have been spending alot of time with our friends who ditched us for college. (wait, did i say that?) we miss the virginia people so much and i especially missed them tonight while we were doing the big family christmas. it just wasn't the same. and i can't write anymore about it because i can barely see the screen right now!

well, i should close this and get to bed. i hope all of you have a fabulous christmas tomorrow and pray that we all give thanks to the Father who has blessed us far beyond what we deserve.

the goose is getting fat

**edit** the family blog is fine. it's the same as ever, www.familygrandstand.blogspot.com

ok kids, i think i've finally settled my blog down. wordpress wasn't for me so i'm back on blogger.

i don't have much to write because i'm in the middle of cleaning our house for christmas company. ok wait, that's a lie. i'm thinking about starting to clean upstairs. and even though all the kids ditched me to go carolling, i think i'll clean anyway. i'm sure lyric and her kids will greatly appreciate nathan's bathroom being clean when they come. :)

here's a funny picture to start the blog. it's one of those "don't ask" pictures...

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there are so many fun things you can do with blogger now. sweet.