We are here! We are here! We are here!

Wow! I have wanted to write for a while now, but I'm pooped!

Things are chugging right along around here and busyness is in full swing!

Please don't mistake my silence for depression. Life in the land of "what next?" has actually been quite exciting.

No news to report on the job front, but I am absolutely overwhelmed at the sheer lavishness of God's love.

He promises to feed us like the birds of the air and clothe us like the lilies of the field, but I guess I didn't know He just sometimes likes to show off!

We are so blessed to be so blessed by a God Who loves us for no other reason than that He wants to!

This Thanksgiving I think will always stand out in my mind as a time of flat out astonished gratefulness at all my God has done for me.

As we head into the Advent Season and the messages of Hope, Love, Joy and Peace resonate in my head and heart.

I am hopeful for the amazing opportunities that God has in store for our Tribe. I am confident that He is making something amazing out of something that was a little less than fun.

I am overwhelmed by the love that I am so undeservedly receiving from both my Lord and precious friends and family. Every day brings new evidences of this, and I am astonished! I am also desiring that God would so make love the motivation for all that I do. (Oh, and I love my husband and the incredible ways God has grown him already through this process!)

Ok, this one probably got on Mr. Wonderful's nerves the first few weeks after he was let go, but there is an joy from knowing that God brings about trials to bring us closer to Him and to press us to live up to the potential He designed in us. I actually find some joy in tough times because they never leave me the same and I need lots of change!

Peace! Oh what a peace from knowing that God is a God of His Word. No matter what I see, it is what I can't see that is more trustworthy. I want to build my life on that Truth! I am so easily swayed by the things I can touch, smell and see and at times they can look like they are spiraling out of control. But God is never out of control nor are my circumstances beyond His power.

Believe me, I've had my moments. There is a whole lotta ugly wrapped up in this 5'2"package for sure. But this is an amazing growth opportunity and I do NOT want to miss it! (And hopefully, if I learn my lesson, I won't have to go through the class again!)

With the focus of this month being Thankfulness, as it should be all year round, and in light of our tribe's latest adventure (that of being unemployed), I thought I would share a few things I am thankful for today:

Daddy's Girl's ability to look at a worst-case-scenario and find the good in it.
DG: "You know, if we lose our house we could just sell our our good clothes and take
the money and buy a room like this one (our den) and make little bitty rooms in it."
(Which seemed to her the most delightful idea ever. We had to laugh.)

Little Prince's favorite song and his delight at singing it all the time.
God, You are strong,
And I'm safe in Your Arms.
Make me brave all day long.
I count on You! I count on You!

Sunshine's complete obliviousness.
She simply assumes everyday that when she is "ungry," someone will feed her, when she
is going somewhere someone will put some clothes on her and that there is nothing
wrong with laughing when she feels is delighted and screaming when she
upset. Why not?

I am thankful for my children's perspective on life and for Jesus's reminder that "the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these."

-Watch and see!