Wedding Week!

 Whew! What a fun, busy time getting ready for a beach trip with my sweet kiddos AND a wedding! We are finally here on the (not so anymore) "forgotten coast" in Florida enjoying God's amazing creation with my immediate family and as the days go by more of my family and friends are arriving for our big day at the end of this week. I can feel God showering us with blessings and it increases each day as the Day approaches. I didn't know if I would be a mixture of emotions: cheerful, sad, bittersweet, excited, etc, but I am truly just plain old happy.

Seeing the kids play in the sand after dark just as we arrived and hearing Caroline yelling "This is the best night EVER!" over and over, to Thomas yelling "GOOK, GOOK!" ("look") at planes and seagulls flying over our heads today, and seeing Jett and Thomas bonding (and fighting, especially over their "choo-choos") as close cousins do...oh, and the water is so beautiful. A lady walking on the beach stopped just to tell me that she was here a few months ago and it was so dark from seaweed and she was amazed at the water. She ended by saying "it's such a blessing." It was like God saying, "Here you go, another blessing."

 When I think back to how God had told Becky this was going to happen for Tyler and I, even before I even barely knew who Tyler was, amazes me. I am asking for prayers from everyone this week as many of my family and friends are traveling and also that we would have a wedding that is glorifying to God.

 Our ladies bible study has been studying prayer this summer and I've known first hand prayer works, but I'm starting to understand a little about how it works, and how powerful and necessary it is. I pray with a new intensity and fervor that deepens my relationship with God and it also let's me be at peace in a way that eluded me for some time.

 I have learned that nothing turns out the way we think it will, or how we think it should, be it life or a vacation with toddlers. I am learning to not only accept what is happening and live in the moment, but to find joy in it. Even if it isn't how I planned on it happening.

Family, friends and blog readers I've never even met, thank you for traveling this road with me and please take a moment to realize your prayers have worked in ways that exceeded my expectations. As I write about all the good things happening right now, I am aware several of my friends are going through difficult times in their lives and I am praying for them as they have prayed for me. I have such hope now for people going through hard times, since I'm living proof that God can create beauty from ashes.

I am not naiive and I know there is no quota to sadness or grief one can experience in life, but I have learned to relish the good times and accept the blessings whole heartedly. I am happy today and I know that God is the same God of yesterday, today and tomorrow, no matter what it holds.