Family Hugs!!!!

Hello my sweet ladies!! It has been a bit since we talked and I have missed you! Forgive me for taking so long to catch up on life, toss ya a little encouragement and gain a little strength from ya...we have been nomads with no country traveling back and forth between Texas, Oklahoma City and Weatherford, OK. Just trying to settle ourselves down, you know! So I have not been as consistent with writing to you, but I have been thinking about you and praying for you...especially those of you in the middle of transition! The "tweener" phases of life can get you a little hairy if you know what I mean!! Which is what today's post is all about!

I have included a photo my mom-in-law snapped of us recently that sums up how we feel right now. We are squeezed in as tight as we can to each other. If I am not totally off a few of you might be in the same place too. Holding on tight to each other in the middle of a transition...whether you are moving or not...it has seemed to be a common place for most as I have chatted to others about their own "tweener" phases! Toby and I started this when Cade was a baby and we would all squeeze in really tight and say "Family Hugs!!!!" really loud. Well it caught on so much that every now and again Cade will say we just need a good family hug..thus the pic.

And in this pic we are in the middle of a great family hug. It actually looks a little like Cade has Ainsley in a choke hold, but all in love I am sure! :) Any-who...

I added this photo because we are having to do this more than ever while transitioning from one job to another. We are holding on tight and trusting in God to sell our house in Texas, move us and plant us successfully in a new community and protect us in every way in the process. It has taken longer than we anticipated and we are really ready to be situated, but we are having to continue waiting for several things to fall in to place before that happens.

I kinda feel like I have felt right before my babies were born....do you know what I mean? Like you have been pregnant with them for 9 months and out of anyone you are soooooooo ready for them to be born, meet 'em and get on with lovin' 'em! But no matter how fast you want it to happen you have to wait till they are ready, completely. Everything has to be formed just right and it has to be God's perfect timing. However with all that waiting it never fails that some well meaning person you run in to a week before your due date sees you walking in the store looking like a beached whale and laughingly says, "Still haven't had that baby yet?!?!", to which you lovingly and ever so patiently reply, "Nope, still haven't had that baby yet!". I try to be sweet but somehow always end up saying it with a strained look on my face thinking to myself.."You have no idea how ready I am to have this baby!!"

Seems like most of my prayers have been about transition lately, but that is right were we are tweener transition! And sooooo ready for the birth of something new. We are trying to walk each step with Joy and Faith and having to resist the temptation to respond to the "tweener" with a strained look on my face! :)

I love My Utmost for His Highest and it seems that I always find the perfect encouragement. I was reading through some of May and I came across one that I couldn't help but post.

Perseverance means more than endurance— more than simply holding on until the end. A saint’s life is in the hands of God like a bow and arrow in the hands of an archer. God is aiming at something the saint cannot see, but our Lord continues to stretch and strain, and every once in a while the saint says, "I can’t take any more." Yet God pays no attention; He goes on stretching until His purpose is in sight, and then He lets the arrow fly. Entrust yourself to God’s hands.

So ladies if you are in transition, waiting or moving...I am right there with ya and I love you!! God is stretching back His bow and aiming at something we cannot see yet, hold on and hug tight! I know God has His purposes in sight and He is about to let His arrows fly!! Hang in there, believe me I know it is hard I am so there with you, but we have to trust Him, hang on and hug tight!!!

Even if sometimes it looks like a choke hold...at least it will be a choke hold of Love!

FAMILY HUGS OF LOVE TO YOU TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!