Keeping your eyes upon The Lord and not our circumstances.

Boy that is never an easy thing,

even the disciples struggled with this

Luke 8:22-25

²² Now it came to pass on a certain day, that he went into a ship with his disciples: and he said unto them, Let us go over unto the other side of the lake. And they launched forth.

²³ But as they sailed he fell asleep: and there came down a storm of wind on the lake; and they were filled with water, and were in jeopardy.

²⁴ And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, master, we perish. Then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm.

²⁵ And he said unto them, Where is your faith? And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another, What manner of man is this! for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him.

I will admit that lately we seem to have had our share of trials.It seems we continue to go through one health crisis to the next with barely any time to catch our breath,but just like the disciples staring at the storm and most likely thinking to themselves "Doesn't Jesus care that we are perishing?"

 I find myself many times saying or thinking  that.

"Doesn't Jesus know how much we are suffering doesn't he care?"

Then I am reminded of that statement in Luke 8:25 Where Jesus says "Where is your faith?"

Recently we got some very devastating news regarding our daughters mental function.With the words "Your daughter will never be able to live independently" ringing in my ears along with many other very unpleasant things.

Again I find myself thinking those same thoughts.

I also recently was blessed to attend a beautiful graduation ceremony for a very godly young man,who's always been very kind and loving to Daniel.

It was such a blessing to see the achievements of this young man,who had kept his faith and is striving to serve The Lord,but at the same time that all too familiar lump came in my throat about my kids and their futures and what this horrible seizure syndrome has done to their minds and bodies.Again I find myself thinking "Doesn't Jesus know what's going on doesn't he care?"

It's so easy to look around and think everyone else has the perfect life, family, job, fill in the blank.It's easy to feel like the disciples and see the storms,the waves and the wind and get frightened and discouraged and take our eyes off of Jesus.

Remember when Peter saw Jesus walking on the water and he wanted to come to him.but took his eyes off of Jesus and started to sink.Matthew 14:25-31

And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.

²⁶ And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.

²⁷ But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.

²⁸ And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.

²⁹ And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.

³⁰ But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.

³¹ And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt

Sometimes through not very pleasant circumstances The Lord teaches us to keep our eyes focused on him and not ourselves or the things going on around us. Anytime I start feeling down I always remember the verse Luke 22-31

²² And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on.

²³ The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment.

²⁴ Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls?

²⁵ And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit?

²⁶ If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest?

²⁷ Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

²⁸ If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?

²⁹ And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.

³⁰ For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.

³¹ But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.

 

If he cares about the birds in the air and the flowers in the field how much more does he care about me?

God knows my need he is not surprised by my circumstances.I have to stand firm in the belief that God has a purpose for mine and my childrens lives.I have to remember I am only seeing one small piece of the puzzle that's called life, where as Jesus sees the whole big beautiful picture.

Beach Days!

One of my absolutely favorite things to do,besides going to Disneyland is to go to the beach. I love to sit with my toes in the sand and just watch the birds,the waves and the boats go by.It's like I can just feel the stress of everyday life just rolling off my back.

                                                   

We always bring a picnic, usually stopping and getting fried chicken and then bringing all sorts of great picnic food.The kids always have a great time there.

 

             Sometimes we just play in the sand or fly kites.

                            Ariel loves collecting jellyfish.

                             Michael likes digging holes.

                         Daniel likes fishing when he can.

                  

Our other new favorite thing to do after the beach is to go into this little Norwegian town close by and go to the bakery and get a treat.

 

Any day at the beach to me is always a great one!

Our fun fourth.

Hello friends,sorry this is a bit delayed we've been pretty swamped lately.I wanted to share our Independence Day with you.

Our fun day started out with everyone donning their American flag shirts.

Then we all headed to McDonalds for sausage biscuits and the movie theatre to go see The Amazing Spiderman.

We ended up having a Spiderman marathon the rest of the day,because we've had some kiddos who haven't been doing too great seizure wise.

In the evening we had a delicious bbq with ribs,beans,corn on the cob,biscuits and then had ice cream for dessert.We even had charcoal for S'mores.

After that it got dark and the fireworks begun.Daniel had been helping the Veteran's with their fireworks stand,so he supplied our fireworks this year.

We had a good 20 minutes of some really nice fireworks and had a wonderful and amazing day.

A Disney concert and some hard days.

Hello friends,Well we've had some tough days around here.For whatever reason Ariel was really having a tough day on Friday.Sensory issues were at an all time high,not to mention seizures were bad too.


On Saturday we had the privelege of going to The Disney concert at the symphony in Seattle.At first our seats were up way too high and that was not going to work,but the people at the symphony were very accomodating .
 and understanding about Ariel's fear of heights.

The show was just amazing not only did the have all of the instruments,but they also had a huge movie screen showing movie clips and had vocalists singing several songs,like Tale as old as time and several from Little Mermaid,Jungle Book,Aladdin and several other shows.It was amazing.

After the show we went to The California pizza kitchen for cherry limeades and bbq chicken pizza.

It was a nice day and Ariel & I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.


Here's the latest video I made about my princess: