Birthday Party for a KING

All of the hustle and bustle around the Cooper house this week has been a sight one must see to fully understand where I am coming from. We have cleaned like you would not believe. I have been thinking aout the preperations I have been doing around the house to get the house clean and ready for guest.It makes me excited. I know what I am preparing for so that makes it even sweeter. We are having a birthday party!!! Today starts the celebrations. Levi has made his birthday card and we will begin to bake the cake when he is out of the tub. ( he is very messy from making the card) Levi will decorate the cake, we will decorate the house, we will get out our party clothes and have a nice fun celebration. You ask why go thru such trouble for a birthday party? Well, its a party for the KING! One must do all one can when celebrating a KING. After all this King is no ordinary King. He saw the need of the human race. He stepped off of his throne, restricted himself as a little embryo, was born of a virgin, grew to be a man who bore the cross, went to hell on my account, and was RISEN, returned to his throne, and now we patiently (sometimese too patiently I might add) await for his return. This is MY KING who we are celebrating this week!!!
I pray that each of you do not forget what CHRISTmas is really all about! It is NOT about us or how we are feeling. If we are in the 'holiday' spirit or not. It is all about a KING! Lets not get caught up in the hustle and bustle of trying to buy all the last min. gifts and food.

REJOICE for our ABBA is KING!!!

Who is Teaching YOUR Kiddos

As I was getting Levi ready for bed I began to watch him. He has learned so much in just the past few weeks. He is no longer a baby. He is now picking out his own clothes, knows what shoes he wantes to wear, going to the potty by himself, brushing his teeth without momma reminding him, and the list goes on. (of course his clothes are not what I would have chosen)


Today after lunch we sat down and read a little story about BOZ. At the end of the book there is a rainbow. The line that went with the page read ' God put a rainbow high above, a bright reminder of God's love.' I asked him if he knew what a rainbow stood for. You will never guess what he said... again it was yes. I told him about Noah and the big boat called an ark. He was very energetic and loved that the waters were so high that they went over the houses and the trees. I explained to him that when we see a rainbow in the sky that it is a reminder that God will never flood the earth like that again.


Later I asked him if he could tell his daddy what we talked about and of course he did!



Tonight I sat down next to his little bed and opened up his Bible and we began to read about how Jesus came as a baby. I asked him if he knew why Jesus came as a baby. He always says, yes. He is his momma's son. We think we know it all! I preceded to explain to him that Jesus came because He and I were sinners. I told him that sinners do bad things, such as disobey parents, lie, hit, ect... (a few of the things we have been dealing with) I asked him if he knew that those were bad things and he said yes. I told him that Jesus came as a baby to die for our sins. That was the reason we celebrate CHRISTmas. He was amazed at the little Bibles pictures of Mary on her 'horse' and Joseph talking to the inn keeper. He loved the picture of the cat looking over in the manger at the baby. He asked whats that cat doing? I told him that the cat was amazed that she got to wittness the birth of the KING and that she was worshipping him! He loved it!



Tonight as I am sitting here getting ready to lay myself down I reflect on the day with Levi. I am so amazed at how quick he learns the things that his daddy and myself teach him. What scares me are the things that he is learning when he is around others. What are they teaching my little boy? I think as parents we have been given the greatest gift and responsibility that has ever been given to mankind. We are sharpening our little arrows to let loose in the world. What kind of arrow are you going to be releasing when it is time for yours to be released? I have to remind myself daily that we(Joseph and I) are equipping missionaries to send far into the future we will never see. If I do by job well then my children will teach their children and their children will teach their children.... Every parent is leading a legacy for their children to follow in. What is yours?





As I leave you this evening I want to leave you with these verses from Deutornomy 6:4-9





"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Christmas Photo Session at Home

Though I am always doing pictures for others I never seem to find time to do Levi's pictures. He turned 2 in July and still I havent done the first 2 year pictures. So this week I was doing a quick session with the twins I babysit. He got up just as I was putting things away. He asked"what are you doing" I told him and he said I wanna do pictures! Of course he wanted to leave his pjs on. He asked if Binky and Ralph could be in his picture. I told him if he would change clothes we would for sure do pictures with Binky and Ralph! I do believe this is the most fun I have had doing his pictures. Im thinking this for a CHRISTmas card!

11 Rules for marraige you wont learn in school.

Came across this today and thought it was worth passing along. I love Family Life.



Rule 1: Marriage isn’t about your happiness. It’s not about you getting all your needs met through another person. Practicing self-denial and self-sacrifice, patience, understanding, and forgiveness are the fundamentals of a great marriage. If you want to be the center of the universe, then there’s a much better chance of that happening if you stay single.

Rule 2: Getting married gives a man a chance to step up and finish growing up. The best preparation for marriage for a single man is to man up now and keep on becoming the man God created him to be.

Rule 3: It’s okay to have one rookie season, but it’s not okay to repeat your rookie season. You will make rookie mistakes in your first year of marriage; the key is that you don’t continue making those same mistakes in year five, year 10, or year 20 of your marriage.

Rule 4: It takes a real man to be satisfied with and love one woman for a lifetime. And it takes a real woman to be content with and respect one man for a lifetime.

Rule 5: Love isn’t a feeling. Love is commitment. It’s time to replace the “D word”—divorce—with the “C word”—commitment. Divorce may feel like a happy solution, but it results in long-term toxic baggage. You can’t begin a marriage without commitment. You can’t sustain one without it either. A marriage that goes the distance is really hard work. If you want something that is easy and has immediate gratification, then go shopping or play a video game.

Rule 6: Online relationships with old high school or college flames, emotional affairs, sexual affairs, and cohabiting are shallow and illegitimate substitutes for the real thing. Emotional and sexual fidelity in marriage is the real thing.

Rule 7: Women spell romance R-E-L-A-T-I-O-N-S-H-I-P. Men spell romance S-E-X. If you want to speak romance to your spouse, become a student of your spouse, enroll in a lifelong “Romantic Language School,” and become fluent in your spouse’s language.

Rule 8: During courtship, opposites attract. After marriage, opposites can repel each another. You married your spouse because he/she is different. Differences are God’s gift to you to create new capacities in your life. Different isn’t wrong, it’s just different.

Rule 9: Pornography robs men of a real relationship with a real person and poisons real masculinity, replacing it with the toxic killers of shame, deceit, and isolation. Pornography siphons off a man’s drive for intimacy with his wife. Marriage is not for wimps. Accept no substitutes.

Rule 10: As a home is built, it will reflect the builder. Most couples fail to consult the Master Architect and His blueprints for building a home. Instead a man and woman marry with two sets of blueprints (his and hers). As they begin building, they discover that a home can’t be built from two very different sets of blueprints.

Rule 11: How you will be remembered has less to do with how much money you make or how much you accomplish and more with how you have loved and lived.

Pass on “The Rules” to a friend who will enjoy them!

My Mother's Day

I had been feeling a little overwhelmed. We spent a lot of time in Bridgeport, after the tornado, just trying to let God use us where we were needed. There were about 4 days there that we had gotten minimum amounts of sleep. We were back home and busy cleaning our house up after not having power for 5 days. Babysitting the wonderful twin babies and keeping our family clothed and fed! It was a little tiring, I must say. It was VERY MUCH worth it and I am NOT complaining at all. I love being able to be used. It is just that there are times where it can wear me out. Thru all of this I had allowed my self to become short tempered. I never really argued with any of my family but I was always short in my answers to their questions. For example:

The day before Mother's Day Joseph took me to pick out my climbing rose bush. I was not in it at all. I didn't care if I got anything at all for Mother's Day, I was just ready to go home. While at Lowe's we were allowing Levi to walk around and there was a dear lady who thought that we were not paying him enough attention and hollered at us across the plants to ask us if he was our child. We smiled nicely and said "yes". She preceeded to tell us that she hoped we were watching him because something could fall on him and he could be hurt. Joseph was very nice and said yes mam we are. I on the other hand had that look, you know the one that momma's get when someone is trying to tell them how to raise their kids, yes thats the one. This dear lady then said "well, I guess I need to go on and mind my own bussiness since he isnt my child". Then I smiled oh so sweetly and said " yes mam". I looked up to see that my husband was not pleased with me at all. He scolded me and at the time I did not care. We left lowes without a rose bush, needless to say. I would never have admitted to my husband, but not getting a rose bush did not have anything to do with the fact that we couldnt find the "right" one. It had everything to do with me just not wanting to be there and what I was dealing with inside. I only tell you this because I want you to see just what kind of spirits I had been in.

Sunday Morning came, Mother's Day, the day that was suppose to be all about mommas. I was not caring anything about that either. I knew that I would have to go to church with a smile on my face, you know because I am the pastor's wife and we are always suppose to be happy.

When I got up I was ready to just do the same Sunday morning routine. I came down the hall to get a towel, my wonderful man was in the living room ironing his shirt for the day, and as I turned to go back to the bedroom there was a beautiful vase of roses along with a card from him. I melted! I felt so unworthy. After all the attitude that they had endured from me the past couple of days. As I read the card I felt the tears begin to form. Joseph had no idea just what I had been feeling, because I had not shared with him. We usually are so open with one another, but for some reason this time I had not been. Before he headed out the door I hugged and kissed my man and told him thank you and that that was just what I had needed.

After he left it was just me and my Father. We had a good time while I was getting dressed. I was really convicted for the way that I had treated my family and for not setting examples in the attitude that I so richly desire them to have.

Joseph preached an awesome message Sunday. Thru the message I realized that I had failed in mothering my teenager. I love her and I want her to succeed beyond her circumstances. She just might hate me for a little while, but it will be worth it, as long as she learns to let her self become so developed in the awesomeness of God that nothing else matters. What an honor that would be for me if I will allow God to use me in this matter.

I will let you know that I have repented my sin and have led a much better attitude this week. With my Heavenly Father at my side I will be able to accomplish the tasks set before me.

I have learned this week to 'Cast my cares on the Lord, we will sustain me; He will never let the righteous fall.' (psalm 55:22)

I have actually ENJOYED my housework this week. I have loved singing and dancing with Levi as we learn new Bible verses. I have loved teaching Levi to read (your baby can read flash cards). We had a great Ladies Bible study this week. I have fallen in love with those girls that come to my house every Tuesday. They are the Bomb diggity (if that is how you spell it). God has just given me a fresh fire burning inside of me to do his will and see the big plans he has instore for those around me. Tomorrow we will be leaving to go to the Extraordinary Womens conference in Birmingham and I am excited to see what God has is going to do there.

I must say thank you to those of you who read my blog and so sweetly tell me that you enjoy it. I am not sure that you are telling me the truth, but non the less it encourages me.

Above is a snapshot of my roses that my precious husband gave me. I have to say that I love him beyond comprehension.

Your sister in Christ,

Courtney

IT IS TIME

Its time. Its time for me to get my life back on a schedule and be more organized. I have been aweful for a few weeks now. I only do laundry when there is nothing else to wear or no towels in the hall closet, I only do the dishes when the sink overfloweth, I have not made my bed once this week. ITS AWEFUL! I am starting in the morning (Monday) to get my life a little bit more organized. When I started babysitting the twins I was getting up before they got here to do a little bit of reading and Bible study then would clean the house BEFORE laying down for a nap with Levi. It was great I always had time to myself during the day, because I planned it well. We were up and had breakfast and the kitchen cleaned by 9 o'clock every morning. I had time to play with Levi ( in a clean Living room) and do a little bit of learning excercises. My bedroom was ALWAYS clean. The bed might not have been made everyday, ok, so the bed was never made, but at least I could see my dresser and chest! Now there are clean clothes on my chest and books and baby stuff all over my dresser. I am tired of feeling like I am not getting anything accomplished during the day when my man gets home. I like to be able to just spend the evening with him and Keristin after they have been gone all day. I like to have supper done for them by 4 in the evening, but the past few weeks, I have done none of this. I have got to get myself together becaue beginning next year we will start 2 year old school with Levi. I will not be doing much each day with him, but if I am not structured, then it will be crazy trying to teach him even a little bit. I heard someone say once that a sloppy house reflects a sloppy faith I have this posted on my refrigerator and I am living by it! You would think that by me not getting my house cleaned everyday that I would have plenty of time to spend with the kids and with Joseph, but on the contrary, I constantly have something on my mind, such as what I need to be doing or I things haven't gotten done during the day. So I am not spending quality time with them. When I am more organized, I have EVERYTHING done in the evening and am able to spend the whole evening with the family. I am much more ful filled and feel as though I am living out my purpose in life. Being a wife, mother, and friend to my family.

Devotion Letter on Prayer

Beloved in Christ, Please allow me to share a few thoughts with you from Luke 11:9. “Ask, and it shall be given unto you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” I have always thought it amazing that our intercessor with the Father instructs us in how to entreat Him for the Father. The Word of God is most certainly complete. Please consider first of all the desire in our prayer. We know what it means to “ask.” However, when it comes to prayer we must recognize a different dynamic. To ask is simple yes, but to ask God? This is divine! When we “ask” we must understand that we are desiring Him. We want His paternal presence, His praise, His plan, His program, His provision, His Peace, His Purity, and His protection (Luke 11:2-4). We want Him. We do not pray to impress or inform God. We pray to invite God! Not that He would send revival but bring revival. Lord, YOU COME and stir your people! Secondly, there is the discernment in our prayer. To “seek” implies that there is something for us to know or understand. Most certainly, we want to experience the will of God, but we so over complicate it. The Word of God says (Romans 11:36) that “Of Him, through Him, and to Him are all things. To whom be glory forever. Amen.” If this is true about “all things,” then it is also true about prayer. That means that Christ is the source of our prayer, He sustains our prayer, and He is the subject of our prayer. (Adrian Rogers) “Prayer is a circle of Heaven all I do is complete the circuit.” Therefore our seeking is less about deciphering the goal of God and more about discovering the glory of God. Find His glory; find His presence. That is what I want to know and understand. The last of what I would share with you is the determination in our prayer. Obviously, to “knock” tells us that a door is closed to us and we would like it opened. This is not what praying is like but what the pray-er is like. The heart of the one asking and seeking must be prepared to continually knock upon a closed door. Why? We have a need. I’m not telling you that the sweat of our prayer moves Heaven the blood of Jesus does that. I am curious if as we stand in the throne room of God we have a shameless passion and sincere persistence when we knock on the door of His storehouse? Because, true conquering prayer is not about me getting a hold on Heaven but Heaven getting a hold on me! Please allow me to challenge your heart and mind with three questions as I close this letter. 1. Do we want Him more than what we are asking? 2. Do we pursue His glory more than we protect our pride? 3. Do we have a heart that means business when we approach our Heavenly Father? Until we speak again here, there, or “over yonder,” I bid you God speed. Pastor Joseph M. Cooper

How us ladies can be precious in Gods sight

Who doesn’t want to be precious in the eyes of our Father?
1st Peter 3:1-7
What is beauty? (Vs 3)

Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear.

Now do not get me wrong this does not mean that we are not to care about ourselves. While Joseph and I were dating we hardly ever had anywhere to go, but I knew he was coming so I would clean myself up, shower, and have on clean fresh clothes when he got there. I remember him telling me once that it was nice to know that I was ‘dressing up’ only because he was coming over! So yes we should want to be our best for our men. We should not allow this to consume our thoughts though. This is NOT to become our ‘god’.
(vs.4)

But let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.


If you are like me when you look at this verse you think “Oh no!
I will let you in on a little secret. I am NOT a quiet person.

I want us to look a little deeper at what this is saying to us. I was relieved when I realized it doesn’t say I have to have a quiet voice, it tells us to have a gentle and quiet spirit.
So just what does that mean?

Gentle by definition means to be kind, tender, polite, not harsh

Let’s read Matthew 11:29

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Now I know that this is the Lord speaking to us, His children, but let’s look at this and how it applies to our relationship with our husbands.

First of all to have a quiet spirit just simply means that we as women are at peace with who we are in Christ. See how Jesus said He is gentle and lowly at heart and you could find rest for your souls. As wives and mothers this should be our desire. We should want our lives to ooze peace, so that not only our husbands but our entire family can come home and find peace and rest in our arms.
Now, let’s look at verse 5.
For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands,

You had to know it was coming ;) Scripture says this is how the Holy women of God adorn themselves! I don’t know about you, but I want to be counted holy.
When you think of submission what do you see?

A poor old woman who doesn’t know any better and just lets that man run right over her and does whatever he tells her to do, right? If you will allow me to, I want to challenge that view of a submissive wife.
What is submission?

Submission is being humble, marked by meekness or modesty; not arrogant or prideful.
Submission is being obedient.

God has placed our husbands over us for a reason. Not to undermine us or our abilities, but so that our abilities can shine. I don’t know about you gals but I cannot handle near as much stress at Joseph can. We ladies are emotional creatures. When I try to take the lead in our home, it consumes me. I am unable to have true worship because I am concerned with things that I was never meant to carry. It is an awesome feeling to know that if they come and turn the lights off then it’s not my fault! I have nothing to do with paying the bills! I know that that may seem silly, but that is just how simple it is.
I am able to be a wife to my husband and a mother to our children when I allow Joseph to be the man of our home that God has called him to be.

(vs6)

as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.

Sarah didn't call Abraham her Lord because he was a dictator or she was afraid of him, she called him her Lord because he was her protector, her provider. That is kind of like us calling our man our hero. Joseph knows that he is my hero, I try to tell him that often.

As long as we are in God's will we do not have to be concerned or afraid of what our husbands are asking of us, all we have to do is obey. God takes care of us through our men! Isn't that a beautiful picture?!

I love you ladies and hope that you have a fresh new vision of what God has for you as his daughters.

Chocloate For Breakfast

When Joseph and I first married, we knew we wanted a house full of children. We had big hopes and dreams and lots of ideas of what raising children would be like. After our miscarriage I wasn't sure what God was up to. 6 years into our marriage we had that beautiful baby boy, that God had promised to Joseph so many years ago.

All of the ideas that we had about children could not compare to the feeling of joy and completion that Levi brought to us. He was perfect! If there were ever a perfect baby, he was it. I never had any problems with getting him to sleep, he only cried when he was hungry or needed a diaper change... and then.... he turned 1.

He has gotten his own personality and pushes every boundary. He is rotten to the core. There are days that I feel like all I do is tell him no. I know that this is a process that every child goes through. I have been told so many times, "just don't worry about it, it is only a stage" or " Why would you get on to that baby, he doesn't understand". Sure this is only a stage he is going through, but he will never get out of that stage if he is not taught. He must learn to say please and thank you, he must learn to share his toys, he must learn to be nice and helpful to others, and how will he learn that if we do not teach him. Some children require a little more 'teaching' then others. Levi is so stubborn. For God to use our children as they are growing they have to learn obedience. Yes it hurts us as parents to have to discipline our children. There have been times when Levi has been very defiant and after the discipline process is over I have my time to cry and pray that God is showing me the right type of discipline to use.

Then, there are those days that I want to eat him up! He is so stinking cute and sweet. We have more of these days than we do the previous days. He loves to read and play games. He has a barn yard set, so he and mommy play with the animals everyday. We have time of learning everyday. He is still so little that we only do 'school' for about 5 minutes at a time. He is learning his ABC's, Colors, and is learning to count. I try to get a total of about 15 min devoted just to that in each day. Of course when you plan to home school, you take everything you do as a learning opportunity.

He also is loving Veggie Tales. He already gets wrapped up in things. Just the other day we were watching 'Wheres God When I am Scared?' and there is a part of the show where Jr asparagus is watching a "scary" movie. Frankencelery scares Levi, everytime! He will run to me and want me to hold him. It is kind of comical.

He loves to dance, we dance everyday. He wants me to dance with him. I play music for him everyday and if I don't dance a little bit with him he will come and want me to hold him to dance. That wears me out ;)

Today, is his 2nd Valentine's Day. He was so cute this morning when he got up and I gave him his stuff. He said "ooo, cannee". So how could I not let him have some Chocolate for Breakfast! He loves York Peppermint patties and raisenets.

I love being a mommy. I would not trade anything for it. I love watching him grow. I am excited to see what God has for not only Levi, but all of my children. I pray daily that God gives me the knowledge it takes to teach them and help mold them for His service. I pray for the stregnth to let go of them when the time comes. Teaching them does no good if you are not willing to release them. This week is Levi's first week of learning his first Bible Verse. We are starting out very simple. GOD IS LOVE. What better week to start than the week of Valentines. I want my children to know that God is the best Valentine you could have.

Courtney Cooper

Um... PJs, McDonalds, and Target

After being snowed in for a week I was finally ready to go somewhere. Levi was almost out of diaper so why not go to Target. When we got up this morning Joseph told me he wasn't taking the day off and our beautiful daughter is at a friends house. So it is just me and levi. I love having mommy days with each of my children.
I wanted to get out but didn't want to get dressed! I decided I was staying in what I slept in (lounge pants, and one of Joseph's sweat shirts). We went to eat just at McDonalds and ordered 2 cheese burgers, medium french fry, large sweet tea, and COOKIES ( something we NEVER do) we sat down adn shared it all! Levi enjoyed watching the cars go by out the window, but I think the little guy filling the ice machine was his favorite. When we were all done, levi helped put things away and then wanted to walk to the car all by himself. He is growing up so fast!
We left for Target and Levi decided to get in a power nap on the way. He loved shopping! We always check out the dollar section at Target for great deals! He has to play with everything there. He wanted stickers, books, oven mits, cookie cutters, trucks, animals, chips, and a closet organizer. ( no I did not purchase them all!) We left only with a clothes hamper for $2.50. As we were walking away from it all he was still holding the closet organizer , handed it to me and said " put it back". I guess he decided he didn't want to organize his closet after all. We walked around for awhile playing with different things. I found a shower curtain for the bathroom on sale for 13 dollars, originally 27 dollars! So then I think he was done. He asked for his binky and pabby. When he is tired he always wants those two things. He wants me to lay is binky on the buggy handle so he has a 'pillow' to lay his head on. So he rested on the way to the check out. I purchased our items including our 2 bags of raisenets that we had a coupon for. :)
As we got in the car he asked to go night night. I told him he could sleep on the way home, but do you think he did? Um... no.
So here we are at home. He is laying next to me while I am writing this. Oh how I love being able to stay at home with my children! It is the little things like this that make me feel so blessed! God is an awesome God!

Who We Were, Are, and Hope to Be

Hello,
let me introduce you to myself and my family. Let me start by telling you where Joseph and I(Courtney) came from. We met in a small home school group in a little town called Bridgeport, Al . I had just turned 12 years old, Joseph was 16. Joseph and I became best friends. We would do everything together. We were already 'courting' before we were 'courting, if that makes any sense at all. I knew that he was the one that God had for me before he ever asked me what I thought about us. Joseph left for UNA after graduating high school. We had a long distance relationship for 2 years. I saw him only a hand full of times through the school year and he would come home for the summer. We would try to spend lots of time together then. God was amazing through this time. He kept Joseph and me untainted for each other. We had our rough spots during this time, but we knew that God had put us together and He would keep us together. Joseph announced his call to preach the gospel while he was at UNA. Again, I knew that this would be the road for us before he ever mentioned it to me. It is funny how when God is up to something he lines everything up just right. We were married on January 25, 2003 in a small church in TN. In this church Joseph was the Youth Pastor, Song Leader/Choir Director,we together were the VBS Directors. I stood along beside him in his leadership positions and played the piano. We learned and grew a lot in this little church. After sometime there, it was evident that God was calling us back to Bridgeport. We attended First Baptist Church, where Joseph held a hand full of responsibilities. While at FBC we were expecting our first child. We were so excited, we had wanted children from the time we were married. I had been to a couple of doctors appointments and everything seemed to be fine. The day that we were to have our first ultra sound I woke up feeling as something was not right. I told Joseph that I was physically fine I just felt uneasy about the day. When we were there the Doctor told us that things were not right and that we would lose this baby. I was 10 weeks and the baby had stopped growing at 7 weeks. We were devastated. How could God take a baby that he had promised to us? How could he take a baby from a healthy pregnancy? Those were the thoughts running through my mind that day. Looking back I now see the big picture. There was nothing that anyone could do to comfort me, not even my beloved husband. Though he was an amazing man through all of it, he could not fill the void that was there. My Father was calling me to a deeper relationship with Him. I remember the day that I just gave in to the pain. I laid in the floor of my living room and sobbed. I had wrapped myself in a blanket and was clenching it with my fist asking God why. I remember the sweet peace that overcame me that day. We became Jackson County Foster Parents a few months later. I know that if it were not for the miscarriage then we would have never fostered. We have fostered 17 children to date. How awesome is that. I did not know at the time that God was calling us to be parents to 17 children! I have had a love for each of them that is different than anything I have ever felt. Each one of them different in their own way. After being at Bridgeport First Baptist for 5 years, God has called us to Huntsville, Al where Joseph is Senior Pastor at Brownsboro Baptist Church and I am a full time mother, part time photographer. We have been here for 2 years and love it! God has richly blessed us in our church family. In the past 2 years God has given us a second child of our own, a son, Levi Riddoc, who is now 18 months old. We are still fostering through Jackson County and have a beautiful 16 year old daughter. She might not share our last name but she definitely shares our hearts.We are looking forward to what God has for us in the future. What other children he might bless us with. None of this has been an easy task, but our Father is faithful.
I hope that this tells you a little about who we are. One day I might elaborate on each stopping point in our journey, but for now I feel as though this is sufficient.
May God richly bless you in your faith journey.