A Heart Toward Home

"...But as for me and my house, we will serve (worship) the LORD."
Joshua 24:15

Sunday, June 20, 2010

A Special Father's Day: Our Family

Over 14 years ago I married my best friend, Bryan. Our family began in June of 1996. We said our vows before God, family and friends. Little did we know that today our marriage would be stronger and that we would love each other more. We are the best of friends! We just knew that we were ready for children right away and figured that God would give them quickly. God had different plans for us and He gave us 5 years together before blessing us with our first child.


It was not until we had been married for 4 years that we found out that baby #1 was on the way. We celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary in June of 2001 and in August Isaac arrived. "Man and a woman had a little baby, yes they did, there was three in the family"...know that song? That was us, three in our family now. We were just so excited about this baby and loved everything about him. Since it took us so long to have baby #1 we just knew that it would probably take just as long to have another baby. We left that in the Lord's hands.


Shortly after Isaac turned one we found out that baby #2 was on the way. We were so excited about having another baby and was delighted that soon there would be 4 in our family. Sarah was born in July of 2003. She was our little princess and we just loved her sooooo much. Isaac loved being a Big brother and was crazy about Sarah. I know what you are thinking and what many people have thought...what a perfect family...one boy and one girl, surely this is a stopping point. God tells us that He is the giver of life and that is something that He has taught us. See after Sarah was born we thought maybe we needed to wait to have any more children, and then in December of 2005 we lost a pregnancy. I began to wonder if God would only give us 2 children, but I look back now and see that He was teaching us something. Children are valuable, they are the future, we needed to let God dicide when and how many children we would have. I prayed that God would open my womb if His plan was for us to have more children. I remember for a year and a half Isaac and Sarah praying for a baby, I mean faithfully praying.


Then in May of 2007 Elijah was born. We were so excited to have this new blessing and what a joy he was. After Elijah was born I would look at our family picture and I was very content with 3 children and if God decided not to give us any more I would be OK with that. Little did I know that God was not finished.

WOW another baby!! In April of 2009 Timothy joined our family and now we are a family of 6!! Timothy has been a sweet joy to us and we are all crazy about him. Although Sarah was wanting a baby sister, she has been so in love with her baby brother. When I realize we have 4 children and some people think we are crazy, I am reminded of some things, 1) it took us awhile to have children, 2) we lost a pregnancy (which is proof that God is the giver of life), 3) God says in His Word that children are a reward.

Bryan and I are very blessed with wonderful fathers. They came up this weekend and we had such a great visit. Both our parents came and my two grandmothers also came.


They all arrived on Saturday and then that night we had a fish fry. They all got to spend some time with the kids and we all enjoyed every minute of their visit.

They even stayed and went to church with us this morning and came back to our house for lunch. Every time we get together we always have good eating and fellowship.


And now all this brings our story to a new chapter....(if you have made it to this point you are a faithful follower of our blog, thank you!) In January of 2011 we will be welcoming baby #5!! We are very excited and shared this news with our family after supper on Saturday night. We hope and pray that you will share in our joy with us. Praise the Lord!

4 comments:

The Camp Family said...

I am just so excited for you guys!!! Maybe Sarah will get her little sister this time. :) I will call you soon, so you can tell me all the details. Love you!

The McKinneys said...

WOW! How exciting! Congratulations to you and your family!

Autumn Harris said...

Wow! Congratulations on baby #5. That is so amazing.

Nancy said...

This makes me want to cry I'm so happy for you! I admire your faithfulness to God & to your family & I think this is WONDERFUL news! I will keep you in my prayers, Cantina!!