Still here . . .

I haven't posted in awhile because we have been BUSY! We celebrated 2 birthdays--Katria and Jonas, went on vacation "up north" for a week, and have been busy PACKING! Yes, we bought a house! Finally. That is a great story of God's grace and working in our hearts and I will have to share it . . . when I have time *sigh*. :) AND, we have a family who is going to rent our house in NC, with plans to buy it in 2 years. God worked all of that out simultaneously, but our buying a house was not dependent on renting ours in NC! We are moving Labor Day weekend and so I have lots to do!

I wanted to share a link that a friend sent to me. It was encouraging, and may be for you also--or it may be thought-provoking, or it may make you angry, or you may think I am crazy! LOL! God has worked in our hearts in a similar way to this family. Although we came to this conviction years ago, I find that I still have to choose to trust God in planning our family size. It isn't easy. Large families may make it look easy, but it isn't. This conviction isn't something that I always feel joyful about. I have to pray and pray and lay down my life again and again and then pray some more! It isn't that I am fulfilling a life-long dream to have a large family, or that I have it all figured out, or that I am better at this mothering thing than others. Not at all! Honestly, I am just like you. (There is a great book on this topic called "A Mom Just Like You" that is a great read.) And I struggle with this conviction often--I guess wrestle with it would be a better word. I don't struggle with believing it is right, I struggle with the desire to live it out. I get tired, I become afraid, I get overwhelmed, but in the end I know it is right. My conviction has been tested recently because of Truman. I will (soon!) have to share his story with you as part 7 in the series I posted on "Sleep Training". My little guy has not fit into my plan of how I wanted to parent him at all. That has been a challenge and I have learned a lot over the past several months. Honestly, my pride has taken the biggest hit because I viewed myself as a certain type of mom who did things a certain way. I have had to learn (again!) that my identity has to be found in Christ alone and cannot be defined as a homeschooling, attachment parenting, breastfeeding or natural momma. These things may be true of me, but they must not define me! God has stripped these things away from me and I have learned again that He must be my identity. But man does it hurt to be pruned!

Here is the link to that blog. Happy reading!

In Christ, Laura