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Sunday, November 23, 2008

This is what makes it all worth it...

Believe it or not (ha ha ha), sometimes I get tired, frustrated, anxious, disappointed, and just plain ol' burn-out. It is moments like these that make every difficult moment fall to the way side. It is times like these when all I can say is thank you Jesus! I thank God for how He lifts me up! I am so grateful for how He makes me fit his plans, even in my weakness.

Seeing Jamie smile as he played a game all by himself (he is always having to share).
I love you letters from Angel and TT.
Happy Thanksgiving card from my father-in-law.
Nathan smiling at me as he tells me he is going to "fix" some things around the house.
This Wednesday, after months of serving the kids at The Linc, two kids that I have always referred to as the "difficult kids" in my mind, won my heart. I can remember the very moment that I looked at them and thought, "Wow, you guys really are just sweet kids". It almost brought me to tears, thinking that I had NEVER seen them in this light prior to Wednesday. Thank God for how He showed me the hearts of those boys. From now on, I will always look at them differently. On Friday, I had a date with Nathan. Oh how we laughed together that night. We had SO much FUN. I am so thankful that we can laugh together! On Saturday, DJ and Jamie stayed the night with us again. They were SO good. Oh how I enjoyed tucking them in and telling them how much we love them. On Sunday, I held TT (a 5 year old girl) tightly in my arms at church. We have spent time with her and the rest of her brothers and sisters (DJ and Jamie are 2 of her brothers) for many months. She is so cute :)! Her family is going through a very rough time and I know it is very hard on her. Oh how I loved holding her tight and singing to her while my husband held my hand and rapped his other arm around sweet DJ. Thank God for placing them in our lives! Thank God for giving me a supportive husband who loves these children! This afternoon, we ate dinner at Nathan's parents house and his dad gave us all Happy Thanksgiving cards. His dad doesn't say much, so when he speaks, I listen. Oh how thankful I was when I read these words, "Nashville was from God". Tonight I talked with my mom for over an hour. She just learned how to send pictures over the internet. It was so much fun seeing pictures of her house and talking with her. It almost made me feel like I was there with her. Oh how thankful I am for the happiness I heard in her voice tonight!


We all have our good days and our bad days. While I think that staying in a state of contentment, thankfulness, and joyfullness is what makes the bad days not seem so bad, it still feels so good to have these simple reminders that make every tough moment completely worth it!

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Fun Times with the Kids


Halloween at The Linc!





This past weekend we had the pleasure of having two of the Kids from church and the Linc, DJ and Jamie, stay with us. Friday was Jamie's birthday so we had a party at Chuckee Cheese with 5 of his brothers and sisters (he has a total of 9) and some friends from church. We had a blast! The kids played for hours! Saturday morning I came outside after cleaning up breakfast and found Nathan and the boys having scooter races on Jamie's new scooter (thanks Brent!). Needless to say, they talked me into racing and I lost miserably (as you can see in the third picture). Nate also built a bat out of an empty wrapping paper roll and duck tape and we played ball for almost 2 hours! It was such a fun weekend!


Jamie and DJ are currently living with Thor(one of our friends from church) along with 4 of their other siblings! Please pray for them this week! Thor is a single 30 year old Icelandic man who has never raised children. They are experiencing A LOT of challenges right now, but we know that God will provide for the kids and for Thor! We thank God for placing these kids in our lives. They remind me to be thankful each and every day! I hope you have to chance to meet them one day.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Welcome to Our World, Beautiful Arden Leigh

Nate, Arden, and proud father Geoff.
The happy VanZoeren family!


Arden Leigh! Precious Child of God!

I just couldn't resist showing you pictures of our good friends Geoff and Melinda and their beautiful baby girl, Arden Leigh. She arrived yesterday evening. Isn't she just gorgeous? We went and visited them last night in the hospital. We are SO SO excited and happy for them! They are going to be awesome parents.
What an amazing gift from God. Nate just couldn't get over how amazing babies truly are. He just kept staring at Arden and saying "isn't it crazy how...". Nate was scared to hold her at first (a fear we have discovered that many men have), but he was so excited that he took the chance and held her in his arms. We are so happy to have her (and her awesome parents) in our lives!

Blessings to the VanZoeren and Tucker families!